Chapter 13
When Gabby left for class the next day, I did what I could to help at home. I switched over the laundry she'd put in that morning-I was less afraid of breaking the machine now-folded everything once it dried, and washed the sheets she'd pulled from the bed.
While I waited for the laundry to finish, I looked at our supplies and made note of anything running low. I also found a cookbook with over a dozen cookie recipes. Each recipe had a slight variation, but all had the same basic ingredients: flour, sugar, butter, baking powder (or soda), and vanilla. I added those ingredients to the list as well.
Once I had the bed remade, the laundry put away, and the list in my back pocket, I headed out the door.
Dale was ready with a car on the lift in the right bay when I arrived. I checked the paperwork on his desk for what it needed, then started on the oil change. It felt good to have something to do while Gabby was at school. Reading had helped me from going crazy, but physically doing something was better.
It was close to dinner when Dale told me I could go. I knew I wouldn't make it home before Gabby did, but I still stopped to pick up some more laundry detergent, dryer sheets, toilet paper, and toothpaste. Those items would be easy enough to sneak into the house. The rest of the list, I'd save for another day.
If Rachel wasn't home and Gabby hadn't yet eaten, maybe I could cook her dinner again. The likelihood of Rachel's absence was pretty high. Rachel's social life had altered when she started seeing Peter, and I'd noticed a pattern. She typically spent Tuesday nights at his house, which meant Gabby and I would have tonight together.
Two blocks from home, I noticed the car. It was parked in front of our house and was hard to miss. As I watched, the brake lights turned on; and it pulled away from the curb. I frowned. I knew both Rachel's and Peter's cars, and the one that had just driven away wasn't either.
Something about the car worried me.
With a burst of speed, I made it to the garage to ditch the supplies, then let myself in through the back door. I found Gabby in the living room, standing with her forehead against the front door.
The scent of her fear and confusion laced the air. Worried, I stepped closer as she pushed away from the door.
When she turned and saw me, she started screaming, a blood curdling sound that nearly stopped my heart. With wide eyes, she clapped a hand over her mouth to stop the sound. In the silence, I heard her pounding pulse. Something had scared her before she saw me. What? Or who?
I inhaled deeply. There was a lingering scent in the air, barely there. I breathed in again, tracing the scent. She had something in her front pocket. Something not hers. I glanced down, caught a glimpse of white, and reached forward to pluck the business card out of her pocket. There was nothing but a name and phone number on it.
I looked at her and shook my head, wondering what had upset her so much.
She exhaled shakily and dropped her hand.
"Did you see who was here?" she asked with a slight tremor in her voice.
I shook my head, wishing I hadn't worked late.
"How did you know that was in my pocket?"
I lifted it to my nose.
"Have you ever met Elder Joshua before?"
I shook my head again.
"Have you ever smelled him before?"
Where was she going with these questions? Again, I let her know I hadn't.
She closed her eyes and let out a sigh. She was relieved I hadn't met him? Why?
Her unfocused gaze told me she was lost in thought. I gently tapped her forehead, wanting to know what she was thinking. She startled slightly and gave me a weak smile.
"You want to know what's going on in my head?"
I nodded. I wanted that more than anything.
"I'd like to know what's going on in my head sometimes, too," she said, looking a bit lost. "Let's make dinner while I talk. Let me know if you hear Rachel or anyone else."
I nodded, kicked off my shoes, and put them in Gabby's room before joining her in the kitchen. She was sitting at the table, her hands fidgeting. I went to the cupboard and grabbed some potatoes. She needed to keep her hands busy.
She didn't hesitate once I set the spuds in front of her. She started to peel, and I turned to get a pot out.
"That was Elder Joshua at the door. He stopped by because I haven't talked to Sam lately, and Sam asked him to check up on me. I guess he was worried after that challenge."
I took some chicken from the freezer and went to thaw the meat in the microwave, listening not just to her words but also her tone. She sounded pensive.
"Something was odd about him, Clay."
And then, she just stopped talking. Behind me, the peeler rasped against the potato and the microwave beeped. I took the chicken to the stove then went to her side. She didn't look up at me. I grabbed the peeled potato, purposely nudging her chair. It seemed to startle her from her thoughts, and I went to the sink to rinse the potato.
"I'm different," she said abruptly.
I turned from the sink and looked at her. Of course she was different. She was human...yet somehow connected to our world. I didn't see anything wrong with that. I shrugged.
"No. Really different. It's kind of hard to explain. Sam told me I was different when he met me, but he doesn't know all of it. He said that I was rare because I was one of only a few humans compatible with werewolves, just me and Charlene."
She sighed and dropped the peeler, obviously agitated. I quickly grabbed two more potatoes and handed them to her along with the rinsed, nude potatoes. She started peeling again, and I went to the stove and started slicing the chicken.
"Since as long as I can remember, I've seen lights. Not with my eyes, but in my mind.
