Croc's Return (8 page)

“I am not smothering him. Much.” Although hadn’t Melanie accused her of over parenting? Actually, her exact words had been very similar to Wes’s.
“He’s a boy. He’s supposed to jump off things.”

At least Wes didn’t say the other thing Melanie had as well,
“He needs a father.”
And Renny was looking for one. Kind of.

She noted Wes staring intently over her shoulder. “What are you looking at?”

A smile stretched his lips, not exactly a nice one. “Your ex-boyfriend is staring daggers at me right now.”

“What did you do?”

“Me?” Wes failed at looking innocent. He’d been born bad. Bad genes. Bad upbringing. Bad boy. But sinfully handsome with his dark hair and tanned skin.

“Yes, you. I know how you like to taunt Caleb. You always have.”

Wes’s smile widened. “Can I help it if that croc snaps so easily?”

“Maybe if you didn’t do it on purpose, he wouldn’t freak.”

“But here’s the beauty. I actually wasn’t trying to annoy him when I stopped to talk to you. However, I am so glad I did because he is practically bursting out of his skin. If he were a cat or a dog, he’d have already pissed on you to mark his territory.”

Renny couldn’t help a wrinkle of her nose. “That’s just being gross. And you’re wrong. I mean nothing to Caleb, so why would he care if another guy is talking to me?”

“Not just any guy. Me.” Wes stepped closer, looming in her space, and for a moment, she wondered what was wrong with her.

Wes was hot. Like super attractive. Yet, even though he stood close to her, the scent of him clean and sharp, she wasn’t in the least attracted.

It wasn’t because she knew of his reputation as the boy to stay away from. Make that the one all the girls wanted.

He’s hot.
Which was why she couldn’t understand, when he turned an intense gaze on her, which was only enhanced by the slight smirk on his lips, she hardly felt a thing. Mild interest at most.

Her lack of attraction made her bold. “Why didn’t we ever hook up?” she asked.

She took him off balance—she could see by the widening of his eyes—but he had a ready retort. “Because you were dating Caleb.”

“And after?”

“You left.”

She rolled her eyes. “And I came back. This is like, what, the third time we’ve run into each other? Each time you do a little flirt, and yet you’ve never asked me out.”

“I don’t like to waste my time. Any idiot can see you’re still pining for Caleb.”

“I am not.”

“Really? Then prove it.” The smile that tugged Wes’s lips held a challenge no one could resist. Not even her.

Because I have not been pining for Caleb.
She could and would date whoever she wanted. Even a Mercer!

“You’re on.”

Leaning on tiptoe, she heard Wes murmur, “Oh, this is going to create some chaos.”

Maybe it would. Maybe it would throw Caleb into a tizzy, but that was okay. It was about time he got some payback for leaving her.

Let him feel something.
Let him realize just what he’d lost.

Renny’s lips met Wes’s, and there was no electrical spark, no kaboom of the senses. It was…nice.

It thankfully didn’t last long.

“I hope I’m not interrupting.” The right words, but given Caleb spat them out through gritted teeth, not all that pleasant.

Renny pulled away from Wes, only to stiffen at the possessive hand Caleb dared place on the middle of her back. The fabric of her dress prevented skin-to-skin contact, and yet, awareness ignited in her.

Gosh darn it. An actual kiss did nothing, but Caleb thinking he could claim her in public had her wetting her panties.

It wasn’t fair. She tried to move away from his touch, sidestepping left then right. Caleb simply followed her, never relinquishing his claim.

His stubbornness didn’t endear him to her in the least. “Hands off,” she hissed over her shoulder.

Caleb completely ignored her, focusing instead on Wes. “If it isn’t my old school chum.”

“Chum? I believe the trending word these days is frenemies. How have you been, snaggletooth? Did you run and leave behind a whole other bunch of people before coming here?”

At Wes’s audacity, Renny sucked in a breath.

The tension in Caleb rose a notch. His jaw hardened. “I didn’t run. I served my time with the military and left with an honorable discharge.”

“Ah yes. The military. Can’t say as I ever felt the urge. I much preferred to stay behind and enjoy the benefits of home.” Renny bit her lip instead of giggling as Wes winked, so obviously baiting Caleb.

Caleb, though, didn’t think Wes joked. “Stay away from Renny.”

