Tooth and Claw (The Harry Russo Diaries Book 2) (23 page)
Read Tooth and Claw (The Harry Russo Diaries Book 2) Online
Authors: Lisa Emme
“Oh, thanks. You picked up flowers from my shop? But that’s
way across town from you.”
“Of course, Harry. You’re family now. The pack supports
each other.” She said it matter-of-factly.
I really didn’t know what to say to that. There was an
awkward silence and then Kevin cleared his throat.
“So I hear you saved Cian’s life.” He shoved his hands in
his pockets and nodded.
“I…yeah, I did.”
Before I could say anything else, Evaine was across the room
and leaning over to hug me one armed. Michelle, sitting on her hip in the
other arm, giggled and patted my face.
“Hareee!”
Evaine gave me another fierce squeeze then stood up. “Thank
you for saving my little brother Harry.” She brushed away a tear. “I
promised myself I wouldn’t cry like a baby.” She stomped her foot in
frustration then patted her belly. “It’s the hormones, honestly. I’m not
usually such a basket case.”
“You’re pregnant? That’s great!” I looked at Kevin
who was beaming with pride. “Congratulations.”
“Kee! Kee!” Michelle leaned over in Evaine’s arms trying to
reach Nash.
“Uncle Cian is sleeping Michelle. How about you give him a
kiss and you’ll see him when he wakes up. Okay?” Evaine carried the little
girl over to Nash’s side of the bed and bent down so the little girl could
touch her lips to Nash’s forehead.
“Kiss Harreee!” She reached for me.
“Me? Oh, okay.” I leaned over and she planted a sloppy kiss
on my cheek. “Thanks sweetie,” I said, giving her curls a little pat.
“Let’s leave the balloons for Uncle Cian now Michelle, then
we’ll go home.”
“Nooooo! Bloons mine!” She clutched her fistful of balloon
strings to her little chest.
“One balloon is yours,” Kevin said, pulling a pink one from
the bunch. “The rest are for Uncle Cian.”
“Mine!” Michelle clutched the pink balloon, letting Kevin
pull the rest away. He tied them to the arm of a chair at Nash’s bedside.
“Well, we don’t want to tire you out, Harry. We’ll see you
soon.” Evaine smiled and gave my arm a little squeeze.
“Sure. Thanks again for the flowers.”
Kevin held the door open for them to leave just as Tess was
returning, two large take out containers in her hands. They traded hellos and
then Tess stood back to let them through the door.
When they were gone, she sat beside the bed, plunking the
two containers down on the raised tray table.
“Thought you might be hungry when you woke up, so I ran out
to Minetti’s.” She looked around the room. “Nice flowers and balloons.”
“The flowers are from my own store.” I huffed out a little
laugh. “Because we’re family now and the pack supports its own.”
Tess looked at me carefully and nodded. “Yeah, we do. But
you have always been part of the pack, even when you didn’t know it. It’s just
that the rest of the pack knows it now too.”
“You mean this doesn’t have anything to do with the mark?”
I looked at her hopefully.
“Oh, this totally has to do with the mark.” She smiled at
me teasingly.
“Gah! Why is it such a big deal? I thought it was just a
hickey.” I looked at her with narrowed eyes. “You need to tell me what it’s
all about.”
Tess looked uncomfortable.
“Harry, I’d like to, I really would, but I can’t. Nash said – “
“Forget what Nash said. This isn’t about me or Nash, just
tell me about the mark in general.”
“That’s the same as – “
“No, it’s a loophole. I’m half vampire remember? We live
for loopholes.”
Tess bit her lip, thinking. “Okay. I’ll tell you what I
can.” She gestured at the food containers. “But can we eat our meatball subs
first?”
We polished off our subs, with only the occasional grunt of
satisfaction and smacking of lips, breaking the silence. When the containers
were in the trash and we had both made trips to the washroom to clean the
copious amounts of marinara sauce off our hands and faces, Tess gave me the low
down on the werewolf mate mark.