"When I was younger, I had to close my eyes and concentrate to see a relatively small area around me. As I got older, I didn't need to concentrate as hard and could see a much larger area. Now, I can see these lights at will, briefly, with little effort, and over a longer distance. And I don't need to close my eyes."
I put a large portion of butter into the pot, started it, and added the chicken. Moving quietly, I took some broccoli from the freezer, still listening and trying to understand what she was saying.
"These lights are people, Clay. I can see the neighbors moving around in their houses right now."
I paused, stunned by what she was saying. No lie laced her words. How could I, someone who had no skill of any merit, be with someone so completely special? When she started speaking again, she sounded a bit hoarse, so I poured her a glass of water.
"It's not an aura I'm seeing. To put it in perspective, I can see a square mile around us, but in my mind, the area looks like an inch. The lights within that area are small pinpricks, but I can see them so clearly that they might as well be the size of quarters three inches from my face. And all those dots are the same color. Every human around us has the same yellow light with a green halo."
I handed her the drink and rescued the potatoes she'd cubed into tiny pieces. It would make cooking them quicker.
"Thanks," she said, taking a sip.
While she continued talking, I resumed cooking dinner.
"You and I, in the middle of those dots, stand out. I have the same yellow light as everyone else, but my halo is orange. I'm different from the people around us. Even from you. Werewolves have a green core with a blue halo. At least, that's all I ever saw in the past two years, until the night you were challenged. That werewolf had a blue-grey light."
Was she saying there was another kind of werewolf? I'd never heard of any, but that didn't mean it wasn't true. We'd kept to ourselves until Charlene's arrival and acceptance into Thomas' pack. Who really knew what was out there? And another species would explain why that werewolf had challenged me before my time was up.
She continued her explanation, speaking slowly as if trying to figure out the right words to use.
"N
ow, imagine my shock when I opened the door and saw a man, who introduced himself as Elder Joshua, with the same color light. Only the difference in the color of his eyes kept me breathing."
Her panic made sense, and I started to wonder. If there was another kind of werewolf, how could we have one as an Elder? Did the other Elders know about this? No, I doubted it. They were still trying to puzzle out why Charlene and Gabby were potential Mates for our kind. I wondered if the answer to that lay within what Gabby was telling me, that there might be more species out there than we were aware.
"I've been like this my entire life, and I have more questions than answers about this second sight. Why are all humans green and yellow except Charlene and me? We're human. Why does Charlene have a red halo? Or me an orange halo? The only similarities are the yellow cores. I've been thinking the yellow cores mean human, but I don't know what the halos mean.
"And I'm sure that you've caught on to the whole guy situation. I call to them, somehow, as if I'm a beacon or something. Do I really send out some kind of signal?"
She looked up at me questioningly as I turned from the stove with a loaded plate in each hand. I handed one to her and studied her for a long moment.
I had noticed the attention she received. Some of it seemed a little intense, but she was beautiful and amazing. I felt intense around her, too, but I knew that was just the animal side of me. Humans were different. Gabby more so because of her compatibility with me. However, beyond the Mate pull, I didn't sense anything different about her.
I shrugged and shook my head.
"So nothing as far as you can tell? There's got to be a reason, a connection to it all." She sighed and played with the food on her plate.
I ate slowly, unsure how to react to everything she'd shared. Her revelation surprised me, but it didn't change how I felt about her. I didn't care that she saw lights in her head or that men found her attractive. It just meant we'd have an interesting life.
I quietly ate my food and waited for her to say more. Eventually, she did.
"I've never told anyone all of this. People figure out there's something different about me if they're around me long enough. But no one knows about the lights."
That she'd chosen to share her secrets elated me. It showed trust and progress in our relationship.
"I'm torn. Do I call Sam and tell him everything? Do I tell him the light of the guy who challenged you is the same light as Joshua? There's nothing concrete I can offer about the coloring or why I'm so worried about it.
"Why would a werewolf I've never met challenge you? And why does he share the same coloring as Joshua? So far, the lights have had a category: humans, werewolves, and compatible Mates. I don't think the challenger and Joshua can be compatible Mates because Charlene and I are uniquely colored from each other."
She shook her head then took her first bite. Her food had to be cold by now.
"Bet you're wishing you hadn't asked."
I shook my head slowly, still watching her. She was everything I wanted and more. I only wished she would have trusted me sooner.
She quickly finished her meal, and I took both our plates and cleaned up the kitchen while she sat at the table and did her homework. Her anxiety remained high, and I didn't know what to do to comfort her. I doubted she'd welcome a hug yet. At least, not from me while I wore my skin.
When I finished rinsing the sink, I left the room, stripped out of my clothes, and shifted. I returned to the kitchen, nudged her arm with my head, and looked toward the living room. She reached out and ran her fingers through the fur at my neck, then packed up her homework.
We watched some sitcoms before calling it a night.