Priceless (10 page)

Once John saw the damage, he gave me the nicest room the motel had, a suite
with two separate beds
stuck in the sixties.

“
Can
’
t believe it
,
”
John
said
a
nd
handed me my new room key.
“
You think they were after you
specific-
like?
”

“
Nah, I wasn
’
t even in there
,
John. I bet they were just looking for an easy score.
”
I felt a bit guilty
; after all,
it was my werewolf that caused the damage. I
’
d leave an extra large tip in the morning.

I waved to John and quietly beckoned Alex to come once the manager was out of sight. Alex bounded from the Jeep and barrelled past me into the suite, throwing himself onto the
green
shag carpet and rolling about with total abandon.
“
Listen
,
buddy, no more breaking into rooms, just wait by my Jeep, okay?
”

Alex just stared at me, amber eyes uncomprehending. Letting out another sigh, I
took off my jacket and placed my blades on the bed. My
night-time
routine
never changed,
no matter where I
slept
.
The only thing I wouldn
’
t do tonight
, since Alex was here,
was go for a run.

Going through combinations involv
ing
hands, feet, elbows and knees, I worked a circle around an imaginary opponent.
Muay Thai was my preferred method of hand-to-hand fighting; it gave me the most possibilities for striking out at someone.
I always practiced in my working clothes, so that whatever restrictions they gave me, I learned to deal with before an actual fight. Fight like you practice and practice like you fight. That was what my instructors drilled into me. Once I
’
d gone through the various blows, I dropped to the ground, first into a plank, then into push-ups
;
over to my back for crunches
,
and then back to a plank. Sweat
dripped
around me, my jeans sticking to my body, and I ignored it all. No matter what, I needed my body to be strong and fit for fighting
. If
it failed me
,
then I would fail a child, and that was not acceptable.

An hour and a half after I started, I finally let myself quit. Leaving
Alex to guard the main room and front door
, I headed into the bathroom to shower off. Taking
advantage of someone else
’
s hot water tank,
I stayed
in until the water cool
ed
, my muscles tensing under the sudden temperature change
. Stepping out onto the tile floor, water dripping everywhere
,
I glance
d
up at the foggy mirror
. The
heat from the shower
sluiced
off me as ice trailed down my spine. In bold letters written across the mirror were the words
:
“
Cross the Veil and Die
.
”

I snatched a towel and wrapped myself up in it,
then
searched the room, opening the two cupboards and the single closet. Nothing. I peeked out into the main room to see Alex sprawled out on the bed, but no one else. Closing the bathroom door, I used
the only other towel in the room to wipe the mirror clean, my hands shaking just a little. The words seemed to be etched into the glass,
and
all my efforts at erasing them
were
futile. Giving up, I stepped out of the bathroom,
preferring
to dress in front of Alex
,
who had no concept of nudity
,
than in the room where it felt like
someone w
as watching me. Give me blood and gore any day over perversion and
peeping toms
—
probably
creepy
,
greasy little men.
Damn, someone already knew I was looking for India.
The only person I
’
d told was Milly. Could she have spoken to the wrong person in the
Coven
? Shit.

Clean clothes on,
hair towel
-
dried,
I crawled into b
e
d and patted the covers. Some people might think it weird that I let a werewolf sleep with me. But when you have immunity
and can
’
t
be turned into a werewolf, there really is nothing to worry about. Other than the atrocious dog farts. He curled up at my feet, let loose one of said farts
,
and promptly began to snore.

Despite the words on the mirror, the worry over India and the
pack chasing
Alex away from home, sleep took me in less than ten minutes
, my workout giving my body the tired edge it needed to drop off into dreamland.

Bad
dreams were usual for me
as my mind relived
my past,
and tried
to make things better. I opened my eyes in my dream and it was Christmas morning, early, and Berget was tiptoeing into my room, not realizing my eyes were already open, her bright yellow pyjamas and housecoat ma
king
her easy to see. She
’
d always had a thing for the neon shades.

“
Rylee, it
’
s Christmas morning! Wake up, we can go get our stockings!
”

I closed my eyes.
“
This isn
’
t real.
”

“
What
’
s not real?
”
I opened my eyes and stared into her pristine
blue
ones,
and
wondered if perhaps I was wrong
, perhaps this was real and the rest of my life was just a bad dream. A nightmare
.

