Tightly Held [Werewolves of Hanson Mall 5] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (3 page)

Ethan’s eyes were hazel and his hair a reddish brown. His skin was lighter than Nolan’s but his shoulders were almost as broad and his plain white T-shirt displayed his bulging biceps to advantage. If these two men were half as useful as they were delicious to look at she’d be endlessly grateful to Cadfael for agreeing to accept them as workers on this project.

To get her mind back on her job Georgia stood up and waved her arm around this main room of the apartment. “This is Apartment 7C. It was originally kept as a guest apartment for when interstate or overseas sales managers came to the mall. It became Willow and Hawthorne Cunliffe’s apartment until they were mated, and they turned it into an office for the family history project. When we go into the smaller bedroom you’ll see what I mean. Fortunately for you, the larger bedroom still has beds in it where you can stay, and there’s a bathroom, of course. But this living area is constantly used as a meeting room for the genealogy project, so your personal property will need to stay in the bedroom, although obviously you’re free to cook here, watch television, and relax in your spare time.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The response was in unison from both men.

“Okay, let me walk you around our office.” She led the way into what had been the smaller bedroom. All four walls were almost completely covered in family trees. “The colored sticky notes track the links between the various families and packs. The colored squares clearly show how groups have intermingled, with each color dotted over the various walls. The few packs with no colored sticky notes tend to be the packs that have died out or been absorbed into other packs, like the one to which Lewis belongs. Lewis is a recent addition to the Hanson Mall pack. He’s building a roof garden for the wolves, and has mated Dakota, one of the security guards, and Andreas, the manager of the fitness center. You’ll likely meet him soon.”

“Which reminds me, as workers here for the Hanson Mall pack, you’re automatically eligible for membership at the fitness center. It’s on the fourth level of the mall if you want to go sign up and use it,” said Wynn.

Georgia grinned. “I need to warn you, though, that Marbella is married. Almost every bachelor who visits the gym sees her and signs up for her classes hoping to get to know her better. By all means take aerobics and Zumba classes, but don’t expect her to go out on a date with you.”

Wynn laughed out loud. “Marbella is seriously fit. About half the men who go to her classes end up in the First Aid room with pulled muscles. You wouldn’t catch me attempting anything more than a beginner’s class with her, ever.”

Georgia got serious and gave a brief overview of their work, and then she moved back to the living room and opened the refrigerator. She took out a gallon of orange juice, four bottles of water, and a box of donuts. She collected four glasses from a shelf and placed everything on the table.

“Let’s have a break and you can ask me or Wynn any questions you want about the project or the mall.”

Neither man attempted to take a donut until after she and Wynn had both taken one each, and the same with a drink. Wynn poured himself a glass of juice and she opened a bottle of water, and only then did both men serve themselves some juice.

Either they have lovely manners or they’re still on their best behavior.

“What would you like to know?” she asked again after taking a few bites of donut.

Ethan swallowed then brushed his hand across his mouth before saying, “What tasks would you like us to do first?”

“We want to go back to some of the people we interviewed at the very beginning of our study. We’ve learned a lot over the past year or so and have new questions we should ask. Besides, once people start talking, they often trigger memories among each other. We mostly begin by interviewing people in a group to gain those benefits, then separate people to ask more detailed, targeted questions.”

“Would we have to write down their answers?” Nolan looked worried.

Georgia shook her head. “Good heavens, no. Once people start remembering we don’t want to stop them in case they lose the thread of their thoughts. We’ll record the interviews. You’ll be handing out question sheets, and encouraging people to talk about their memories. Sometimes older people think they’ve forgotten all the details, but once one of them starts talking it’s surprising how much information they can add. Stories about people are very worthwhile. They mightn’t have known someone wasn’t a wolf, or was only part wolf, but once they get talking they notice that none of them ever saw her in wolf form or preparing to go running and that’s a clue for us. Of course it’s not proof. Some people prefer to run in private. But if no one ever saw her in wolf form it’s a definite link we should check.”

“I understand.” Ethan was nodding and smiling.

She noticed both men had finished their donut and pushed the box over to them to take another.

“If you both do the driving and navigating from place to place, that’ll leave me free to plan out the details of the meetings and write up the reports.”

“We can do that, no problems,” said Nolan.

“Where will we stay on these trips? If you want to camp on a pack’s land we can set up camp for you. Put up tents and build fire pits and so on. If you’ve got tents or can borrow them.” Ethan’s voice got a little nervous as he started backtracking toward the end of his speech, but Georgia wasn’t upset.

“I haven’t been camping since I was a Girl Scout. I wouldn’t mind that in summer. Never in winter though. But no. The packs usually let us stay with one of the families or in a vacant house. Because there’s a lack of females a lot of packs now have empty houses.”

They talked a bit more and then Wynn said, “Let’s go get your luggage and get you settled in the bedroom here for the moment. After that we can shop for some basic groceries for the next few days while I show you around the mall.”

As soon as they left, Georgia pulled up one of her files. She was glad Wynn would walk around with them. She absolutely had to get her list of questions organized to give her new recruits a run-through the program tomorrow, because the day after that, if everything was ready, they’d be off on their travels.

* * * *

“Please may we use the laptop to check the route for the road trip?” Ethan asked Wynn as he was about to leave them that evening.

“Of course. It’s part of the family history project’s equipment. Use it for anything you need.”

Ethan was glad to hear that. He had a cell phone. Nolan did, too. But they were the prepaid kind with minimal data allowance and he really wanted to study the route they needed to take online before they left, and not have to use his tiny data allowance unless it was essential.

He and Nolan sat at the table with a notepad and the laptop, planning the route, sketching a diagram, and noting key crossroads on their journey.

After they’d eaten they moved into the bedroom to unpack their luggage.

