Thank You For Not Shifting (Peculiar Mysteries Book 2) (12 page)

Babe grabbed the nearest towel from a rack and wrapped Sunny up.

“Not funny,” she said, shaking her finger at me.

“This ranks right up there with scrubbing your face off,” I pointed out.

“Shut up. This wasn’t my fault.” Her cheeks turned pink. “It’s been a long time since I’ve had a pedicure, so I went to Dolly’s this morning, and the day has been stressful, so I thought a eucalyptus bubble bath was in order, especially with you and Babe taking care of Jude. I just wanted to pamper myself for a minute.”

“And that explains doing the splits how?”

“My foot is really smooth, Chav. So is the tub. Add soap, and voila, I’m ready to be the next circus act.” She glared at me. “I swear to God if you tell a soul…”

“Would I do that?”

“Yes! I’m still trying to live down the allergic reaction I had to the hair depilatory that I used on my lip.”

“I only told Ruth. Maybe Blondina.”

She snapped her fingers then slipped as her wet feet skittered on the tile. Babe caught her by the arms and hauled her up. “Not. A. Word,” she threatened.

“Spoil sport.”

“I think it’s time I got my wife to bed,” Babe said, smartly staying out of the banter.

“I am exhausted,” Sunny said. “Jude hasn’t been sleeping well, which means I haven’t been sleeping well.”

And she was voluntarily having another baby? No, thank you. I hoped she told Babe soon. I was no good with secrets. Babe took Jude back, and my hand went inside my sweat pants pocket to the wooden star. I hadn’t told him about it. Or the sheriff. Hell, other than Sunny and Ruth, no one knew about it. Well, Roger, of course, because he found it, but why did I want to keep it to myself? I hadn’t let anyone touch it since I took it from Roger. Guilt niggled its ugly way through me, but really, the damn thing could have just been a trinket. It didn’t have to have anything to do with the murder. Right? I stroked it again, enjoying the textures against my fingertips.

Sheesh. Was I going to start hacking up fur balls and calling it
my precious
?

I hoped not.

By eleven p.m., Sunny and Babe were in their bedroom, but I couldn’t sleep. I could hear the TV on in their room, some cop drama I think. They had it turned down low, and I could hear Baby Jude snoring away over their baby monitor. That kid was going to need a good ear, nose, and throat doctor when he got older. I tossed and turned on the couch. Even with the lack of sleep the night before, I couldn’t shut off my brain. The star wouldn’t let me rest, and the slightly sweet and spicy smell kept it at the forefront of my mind. The smell had been stronger last night. Had it faded that much in such a short time or had the smell come from the victim? Gosh. Poor Mike. I didn’t know him well, but given his exchange with Ed, I understood how he’d gotten his reputation. Still, he was a part of my community, and now he was dead. It made me sad and sick to think about. Another thought occurred to me: Would Sheriff Taylor question Ed about Mike’s death? Maybe he was a suspect now that he wasn’t a victim. But Ed had a pretty good alibi.

Who else had been murdered? The image of the bloated skinned body in the lake sent a shiver right through me. I wondered if anyone had found an eight-pointed sassafras star with the other corpse.

Remorse assailed me. I really should’ve told the Sheriff about the star. And I had promised Babe to stay out of the investigation. Still, I couldn’t stop wondering about the second victim.

Screw it. I’d go to Billy Bob’s and see if I could get info about the second body. And I’d show him the star. Maybe his woo-woo magic had some explanation for it. Maybe it really was just a spice and meant nothing at all.

I didn’t change out of my sweats and oversized T-shirt. I didn’t want the doc to think I was trying to impress him. I slid on my flip-flops and grabbed my car keys. I was not going to think about our kiss or how much I’d wanted to seal the deal.

Why had he kissed me? I almost felt better when I knew there was never going to be anything between us. No matter what else happened, we’d always have those two toe-curling, soul-lifting, body-clenching kisses.

Damn you, Billy Bob Smith, and your stupid, stupid lips.

I bumped a lamp stand on my way to the door. It wobbled, making a thump, thump, thump sound. “You okay out there?” Babe shouted from the bedroom.

Shit. “Fine,” I told him. “Just getting a drink of water.” I felt a small boost of triumph when I managed to get out the door without making another sound. I used my key to lock the door—carefully.

Chavvah Stealth Trimmel, at your service.

