Mist on the Meadow (22 page)

“You and Wolf have a lot in common. When did
you lose your father?”

Ralph drew in a sharp intake of air. “How
would you know anything about my father?”

She shrugged. “It’s a guess, but men who’ve
lost their fathers seem to gravitate toward each other.” Marissa
didn’t know if that was true, but it would explain Ralph’s desire
to ‘adopt’ Wolf. “Wolf is of an age where he could almost be your
son, isn’t he?”

“Wolf’s a good man,” Ralph replied.

“Yes, he is,” she whispered. Ralph’s vision
didn’t include any women. She was the intruder. “He misses his
father.” Marissa wanted to allay Ralph’s concerns. “You were there
for him while his grandmother was ill.”

Marissa heard Ralph’s
voice, but his mouth wasn’t moving. She closed her eyes and saw the
memory in Ralph’s head, a conversation he’d had with Wolf.
Hex recognizes a good woman when he finds
her.
He’d been talking about her, and that
made her smile. Should she tell him he could still do all the
things he wanted to with Wolf? Wolf didn’t have to choose between
them. But if she told Ralph, she’d disclose her hidden
talents.

She looked at Hex.

“It’s always hard when a patient dies,” Ralph
said. “But you expect that. It isn’t so common that you—” He paused
and she watched while he swallowed.

“I’m certain that he thinks of you as
family,” she finished for him. “And I’m sure he’d like to hold onto
that, especially after you consider what else he has to choose
from, as far as family goes.”

With that, Ralph smiled. “I like you.”

“Thanks.” She returned the smile. “I like
you, too.”

Wolf chimed in from the foyer entrance.
“Good. Now that we’ve established that, I’d like to take my woman
back to bed.”

Marissa woke with a start. Wolf lay beside
her, sound asleep, his arm draped over her. She eased out from
under and crept out of his bed.

She fought the desire to
jump back in for another set of lovemaking—he seemed to be
naturally set for twice—but she had already lost too much of
herself. What they shared wasn’t normal, the way she saw into his
thoughts, the way he could read hers, it unsettled and enticed at
the same time. But Wolf’s overwhelming desire to protect her didn’t
erase the fact that someone had broken into her apartment, and that
same someone—could there be two people?—had tried to blow up
Mangela.
Hiding out with
Wolf wasn’t going to make her problems go away.

She had to find a way to deal with this on
her own. Marissa settled an open palm against her stomach and
closed her eyes. The growth was still there, growing larger, and
then Marissa’s afterglow shifted to full-blown panic.

Her new transformation was
partly responsible for Wolf’s obvious infatuation with her, but for
Marissa, this type of relationship didn’t come around every day.
She might have found that once in a lifetime
love—
love?
—and
yet Wolf seemed so out of control. Haggard. Frazzled. Desperate. At
war with himself.

Had she inadvertently cast a spell on Wolf?
Would he come to his senses and go back to ‘his type?’ And then
what would she do if this was a child growing inside of her?

It couldn’t be. She’d seen
him remove the spent condom, although she knew there was a failure
rate
.

A child
.

Hex rumbled into a loud purr and stretched
at the end of the bed.

“Marissa?” Wolf called out sleepily.

“Go back to sleep,” she whispered. She put a
finger to her lips and picked Hex up.

Marissa held the cat in front of her face.
Would he show her what was growing inside her? Hex meowed and
jumped from her arms. Marissa doubled over and ran to the bathroom,
certain that she was going to be ill, but nothing came up. All of
this, the cramps, the visions, could be part of an illness that had
settled on her. A tumor would account for those same symptoms.

She had to go. But where? The super had put
a new lock on her apartment after the police left, but she wouldn’t
feel safe there. And the café was off limits for another day, she’d
been told, while the crime lab gathered evidence. If she went back
to her parents, they’d wonder where she’d spent the night. Not that
they didn’t already know about her and Gary Kinsey all those years
ago, but she didn’t talk about her sex life with her parents.

Hex chirped at her feet and wound around her
bare ankles. If she didn’t go now, she’d crawl back into the warmth
of Wolf’s embrace and never want to leave.

