The Heat (8 page)

“He was at the bagel shop,” Jennings answered, a little sheepishly. “We made a bet and he lost, so breakfast was on him. He’d been gone about ten minutes when the call came in.”

Daniel mulled this over for a moment, his gaze focused on the ground. “When did you get the coffee?”

“Just now, sir,” Jennings answered. “Starbucks around the corner. Figured you could use the warmth.”

It was midday in June and the humidity was choking sweat out of everyone on the street, but Jennings was right. Daniel felt cold. It was the mark of a good cop who could understand such things.

Daniel nodded and turned to face him, now prepared to ask what he’d wanted to ask all along. “What did you learn about Cole?”

Jennings turned and started to walk toward the yellow tape a few yards away. “I’ve got everything here, Chief.”

Daniel followed him as he ducked under and headed toward the marked car nearby. Jennings opened the car door and nodded in at officer Mayfield, who was seated in the passenger seat, the CB radio in one hand, a pen and legal pad in the other. He nodded at Daniel and Daniel nodded back.

Jennings reached in and pulled a manila folder off of the driver’s seat and handed it to Daniel, closing the car door behind him. “His itinerary, flight numbers and times, hotel numbers – it’s all here, Chief.”

Daniel flipped it open and started reading. “Good. Now I need you and Mayfield to get to my house, Allan. Park yourselves out front. Lily St. Claire is inside and she’s not well at the moment. I need you to make sure she doesn’t go anywhere, Jennings.” He looked up and pinned Jennings with a hard stare from behind his mirrored shades.

It was clear from the officer’s immediate uneasy expression that he could feel the weight of that gaze, even through the sunglasses. “No problem, chief.” Jennings turned and climbed back into the car and Daniel stepped out of the way as the engine started up. He watched the vehicle back up and then inch through the mulling crowd until it was down the street and out of sight.

And then Daniel took another deep, calming breath, squelched his nausea, and turned to face the waiting news crews.

Chapter Six: House Arrest

Tabitha nodded at the cops sitting in the marked car across the street from Daniel’s house. They nodded back. She unlocked the front door and went inside. It was quiet. She looked around and noticed Lily’s purse on the love seat. There were two full bottles of Coke on the coffee table. The side table drawer had been pulled and left open. It was empty.

Tabitha knew what Daniel usually kept in that drawer. She groaned and closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose. She set down her own purse and headed for the stairs, taking them quickly but quietly. Daniel’s bedroom door was ajar. She slowly pushed it open the rest of the way and Lily’s sleeping form came into view.

Tabitha stood there in the doorway and took in the bruises around her best friend’s wrists and the scratches around the bedposts and she knew, instantly, what had transpired. The cuffs were gone now, but it didn’t take a genius to guess that if a cop had to tie someone down in a hurry, he would go for those.

“Christ, you really made a mess of this, Danny.” She shook her head and came forward to sit on the edge of the bed. She watched Lily’s breathing. It was still very deep and slow; she wasn’t about to wake up.

And then Tabitha noticed the blue knot symbol on Lily’s right forearm. A tattoo? Gently, she took her friend’s arm and turned it over. A beam of light cast through the window and seemed to shimmer off of the entwined line of intricate blue. It was the exact color of her brother’s eyes.

Not
a tattoo.

“Holy shit, big brother.” She dropped Lily’s arm and let out a shaking breath. “She’s gonna kill me.”

Tabitha had known that he would do something to protect Lily, but she’d kind of figured on him stealing her strength with his kiss or even going the human route and drugging her up some how to keep her in his house. She hadn’t figured on this. It made sense, in a way. And Tabitha knew how badly Danny would want Lily.

“You just couldn’t resist, could you.” Again, she sighed, and wondered how long Lily would sleep. The longer, the better. Daniel’s home was one of the few places Malcolm Cole couldn’t enter. Alpha werewolves could not enter one another’s territory. Like a vampire trying to infiltrate a human’s home without an invitation, Cole would simply stand at the threshold and not be able to move. And, so, he wouldn’t even try.

