Page 407 of Love Bites

CHAPTER13

SEVEN YEARS

Reno was a hard man to warm up to, but I had to give it to him, he was effective at distracting me. He gave me a brief lesson about Shifter rules and how things worked, and I wasn’t sure if he was doing it for my benefit (being that I was completely ignorant of their culture), or his own so he wouldn’t have to deal with watching me cry.

Men avoid women when the waterworks turn on the way a mouse avoids a rattlesnake. I could tell he wasn’t much of a social talker since he kept the conversation strictly aboutpackthis andpackthat.

He made a few calls and reassured me they had everything under control. Denver would drive my car to their house for safekeeping, and they’d have surveillance on my apartment at all times, including when I finally went home.

Which was a strange feeling. I didn’t even know these men and they were stepping in and taking over like I meant something to them.

But then again, maybe I did. We didn’t know about Austin’s family, but they knew everything about ours. They supported Austin’s need to form his own “practice pack,” as Reno put it.

We arrived at Austin’s house in the afternoon, and despite the fact there were people inside I’d never met, I went straight to the bedroom and shut the door.

First I paced. Then I got mad and threw things around—including a silver clock, which I smashed to pieces against the wall. It quieted in the other room during my meltdown, but no one came in to disturb me. Once I released the anger, I gave in to the sorrow and cried.

Cried myself right to sleep.

I awoke, unable to move. A crescent moon shone through the window on the left, casting a buttery glow in the dark bedroom. A heavy arm wrapped securely around my waist, and the solid press of a man’s body warmed my back.

I tried to get up and the arm tightened, restricting me from moving away.

“Don’t move,” Austin mumbled against my left shoulder. “Just go back to sleep.”

I struggled. “What did you find out?”

He finally let go and I sat up to face him. Austin wearily rubbed his face, still in his jeans and one of those wife-beater shirts. It made his tattoos soften in the moonlight, like ancient shadows carved on his arms.

“I lost the scent by the street. I’m not so sure your sister ran away. Her scent is in the yard—front and back—but it didn’t go any farther. I tracked an unfamiliar scent outside the house and if I smell that sonofabitch again in wolf form, I’ll know it.”

“You can’t smell him like you are now?”

“No,” he said. “No more than you can.”

“So you found nothing?” My voice broke. I must have looked like a mess with puffy eyes and tangled hair. Not that I cared, but the thought crossed my mind. A woman could be stranded on a deserted island with no sign of life for thousands of miles, and as soon as a rescue ship comes her way, she’ll be combing her hair with sticks and squashing berries to rub on her cheeks.

“I’ve got two of my brothers searching the house and making sure nothing was missed. We’ve put out an alert to all the packs and offered up a reward. That’ll motivate the ones we don’t usually deal with.”

“Oh.”

“I have a question, Lexi.”

“Yeah?”

He sat up and drew his brows together. I got nervous and felt my cheeks flush from the intensity of his luminous eyes.

“Why is Lorenzo Church calling on you?”

Ah, he must have listened to the messages on my machine. “Lorenzo was one of the people interested in my car and then he asked me out. Or, he’s trying to ask me out. I don’t know; he seems nice. I might,” I said with a weary voice. “Do you know him or something?”

Austin’s voice dropped an octave. “Youdoknow he’s a Shifter, right?”

I hesitated. “So?”

“I got bad blood with him, and I don’t want Church sniffing around my pack.”

“Austin, I don’t think I’m mentally capable of arguing right now, but let me put this to bed for you. Whatever I do in my life is my choice, and I’m not making those decisions based on whatever personal issues you have with someone. He seemed like a nice guy, and…”

---