Uncle Balt would know what to say. The
heaviness in her heart returned and she fought to hold back the
tears.

Marissa gathered her clothes and dressed as
quietly as she could. Then she tiptoed across the room to her
overnight bag. Hex trotted along behind her and watched while she
loaded her things into her car. When it was his turn, he stood tall
so she could pick him up.

Even as she drove away from the Manor,
Marissa fought the urge to go back and explain why she’d sneaked
out. Likely he’d be hot on her heels when he found she’d left, but
Marissa needed some semblance of normalcy. That meant going to her
parents.

When she walked into her mother’s kitchen,
her mother didn’t register the oddity of Marissa’s arrival at
first.

“I thought you’d taken Hex back home with
you.” Her mother reached up to pet the cat in Marissa’s arms.

“I did,” Marissa replied.

“Wait, why aren’t you at the café?” Her
mother pushed away from the table.

Marissa set Hex on the floor and hung up her
coat. “Someone broke into the café. It’s a crime scene.”

“Are you okay?”

Marissa nodded, and covered her mother’s
trembling hands. “And my apartment.” Wolf had been there. He’d seen
the mess. There hadn’t been a need to talk about what they’d seen.
With Wolf there wasn’t a need to speak, period. When she told her
mother, the reality shook her to the core. “Someone broke into my
apartment.”

Her mother scooped Marissa into her arms.
“Oh honey!” Tears cascaded down her cheeks. “Thank heaven you
weren’t there. You weren’t there, were you?”

Marissa shook her head. She watched her
mother gather her courage with a deep breath. “Last night?”

The warmth rose from the depths of those
growing cells to the top of Marissa’s head. She didn’t have to
answer.

“You could have stayed here,” her mother said
at length. “Aren’t things moving a little quickly between you and
Wolf?”

Marissa couldn’t tell her mother about her
legacy, and that was even harder than owning up to the illicit
relationship she’d entered into with the man her parents likely
viewed as obsessive.

Her mother narrowed her eyes. “There’s more,
isn’t there?”

And Marissa began to sob.

“I knew he was trouble.”

“No.” Marissa had to
correct that misconception. “He is not trouble. We have an amazing
connection. Something I’ve never experienced before. It’s a little
frightening, but it’s also
right
.”

Her mother frowned. “Sex is not a good basis
for a relationship.”

With that Marissa laughed. Not that the sex
wasn’t incredible, but what she had with Wolf was so much deeper
than physical. “It’s not the sex,” she said, and her hand dropped
to her abdomen, a reflex that didn’t go unnoticed by her
mother.

“Tell me you’re on the pill.”

“I haven’t needed it.”

“Marissa Ann! Tell me you did not have
unprotected sex.”

“I did not have unprotected sex.” But the
tears streamed down her cheeks.

Her mother held her close. “Oh my poor baby.
You’ve had a hell of a week.”

She needed her mother, her mother’s advice.
The discussion had been started. It was too late to back down now.
“When did you know you were pregnant?” she asked.

Tears welled in her mother’s eyes. “Didn’t
you just say—?”

“Yes.” Marissa swiped the tears off her
face. “But with my luck, I’m one of the two percent that slip
through.”

“Let’s get you in to see Doctor Banks. What
do you think? He can get you on the pill and you can stop this
needless worrying.”

Marissa held up her hand. “I’ll wait a
couple of weeks. I’ll probably feel better after I’ve had my
period, and then I’ll make an appointment with Doctor Banks.”

* * *

She was gone. Wolf rolled over and stared at
the pillow beside him. More than her scent of vanilla sugar that so
allured him, he inhaled the carnal essence of their lovemaking. He
ached for the feel of her, the sense of her in his head, the silent
communication that bound them so closely.

His behavior since they’d met had been
erratic. He knew that. But someone was trying to hurt her. Wolf
leapt out of bed. She’d probably be safe with her parents for the
time being—he was certain that’s where she’d gone—but he couldn’t
sit by while someone, possibly someone he was related to,
threatened her. Wolf had given her the protection of his body, his
home, but until the menace was identified and stopped, the danger
would continue. It didn’t matter where she was.