I hoped like hell my car didn’t wake Babe or Sunny when I started it up. It was a nice two-door sedan, a quiet model, so I wasn’t too worried as I pulled out onto the rural road. I played through everything I would do when I got to Billy Bob’s place. Business only. I’d show him the root, ask about the body, and be on my way.

So what if it was almost midnight?

Crap. I should have worn a bra. And combed my hair. It was still up in a ragtag ponytail, and several long strands had fallen out of the rubber band and flew wildly around my face. I could have rolled up the windows and turned on the air conditioner, but I liked the feel of the air on my skin, especially on such a warm night.

When I pulled into Billy Bob’s drive, I noticed a soft glow coming from his sweat lodge. Was he performing a ritual? I’ll admit, even though I didn’t buy into his kind of hokum, I was fascinated by his beliefs. Besides, Sunny had told me how he was practically naked when he had taken her to the sweat lodge after rescuing her from her car accident. Which is why I turned the car lights off and coasted up the hill, trying hard not to stir up the gravel, and why I found myself at a full stop less than a hundred yards from the sweat lodge.

Treacherous ovaries! They really wanted to see a mostly naked Billy Bob. Or all naked. That worked too. Did he pray and chant as he danced around a fire? It dawned on me, for a guy I’d known for almost three years, I really knew very little about him.

I rolled down the window and slid out of the car. I didn’t want to take a chance his wolf hearing would pick up the door opening and closing. I let my coyote surface so I could see through her eyes. It allowed me to avoid clumps of dry grass and loose rocks that would give me away. I made it all the way to the front of the sweat lodge without once making any noise. My klutzy-self, still less clumsy than Sunny, wanted to high five my sneaky self, but that would have defeated the whole purpose of being quiet in the first place.

I
heard soft chanting. I gently pulled back a leather flap at the entrance and peeked inside.

Two gray eyes stared back at me from less than a foot away.

I yelped and stumbled back, but not before a quick hand reached through the opening and pulled me inside.

“What are you doing here, Chavvah?”

“I … uh.” His pure masculinity was an aphrodisiac.

“Are you in pain?”

Yes. Yes, I am. Pain from wanting you hardcore.
I noticed he wore nothing but a loincloth, and his body was covered in swirls of light and dark clay that covered all of his skin, even his face.

He leaned in close and sniffed me. Honest to heavens, took a long-ass whiff of my scent. “You don’t smell like you’re in pain.” He offered a feral grin. “You smell like desire.”

“Don’t tell me I smell like desire.” He really threw me off-kilter. I wasn’t even making sense to myself. Two could play the sniffing insult game. I leaned forward and inhaled his scent. “You smell like…”
Bergamot and spice and everything nice
. “…like dirt.”

He moved in so close I felt his breath on my face. “Smell again.”

Oh, Lord. He smelled earthy, and musky, and orange-y, and wowza, sexy as hell. The juju he threw my way made my heart do somersaults, turned my knees to mush, and created a flood of pure want that made my panties wet.

I groaned. He growled. He’d been doing that a lot lately. “What do you want from me?”

His eyes glowed with intensity, his wolf so near the surface I could smell his fur. “Everything,” he said.

My body burned, and while the sweat lodge was hot, I knew Billy Bob was the main source of my heat. I wanted him, but God how I didn’t want to want him. “We can’t,” I panted because I’d stopped breathing like a normal person a few seconds earlier. “It won’t work.”

“Why do you have to be so damn stubborn?” The exasperation on his face matched my frustration.

“We’re too different. We come from different worlds.” Literally. Lycanthropes and therianthropes, while both shifters, had very different origins.

“You are not as different as you think, little sister.” The tall form of the man who’d been in my room the night before, the one whose voice I’d been hearing for a year, appeared near the fire at the center of the circular room.

A scream escaped me. Billy Bob held onto me so I couldn’t flee. “That’s him. He’s the one who tried to get me last night.”

“I only wanted to talk.” The guy’s tone was calm and reassuring, which made me panic more.

“You don’t sneak into someone’s bedroom and scare the shit out of them just so you can have a conversation.” I tried to yank out of Billy Bob’s grasp. “Let me go!”

“Chavvah. You need to listen.”

“The hell I do!”

He shook me then, not hard, just enough to get my attention. Before I could protest, he kissed me, and let me tell you, that shut me up but good.