The more I heard, the more dismayed I became. This wasn’t
some temporary love bite. Nash had permanently marked me. It was there for
all to see, or rather sense. Every werewolf would recognize it as a sign that
Nash and I were mates. As unbelievable as that sounded, it got worse. The
mark bound us together, made us more attuned to each other’s emotions. In
actual wolf pairings, some mates actually achieved true mind to mind
communication, like Isaac and I had when a blood bond was active.
“They say the sex is amazing with a mark because you feel
each other’s emotions.” Tess looked at me expectantly. “So was it?”
“Forget it,” I said shaking my head. “I’m so not going
there.”
Tess just looked at me, her lips pursed. She crossed her
arms in front of her. “Spill, Harry.”
A few minutes passed with Tess simply staring at me.
Finally I caved. “Alright, alright. It was incredible, okay? Is that what
you wanted to hear?” I threw my hands up in defeat. “It was the most
incredible sex I have ever had.”
“Ha! I knew it.” Tess slapped her thigh. “It would have
to be.”
“Why? What do you mean?”
“Well, because you’re mated for life. You know, good old
monogamy? Having sex with the same person
ad infinitum
?
“We’re what?” I looked at her dumbfounded. “But we’re not
even dating!” My heart was pounding, I was so angry. How could Nash do that
to me? To us? To himself? Nash began to growl again. On the monitor, his
heart rate increased as if in tune to mine, which it probably was thanks to his
stupid mark.
“Uh, Harry. You better try and calm down or Nurse Rachett
is going to come back.”
With an unintelligible sound of frustration, I threw myself
back on the bed and tried to calm my breathing. Nash’s breathing had quickened
as well.
“Shh, it’s okay Nash. Calm down. Everything is fine.” I
petted his arm soothingly. “Just relax so you can get
alllll
better.”
I kept my voice calm and quiet, like I was trying to lull a child. “Shhh,
that’s right. Nice and calm so you can wake up soon and I can kick your ass.”
I smiled pleasantly at him. Tess sat back in her chair trying not to laugh.
***
I must have slept again because the next thing I knew
Eleanor was standing in the room looking at me and Nash. Nash’s hand was once
again on my ass. Men! Even unconscious, all they think about is sex. I was
up and out of the bed in a blink of an eye, my face turning beet red by the
feel of it.
“Mrs. Nash!” I blurted out in surprise. I looked around the
room, but Tess was gone, the traitor. Eileen and Christina came into the room.
“Sorry, I wasn’t expecting you. I mean, of course I would expect you to visit
your own son in the hospital, I just….” I clamped my mouth shut, biting my
lip. I was babbling.
“Relax Harry, dear, and call me Eleanor. We’re family now
after all.” She smiled at me.
“We are?” I looked at her in surprise. “You mean because of
this?” I tipped my head to the side and put my hand to the mark.
“Well…”
“This is just crazy,” I continued, not waiting for Eleanor
to speak. “I don’t care what this mark means to everyone else. I am not
Nash’s, uh, Cian’s mate. Okay, so maybe in the biblical sense, but in no other
sense of the word. He never even asked me if I wanted this! We’ve never even
been on a date!” I started pacing
back and forth. “Half the time I don’t think he even likes me and I
know
that half the time I don’t like him, the pushy bastard, uh, excuse me Eleanor.
This is all just…” I threw my hands up. “Just too much.”
“Harry?” Nash’s voice was weak and raspy.
“Cian!” Eileen ran over to his bedside, grabbing his hand,
a look of relief on her face.
I drew in a sharp breath and looked at Nash. His eyes met
mine. With a shake of my head I turned away. “I have to go. I just….” I
shook my head again and brushed past a shocked Christina. “I have to go.”
