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Authors: Suzanne Cox

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BOOK: Relentless
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She nodded and turned her attention back to the television.

Leaning across the arm of my chair, I lowered my voice. “Is he acting kind of different to you lately? I know I only met him this past summer, but he seems different—like something’s going on that’s bothering him.”

Lana nodded. “He is acting a little strange, but I think it’s just the pressure of trying to join the Einherjar and knowing that he’ll likely be going off to college soon, too.”

“Will you go to college with him?”

She shook her head. “I’ve done all my college work already, and I travel a lot doing lab research and drug development.”

“That’s weird.”

“What?”

“Well, you seem so normal. You’d think somebody as smart as you wouldn’t be…well, like I said, normal.”

She laughed and stood up. “I’m going to bed now. You still going to Key West tomorrow?”

“I am.”

“All right.” She took a few steps then turned back to me. “Be careful tomorrow. Always use good judgment. It’s easy to get confused about things when your heart is involved.”

I watched her walk away. Lana couldn’t possibly know I’d been in contact with Eric. But if she didn’t know, why would she say that? I shook my head. Tomorrow I’d have to come up with a really good plan to ditch everyone if I was going to meet up with Eric. I didn’t have time to worry about Lana’s cryptic message.

Chapter Six

I tapped my foot anxiously on the tiled floor of the lobby. It was a nine-thirty, and I was the first one here. Two girls I didn’t know sat on the sofa in front of the television. I could have politely introduced myself and sat with them while I waited, but I didn’t. My mind was spinning with all the things that could go wrong today. And with the one thing I needed to go right.

The elevator whirred, and Myles stepped out. He seemed to pause when he saw me.

“You’re here early.”

“It’s nine-thirty.”

“And we’re supposed to meet at the dock at ten.”

“Oh, well, I…” I struggled for a decent reason to be up and out so early. “I went out to find that bracelet I lost.”

He gave me a doubtful look. I didn’t tell him that I just couldn’t sit in my room anymore or I’d scream. I waved my arm with a bracelet on it in the air. Lucky for me, I’d grabbed it at the last minute before I’d left my room.

“You can come with me. I’m going by the lab to see Lana before we leave.”

He was walking as he spoke, and I hurried behind him.

“That’s right. I’d forgotten she had to work in the lab today.”

“Robert came in with some specimens last night.”

“Who’s Robert?”

“Robert Garrett. He works with Lana in the lab. He’s not a student, just does the lab full-time.”

I nodded but knew he didn’t see me because I was two steps behind him. Overhead, the sun was already hot on my skin. Back home in Chicago, September would have brought the early chill of fall, but not here. Sure, it was a tropical paradise. A hot and humid one. Sweat trickled down the side of my face. I tried not to think about it, reaching out to ruffle the leaves of a dark green bush as we walked by. The white metal roof of the lab was visible just ahead through the trees.

Myles opened the door then stepped back to let me go in first. From the small foyer, we couldn’t see into the lab. Myles pressed a button near the large steel door that led into the actual lab. Somewhere in the distance, I heard buzzing. A female voice crackled over the speaker next to the button.

“Yes?”

“It’s me, Myles. Can Alexis and I come back?”

“Sure, I’ll be right there.”

Myles glanced at me but didn’t say anything as we waited. The door creaked and shivered as the locks released, then it swung open.

“Hey!” She put her arms around Myles and hugged him. “Come on in, Alexis.” She waved at me with a pair of clear plastic safety glasses she held in her hand.

I followed behind Myles. Lana was chattering about viral samples and DNA, but I was just trying to take it all in. The first time I’d seen the lab, it had been a little overwhelming. The second visit didn’t make me feel much different. This definitely wasn’t your average high school science lab. I noticed Lana calling across the room, and a door on the back wall opened.

When I’d first realized I was a werewolf and met some of the male werewolves, I had begun to wonder if they were all the most handsome men on earth. But I’d come to find that many of them were regular-looking guys. Much like Daryl, who had came across on the boat with us and who I now spotted in the far corner of the lab. I waved at him, and he lifted his hand to acknowledge us but immediately went back to whatever he was working on. The guy who came through the door was not like that. I recognized him immediately because he’d eaten with us in the dining hall one night, though he hadn’t been back. He was not average. Tall and lean, he seemed like he’d be more at home in a magazine advertising expensive men’s underwear. Even the dark-rimmed glasses he wore didn’t detract from his looks. If anything, they gave him a more intellectually gorgeous appeal. I glanced at Myles. Lana worked in the lab with that? And he wasn’t jealous?

