The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance 2 (57 page)

She grabbed the wolfman’s head, one hand on either cheek, and felt the black hole inside him. It was a dark whirlpool of pure terror. Her mind teetered on the edge, in danger of falling into the vortex of madness.

I can’t.
She snatched her hands back, her heart hammering in her mouth. She could feel Jake next to her, the heat of his body prickling against her skin. Their shoulders brushed, their breath mingling. Close enough for his werewolf senses to pick up on what she was trying to do. Because her mental shields were open, she felt the jolt of his realization. “You’re an empath!”

“Sort of.” There was no time to explain how her magic didn’t always work right. Her hands clenched, as if her very skin shrank from touching the wolfman again. What if Jake talked? Or Tracy? Everyone would know what she was. She’d lose everything.

What possessed her to come here? She should have left Gary in the grocery store.

What if she screwed up?

What if . . .

Enough!
She grabbed the wolfman again, pressing his face between her hands. His eyes, wild with horror, stared into hers. With a sick fascination, she felt his thoughts pour into hers. His name was Steve Collins. He was watching his body twist and deform, turn into something sickening and foul that he didn’t understand. When the first symptoms had started a month ago, he’d thought the changes were signs of some degenerative disease and that he might die. Then he’d started to guess what was happening and came to the one doctor who might know how to help. But help how? Death would be better. He’d had a wife, a job. They were as good as lost.

His body was . . . the sheer terror of it was driving him mad. He was
hungry.
The smell of blood was revolting and good and he’d looked at his wife, wanting to touch her and eat her at the same time. He’d reached for her and she’d screamed and he’d run out of the house.
I didn’t mean it!
and he was so sorry, sorry, sorry . . .

Selina pulled the plug on his conscious state, putting him instantly to sleep. She bit her lip, holding all those emotions in, putting them out one by one by one . . . like all the candles on a birthday cake from deepest Hell.

Dear God!
The anguish was killing them both. Slumping back on her heels, she closed her eyes and released a huge, pent-up breath. Tears of anger and sorrow leaked from beneath her eyelashes.
So many losses.
The enormity of Steve’s suffering was too big for one heart to hold.

I can’t do this!

But she’d already done what she needed to do. Steve lay unmoving, his body slowly reverting to his human form. Jake let go of him, releasing a sigh of his own.

“Holy crap,” said Tracy.

“Call the pack,” said Jake in an exhausted tone. “We’ve got to put him in lock-up until this is over.”

Tracy moved swiftly to the reception desk and picked up the phone.

Selina lifted her head. It was starting to pound, the hangover of embracing all that fear and rage. “Lock-up?”

“Sort of house arrest, until he changes all the way to wolf form. Once that happens, usually everything’s okay. It’s like the body learns what to do and can start developing some control.”

“How long is that going to take?”

Jake shook his head. He looked as exhausted as she felt. “Hard to say. He has to stay aware to gain wolf form. A lot of first-timers keep passing out from sheer terror. It takes a few times before they make it through.”

“This wasn’t his first try, was it?”

“I don’t know. This guy had just come in for initial tests. Really didn’t want to talk. I had no idea his situation was this far advanced, or I wouldn’t have had him sitting in the office.”

Selina heard the defeat in Jake’s voice. She guessed past cases hadn’t gone well. “Isn’t there a sedative? Something to relax him but not knock him out?”

“Not so far. We try new drugs as they come on the market, but the werewolf body does odd things during the change.” His warm brown eyes were serious. “What you just did took serious guts.”

Selina didn’t feel brave. She felt depressed and slightly, inconveniently turned on by the concern in his gaze. Guys wanted her, but usually vanished once they got a whiff of her magic. Dr Jake Hallender wasn’t a coward. Then again, he wasn’t a human, either.

She managed a small smile, but it quickly faded. “I’m glad I could help. On the other hand, I guess I didn’t. He needs to change. I stopped him.”