I pushed out the door and saw Isaac walking down the
corridor. Behind me, I could hear Eileen berate her brother. “Whoa, you
really fucked up, didn’t you bro?”
Isaac looked surprised to see me. “Harry, what are you
doing?”
“I need to leave. Will you take me home?”
“Yes, of course.” He grabbed my arm and began to escort me
back down the hall to the elevators.
Leaving the hospital was easier said than done. A nurse
chased us down at the elevators demanding that I sign discharge papers. Then
she insisted that I had to ride in a wheelchair. Feeling numb, I went through
the motions and finally got discharged. Downstairs at the hospital entrance,
Isaac bid me to wait for him while he went and got the truck. I sat in the
hospital entrance, ignoring the activity around me. I just wanted to get home
to my own bed. I needed time to sort out my feelings.
“Excuse me?” A tall, balding man who looked positively
ancient, all weathered skin and more wrinkles than a Shar Pei, stepped in front
of me. He was dressed in a handsome, black suit and was holding a fedora in
his hands. “Are you Angharad Russo?” His voice was smooth and sounded younger
than his visage.
“Who wants to know?” Instantly wary at the sound of my full
name, I sat up straighter in the chair, prepared to jump up and defend myself
if necessary.
The man smiled a thin smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “I
have a message for your father.” He held out a small, white card, the size of
a business card.
I shook my head and held up my hand in a ‘no thanks’
gesture. “My father? You must be mistaken. I don’t have a father.” I turned
away, dismissing him.
The man gave a shrug and pushed out his arm, holding the
card up closer to me. I looked at him for a minute then grabbed the card. He
put the fedora back on his head, tipping it at me in salute, then he turned
and left the building.
I looked at the card. It was blank except for a strange
sigil in the centre on one side. On the flip side, there was what appeared to
be a date a few weeks in the future written in red. I stared at the sigil. It
was a stylized gothic-looking butterfly in black ink. On its wings, its red markings
had melded to form the shape of a bloody skull. I frowned. What a weird thing
to give a person.
I was still frowning at the card when Isaac arrived back to
pick me up.
“What’s that Harry?” He gestured to the card as he came
around the side of the SUV to open the door.
“I don’t know. Some creepy looking guy in a suit gave it to
me.” Isaac looked closer at the card, his eyes widening in surprise. He
looked around quickly, suddenly tense. “He said it was for my father,” I
added. I shrugged not sure what to do with it.
“We should go, Harry.” Isaac’s normally calm demeanor
appeared to have a few cracks. I hopped up in his
Escalade
and we headed home.
“You’ve seen that sign before, haven’t you?” I asked and
Isaac nodded his head in response. “What is it?”
“You had better ask Salvador that.” Isaac turned and looked
at me.
“Ask Salvador? I don’t think I’m up for that.” I frowned
at the card in my hands.
“No Harry, I think you have mistaken my meaning. You can
give
the card to Salvador. He will tell you what it means.” He pushed his
sunglasses down his nose and
looked
at me.
“I heard what you said Isaac. But the guy said to give it
to my father so why would I…Oh!...Ohhhhh.” I nodded my head slowly, up and
down, as the true meaning of Isaac’s words sunk in. “Oh fuck.”
The End
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Tooth and Claw
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Lisa
Lisa Emme is a Canadian who proudly ends her ABC’s with 'zed'. A self-professed book-a-holic, she has spent the last few years trying
to stem her book hoarding tendencies by writing her own stories and by avoiding the bargain table at the bookstore like the plague.
A bit of a thrill seeker, Lisa has tried such death defying activities as bungy jumping off a bridge in New Zealand and rappelling down the side of a
17 storey building. She's also single-handedly raising a teenager.
Lisa has worked as a veterinary assistant, playground instructor, bank teller, store clerk, waitress, telephone solicitor, research writer
for an environmental think tank, computer programmer, and systems analyst. Her passion however is writing. What else is she going to do during
the long, cold prairie winter?
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