Page 13 of Lost Touch
“You’re twenty-five years old,” Drew said, his voice sounding a little funny. “And, uh, dude? You, uh, have a warrant out for your arrest from a little over a year ago. For assault and grand theft auto.”
I hadwhat? I tore my eyes away from the photo and scanned down the page to find it. Everything went fuzzy as I read the words, right there on the screen for anyone in the world to see.
I was a criminal. Was I? I didn’t feel like a criminal. Did criminals feel like criminals, or did they think their actions were justified? Did it matter if I couldn’t remember the crimes?
Drew’s hands around mine pulled me back to reality. My vision cleared, and I found him crouched in front of me, rubbing my hands and wrists, eyes dark and serious.
“Ash, it’s all right,” he said, and it sounded like it wasn’t the first time, maybe—only my ears had been buzzing. “We’ll figure it out. No one knows where you are, the cops aren’t about to pound the door down. Breathe.”
“You,” I gasped, and then had to pause and suck in a few deep breaths, trying to fill my lungs all the way. “You don’t seem pissed. Or—aren’t you going to call them?”
He actuallylaughed, his hands tightening around mine. I clung to them like a lifeline. How could he laugh at this? Wasn’t he worried about having harbored a dangerous criminal?
And then I remembered his blood-drenched claws, the splashes of it on his face and clothes. The glow of his eyes as he’d come into my cell, totally unfazed by the monstrous being with whom he’d clearly been slaughtering our guards and torturers.
No, probably not so worried about little human me jumping him and stealing his car.
“Ash. Come on. Okay, so worst-case scenario you carjacked someone. But I’m thinking it’s a lot more likely it’s all bullshit. Or maybe it was self-defense. Or maybe…I don’t even know, I’m spitballing here. But you ended up in that place somehow, and obviously some shit went down. We have no idea what happened. And until I see actual video of you doing something wrong, and maybe not even then, I’m on your side. Period.”
Never in my whole life—probably?—had I wanted to kiss someone as much as I wanted to right then.
I didn’t, because if my arrest warrant hadn’t convinced him to throw me out on my ass, that almost certainly would.
“I won’t steal your car,” I assured him, like a dumbass. And then had to blink away tears. “I’m sorry I’m such a pain. Why couldn’t you have rescued someone normal, right? And thank you. I don’t know how to thank you. I should’ve said that first.”
“Hey,” Drew said, his voice a little rough. “No one who came out of there is fucking normal. And what are fake mates for, anyway? You ought to get something out of that.”
“I already am. I’m getting to be safe, and—hang on a minute.” A bright-red flush spread over Drew’s cheekbones, confirming my sudden, ugly suspicion. I swallowed hard. I couldn’t make myself let his hands go, though, and he didn’t try to pull them away. He’d chosen to ignore the whole wanted-criminal thing. I could give him the benefit of the doubt too. “That means you think you’re getting more out of this than I am. But you didn’t say anything about that earlier. Yesterday. Whatever.”
To his credit, he didn’t flinch, instead looking me right in the eyes as he said, “I swear, your safety really was the main motivator. But I had a—my family had a mate picked out for me. I wasn’t interested. I took a leave of absence from work and took off for a while, and got kidnapped while I was—”
Drew broke off abruptly, his eyes glowing, and cocked his head.
“What? You can’t stop there, not when you—”
“Shush!” I shushed, my mouth still open, and yanked my hands away. Shush? Seriously? Who used that actual word outside of a preschool? But then he leapt up and went to the door, peering out the window set in the top of it. “Shit, I can hear my mom’s car. Shit, fuck, shit!” He spun back, eyes wild. “I texted her to tell her you’d woken up, but I didn’t fucking think she’d show up on the doorstep! You just woke up, right? You don’t remember anything. I haven’t had a chance to tell you much yet. I mean, I haven’t, but pretend it’s even less. Don’t answer any questions, don’t tell her your last name, it’s Castelli now, okay? That’s my last name. You’re Asher Castelli, you don’t remember mating me exactly but you can—feel something between us. Or some vague bullshit like that. Fuck!”
He dived for the laptop, slamming it shut and sprinting off toward the office room, no doubt to put it away and prevent any possibility of his mom seeing what we’d been up to.
Oh, shit. His mom. That sank in. Drew’s mother was about to walk in that door, and here I was all frazzled and wanted by the law and with my hair messy and limp, and I was about to meet my mother-in-law who wasn’t actually my mother-in-law…I had to run! I jumped up, looking around for an escape route. I could go upstairs. She wouldn’t follow me up there, would she?
Except that she probably would, given how panicked Drew was acting.
And then I heard her car engine, my human ears catching up with Drew’s super-hearing. Tires crunched on gravel, the engine turned off, and a car door shut.
A second car door slammed right after the first. Oh, no. She’s brought backup, and we wouldn’t even have her outnumbered.
“Drew?” I called out weakly.
He reappeared, turned to me, and said, “Follow my lead. Trust me?”
I could only nod. Too late to get away, and werewolves were a lot faster than me anyway.
And then Drew went to open the door.
Chapter 5
I’m on Your Side