Jake shook his head. “That wasn’t going to happen today. He was too afraid. Besides, we need to get him someplace safe – for himself and others. You gave him that.” He touched her shoulder, the contact light yet comforting as an embrace.

Selina dipped her chin, looking sadly at the now-human Steve while Jake gave some instructions to Tracy. Selena looked at her watch, realizing how much she used the gesture as a shield. Being busy kept people at a safe distance.

“I need to go. Please don’t say anything about what I did here. I have to be able to pass for human.” She swallowed hard, feeling suddenly awkward.

Jake nodded, his expression filled with understanding, but that intense gaze dimmed to a socially acceptable wattage. He was giving her space. The wolf no longer looked out of his eyes, just a tired man.

His withdrawal was a relief, but a disappointment at the same time.

The transition from the vet’s office back to her normal life was disorienting. It was like leaving
Friday Night Fright Night
and landing in an episode of
Antiques Road Show.
Not that she wasn’t grateful for the upgrade, but it was a weird segue.

Selina dropped Gary off at home. She made him a nest of towels in the bathtub where he couldn’t hurt himself or anything else, filled bowls with food and water, and shut the bathroom door. She’d gargoyle-proof the rest of the apartment when she got home later and had more time.

As it was, she barely made it back to her office in time to meet with Mrs McAdams about the sale of her snuff box. An ivory oval no more than an inch and a half long, it was decorated with a coat of arms in delicately worked gold. Though small, it would be one of the attractions of the gallery’s upcoming show – if she could get the elderly widow to part with it.

Despite the afternoon’s drama, or maybe because of it, Selina presented the gallery’s offer with extra elegance and passion. She’d always been content to work behind the scenes, but today she sparkled as Old World’s negotiator. Some day, she thought breathlessly,
I might even have a gallery of my own.

But not if you keep tempting fate. You have secrets to keep. What do you think you‘re doing, stirring up your magic like that? You know better than to play with other monsters!

Selina pushed her nightmares and daydreams aside, returning her attention to Her Lady of the Snuff Box. “It’s a very good offer,” Selina insisted.

“I just don’t know, dear,” Mrs McAdams wavered – more a negotiating tactic than any sign of weakness. The old lady was herself a keen collector and one of the gallery’s best clients. “The box has been in my family for generations. It would stay in the family if only I’d been lucky enough to have children. Are you planning any children, my dear?”

“Not right now. But did I tell you about my new gargoyle?”

“Once or twice since I arrived,” Mrs McAdams nodded. Laughter softened the sharp, shrewd look in her eyes. “I think your new pet is going to be a keeper. You seem happier than I’ve ever seen you. Much more chipper than old Janos.”

“But about the box – what if I sweetened the deal a little?”

Selina was tempted to add a pinch of fey charm to her smile, but wouldn’t give in to the impulse. She just smiled with all the happiness she’d felt rescuing her new housemate.

Not even Mrs McAdams could resist that.

After the papers were signed and her client shown to a cab, Selina hurried home, conscious that for once someone was waiting for her. It was nice, even if he was short, fuzzy, and an odd shade of grey.

She stopped at the Pet Play Barn to buy a few more supplies. It was a good thing she was warming up to the idea of keeping him. So far Gary had cost as much as the pair of really nice designer shoes she’s been eyeing at that cute downtown boutique.

As she lugged a large driftwood perch up the stairs of her elevator-free apartment, she tried to focus on the fact that shoes weren’t cuddly. Nor did they require squeeze toys, organic Gargy-Treatz at ten bucks a bag, or a freaking thousand-pound perch that shed slivers like a porcupine shooting quills. She was used to flying solo, not catering to another creature’s needs.

That thought ricocheted her mind to Dr Jake and his capable hands.
What am I thinking? That whole
Hairy Met Sally
thing would never work.

She unlocked the door and switched on the apartment light. When she opened the bathroom door, Gary was still burrowed into the terry cloth heap. He cheeped when she came in.

