Clay's Hope (17 page)

It was close to dinner when Dale told me I
could go. I knew I wouldn’t make it home before Gabby did, but I
still stopped to pick up some more laundry detergent, dryer sheets,
toilet paper, and toothpaste. Those items would be easy enough to
sneak into the house. The rest of the list, I’d save for another
day.

If Rachel wasn’t home and Gabby hadn’t yet
eaten, maybe I could cook her dinner again. The likelihood of
Rachel’s absence was pretty high. Rachel’s social life had altered
when she started seeing Peter, and I’d noticed a pattern. She
typically spent Tuesday nights at his house, which meant Gabby and
I would have tonight together.

Two blocks from home, I noticed the car. It
was parked in front of our house and was hard to miss. As I
watched, the brake lights turned on; and it pulled away from the
curb. I frowned. I knew both Rachel’s and Peter’s cars, and the one
that had just driven away wasn’t either.

Something about the car worried me.

With a burst of speed, I made it to the
garage to ditch the supplies, then let myself in through the back
door. I found Gabby in the living room, standing with her forehead
against the front door.

The scent of her fear and confusion laced
the air. Worried, I stepped closer as she pushed away from the
door.

When she turned and saw me, she started
screaming, a blood curdling sound that nearly stopped my heart.
With wide eyes, she clapped a hand over her mouth to stop the
sound. In the silence, I heard her pounding pulse. Something had
scared her before she saw me. What? Or who?

I inhaled deeply. There was a lingering
scent in the air, barely there. I breathed in again, tracing the
scent. She had something in her front pocket. Something not hers. I
glanced down, caught a glimpse of white, and reached forward to
pluck the business card out of her pocket. There was nothing but a
name and phone number on it.

I looked at her and shook my head, wondering
what had upset her so much.

She exhaled shakily and dropped her
hand.

“Did you see who was here?” she asked with a
slight tremor in her voice.

I shook my head, wishing I hadn’t worked
late.

“How did you know that was in my
pocket?”

I lifted it to my nose.

“Have you ever met Elder Joshua before?”

I shook my head again.

“Have you ever smelled him before?”

Where was she going with these questions?
Again, I let her know I hadn’t.

She closed her eyes and let out a sigh. She
was relieved I hadn’t met him? Why?

Her unfocused gaze told me she was lost in
thought. I gently tapped her forehead, wanting to know what she was
thinking. She startled slightly and gave me a weak smile.

“You want to know what’s going on in my
head?”

I nodded. I wanted that more than
anything.

“I’d like to know what’s going on in my head
sometimes, too,” she said, looking a bit lost. “Let’s make dinner
while I talk. Let me know if you hear Rachel or anyone else.”

I nodded, kicked off my shoes, and put them
in Gabby’s room before joining her in the kitchen. She was sitting
at the table, her hands fidgeting. I went to the cupboard and
grabbed some potatoes. She needed to keep her hands busy.

She didn’t hesitate once I set the spuds in
front of her. She started to peel, and I turned to get a pot
out.

“That was Elder Joshua at the door. He
stopped by because I haven’t talked to Sam lately, and Sam asked
him to check up on me. I guess he was worried after that
challenge.”

I took some chicken from the freezer and
went to thaw the meat in the microwave, listening not just to her
words but also her tone. She sounded pensive.

“Something was odd about him, Clay.”

And then, she just stopped talking. Behind
me, the peeler rasped against the potato and the microwave beeped.
I took the chicken to the stove then went to her side. She didn’t
look up at me. I grabbed the peeled potato, purposely nudging her
chair. It seemed to startle her from her thoughts, and I went to
the sink to rinse the potato.

“I’m different,” she said abruptly.

I turned from the sink and looked at her. Of
course she was different. She was human...yet somehow connected to
our world. I didn’t see anything wrong with that. I shrugged.

“No. Really different. It’s kind of hard to
explain. Sam told me I was different when he met me, but he doesn’t
know all of it. He said that I was rare because I was one of only a
few humans compatible with werewolves, just me and Charlene.”

