“What’s wrong?” I set the half-eaten toast aside as I watched various emotions flit across his face. Shock, concern, calculation, back to concern.
“We all assumed you were a bit older than that.” He quickly gathered the dishes and stacked them near the sink. “Come on. Let’s get this over with.” He offered his hand.
With a frown, I accepted it and followed behind him.
“Are you telling me I look old?”
“Ancient,” he threw over his shoulder with a wink.
As usual, both apartment doors stood open. So did the main entrance door. Outside, the boys were playing on the swing set. Emmitt led us straight into Nana’s kitchen where Jim already sat contritely at the table. Nana leaned against the counter, her eyes boring holes into Jim’s soul. Well, that’s what it looked like anyway.
“Sit,” Nana said.
Emmitt held out a chair for me before seating himself. I felt small and very guilty. Taking a steadying breath, I opened my mouth to apologize for leaving her like I did, but she spoke first.
Nana’s gaze again drilled into Jim. “Your irresponsibility knows no bounds. What were you thinking taking her to a bar! Our job is to keep her safe, not keep her stocked with booze.”
Keep me safe? I blinked at the two repentant looking men, feeling as if I’d walked into a conversation near the end. So this was about me being at the bar with Jim, not me leaving?
“And you,” she said to Emmitt, “are supposed to have her best interests at heart.”
Why was she putting so much of this on them? It was my stupid decision. I took a breath to say just that, but Emmitt beat me.
“That’s why I tracked her down and brought her back,” Emmitt quickly defended. Jim grimaced. That explained Emmitt’s earlier look of calculation. He’d just thrown Jim under the bus.
She turned her steel gaze on me, and I felt myself shrink a little. “At nineteen, you have no right to be going out drinking.”
Whoa. My mouth popped open, and my tempter ignited at the absurdity of her misdirected concern. Had she called me irresponsible for leaving my brothers, I would have meekly nodded. But telling me I was too young to drink of all things!
“That is so—” I stopped myself from saying something stupid, knowing it would make me sound younger in their eyes. “My age doesn’t matter. It never has,” I said instead, thinking of Blake’s use of me.
“You have a responsibility to your brothers,” she said too late.
I flattened my hands on the table, trying to keep my temper under control. “No one knows that better than I do. Their wellbeing, their existence, depended on my obedience. Complete and absolute. Don’t speak. Look up when addressed. Return to your room when your presence isn’t required.”
“I messed up last night. I get it.” In essence, I’d left my brothers with strangers. I still didn’t know enough about who they were to trust them with my secret, but I left my brothers with them? What if Blake had shown up? What would Nana Wini, a fellow werewolf, have done? Just hand them over? My fingers twitched on the surface of the table. Now I was getting angry with myself. I’d been so stupid.
“They could have been found, and I wasn’t here,” I said.
Nana made a slight noise as if she would continue.
“I don’t need your lecture. I will not be ruled by another...” I clamped my mouth shut and closed my eyes with a flinch.
When I opened them again, three faces studied me with too much intensity. I had such a big mouth.
“I’m sorry.”
I stood and left my stunned audience sitting around the table in Nana’s cheery yellow kitchen. I took the stairs two at a time. As soon as I reached my door, I heaved a sigh of regret. I shouldn’t have yelled at her. She had everything right. I shouldn’t have left my brothers. Especially not to sit at a bar. Granted, that hadn’t been the plan, but I could have insisted Jim drive us back. I could have walked.
With Blake, I hadn’t spent much time with my brothers because I wasn’t allowed. Now, I had all the time I wanted and didn’t value it enough. Instead of being a self-absorbed brat who dwelled on her feelings concerning Emmitt, I needed to stay focused, learn about werewolves, and use the knowledge to protect us from Blake. And, I needed to find a way to test Emmitt’s werewolf abilities without Liam or Aden seeing or hearing anything.
I quickly dressed in a tank top and cutoffs and grabbed the white shirt I’d originally borrowed from Emmitt then trotted downstairs. Both doors still stood open. I spotted Emmitt with the boys in the yard.
When I tapped on Nana’s door, she called me in. Jim still sat at the table. Though I hadn’t heard any yelling, from the look on Jim’s face, Nana had continued after I left.
“Jim, I’m sorry I used you yesterday. I should have faced the issue instead of running from it.” I glanced at Nana’s set face. “Can I talk to you alone for a minute?”
Nana neither agreed nor disagreed. Regardless, Jim flew out of his chair as if it had spontaneously started on fire. There weren’t even retreating steps to mark his passing. He simply vanished. Outside, the boys cheered.
“I shouldn’t have said what I did. You’re right. I’m not being responsible. My past, whether good or bad, doesn’t earn me any hall passes. I’m sorry I left like I did yesterday.”
Nana sighed and deflated a little. The angry light left her eyes. “You are an adult. You’re correct that you don’t need me to lecture you. We are here to help you, Michelle, if you would just let us. We don’t know who you’re hiding from or why. Is leaving here dangerous? Is there a chance the people you’re hiding from could track you here?”
Hearing her echo my recent thoughts increased my worry. “I don’t know.” I ran my fingers through my still wet hair. “I’m so afraid, Nana,” I admitted. “I’m afraid they’ll find us and afraid if I trust...” I looked away for a moment, took a breath, and said as much truth as I could. “I’m afraid you’ll be just like them.”
She tilted her head and gave me a compassionate look. “Never, Michelle,” she promised. “We are an entirely different species. Loyalty runs deep with us.”
My stomach dropped and bile rose. She couldn’t have said anything worse. They didn’t know about Blake, yet. When they found out he was one of their own, would they just hand me over? Her words further cemented my decision to learn more about them and to learn it fast.
“You’re right. You’re different, and I haven’t taken the time to learn about you like Emmitt asked. I’m sorry to ask again, but can you and Jim keep an eye on the boys? I won’t ever again disappear like I did yesterday. I just want to take Emmitt to the front yard where the boys won’t see or hear anything. Then, I’ll ask Emmitt the questions I should have asked from the start.”
“Of course we will. You don’t have to ask Emmitt, you know. You can ask me anything as well.”
I nodded hesitantly, and she smiled at the preference she saw in my eyes. I didn’t want to face her in any other form than the grandmotherly one she wore. I thanked her and left.
Instead of going outside, I took a quick detour then headed back upstairs.
In the apartment, with the door closed, I tested his hearing. “Emmitt, can you come up here, please?
I waited several minutes, but he didn’t appear. Opening the apartment door, I tried again. Immediately, I heard his tread on the steps.
He wore an unsure smile. “Jim told me to pass on his pledge of servitude.”
I smiled slightly in return. “He’ll pay it back today. He and Nana are going to watch the boys so I can spend some time with you and learn what makes a werewolf tick.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“According to your boast, you’re faster, stronger, have better sight, hearing, and sense of smell. I’d like to know just how good you are at each.”