Jealousy. Oh my, there was no denying it. Caleb was jealous. A spurt of warmth curled low in her body.
No. Don’t give in.

Fight the attraction. Fight it with anger
. “You can’t decide who I see.” This time, she managed to completely evade Caleb’s touch and stood apart from both men, arms crossed over her chest.

Wes outright laughed. “You’ve been told. Hope you don’t lose too much sleep thinking about how badly you’ll fare when she compares me against you.”

His smug assurance irritated her, too. “You might be cute, Wes, but I am not interested in dating a sexist thug.”

“Thug?” Wes arched a brow. “I haven’t had an arrest since I turned eighteen.”

“Doesn’t mean you’re walking the straight and narrow,” Caleb pointed out. “Every one knows the Mercers are dirty.”

Wes lost his happy smile. “Maybe everyone should pay more attention before casting out insults. Now, while it’s been just fucking grand catching up, I’m going to have to ask you what you’re doing here.”

But Caleb just flipped the query around. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here as part of the security detail for this party.”

Something Renny had known, but she could see how Caleb might not have, especially since Wes was dressed just like one of the guests. Dark slacks, a dark mauve button-up shirt, the material filmy and light, and a dark gray tie.

“You’re a guard?” Caleb let loose a derisive snort. “Isn’t that kind of like letting the gator into the henhouse? Also, since when does a Mercer have a real job? What, did you run out of contraband to smuggle? Lost the recipe for your grandpa’s moonshine?”

Rather than flaring Wes’s temper, Caleb’s outburst served only to bring back his cool smirk. “I see serving time with the military didn’t improve your sense of humor. And being a veteran doesn’t give you an automatic invite to this party. I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

“Melanie invited me.”

“Ask me if I give a fuck. I’ll bet if I ask her husband, he’ll tell me to kick your ass out to the curb.” Wes sounded quite confident, and Renny had a feeling Andrew wouldn’t side with Caleb. One too many swirlies in high school.

“Andrew always was a whiny dick who couldn’t do shit for himself.”

Renny winced at Caleb’s insult, yet couldn’t quite disagree. Personally, she’d always thought Melanie could do better. But then again, her friend technically had, seeing as how she was the one married and living in a real house.

But speaking of Andrew drew Renny’s attention to something. “Melanie’s not back yet with Andrew’s change of clothes.”

Surely she’d had enough time to get to the parking lot and back. A vague sense of wrongness made Renny gnaw her lower lip.

“She probably got stopped for a chat.”

“Maybe. I’m still going to go find her. It’s time I grabbed Luke and headed out anyhow.”

“I’ll walk you to your car,” Caleb offered.

Before she could say, “No, thank you,” a murmur rose in the crowd. Even before someone held aloft a familiar pair of heels—only Melanie would wear black stilettos to a picnic—Wes was moving, his hand dropping to his side to grab at a two-way radio.

He pressed the button. “Teams A and B, missing female, five-foot-nothing, in a bright red gown…”

The detail Wes conveyed proved quite elaborate. The man had an eye for detail? Or had he just noticed Melanie?

There was a time in high school when Renny wondered if her friend would date him. The bad boy every mother hated. But Melanie had chosen to be more mature about her choice. Andrew was going places. Andrew was a gentleman.

Andrew also bored the heck out of Melanie. But she still chose him.

From the strand of trees yards away to their left, the twins burst forth, wailing. Standing with his mouth gaping, Andrew did nothing to calm them, leaving Renny to run and gather them into her arms in an attempt to calm them.

“Shh. Calm down and tell me what’s wrong.”

Rory sobbed. “A dinosaur got mama.”

“It’s probably gonna eat her.
” Tatum sniffled.

“What is? Did you see something?”

Matching tousled heads nodded. “A monster,” they announced in chorus, but that was all they would say. That and a small voice saying, “It was scary.”

“You’re safe now,” Renny murmured, tucking them close. “I promise there are no monsters or dinosaurs roaming around. I’ll bet your mom is just fine, you’ll see.”

Despite her reassurance, the twins’ fear proved contagious, and Renny peeked for her son, cursing herself for not having grabbed him, too. What if something did roam in the bayou?

Something stalked all right, but it was on two legs and had a hand on her son’s shoulder.

