Page 12 of Loup Garou
Susan laughed. “Do you think he’ll be like all the others? Unable to keep up with you?”
I snorted. “Yeah, that’s it. I haven’t been lucky enough to run across a supernatural, ever-lasting guy with a stamina that rivals my own. Jot that down. We could put that on my Christmas list. No blonds. Oh, and they have to be taller than me. I get sick of the Sonny and Cher jokes. And their butt needs to be wider than mine. That’s a given. What else sounds good? Great obliques. Always a plus.”
“Supernatural?” Louise asked. “Great, this makes my husband right. He keeps spouting off that you’re a witch, or at the very least a temptress.”
I bit my lower lip and tried not to laugh. “That beats the rumor that I’m a vampire. At least I still get to eat ice cream if I’m a witch. That type O-neg diet would have really put a cramp in my junk-food addiction. Speaking of which, am I the only one who is hungry for a cheeseburger?”
Susan reached out and ran her finger over my arm. “Honey, you’re something all right. You haven’t broken a sweat and we’re all dying here.” She laughed. “You’re a nympho, aren’t you?”
“Yes. I am. Too bad I swore off men for a while. I hope withdrawal doesn’t set in. I might end up tackling that Blair guy. I really love his abs.”
“Brook,” they all said, laughing. Even Exavier shook his head, obviously getting in on the joke.
“Yeah, him too.”
Chapter Three
I waiteduntil the class had cleared out before smiling at Exavier. “Sorry about Dorothy pinching your ass.”
He rubbed his left cheek and lifted his brows. “She’s got a hell of a grip.”
I bent to shut the CD player off and winced as pain shot through my upper back. I thought I’d worked all the kinks out, but my run-in the night before had done more damage than I thought. Closing my eyes, I leaned down to try it again only to find Exavier beating me to it.
“You okay?”
“No, I’m old. You don’t want to hire me. Go home now.”
Chuckling, he held my elbow as I stood tall. “Nice try. What’s up? Sleeping wrong doesn’t leave someone this sore. I noticed you favoring your left shoulder earlier. What happened?”
How the hell did he pick up on all of that? “Nothing, I’m fine. Just stiff.”
“Lindsay?”
Exhaling, I decided truth was the best policy. That, and it would make him run away. “Okay then, on my way to my car last night, four big guys jumped out, partially shifted into panthers and managed to bounce me off six, no, seven vehicles before I even knew what hit me. They then accused me of being some prince’s mate and tried to put me in a big van. Apparently, princes’ mates are in high demand and there is a market for them or something. Don’t know. Don’t care. I unloaded an assload of power on them.” I winked. “Because I’m magikal. Killed two, I think, and managed to injure the other two.” I grinned. “There ya go. Feel better knowing?”
Something moved over his face that wasn’t friendly. “Lindsay?”
“I’m crazy. Run while you can before I start talking about vampires too. Any minute now someone from the neighborhood is liable to show up and ask me to cleanse their house of evil spirits. I’m a regular spook fest.”
Exavier moved in closer to me. “So, do things like that happen often or was it a one-shot deal?”
Iwouldfind the one man that was good at taking me in stride when I’d officially sworn off men.
“Let’s see. Up until three years ago, things like that would happen every now and then. A vampire here, a lycan there, a whatever-the-hell-else-exists sprinkled in for effect. It was rare and they never demanded I give up some prince guy, they just attacked because they said they could sense my power.”
“What happened three years ago?” he asked, his face never switching to an amused look. The fact he seemed to be buying the truth worried me.
“I was on tour, with a client. We were in England and he’d taken sick. That was weird in itself.” I left out the part about Tim being a supernatural who shouldn’t have ever fallen ill. “Needless to say, the show didn’t go on. I didn’t think anything of it until I knocked on his tour bus door and he didn’t answer. We were friends to start with and I knew he’d never ignore me, and I could sense him in there. I used my oh-so-spooky gifts and opened the door. I found his mutilated body spread all over the bus. After I pulled myself together, I ran to get help only to find the friendly gang of spookables on my heels.” I waited for Exavier to run the other way. He didn’t.
The events surrounding the attack three years ago weren’t something I’d ever talked about outside my immediate circle of friends. My parents weren’t even aware of what had truly gone on. They knew I’d been attacked. They also knew Tim died. I didn’t offer any details beyond those. I’d already told Exavier more than I’d confessed to my father, and I was a daddy’s girl.
“They ruled Tim’s death an accident,” he said, his voice low.
“Yeah,” I whispered, staring into his blue eyes, surprised he knew Tim. It did make sense. They were both in the entertainment industry. “It’s not like they could label it for what it was. Besides, other than you, humans don’t believe this shit when people start spouting it off.”
“Humans, huh?”
“Yeah, I’m not human. Run. Hurry up before I drop a house on you or something. Click your heels. Quick.”