He pulled on a pair of jeans and yanked a
sweater over his t-shirt. With a pair of heavy socks stuffed into
his back pocket, he walked to the kitchen barefoot, following the
aroma of fresh-brewed coffee.

Chuck sat at the kitchen table, blowing
across the top of his mug.

“How long do you plan to camp out here?”

“How long is my father going to be pissed
off?” Chuck replied.

“Does he even know you’re there half the
time?”

Chuck shrugged, shortening his thick
neck.

Wolf poured a cup of coffee and sat across
from his cousin. “How crazy is Elliot?”

Again Chuck shrugged. “I dunno.”

“Crazy enough to try to blow a place up?”

Chuck set his mug on the table, wide eyes
fixed on Wolf’s. “What happened?”

“Answer the question.”

“I swear, Wolf, I told the police
everything. I helped him get the job, but since then, he hardly
talks to me.”

“He called you yesterday, didn’t he?”

Chuck bit his lower lip.

“And he mentioned ‘my girlfriend.’ What else
did he say, Chuck?”

“That’s it. Honest.” But Chuck’s eyes went
to the windows, the doors, over his shoulder. He was scared, and
not of Wolf. “Even in high school he was involved with things we
didn’t want to know about. He has connections.”

“What? Like mob connections?”

Chuck shuddered. “I don’t know exactly. He
got into some trouble in high school and his dad made him do
community service, work on some political campaign. He delivered
flyers all over the city, and I’m guessing he found the trouble he
was looking for, because suddenly he was flashing around big money
running errands for people he couldn’t talk about. That’s how he
paid for college.”

“Right. Where he didn’t do
so well.” Wolf pulled on his socks and reached for his
boots.
Political
campaign
? And he’d seen Senator
Blankenship at Harper Electronics, talking to his uncle. Wolf shook
his head. It was an election year. The politicians were everywhere,
holding town hall meetings, shaking hands, kissing babies. “This
political campaign Elliot worked for, it wasn’t for Senator
Blankenship, was it?”

Chuck shrugged. “I don’t remember.” He
nodded at Wolf’s boots. “Where’re you going?”

“To visit my uncle.”

“Don’t tell him I’m here. Please?”

Wolf cast an irritated glance at his idiot
cousin while he laced his boots. “I won’t volunteer the
information, but I won’t cover for you. Best I can offer.”

Chuck nodded like a scared little girl.

Wolf chugged his coffee, which was barely
cool, and reached for his coat. “Watch your back,” he told Chuck,
and walked out the door, through the snow, to his car.

As he started the engine, his cell phone
rang. The caller ID displayed one of the numbers assigned to Harper
Electronics. “Wolf Harper.”

“Brett Kazcyinski. Think I’ve got something
you want to see.”

Kazcyinski. He was the head of security.
“What?”

“Marshall suggested we pull the surveillance
video. We hit the jackpot.”

“Elliot Bederman?”

“In living color. I’ve notified the
police.”

“Do you need me?”

“We’ve got it covered for now, but thought
you might like to see. You’re not coming in?”

Wolf put the car into drive. “Not today. I
need a word with my uncle, and he’s on vacation this week.” He
disconnected the call and made the drive into town.

Wolf passed the square, now devoid of the
booths from the winter carnival. He couldn’t remember most of the
sleigh ride he’d taken with Marissa, but that moment when he swore
he’d seen his grandmother was as sharp as a tack. He glanced at the
clearing where the horses had been corralled. Even the temporary
fencing was gone, just like his grandmother.

Wolf phoned Marissa. She
didn’t pick up. He didn’t expect that she would. He left her a
short message. “I’m here if you need me.” And then, before he could
stop himself, he added, “I love you.” As he disconnected the call
he shook his head. Nice.
Class act,
Harper
. That wasn’t something you told
someone for the first time over the phone. But she knew. She had to
know, the same way he knew when she’d crept out of bed that she was
going home to her parents. He’d add the hearts and flowers next
time they were together. He’d make it up to her.

Right now, he had other business to attend
to. He parked in his uncle’s driveway and stared at the house for a
long time. The door opened and Aunt Corrine locked eyes with him,
her hands on her hips. He had to face her some time.