Leah smiled. “My wolf seems to think that Faith’s furry one is insecure in her color selections.”
“So then it’s magic and nothing biological at all. I don’t know why I bother. I should assume all things in life are related to the ‘hoo-doo’ and leave it at that.”
She laughed. “I’m sure life is a little more complicated than that.”
His brown eyes met hers shining with amusement. “Guess I’m being a little bit dramatic, huh?”
“Just a tad.” She waited a bit before continuing. “Could you say something about it already?”
He grabbed her hand, stroking his index finger over her hand. “Something about what? You’re going to have to excuse me, I don’t always follow conversations the way I should. My head is always doing one hundred things at a time not to mention my wolf yammers on and on telling me all the things I’m doing wrong.”
“No, in this case, I assumed you were being nice not mentioning my mess.”
“What mess?”
She pulled her hand free and grabbed her hair. “My hair, Azriel, my multi-colored clown hair.”
“It does have more colors than it did in the picture but I don’t think it looks like clown hair. I think it’s beautiful, lovely, like a rainbow of colors.”
“It’s a disaster.” Tears filled her eyes. Why was this bothering her so much? She never would have guessed she was so superficial. No, it wasn’t that. It was just that doing that to one’s hair…it was a decision you consciously made. A statement of some intent that you wanted to express to the world and Leah had no idea what that statement was because she could not access the memories of the person who had decided to do that to herself. She had to live with the consequences but had no ability to understand the reasoning. If she had to be an oddball who couldn’t remember even what her birthday was or what color her childhood home had been then why couldn’t she blend into the wallpaper and not draw attention to herself?
“It fits with what I now know about you.” Az actually jumped from foot to foot. “We looked you up on the Internet while you weren’t feeling well. I guess technically I should say Rex looked you up. He’s the one who really does well with modern technology.”
She sighed. “And what does it say about me that I choose to wear my hair like a children’s cartoon character?”
He ran to a table and picked up some pages. She hadn’t noticed them sitting there.
How could she when her hair used up all the light in the room?
“There are all these articles about you from when you first went missing. Your father makes lots of pleas for your safe return. You’re their only child. Your mother died last year in a car accident.” He looked up from where he read. “I’m so sorry about that.”
Her mother was dead. She processed that information. Nothing, no reaction at all but then how could she? He was talking about a woman she did not know. “Thank you…go on.”
“He says that you are fun loving, sociable, charitable and kind.”
“Wow, I sound like a real saint.” If sarcasm dripped in her voice, she couldn’t help it. None of those things matched her own internal musings.
“It also says that you own several art galleries in Portland, Maine and Nashua, New Hampshire.”
“So, I’m an artist or I just display other people’s work?”
Either way it seemed to Leah that this other version of herself—the one who’d made the fateful decision to paint her head all the colors of the rainbow—obviously liked to show off. This didn’t sit well with her.
“I don’t know but either way it makes sense, right? You’re a creative person. Creative people do this sort of thing.” He motioned to her hair.
“No, people who are trying to be the center of attention do this ‘thing’ to themselves.” She’d had enough. Just the few minutes she’d spent dwelling on this was too much. “Until I know who she,” Leah pointed to the pages Az held, “is, then I get to decide what I do and do not do. And this,” she grabbed her hair, “has to go right now. Where is the nearest drugstore?”
“Off the island.” He looked between her and the door. She suddenly wondered if she was acting like a lunatic. Maybe he was considering making a break for it. “Do you want to go off-island right now?”
“Yes, right this very second.”
He ran a hand through his dark locks. “Do you think that’s a good idea?”
“Why wouldn’t it be?”
“Because you didn’t want us to call your father yet and maybe you’ll be recognized by someone if you go out in public.”
He made a good point. “Do you think it’s smart? To call my father when I have no idea who he is?”
Yes, call him.
She smiled. She hadn’t been asking her wolf but it was nice to hear her opinion.
“I want to do whatever you want to, Leah, and I don’t mean now. I mean always.”
His voice was so low she had to strain to hear what he said. Goosebumps travelled up and down her arms. Here was a man who said so little to other people and yet to her he said the most wonderful things. She wished he would speak all the time.
She crossed to him grabbing his hand. “I have a wolf that speaks in my head now. Obviously, I have two bodies. I’m clearly a shifter. Am I your mate Az?”
“What does your wolf tell you, Leah?”
Am I his mate? She’d not tried speaking directly to the animal yet. Up until now it had always addressed her first.
You know you are. Why ask me silly questions?
“She says I am.”
He nodded. “That’s what mine says. Here’s the thing. Most of the pack accepts predestined stuff like they’re talking about what color underwear they want to choose that day.”
Visions of Az in his underwear filled her mind. She’d already seen him naked after the shifts. Still, the image of him in a pair of silk boxer shorts seemed more intimate, more personal like he would only show it to someone he was deeply connected to.
“And you don’t?” What was he saying? That he didn’t want her?
“I’m saying that even without my wolf—if I saw you walking down the street, holding a cup of coffee, with your beautiful skin like porcelain, your expressive eyes, and your hair that shows your unique vision of the world, I would follow you wherever you were going and spend weeks trying to figure out how to get you to speak to me. But you’d have a choice if you wanted to. I still want you to have that option.”
She smiled. Her intended held lots of self-confidence problems. They were going to have to do something about that.
“Az, I have no idea what I’d think and say. I have no idea who that person is. I know that standing here today, in front of you, with my new wolf hanging out in my head, I look at you and you are the most breathtaking man I’ve ever seen. I thought that way when I couldn’t speak aloud in my other wolf body. I saw the whole pack today and none of them—not one other man here—holds a candle to you. I—”
She never got a chance to finish what she wanted to say. His mouth came down on hers. Warm, soft, and inviting she closed her eyes and let the essence that was Azriel Kane fill her from the outside in. He pulled back, his lids heavy, desire evident in his gaze.
“In my whole life, Leah, no one has ever preferred me to any of them. Are you sure? I have so many eccentricities. I spend a lot of time living in my own thoughts.”
Reaching up, she kissed him. No one was going to criticize Az in front of her, not even Az.
Chapter Six
Az pressed his lips firmer against Leah’s. Gods, she smelled so delicious…like lavender essence mixed with vanilla soap and the natural essence that only belonged to her. The amazing thing—the gift—of Leah kissing him was like something out of a dream. In his real life, things like this just didn’t happen.