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Feeling experimental, I ran two fingers underneath my necklace chain and readjusted the pendent between my breasts. When my hand moved so did he: a half inch away with his attention returned on the mantle.
“Cal felt my best course of action was kissing you, among other activities. Why’s that, Caelan?” I asked with an innocuous smile.
He cleared his throat. “Reckon she saw or heard something in the manner in which you and I have interacted and reasoned to apply her experience to your situation.”
“What kind of something?” I prodded, sort of maybe hoping for an admission.
“Ain’t my job to interpret tea leaves, Miss Davins.”
“Aren’t you curious?”
“You’re hard to resist when you’re just being yourself, but…” The sheriff put his palm on my face and gently pushed me to the side. “I'm allergic to cats.”
“And feelings, evidently," I hissed in good humor, smoothing my hair as he stood. “So you’re aware, I’m of a similar mindset.”
His hand, reaching for his keys, froze. “Oh?”
“I'm not a dog person.”
He waved me off and headed for the hall. “Not a dog, Miss Davins.”
I wrinkled my nose. “You shed worse than one.”
Caelan turned, hand-on-hip. “We're going there?”
I shrugged one shoulder.
“You look like a raccoon with those bags under your eyes. Did you sleep at all last night, or were you up digging holes for your 'hydrangeas?'”
“What or where I dig on my property is none of your business,” I huffed, crossing my arms.
“Keeping you alive is my business,” he said. “Mighty difficult to accomplish when you’ve painted yourself red and thrown yourself headlong at the bull.”
I stood, the fear, anger and confusion of the past few days catching up to me. “Excuse me for not allowing my life to be trampled. This is my home, Caelan. I work my ass off to make enough money to pay my loans, feed the cats and keep this house, not spotless, but functional. And you’re telling me I have to run away from my accomplishments, my friends, my entire life, become a fucking monster, or die?”
He came to the end of the coffee table, watching me but studying the room’s contents. “Take this to mean you’re staying.”
“Here and human,” I snapped.
He froze. “That’s not an option, Marcy.”
“Yes, it is. You just don’t like the result.”
“Why would you—”
“How can you work for such evil?” I asked. “I can keep Society secrets without changing who I am. I shouldn’t be forced to become one of those, those monsters.”
“Werewolves?” he said softly.
I realized what I’d said. “They aren’t all bad,” I continued, flopping down on the part of the couch furthest from the windows. “I know that, but I can’t be one, Caelan. I can’t. The very thought…”
He toyed with keys, glancing from the door to me, then sat beside me. “I wish things were different but you’ve found teeth in the dark and there are hours yet to dawn. I’m trying to change them, Miss Davins, I am, but change won’t come in time for you. Best I can do is lead you somewhere safe.”
I turned my head away. “Or you’re trying to trick a gullible sheep.”
“Don’t recall you uttering a single ‘baa.’” At my headshake, he bumped his shoulder against mine and added, “Someone who throws up her hands saying, ‘Fuck it, let’s start over, sheriff’ and asks me to lie to a guy is hardly sheepish.”
Flipping my hands over in my lap, I rubbed the scarred palm. “It’s not that I don’t want to leave . . . I can’t. I delayed moving out because of Gram needing help around the house. She’s gone two years now. I’ve applied for nine apprenticeships since and lost them all. I've spent my entire life doing what I'm supposed to and being great at it, but someone’s always better. I’m tired of failing but at the same time, I know I’m close. I’m too specialized and in love with my work to start fresh.”