She sighed and dropped the peeler, obviously
agitated. I quickly grabbed two more potatoes and handed them to
her along with the rinsed, nude potatoes. She started peeling
again, and I went to the stove and started slicing the chicken.

“Since as long as I can remember, I’ve seen
lights. Not with my eyes, but in my mind.

“When I was younger, I had to close my eyes
and concentrate to see a relatively small area around me. As I got
older, I didn’t need to concentrate as hard and could see a much
larger area. Now, I can see these lights at will, briefly, with
little effort, and over a longer distance. And I don’t need to
close my eyes.”

I put a large portion of butter into the
pot, started it, and added the chicken. Moving quietly, I took some
broccoli from the freezer, still listening and trying to understand
what she was saying.

“These lights are people, Clay. I can see
the neighbors moving around in their houses right now.”

I paused, stunned by what she was saying. No
lie laced her words. How could I, someone who had no skill of any
merit, be with someone so completely special? When she started
speaking again, she sounded a bit hoarse, so I poured her a glass
of water.

“It’s not an aura I’m seeing. To put it in
perspective, I can see a square mile around us, but in my mind, the
area looks like an inch. The lights within that area are small
pinpricks, but I can see them so clearly that they might as well be
the size of quarters three inches from my face. And all those dots
are the same color. Every human around us has the same yellow light
with a green halo.”

I handed her the drink and rescued the
potatoes she’d cubed into tiny pieces. It would make cooking them
quicker.

“Thanks,” she said, taking a sip.

While she continued talking, I resumed
cooking dinner.

“You and I, in the middle of those dots,
stand out. I have the same yellow light as everyone else, but my
halo is orange. I’m different from the people around us. Even from
you. Werewolves have a green core with a blue halo. At least,
that’s all I ever saw in the past two years, until the night you
were challenged. That werewolf had a blue-grey light.”

Was she saying there was another kind of
werewolf? I’d never heard of any, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t
true. We’d kept to ourselves until Charlene’s arrival and
acceptance into Thomas’ pack. Who really knew what was out there?
And another species would explain why that werewolf had challenged
me before my time was up.

She continued her explanation, speaking
slowly as if trying to figure out the right words to use.

“Now, imagine my shock when I opened the
door and saw a man, who introduced himself as Elder Joshua, with
the same color light. Only the difference in the color of his eyes
kept me breathing.”

Her panic made sense, and I started to
wonder. If there was another kind of werewolf, how could we have
one as an Elder? Did the other Elders know about this? No, I
doubted it. They were still trying to puzzle out why Charlene and
Gabby were potential Mates for our kind. I wondered if the answer
to that lay within what Gabby was telling me, that there might be
more species out there than we were aware.

“I’ve been like this my entire life, and I
have more questions than answers about this second sight. Why are
all humans green and yellow except Charlene and me? We’re human.
Why does Charlene have a red halo? Or me an orange halo? The only
similarities are the yellow cores. I’ve been thinking the yellow
cores mean human, but I don’t know what the halos mean.

“And I’m sure that you’ve caught on to the
whole guy situation. I call to them, somehow, as if I’m a beacon or
something. Do I really send out some kind of signal?”

She looked up at me questioningly as I
turned from the stove with a loaded plate in each hand. I handed
one to her and studied her for a long moment.

I had noticed the attention she received.
Some of it seemed a little intense, but she was beautiful and
amazing. I felt intense around her, too, but I knew that was just
the animal side of me. Humans were different. Gabby more so because
of her compatibility with me. However, beyond the Mate pull, I
didn’t sense anything different about her.

I shrugged and shook my head.

“So nothing as far as you can tell? There’s
got to be a reason, a connection to it all.” She sighed and played
with the food on her plate.

I ate slowly, unsure how to react to
everything she’d shared. Her revelation surprised me, but it didn’t
change how I felt about her. I didn’t care that she saw lights in
her head or that men found her attractive. It just meant we’d have
an interesting life.

