Page 12 of Fighting Furry

I grabbed my cell phone from my duffel and dialed Shelly's number.

“'Lo,” she said.

“Why do you sound out of breath? Please tell me you didn't answer the phone while you're having sex again.”

She laughed. “No. Lola's working late. So am I. I'm unpacking boxes at the spa.”

“Think you could take a couple hours off? I need some help.” See, I could ask for help.

“You're back in the city?”

“Back for good,” I said, the words as much a promise to myself as to her.

“Um, I'm pretty slammed right now. Can I meet up with you after eleven?”

I really wanted to tell her to forget it. I knew how important her job was to her, but I also wasn't a complete idiot. I didn't want to hurt someone. My stomach sank. Shit. What if I hurt Shelly? “You know what, Shel, never mind. I've got this.”

“Are you sure, honey? You don't sound so good.”

I was jogging in place because that weird, scratchy energy was driving me insane and moving seemed to be the only way to quiet it. “I'm great. I promise.”

“Okay, then. Meet you for breakfast tomorrow? The usual place?”

“I'll be there.” Shelly and I used to have breakfast or lunch together three days a week. Since she'd gotten married, we had breakfast together every Thursday at our favorite diner. The one that gave us free food when we were homeless, the one that gave Shelly a job when no one else would. It didn't have the best food in the city, but it was home.

***

“Thai?” I asked, brows raised as I took a seat across from Axel. There were ten restaurants within two blocks of my condo, and I'd searched every one of them until I found Axel at the last place I'd ever have thought to find him.

“We can't get it in Mule Creek,” he said. He looked too big for the small table and smaller chair in the ten-by-ten seating area. Since most people got the food there as take-out, there were only three tables in the place and we were the only patrons sitting to eat.

He took a sip of his cola and leaned back in his seat, all nonchalant. “You should look at the menu,” he said. “Food will help.”

My stomach rumbled to laugh and growled with hunger. “I don't need to look at the menu. I get food from here at least three times a week.”

“You don't cook?”

“Nope.”

The waitress came over and took my order. I got my usual, but Axel shook his head and told the waitress to double it. Guess he wanted to share.

“So,” he said. “You're back in LA, what's the plan?”

I was glad he wasn't going to make me ask for help, but I didn't feel like talking about my plan. “You said you had help learning to shift, the same way you helped me. Is that the way all wolves learn to shift?”

He met my gaze head on. “Most werewolves are born werewolves, not made. They start shifting before they start walking. It's instinct. The most natural thing they do.”

“How old were you when you were turned?”

“Nine,” he said, something dark clouding his clear eyes. “My dad was a rancher. He killed a wolf that was on his property, thought it was the wolf who'd been killing his livestock.”

My chest tightened. I knew this wouldn't be good. “He shot a werewolf?”

Axel nodded. “The alpha of the pack. I don't know why he was on our property.” He sighed and rubbed his temples. “An alpha holds his pack together and, very often, he keeps the more feral pack members civilized and the more aggressive wolves calm. The alpha is the humanity of the pack. Unless there's someone else equally strong to step into the role of alpha, the whole pack can go rogue.”

“What happened?” I asked, even though I had no right, even though I was sure I didn't want to know.

“The pack came in the middle of the night. They slaughtered my mother, my father, my two sisters, and my baby brother. I don't know how I survived, but I did. I woke up in a hospital, drugged out of my mind. Every time they lowered my medication doses I went crazy. Becoming a wolf increased all my senses and emotions. I knew I needed something, but I didn't know what and I was out of my mind with grief. Word about a wild animal attack that left an entire family dead is the sort of news that packs watch out for. After a week, Esmeralda, an older wolf, showed up at the hospital and told them she was my only living relative. To this day, I don't know how she got away with it. She took me into her pack, taught me to be a wolf, and raised me.”

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