“Alexis Miller, this is Robert Garrett.”

He took my hand, his long, slim fingers clasping around mine. I could feel the strength there. Even though he wasn’t as big as Myles, he was still a werewolf, still powerful.

“Hi.” I didn’t know what else to say, so I just stood there, letting my hand fall to my side when he let it go.

“We’re about to head out to Key West,” Myles said. “Sure you two don’t want to go?”

“We’re really at a critical point with these new samples that Robert brought in,” Lana said as Robert nodded in agreement with her.

“Is it a new strain of virus?” I asked.

Lana had been tapping her safety glasses against her leg, and now she stopped, placing them on the table. “Very new and different from others we’ve been seeing.”

Beside me, I could almost feel Myles’ body tense as he spoke. “Different how?”

Robert turned to him. “Different in that we think this virus is being manipulated somehow by the Fenryrians.”

I frowned. “Why would they do that?”

“To get a virus we can’t kill,” Lana responded.

“So you don’t think you’ll be able to get an antiviral to work against this one?”

Lana sniffed. “Of course we will. That’s why we’re at a critical point. I think we’ll have something in a day or two.”

“I guess we’ll let you get back to work then.” Myles turned, and I followed him to the door.

Glancing back, I could see Lana and Robert bent over some papers on one of the lab tables, their blond heads almost touching, as they seemed to both be talking at once.

We passed through the second door, leaving the cool air conditioning of the lab behind. Immediately, sweat beads formed on my upper lip.

“So you’re really going to leave Lana here working with him?”

“Not everyone knows how to drive the boat, so those of us who do take turns. This week it’s my turn. Besides, if I didn’t go, I wouldn’t be hanging out in the lab. That’s where Lana works. I’d be in the way.”

“You don’t mind she spends all that time with a guy who is monumentally good-looking?”

He stopped so abruptly I rammed into his shoulder as he turned around.

“What are you trying to say, Alexis?”

“I’m asking if you aren’t even a little jealous or concerned?”

He sighed. “Lana and I are promised to be mated. It’s not about being jealous. She belongs to me and I to her. I know you don’t understand because you didn’t grow up in a werewolf family, as part of the pack. But she and I did. We will be together. That’s the way it is, so there’s no reason for jealousy for either one of us.”

“You’re right. I don’t understand. It seems to me you should get to pick who you’ll marry or be mated to. Whatever you call it.”

“That’s the way it is in your world. But in our world, things are different.”

“You’re forgetting that the werewolf world is mine now, too. And I still think the whole someone-else-picking-your-mate thing stinks.”

He started back along the path toward the boat dock.

“It is what it is,” he said softly. I wasn’t sure if he was talking to me or to himself.

***

I’d heard of Key West before. It was the southernmost point in the United States. Other than that, I hadn’t really given it much thought. As we walked along the pier, the streets seemed busy, and I realized it was going to be much easier to “get lost” from the others here than I had expected. I smelled food, and my stomach rumbled, reminding me that I’d missed breakfast this morning because I’d been going through the few clothes I had, trying to figure out what to wear. In the end, I’d chosen khaki shorts and a T-shirt since that was basically all I had.

We’d walked together for ten or fifteen minutes when Myles stopped abruptly.

“I really need to look for some new shorts. You guys go ahead and do what you want. I’m going into some stores to look.”

“You know, I need some new stuff, too,” I lied, with as much conviction as possible. “I didn’t bring much with me. I think I’ll shop here for a while. Why don’t we all meet up at the marina later? What time are we leaving, Myles?”

“That actually is a good idea. We need to head back to Dromen by three o’clock. So everybody be at the dock by then.”

Brynna looked skeptically at Myles then back at me. Next to her, Jared nodded and started down the street with two other students that I’d only just met on the boat. Brynna continued to eye me and Myles a minute longer. She frowned briefly before hurrying to catch up with Jared. Myles didn’t move.

“I don’t know what you’re up to,” he said, still watching the others until they turned and were lost in the crowd.