“Hey, champ, how’s it going?”

Gary reached up. She picked him up, careful of his bandaged wing. He tucked his head under her chin, snuggling close. To her alarm, he was burning hot.
Do gargoyles get fevers?

She went straight to the phone, where she’d left the number for Dr Jake’s after-hours pager.

Gary clung to Selina, refusing to let go of her blouse, so she stood in front of the big balcony window, looking out at the twilight. With her arms full of baby monster, there wasn’t much else she could do.

She thought about facing Jake again. She normally tried to stay away from other supernaturals because, like him, they could sense her fey blood. Everyone assumed the fey were cheats, which was unfair. Sure, their species had different cultural concepts about bargaining. Back in the day, they’d pay in gold that turned into dead leaves or horses that became a pile of straw – but they only did that to people who deserved bad luck. Plus, this was the twenty-first century. Everyone played by human business rules. She hadn’t charmed the snuff box out of Mrs McAdams; she’d negotiated the price fair and square.

Unfortunately, old ideas died hard. Janos certainly wouldn’t keep her if he knew what she was. If Selina wanted to work in a human company, she had to bury half her identity.

By living a lie, was she cheating? Or was she cheating herself? Why, oh, why had she used her magic on Steve? For all the right reasons, her soft heart had dragged her into a mess – with a vet who knew she was fey just by her scent. She felt horribly exposed.

As if picking up on her mood, Gary fussed, restless and uncomfortable. Selina paced back and forth, hoping the motion quieted him. One by one, lights in the surrounding buildings came to life.

The apartment buzzer rang, making Selina jump and Gary chirp. Selina pushed the intercom button to the downstairs door.

“It’s Jake Hallender.”

“That was quick,” Selina said.

“Fast, furry and fabulous.”

That surprised a laugh out of her. “Your self-esteem is doing okay, too.”

Selina pushed the button to unlock the downstairs door, dismayed to find her stomach fluttering like a schoolgirl’s before a big date.
Give me a break.
Then she opened the apartment door, still holding Gary like a security blanket. Jake arrived dressed in a sweatshirt and jeans and carrying an old-fashioned doctor’s bag.

“Hi,” he said.

“Hi.” Selina swallowed. “Come on in.”

He did, filling the room and making her antiques seem small and flimsy. “You said Gary had a fever?”

Selina suddenly felt feverish, too. “Just feel him. He’s burning up.”

Jake put his bag down and took Gary from her. The gargoyle resisted, nearly taking Selina’s blouse with him. Finally, Jake nestled Gary into the crook of his arm. “A fever’s not all that unusual after an injury.”

“Is there an infection?”

“There was no open wound. It’s more likely the stress of today’s adventures. I can give him something to take his temperature down but the real medicine will be rest and good food.”

Jake’s eyes met hers. “Don’t look so worried. Gargoyles were bred to protect sacred places. They can take knocks and bumps better than most creatures.” He saw the perch and smiled. “I guess you’re keeping him.”

Selina sighed. “Yeah, I guess I am.”

The smile turned to a grin. “I’m glad. He really likes you.”

Jake set the gargoyle down on the driftwood arm of the perch. Gary’s bird-like hind feet clamped around it, leaving his front paws free to reach for the array of toys that Selina had hung from the perch’s other arms.

“So, how are
you
doing?” Jake asked Selina. He opened his bag and pulled out a stethoscope and thermometer. “I can’t apologise enough for what happened back at the office.”

Selina watched him calmly examine the gargoyle. She could hear the regret in his voice, but also resignation. Maybe wrestling wolfmen was just a day in the life of a veterinarian to the supernatural.

On the other hand, he was opening the door to more than pet owner chit-chat. Part of her wanted to hide, like she always did. A larger part of her wanted to talk to
someone
about everything that had happened, and Jake was the only choice.
No one else knows my secret.