She reached out her small hand,
rubbed
it against my cheek, brushed off a tear.

“
Why are you crying
,
Rylee? Why are you sad? This is a happy day.
”

I brushed away
another
tear.
“
Berget, come here, let me hold you for a minute.
”
She skipped away laughing.

“
Silly
,
Rylee, you can
’
t catch me!
”
Her face suddenly contorted.
“
Run! RUN!
”

Her voice shattered what was left of the dream and I woke up, my breath coming in shallow gulps.
The dream was nothing new and it would fade, leaving my adrenaline to also fade out in a matter of minutes.
Or it would have, except for a
shuffle of feet on the other side of my door and the faint jiggle of the handle,
which caused
my adrenaline
to
spike
; I
leapt out of bed.

Alex rumbled softly
, his eyes half
-
closed
.
“
Man with gun.
”
I knew who that meant. It was O
’
Shea on the other side of the door.

If O
’
Shea thought he
’
d find me shaking in my boots, he was about to get another thing coming.
I was about to use Milly
’
s tactics to the hilt.

I stripped out of my clothes and ran to the door
,
trying not to
think too hard about my desire to show off my body to O
’
Shea
.
With one last thought to precaution, I grabbed a blade
with
my left hand
.
Just in case.

Taking a deep breath
I snatched the door open
, holding the blade behind the door where it wouldn
’
t be visible,
and said,
“
Hello?
”
in my best sultry voice. Much to my embarrassment, there was no one at the door. I peeked around the corner. Nothing. Not a single movement.

Alex came to stand beside me, sniffing the air. I could have sworn I
’
d heard someone. A glance at Alex told me I hadn
’
t been hearing things. His lips were curled back over his teeth and a steady growl slipped past his lips.

Pulling him back inside and putting some clothes on was my first
prerogative
. The second was to find out what Alex had smell
ed
.

I crouched down to his level, dressed and with my blade attached, just in case.
“
What did you smell Alex? Was it a human?
I thought it was
‘
man with a gun?
’”

He shook his head and snorted once.
“
No!
Yes!
”
He barked out.
“
Wolf, big leader wolf at door.
But man with gun too.
”

Not entirely sure he was smelling right, thinking perhaps he was still spooked from his run in with the pack that morning, I did something I
had never done before
. I Tracked O
’
Shea. A moment of searching and I found him. Sure enough, he was close, but not close enough to be the perp at the door. I started to close the connection, but got a feeling of utter hopelessness that stopped me.
It hurt me as if it were my own emotions, and not his
that
I was experiencing.
My hands clenched into fists and I drew away from O
’
Shea
,
afraid I might feel sorry for him. It was one of the many reasons I didn
’
t like Tracking anything
but
kids. Adults were far too complex
;
kids, for the most part, were simple.

Believing Alex, I
got dressed, then
bundled him into the Jeep and headed to the front desk to check out. Sure, it was four in the morning, but I wasn
’
t going to be able to sleep, wondering who exactly was trying to break into my room. I might not be able to be turned into a werewolf, that didn
’
t mean that they couldn
’
t still rip me to shreds.

“
Alex, stay.
”
I raised my hand to him and then went to the back of the Jeep. Digging around in the back seat I found his collar. It was a simple, wide leather collar with two diamonds in the top. Yes
,
I said diamonds
,
and yes the collar had cost me a bundle
,
but it was worth it. The diamonds were part of the spell woven into the collar to keep people from seeing him for what he truly was.

Another pang centered around my heart. Milly was such a huge part of my life, how was I going to do all I needed to without her help?
A
gain
,
I shook o
f
f those thoughts and fingered the collar. Once on Alex, all the average person saw was a very large black dog of indiscriminate breeding. Others
, those
who could see through the veil
,
saw him for what he was, but most of them wouldn
’
t point fingers for fear of being pointed at themselves.

Slipping the collar over his big head I said,
“
Now, while you
’
re with me, you don
’
t leave
my
side, not for an instant. Got it?
”

Alex nodded and crossed his heart with a big claw. I laughed. Some days he seemed so human. It broke my heart a little to see him trapped like this, knowing there was no way out for him.

I shook off my melancholy and walked down to the office, Alex tight against my leg. He was very literal
,
which was always good to remember.