I raised my eyebrows at him when he finally looked at me. “Really? I was thinking the same thing about you.”

“Don’t worry about me.” His words were hard and clipped, not at all like Myles.

“I’m not worried about you. But you’ve been acting weird the entire time I’ve been on the island. What’s up with you?”

“Nothing is up with me. This is the way I am. You just don’t know me that well. I’m going now. Keep yourself out of trouble.”

I frowned. “I suggest you do the same.”

His eyes locked with mine, and his lips parted, words just hanging there, on the edge. Then he pressed his lips together, letting nothing out. He walked away abruptly, and I watched him go, until he, too, disappeared among the throng of people on the street. Despite what he’d said, this wasn’t the Myles I knew, the easygoing, friendly Myles who took care of things.  He seemed troubled, preoccupied. I didn’t think it was just because he didn’t think I should be with Eric. Myles still felt betrayed because Eric had befriended him and hidden the fact that he was a werewolf. And of course, Eric was Fenryrian, which made him an enemy to Myles, even if they had been friends before. Whatever was bothering Myles would have to wait, because I didn’t think Eric was my enemy, and I wanted to see him. I headed off in the opposite direction. Turning down a side street lined with palm trees, I left the crowds and traffic behind. I stopped and pulled out my phone.

Eric answered on the second ring. “Where are you?”

I looked up at the street signs. “I’m on the corner of White Street and Eaton.”

“Just stay there. I’ll find you. It may take a little while. I’m on the other side of town, but I’m coming.” The connection died.

I ended the call and found myself pacing the sidewalk, four steps one way then back four. Occasionally I glanced up and down the street, wondering which direction Eric would come from. Wondering why I was here. What would I say? Why couldn’t I let it go, let Eric go, like everyone seemed to think I should? A dull ache began in the middle of my forehead, and I pressed my fingers to it. I turned to look to my left. Nothing. Then to my right and…he was there. For the first second, I couldn’t move, didn’t know if I even should. His blond hair fell over his eye as it always did, making me want to sweep it back.

I made two steps toward him then stopped. The images from the last time we’d been together littered my mind. We’d killed two members of the Fenryrian pack, Eric’s pack. Then he’d left me.

He held his hand out to me. “I know what you’re thinking, that I should have taken you with me that night.”

I nodded. At least there’d be no awkward conversation while we tried not to talk about what had happened. Eric’s plan seemed to be to jump headfirst into the biggest issue, whether I was ready or not. I hesitated, raised my arm, let my fingertips touch his and slide along to his palm. His hand closed over mine. The sheer energy created by the feel of his skin against mine burned a path up my arm, and I knew. I’d been right. It hadn’t ended in my backyard in Chicago. His swift intake of breath was audible even above the street sounds. With a quick jerk, he pulled me into his arms.  The fabric of his T-shirt was soft against my face, and I inhaled his scent, the sweat from walking along the streets in the heat and humidity, underlaid by soap.

His mouth was against my neck, then at my ear. “You have to know I wanted to take you with me. But it’s not fair to ask you to be part of that. You are Lycernian, and you’d never have with us what you could have with your own pack.”

“I’m just another member of the group. They’d never miss me.”

“They would, and it would destroy your aunt’s position.”

I leaned back so I could see his face, see the sapphire blue of his eyes. “My aunt doesn’t have a place in the pack. She’s just a teacher. She’s not on the council.”

“Not now, but she could be, likely will be, in the future. If you leave, you take that from her. You don’t want that. You don’t want to kill, to spread the virus to humans. I’ve seen you try to stop it from happening.”

I pressed my cheek against his shirt again, the thudding of his heart at my ear. “But you don’t do that, kill people. You don’t want to spread the virus to humans, do you?”

His arms tightened around me, and he pressed his lips to the top of my head. I couldn’t look at him. Not while I waited to hear his answer, to hear him tell me he wasn’t the monster everyone kept trying to convince me he was.

“It’s what I know, all I know. It’s my pack. This is who I am, how I was raised.”

My mouth dried. I forced my words out, this time tilting my head back so I could see his face, because I had to know. “What do you want?”

His body stilled. The sapphire blue of his eyes clouded, darkened. Against my back, his fingers pressed until I thought I might not be able to breathe.

BOOK: Relentless
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