“Oh, shit. I don’t have a backpack or anything to take a change of clothes in for the journey. Dammit, I should have thought to borrow one from someone,” he said.

“Don’t worry. I’ve got one. If we roll our things up tightly we’ll fit a change of underwear and a clean shirt each in it, and we shouldn’t need fresh jeans or boots,” said Nolan.

“I’ll sleep in my boxers. No one will know. If I have to go anywhere I’d be putting my jeans back on not walking around in pajamas anyway,” added Ethan, relaxing a little.

“Exactly. We’ll manage just fine.”

Ethan couldn’t remember a time when money in the Simon pack had not been scarce. There was never anything left over for luxuries, but every child always received a birthday and Christmas present, and he’d always had his schoolbooks, even if they were mostly secondhand or thrift shop bargains. It was only in the last year or so he’d started realizing he was almost always hungry. Not starving-hungry, just dammit-my-plate’s-empty-already hungry. He reminded himself that plenty of health gurus advocated always leaving a meal before the stomach was full, and did his best to ignore the feeling.

Despite all their planning and organizing, they were still in bed at a reasonable hour and Ethan was wide awake and heading for the shower half an hour before he needed to be.

“That smells great,” he said, walking into the main room where Nolan was frying bacon, potatoes, and tomatoes.

“Yeah. When Wynn said we could buy whatever we wanted at the supermarket and put it on the mall account, I had to be careful not to go crazy and fill the trolley with junk food. Today, I thought if we had a good breakfast we’d be less likely to spend money at a diner or truck stop on the way. Other than to buy coffee, of course.”

Ethan laughed. Nolan pretended to be addicted to coffee, but mostly it was just a good excuse not to spend a lot of money. With coffee in hand, they could act like they’d already eaten or weren’t hungry.

“Good plan.”

Between bites they rehearsed the road trip directions, until Ethan felt quite relaxed and assured that they would find their way to their destination.

They’d both been given a seventh-floor swipe card which opened the elevator door for them, and then they pressed the lowest button which was the fourth-floor foyer.

“Seven is that one, isn’t it?” Ethan pointed to the button he hoped was the one for their apartment level.

“I think so.”

Good. It was damn tricky using an elevator that had no labels on anything. Good security, sure, but scary for newcomers like him.

They walked out to the parking lot and up the stairs to the fifth level of it, which was for staff only. Then Ethan stopped dead. “What if we’re supposed to use our truck?”

Nolan turned and stared at him and then gulped. “Shit. I never thought of that. Let’s just hope we’re going in her car. Or one belonging to this pack.”

Ethan looked around quickly but didn’t see anyone nearby. “Community. Not the word you used, remember.”

“Sorry.”

That was something else that would be difficult for them. Both of them had spent almost all the years since they’d left high school on the farm among wolves. They would need to relearn the code words werewolf shape-shifters used for their pack and their Alpha and such things out in the human world, real fast. Some humans were terrified of shape-shifters. Others persecuted them. Ethan needed to be very sure he didn’t endanger anyone. That would be the worst possible thing he could do.

They stood and waited in the lot, Ethan hoping like hell Georgia wanted to use her own car. But how likely was that? She wanted to rest and work while they drove. Likely she would expect them to drive their own truck. And that meant buying gas. Plus, the truck was old and not particularly reliable. If the truck broke down on the farm, probably he and Nolan would be able to get it running again. There were plenty of tools there and other people they could ask for advice. If it broke down on the side of the road without any tools they had no hope of getting it working again. In particular, no hope of getting it working and delivering them to the pack expecting them on time. Ah shit. His life was just one big crisis right now. All he wanted to do was think about Georgia and winning her love and respect. Instead he was more likely to be sent back home with a kick on his ass for causing her grief and trouble.

By the time she drove up in a white SUV, Ethan had almost convinced himself he was certain to fail, to be sent home in disgrace, and never to see her again.

Fortunately for his peace of mind, she jumped out of the car and smiled at them. “I’m glad you’re on time. Put your things in the trunk and let’s go.”

She climbed into the backseat, buckled her seat belt, and lifted a pile of papers onto her lap.

Ethan moved to the driver’s seat while Nolan put his backpack into the trunk and took the passenger side. Confident he knew the way, Ethan drove slowly out of the mall parking lot, familiarizing himself with the steering and braking of the SUV. It didn’t seem to have any unusual quirks, so by the time he reached the interstate he was happy to travel at the speed limit.

Apart from a few quiet remarks to each other about the route they were taking, he and Nolan remained silent, very aware that Georgia was there to work and they shouldn’t disturb her.

Eventually he heard her moving around and he glanced in the rearview mirror. She was putting the files of papers into a briefcase. “Thank you for your patience, Nolan and Ethan. It’s a big help being able to get everything organized as we travel. On the way home I’ll be able to start tabulating the results. This pack was one of the very first to agree to be interviewed. They have intermingled with other packs a little, but not as much as I would have expected, seeing they’re only a couple hour’s drive from two other packs. That’s one of the things we should have followed up on after the first interview, but didn’t know to check back then. You’ll be looking for more links to other packs or reasons why they kept away from the neighboring packs.”

Ethan nodded, not taking his gaze from the road.

Nolan murmured, “Yes, ma’am.”

“Call me Georgia, please. We’re colleagues on this project.”

Ethan nodded again, but he felt diffident about actually doing that in a work situation. In the apartment, sharing a donut, sure. But here she was very much their boss. They were just brand-new beginners at this job. Ethan swallowed hard. What if he made mistakes? What if he forgot to ask important questions or he sounded rude and upset the people he was interviewing? What if he did something wrong inadvertently and brought disgrace on his pack. Oh shit. So many things could go wrong. And he truly wanted only to please her and do everything right.