When he’d pretty much macked the resistance out of me, he eased up. “This is not a man.”

“I can see him right there.”

“And what do you see?”

“A big, tall guy.”

“Look again.”

The man’s face and body, like the night before, was all shadow. Even in the firelight, I couldn’t make out any distinguishing features. It was as if he were made of smoke. “What is this?”

“He is known by many names.”

“You may call me Brother Wolf,” the shadowy figure said. “We are old friends, Chavvah.”

“I don’t understand.”

“He is of the spirit realm, another plane of existence. He is a guide.” Billy Bob stared intently into my eyes. “More specifically, he is my guide.”

“I am not exclusively yours, brother.”

Irritation passed over Billy Bob’s expression. “I realize that, Brother Wolf. What I don’t understand is why you’ve revealed yourself to Chavvah?”

“Because you asked me to.”

Billy Bob looked as confused as I felt. He turned, finally letting me go, and faced the shadow man. “I don’t understand.”

“When she was taken, brother. You prayed for intervention on her behalf.”

“You knew where she was?” Anger made his words crisp. “You knew the whole time? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Time. Place. These mean nothing to me. I could no more tell you where she was than tell you where she is now. Or you for that matter. I do not see the world as you do. I do not see with mortal eyes.”

“You could have told me she was okay.”

“But she wasn’t. I knew telling you would bring you pain.” The shadow pointed to me, and I could feel his hand on my shoulder. “You are strong, sister. Strong and brave. Then and now. Do not fear your destiny.” His form turned to Billy Bob. “You must be honest, brother. You must tell her the truth. She needs to accept who she is. She needs to accept what she must become.” And with those ominous words, the shadow dissolved against the sweat lodge wall.

When I was able to speak, I looked at Billy Bob, and asked, “What the fuck?”

“You are no longer only two-natured, Chavvah.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Last night, when you shifted…”

“Yes?”

“It wasn’t into a coyote.”

I had felt the transformation. I ran on four paws. I hadn’t hallucinated being in my animal form. “Now I’m really confused.”

“You changed into a wolf. An elegant brown and white timber wolf. I knew there was something about you, almost from the moment we met, but I never dreamed.” He shook his head. “I’ve dreamed of you, but I never dreamed I would find you.”

“Who do you think I am?” I couldn’t believe what he was saying.

“A spirit talker, like myself. A kindred wolf.” His eyes grew glassy with emotion. “A mate.” He touched my cheek. “My mate.”

Everything he said was too unreal to believe. It was as if he were speaking in a foreign language. “I better call the UN, because I think I need an interpreter.”

He huffed angrily then yanked me into his embrace. I opened my mouth to protest, but he silenced me with his lips. Unable to help myself, because, well, Billy Bob made my libido want to take charge, I leaned into him, my fingers threading through his hair as his tongue swept inside my mouth. The euphoria of his kiss was better than any anti-anxiety pill, and I rode the high that came in the form of this stubborn werewolf.

He stopped kissing me with the same suddenness in which he’d started. “Did you understand that, or do I need to call that interpreter?”

“Uhm,” I licked my lips and tasted a mixture of clay and spice. “I think I get the gist.” I looked down at my T-shirt. It was sprinkled with dried mud flakes from Billy Bob’s body. “You’re really covered in that stuff.”

He shook his head, and within in seconds, he turned into a wolf. His gray eyes blinked up at me in a very serious manner. He was large, at least twice the size of a coyote male. I chewed my lower lip as the air around him began to shimmer. In a few more seconds, Billy Bob was standing in front of me again, his body free of dried clay, his loincloth on the ground, and his rigid erection very impressive.

“Better?”

“Uh…huh.” I licked my lips. He was a large man in every way, and frankly, I was worried I wouldn’t be able to handle him. But man-oh-man, did I want to find out.

“Chavvah.” His intense expression was dark with an edge of angry heat. “If you walk away right now, I won’t pursue you. We are mates, but you must be willing to join with me.”

My ears burned as irritation replaced my desire. “I’m just supposed to fall into your arms or fall out of your life. Is that what you’re saying? You’re one arrogant man, Billy Bob Smith.”

His expression shifted to one of amusement. “I’ve been pursuing you for almost a year now, Chavvah. I don’t know how else to show how much I want you.”