The look that trusting Luke turned on Caleb wrenched something in her, and she couldn’t help but shiver, unable to ignore the ominous portent.

For the first time she understood why Wanda liked to say, “Someone’s plotting against us. Get the gun.”

The moment someone held aloft those shoes, Caleb came to life.

Danger. Stand on guard.

Given the way Caleb suffered from anxiety, you’d think that a whiff of danger would send him into a fit.

Yet, this was the odd thing about Caleb’s psyche issues. Danger always seemed to energize him. It drew his scaly beast. The one he fought to keep hidden, except in times like these when alarm bells went off. He needed the predator to assess the situation.

First thing, where were Renny and Luke? She was easy to spot, her arms slipping around Melanie’s wailing twins, but Luke wasn’t with her. Pivoting around, Caleb didn’t have to turn far to find his son.

The small lad, less than half his size, stood right beside him. A little hand slipped into his, and for once, Caleb didn’t flinch at the unexpected contact.

His son might not know yet who he was, but he trusted Caleb to protect him.

He trusts me.
Even if he had no reason to. Something in Luke recognized Caleb. Understood Caleb provided safety.

“Will you help find Aunt Melanie?” The murmured request took Caleb by surprise.

“There’s already people looking for her.”

“But not in the right place. They’re looking in the building.”

“Of course they’re checking there first because Melanie probably went to the ladies room or something.” Except why drop her shoes on the edge of the pavement, coincidentally just around the curve of the building where no one from the party could see anything? And why would the twins have come running from the woods screaming?

“The thing in the swamp took her.”

“Thing? What thing?” Caleb turned a sharp gaze down at his son, who stared off at the vegetation bordering the cleared field.

“A dinosaur.”

For a moment, his first impulse was to scoff, and yet for some reason, Caleb instead asked, “What makes you think it was a dinosaur?”

“It was green and scaly.”

“So maybe you saw a crocodile or an alligator. They might seem like dinosaurs.”

Holy fuck, his son could roll his eyes like a pro. “I know what a croc and gator look like. And they don’t walk on two legs.”

Not usually, but the time Caleb had spent in the military, away from what he knew and immersed in a world where the mysteries of magic weren’t lost, he’d seen things. Impossible things. He’d met impossible shifters. Men who shifted only partially, sporting the heads of jackals. Stallions, with the upper torsos of men, the centaurs of old. Then the scariest thing of all, the naga, a beast thought hunted to extinction. The serpentine monster wasn’t dangerous because of its deadly strength, but because of the poisonous nature of their voice. Whatever the naga asked, a person did. He should know. He’d suffered under the influence of one for much too long. His scar tightened. Fire had severed that slave-like bond.

These experiences meant Caleb was well aware the world was much more vast and varied than most people, even shifters, imagined. It meant he kept his mind open to the possibility of a gator or even a croc walking about on two legs.

“Did the thing have two arms as well?” Caleb asked.

A nod of his son’s head. “With claws. And its face was weird.”

Face, not muzzle or snout. Interesting choice of word.

Caleb kept a hold of Luke’s hand as Renny made her way to him, the twins now clinging to their father—who seemed vastly uncomfortable—confronted with his children’s hiccupping sobs.

What a useless tool, but not Caleb’s problem.

When Renny got close enough, he asked, “Did the boys mention anything to you after they came out of the woods?”

“As a matter of fact, they did. Something about a monster.”

“A dinosaur,” Luke corrected.

“Yes, one of them said that. Probably a reptile of some kind that scared them, but I can’t see Melanie getting taken unawares by one.”

He couldn’t disagree. As part of the feline Pantherinae family, even in her human form, Melanie had a very developed sense of smell.

“I don’t suppose you’ve heard of a two-legged lizard man roaming in the swamp?”

A brow arched as Renny stared at him. “Is this your way of insulting Wes again? The Mercers aren’t at fault for everything. And, besides, he was standing with us when she went missing.”

A clamor went up from the far end of the clearing, where a weeping willow draped the shore to the creek in a thick curtain. From between the strands, a man in a purple shirt appeared carrying something crimson.

Renny squinted, but not for long, as Caleb, with his better eyesight, spoke aloud, “It’s Wes, and it looks like he’s got Melanie.”