Page 83 of Tested
Chapter Twenty-Four
David
Trajan won’t kill Connor. He just won’t.Though now that fist through the wall makes sense. I should be relieved that both he and Connor have been honest with each other. Instead, I pretty much want to puke.
“He’s not wrong,” I murmur. Trajan doesn’t answer, except to drop into one of the deck chairs and rest his head in his hands.
“I mean, he comes at stuff sideways, but in his head, he’s protecting us.” I rest a hand on Trajan’s shoulder. “He’s protecting you.”
“You should go help Connor. If you see Sheena, tell her I’ll talk to her tomorrow.” He’s muffled, but the underlying suggestion is that I should go find Sheena or just plain go.
So I do. I hide in my room, not interested in dealing with anyone. And although it’s a stupid idea, I reach for my wolf. I used to be able to shift without the physical presence of my pack. Trying it now, when Trajan and Connor have never been further apart, might be a huge mistake.
My wolf waits, testing the bonds between the three of us. They’re thin, fragile as a spider’s web. I hold my breath. The shift starts slow, but when the bonds hold, it gathers speed. I give over to the wracking pain of bones and muscles changing form. After a long, agonizing stretch of minutes, my wolf stands on the shredded remains of my jeans.
I test the air and immediately sneeze from the traces of teargas. I have no plan, no agenda. This form is its own comfort. The wolf has what he needs and he buys the man some time.
Because bringing Connor and Trajan together again is my priority.
I trot out through the foyer. Sheena has left the door ajar and I push through. She can’t have gone far. I huff along the ground, attempting to sort through the myriad of scents. The wind has cleared away the teargas, at least, so I’m not sneezing. Still, there’s Connor and Sheena and too many other people for me to make sense of what happened.
The scent trail doesn’t begin to make sense till I’m on the sidewalk down the street from our house. I’m following Sheena, who’s following Connor. Even though I don’t smell him, I keep going. There are other human scents, old and faded, and the smokey scent I’ve connected with Smith.
My wolf pauses, huffing a particularly strong spot. The scent raises my hackles. Not sure why. I file the scent in my memory under what-was-Smith-doing-here-? and keep moving.
Another block, another stretch with the same mix of scents. Sheena’s up ahead, walking in my direction with a scowl that I could see from the moon. I trot forward, and I can tell when she sees me. She freezes, muscles coiled to spring.
“David?”
The tension in her voice matches the threat in her posture. I slow my pace. My wolf has never tried an Amazon before. There’s a first time for everything.
“David?” She crouches, as if she’s going to launch herself at me.
My wolf stops about six feet from her. It’d be nice if we had a code worked out – one nod for yes, two for no – but we don’t. Instead I wait for her to make a move. Neither of us is likely to take a submissive posture, so this could take a while. Still, she’s seen my wolf before, at thebeurteilungif nothing else, and I’m ready for whatever she does next.
“Okay, it must be you.” She crosses her arms in front of her chest. “No one else would be stupid enough to try to play Dom with an Amazon.”
I can’t use a snarky comeback, so I take a few steps closer to her.
“Yeah, all right. It’s you. You and your boyfriends are in a tough spot.” She puts her hands on her lower back and stretches. A gust of wind whips through her long blond hair. “Connor wouldn’t stop that piece of shit rental car he’s driving and talk to me, and Trajan’s decided to do the impossible.”
My wolf yips once.
“No choice. I get it.” She’s relaxed, resting her fists on her hips. “I don’t blame you for taking off. I mean, you must be about out of patience.” She smiles at me, as warm as I’ve ever seen her. “When we first met, if anyone had tried to bet me Mr. Sparkles-and-Pigtails would be the common sense in the relationship, I would have taken them up on it.
She reaches over and ruffles my fur. “And I would have lost a lot of money.”
I snap my teeth at her, play fighting, and she laughs.
“I guess you can’t tell me where you’re headed but somebody’s got a hurt-on for you three, so be careful.”
I tip my head down in the briefest show of submission I can manage, and trot past her.
“If you need me,” she calls, “I’ll be up the street trying to help a certain vampire figure out his next move.”
Good luck with that. I sigh and keep moving.
The odds of me tripping over Connor somewhere in the greater LA area are pretty low, and if I wanted to talk sense into Trajan, I’d be back at the house with Sheena. Somehow I’d managed to live in this place six whole months without making any friends.