I quietly ate my food and waited for her to
say more. Eventually, she did.

“I’ve never told anyone all of this. People
figure out there’s something different about me if they’re around
me long enough. But no one knows about the lights.”

That she’d chosen to share her secrets
elated me. It showed trust and progress in our relationship.

“I’m torn. Do I call Sam and tell him
everything? Do I tell him the light of the guy who challenged you
is the same light as Joshua? There’s nothing concrete I can offer
about the coloring or why I’m so worried about it.

“Why would a werewolf I’ve never met
challenge you? And why does he share the same coloring as Joshua?
So far, the lights have had a category: humans, werewolves, and
compatible Mates. I don’t think the challenger and Joshua can be
compatible Mates because Charlene and I are uniquely colored from
each other.”

She shook her head then took her first bite.
Her food had to be cold by now.

“Bet you’re wishing you hadn’t asked.”

I shook my head slowly, still watching her.
She was everything I wanted and more. I only wished she would have
trusted me sooner.

She quickly finished her meal, and I took
both our plates and cleaned up the kitchen while she sat at the
table and did her homework. Her anxiety remained high, and I didn’t
know what to do to comfort her. I doubted she’d welcome a hug yet.
At least, not from me while I wore my skin.

When I finished rinsing the sink, I left the
room, stripped out of my clothes, and shifted. I returned to the
kitchen, nudged her arm with my head, and looked toward the living
room. She reached out and ran her fingers through the fur at my
neck, then packed up her homework.

We watched some sitcoms before calling it a
night.

* * * *

Our lives settled into a pattern. I followed
her to school, without her knowing, then went to work. On Tuesdays,
Fridays, and Saturdays, Rachel spent her time at Peter’s place. On
those nights, I made sure I was home before Gabby so I could have
dinner ready. On the nights Rachel was home, I let Dale know I
could work late if he needed me.

The money helped. I started getting the
things Gabby needed or showed interest in. Simple things like
movies she mentioned to Rachel, basic food items, and some spare
clothes for me. I always wore what she’d given me on the nights we
were together, though, and hoped she understood how much I
treasured them, especially the shirt she’d sewn.

Each night together she peppered me with
questions, making a game of getting to know me; and as the weeks
passed, I thought we’d progressed nicely. She was comfortable with
me and seemed to really trust me. I wasn’t ready to test our
relationship yet, though. Fear that she would pull back stopped
me.

When the questioning turned to what I did
all day, I left my wallet on her dresser as a clue. Rachel was home
when Gabby found it so she didn’t say anything, but her expression
spoke volumes. Curiosity and excitement played across her features.
I sat behind her as she quietly opened it and started poking
through the contents.

Her hesitant glances at me before she looked
at each new thing were adorable but not as much as when she stared
at my license. They’d made me pull my hair back for the photo. It
was her first glimpse of my face. She stared so long that I started
to laugh, not at her fascination but because she was fascinated.
Just another sign of how much she’d accepted me.

But acceptance wouldn’t be enough to keep
the other unMated at bay, and our time to complete a Claim was
running out.

I sat on the bed and watched Gabby get
ready. A female from one of Gabby’s classes had invited Gabby to a
Halloween party. And Gabby had said yes.

She wore my favorite flannel shirt and a
pair of my jeans. The jeans sagged on her and mostly covered the
boots she wore. Thankfully, she’d belted the waist to keep the
pants from falling off completely. I liked that she wore my
clothes. It gave me a certain sense of possession...if only she
weren’t planning to leave and go mingle with other men at one of
those party houses.

Most of Gabby’s blonde hair was hidden under
a ball cap. I tilted my head, studying her as she sculpted some
thick sideburns with the hair gel. She was too cute to pull off
being a man, but it was better than the cocktail waitress costume
Rachel had given her.

When she started coloring manly looking
eyebrows on her face, her cuteness dropped a level, and I started
to worry. She was dressing tough. Human men weren’t rational when
they drank. Someone might take her attempt at toughness as a
challenge.