His jaw clenched, but he didn’t say anything else. We walked around the hospital and blended in with the controlled insanity out front. A police officer was conducting a witness interview while the medical examiner’s office took photos of the crime scene. Weaving through the onlookers, we made our way back to the Lexus. It wasn’t until we were inside that he met my eyes.
“I’m sorry I lost my head, but I don’t want you to meet with Sebastian, especially not alone.”
I took his hand. “For what it’s worth, I don’t like it much more than you do, but I’ll be ready.” He stared out the front windshield. “I need to see this through.”
“I know.” He gripped my hand tighter. “I’m still not going to like it.”
“Fair enough.” I almost smiled. “Let’s get out of here.”
He nodded and started the car. My blood pressure leveled out once we were out of the parking lot. “Any interest in lunch? I’m still starving.”
“The gore that dropped at our feet didn’t ruin your appetite?” He merged onto the freeway with a hint of a smile.
“Police work numbs you after a while.” I shrugged. “Not to mention I’ve got an iron gut.”
Aren glanced my way. “Thoughts on what we should do about Fonthill?”
I sighed. “He’s obviously deteriorating and getting careless. Now that he attacked the gas station owner and let his face be captured on the security camera, not only is Sebastian after him, but the police are on his tail too. No doubt the cops are assuming Fonthill is the most likely suspect who pushed the guy out the hospital window, but if Severino gave the order to take him out, Nero has much better resources to track this guy than we do.”
“So you’re comfortable leaving him to Sebastian?”
I shook my head. “That’s not what I’m saying. I’m just thinking out loud.” He pulled into a burger joint and turned off the engine. “Do you have any paper in here? Maybe we should make some notes.”
Over lunch, we drafted a few ideas.
With full bellies and a few leads to follow up, we drove around the area surrounding the service station. I was hoping we’d get a few clues where Fonthill might be staying, but we came up empty. He could’ve been anywhere.
Aren was less than chatty, still stewing about my dinner meeting with Sebastian. If there were some other way I would take it, but for now, I needed to play by Sebastian’s rules.
…
Back in our hotel room, I worked at my laptop, logging into my faux PI account in LexisNexis again to check for any other sightings or police reports that might involve Fonthill. The first time I ran into him was on Virginia Street, the main drag in Reno, so maybe he had a room at one of the casino hotels. It’d give him cheap rates, and make it easier to hide amongst all the tourists and gamblers.
While I researched, something hit me. Aren was still on the phone with Adam, but when he finished, he came over to sit beside me. “What’s up?”
“I just realized that we never found out if Fonthill bit that guy. What if something shows up on the autopsy?”
He thought about it for a second. “I’ll give Jason a call. He can check into it. If he has bite marks like Sebastian claimed, we wouldn’t want them swabbing the wounds for DNA, but the guy wouldn’t have experienced any real physical changes until the full moon. It takes that long whenever we convert a woman.” He paused for a second, brow furrowing. “Unless Fonthill’s altered DNA warps all that.”
I should’ve been focusing on Fonthill, but my attention was stuck on women being converted. “So your Pack only bites women? Men don’t get ever turned into werewolves?”
“No.” He shook his head. “We’re not trying to create a shape-shifter empire like Nero. We’re a family.” He came over to sit beside me. “And we don’t run around biting just anyone. This isn’t like what happened to you.”
He took my hand, our fingers lacing together. “In the Pack, we’re raised to believe that when you find your true mate, there are no secrets. She knows your true nature, and in order to have children, she has to be converted. The only way to do it is through a bite.”
On the surface it sounded noble. I rubbed at the scar on my collarbone. “What if she’s not keen on becoming a shifter like you?”
His gaze locked with mine as he lowered his voice. “No werewolf from my Pack would bite his mate against her will. It’s the ultimate sign of trust, but only if she chooses it. Once she’s bitten, we have a celebration and honor her, welcoming her to the Pack.”
“And you’ve never bitten anyone?”
“No.” He lifted my hand to his lips, pressing a soft kiss on my skin. “I never believed the old stories about finding your one and only mate. It sounded like a big fairy tale to me. Then I watched it happen to my brother.” He stared into my eyes. “And I found you.”
My breath caught in my throat. “What would happen if you bit me?”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Aren
I pondered her question. The wolf tensed inside me, my animal instincts ripping and tearing their way to the surface of my consciousness.
“That’s a loaded question.”
She raised a brow. “Is it?”
I nodded and stared down at our hands. How could I look her in the eyes and explain that part of me salivated just thinking about tasting her skin and marking her as mine? Even I didn’t understand it, so how could I expect her to?
The human part of me was repulsed at the thought of biting her, but it was obvious to me now that the feral instincts of the wolf inside of me were enticed at the prospect.
“Until Jason was certain it wouldn’t hurt you” —I met her eyes again— “I wouldn’t risk it. It’s not like we’d be trying to have children anyway.”
I wanted to yank my words back into my mouth when I saw her face fall.
“I haven’t signed anything in blood agreeing to be your mate anyway.”
“No, you haven’t.” I shook my head staring at my shoes. “I didn’t mean for that to come out the way it did.”
“You act like not having any kids is no big deal, but I’ve had a year to accept it, plus I already raised my sister. Someday the rest of your Pack will have a new generation of wolves. How can you be so sure you won’t be aching because you don’t? Because you chose me?”
I mulled over her words for a moment before turning toward her. “I trust the wolf inside me. It didn’t come easy. I thought it was a mistake and fought my mating instinct, but once I got to spend time with you, I realized the wolf knew all along. I’ve never felt the way I do when I’m with you. I can’t imagine a more perfect woman for me.”
I waited for a second, but she didn’t say anything. “You’re probably right. There will be kids in the Pack.” I started to grin at the thought. “And we can watch them grow, we can even babysit, and then we can give them back.”
She almost smiled, then it faded a little. “The Pack already questions your judgment when it comes to me. What will they think when we don’t ever have children?”
“I don’t care what they think.” I shrugged. “It’s none of their business.”
“Does anyone wonder why Adam hasn’t bitten Lana?”
“I’m not sure. He obviously doesn’t have to convert her since they have the twins.”
“If Lana has the shifter gene just like any male-born shifter, wouldn’t her twins have it too? Maybe Madeleine will be able to shift without being converted. I wonder if she’d be a wolf or a jaguar…” Her brow creased. “I guess you can’t tell yet though.” She swallowed and shook her head slowly. “I bet Nero will want to know too.”