Lily was safe here, and as long as she slept, she wouldn’t try to leave. But Tabitha knew that the moment she woke up – the moment Tabitha tried to explain the situation to her – Lily would bolt. She supposed that was the reason for the cops out front. For whatever good it would do. Tabitha knew her best friend, and when Lily St.Claire got it into her head to do something, she went at the task with a relentless determination. She’d saved a lot of abused wives that way. And a few kids.

A wave of fondness for her best friend swept over Tabitha. Gently, she brushed a lock of golden hair from Lily’s forehead. Lily frowned. Her breathing became more shallow.

Holy crap
, Tabitha thought.
She’s waking up. The girl is stronger than either of us thought.

Lily tried to focus on her friend, but her vision was blurry. Her throat was a little tender. Like she’d spent an evening cheering on the Penguins; she always screamed too much while watching a hockey match. She nodded, her cheek brushing the soft sheet beneath her. “Yes, please.”

Tabitha stood and Lily could hear her leave the room.

The room….
Where am I?
Lily rolled over slowly and stared up at the ceiling. It was charcoal gray. Her gaze slid from the ceiling to the walls and then to the dresser against one side, and then to the bed…. She turned on her side and glanced up at the stainless steel headboard and bed posts, the black sheets and pillow cases.

This was…. Daniel’s room, wasn’t it? She couldn’t quite remember. Her head was so fuzzy. What was wrong with her?

“Here you go, girl.” Tabitha set a glass of water on the bedside table.

“Tabby, where am I?” Lily asked as she tried to sit up. A strange, languid weakness licked at her limbs, begging her to lay back down. She acquiesced and relaxed; the bed felt too good. It was like she’d taken two Xanax and chased them down with a beer.

“We’re at my brother’s place,” Tabitha said. “Just rest and take it slowly, Lily. The more rest you get, the better.”

“Why?” Lily asked, again trying to focus on her friend. Slowly, the fuzziness around her friend’s familiar face was smoothed out.

“Um….” Tabitha seemed to pause in answering, as if not sure what to say.

And then a memory flashed through Lily’s mind like a camera bulb in a dark room.

Hand cuffs. A knife.

Lily blinked. She felt the blood drain from her face. “Tabitha, why am I here?” she asked. Her tone had dropped into absolute seriousness.

Her friend sighed. “Okay Lily, I’m gonna spill and I need you to promise me that you won’t flip out and do something stupid.”

Another memory flashed before Lily’s eyes. Daniel’s face. His staggering kiss. And
fangs?

Lily found the strength to sit up, this time ignoring her body’s drowsiness. The flashes were coming faster now. She barely heard Tabitha’s words.

“Remember that dream you had in high school where you saw Daniel turn into a wolf?”

Lily nodded distractedly. In her mind, Daniel was cuffing her to the bed. Her gaze slid to the bed posts. There were the scratches. It had really happened.

“It wasn’t a dream, Lily. What you were seeing really happened. Daniel is a werewolf and you saw him in his true form. You saw him like that in your dream because you’re meant to be his mate.”

Lily’s gaze dropped to her wrists. They were red and bruising. And then she saw something shimmer on her right arm. She turned it over and stared down at the strange but beautiful marking that graced her inner forearm.

“Lily, are you listening to me?”

“He cut me,” Lily said it without thinking. She could remember it quite clearly now. “He cut himself and then he cut me…. But there’s no cut here.”
Just this mark
.

“Shit.” Tabitha stood and sat beside Lily on the bed. Gently, she turned Lily’s head so that she was looking at her again. “Lily, please hear what I am saying. I will explain everything to you, if you only give me the chance. Please stay with me here.” Tabitha’s tone was commanding and calm, as if she desperately needed Lily to acknowledge her right now.

“Daniel is a werewolf. He was born that way. The trait is passed down to the males in our families. And you are most likely supposed to be his mate, Lily. You dreamt about him in high school in his true form. Only Dormants dream about wolves in their true form.”

Lily’s gaze narrowed. She pulled back from Tabitha, suddenly much more alert as the last of the strange drowsiness left her body and the fuzziness slipped from her mind. “What?” she asked. “What the hell are you saying?”

Tabitha took a deep, calming breath and cocked her head to one side. “How long have we been friends, Lily?”

“Forever.” Lily replied. “So why are you filling my head with bullshit?”

“It’s not bullshit Lily, and,” she paused, grabbing Lily’s arm and holding it up to the light. “I think you know it. In your heart.”

Lily’s gaze slid from Tabitha to her arm and then back again. “He cuffed me to his bed and sliced me open and now you’re defending him?”

“Nope,” Tabitha dropped her arm and shook her head. “I’m not defendin’ him. I don’t think he should have marked you.” She seemed to mull that over for a second and then added, “Maybe. But he did anyway. Yes, he cut you. But the wound healed almost instantly – probably the second his blood was mixed with yours. It’s not there now, is it?”

Lily didn’t have an answer to that.

“And this mark?” Tabitha pointed to it. “It’s what remains when his blood claims yours and takes over. He’s basically telling our kind that you belong to him.”

Lily gazed at her friend for a long, silent while. Things seemed to be both spinning wildly in her head – and standing utterly and completely still. It was like having vertigo of the brain. She remembered everything that had happened that morning: Daniel coming to the restaurant, her ride to his house, him carrying her upstairs –
everything
. Even the kiss… And the orgasm she’d had as she slipped into unconsciousness. None of it was natural; none of it made any sense.

Unless Tabitha was right.

And everything Lily had ever thought she’d known about the world was dead wrong.

“Werewolves are real.” Lily said it, not so much as a question as a restatement. She said it just to hear herself say it. So she could hear how insane it sounded.

Tabitha just nodded.

But as insane as it sounded, Lily had no explanation for the strangeness of that morning. Or for the mark that now graced her arm. Another chill raced through her body. She hugged herself. Tabitha took the sheets from the bed and began to wrap them around her shoulders.

“Okay,” Lily said softly. “I’m listening.”

Tabitha sat back down. “All right, now bear with me. I never thought I’d have to explain our entire existence to someone one day.” She seemed to collect herself for a second. Then she said, “Werewolves have existed for thousands… oh hell, probably hundreds of thousands of years. I don’t honestly remember, to tell you the truth. Gramps once told me some of our history, but I was a teenager and I ignored him like all good teenagers do.”

“Well, they’re very strong. I mean
very
strong. We’re talkin’, lift-a-car-with-your-bear-hands kind of strong. And they’re fast. Some werewolves can move so fast that their forms blur to the human eye. They don’t age as fast as humans do, either. Once they reach their optimum age – usually around twenty-seven or twenty-eight – they get older about half as fast as humans do. Sometimes even slower.”

She bit her lip as if trying to remember everything. “They heal really quickly. A cut only takes a few minutes to heal up. I was really jealous of Danny for that one. I was always scarring up my knees when I was little and Danny hasn’t a scar anywhere on his damned body.” She scowled at that and then blinked and continued. “Their kiss can have several effects, dependin’ on what they wanna do. As you most likely learned, it can steal your strength, sap it right out of you. They can put you to sleep with their kiss. And….” Tabitha blushed suddenly, as if she wasn’t sure she should say any more on the subject.

But Lily pinned her with her gold-flecked gaze. “Go on.”

“Well…. They can make you feel, you know…
good
.”

It was Lily’s turn to blush now. That would explain the orgasm she’d had as she’d fallen into unconsciousness.

“Ah. You know about that one too.” Tabitha nodded, pulling her lips in to keep from smiling. “Okay, moving on.” She adjusted on the bed a little and continued. “They’ve got great senses. They can hear and smell and even see better than humans or even wolves can. It’s not a natural thing at all. They can also change any part of their body between human and wolf form whenever they want to. When I was six and Danny was ten, he went as a vampire for Halloween and everyone just thought he had these great make-up artist fangs on. But they were real. He loved it.”