The Legend of the Werewolf (21 page)

Kim, seemingly unaware of the stress,
followed them before placing her toddler on the floor to crawl
around.

The boy dragged himself to a pile of
soft blocks under the table and began beating them against the
floor.

Mike didn't take his eyes away from the
child. "So, when did I become an uncle?"

Anne's heart lurched and she fell into a
vat of embarrassment. This was why he didn't want her coming. He
didn't want to have any awkward, private conversations while she
was in the room.

Anne knelt down next to the boy, handed
him a red block and tried to make herself look small and invisible
while she played with him. Kim hovered, keeping a watchful eye on
Anne as she played with the boy.

"Ten months ago. His name is
Jax."

Anne wasn’t watching him but she heard
Mike tapping his fingers against the marble kitchen counter. She
waited for him to say something, make some remark as to why no one
bothered to tell him that he was an uncle.

Finally, he said, "Is he—?"

"No, thanks to you. You were right,
Stan took off after ..." She stopped talking. The bitterness in
Kim's voice seemed directed at her brother instead of Stan for
whatever it was he did.

Though, it wasn’t hard to
guess.

The guy was likely the father of the
cute little boy on the floor with her. A love ‘em and leave ‘em
type who was easy to keep when times were good but impossible to
stay when things went wrong. Like unplanned pregnancy.

Possibilities added up while Anne
helped Jax to build a little block tower. If Stan was just some guy
who wanted a piece of tail, and Mike knew about it because of his
ability to read minds, then surely his sister wouldn't appreciate
being told that her boyfriend was a scumbag.

“I’m sorry, I really am, but you can’t
say I didn’t warn you.”

“
Do you really want to do the
whole I-told-you-so’s? If so, you can get the Hell out.”

“That’s not what I was
doing.”

Shit. Argument coming. Anne smiled at
Jax, handed him another block, and decided she would pretend to be
deaf.

“This is all your fault
anyway.”

Anne sneaked a peek and saw Mike’s eyes
go as round as a full moon. “My fault?”

“Telling a young girl that the man she
loves is a bad boy doesn’t make her want to ditch him. I dated him
just to prove you wrong. When you told me he’d leave if I ever got
pregnant—”

“I said when you got pregnant, not
if.”

“—
I went on the pill, made
sure he wore condoms, all that. And you know what, you were wrong,
I didn’t get pregnant.”

Anne could feel Mike’s anger rising. “Not
right away from the looks of it, and Stan was a bad boy idiot. Let
me guess, Macho Man didn’t like how the rubbers felt so he
convinced you that going without them a few times would be
fine.”

Kim’s voice rose along with her
brother’s. “Doesn’t matter because you were wrong.”

“
I was
not
wrong, Kim. You still eventually got
pregnant and he still left you.”

“He left me because you freaked him
out. Said he didn’t want any baby of his to be a demon
child.”

“That was just an excuse, Kim. He
would’ve left you anyway.”

Kim’s voice became as shaky as her hand
at her throat. “Jax is perfect.”

“I can see that he is.” Mike’s voice
was soft, filled with yearning and sadness.

“
He’s not going to be like you.
He won’t have what you have.” Silence stretched, as though Mike
were contemplating whether or not he should speak. “Say he
does—”

“He won’t.”

“
But, let’s just say he does.
Will you disown him as your son like you, mom and dad disowned
me?”

Kim’s lips thinned.

The door opened and shut again. Anne
tensed, ready to spring to defend herself in case the enemy found
them. Mike did the same. Her hearing detected no thick robes
flapping around the small space, no slam of the door, but they did
pick up the sound of a hand leaning against the wall while whoever
it was kicked off shoes.

"Kim?" The voice that called was
obviously welcome.

"In here."

Mike's body didn't unwind and his eyes
rounded into golf balls when a kid with a backpack slung over his
shoulder stepped into the kitchen with them.

He couldn't have been older than
sixteen. A mop of chestnut hair stuck out in all directions on top
of his head, a black T-shirt and a pair of jeans that were at least
three times too big for him with a small chain hanging out of his
pocket gave evidence of this.

Uncaring of the guests, he reached over
Anne's head for the bowl of apples on the counter and plucked one
out for himself. He finally looked down at her when he had his
prize.

"Hi," he said, taking a
bite.

He looked up at Mike, repeated the
greeting, and took two steps out of the kitchen and stopped. He
swiveled on the heel of his heavy hiking boots and stared at Mike,
who stared back unflinchingly.

Anne couldn't tell if the boy was in
shock or fear until his mouth cracked upward into a relieved grin.
Mike stood up as the boy stepped forward and they hugged like long
lost brothers.

"I didn't recognize you!"

Mike slapped his back. "Good to see
you, Bud."

Wow. They really were long lost
brothers.

Bud looked down at Anne with a new
interest. He threw his bitten apple onto the counter, wiped the
juices from his hand on his shirt, and presented it for her to
shake. "Good to meet you. I'm his brother," he said it like the
fact made him proud.

Anne liked him already. She shook his hand
fervidly even though it made her fingers sticky. "Nice to meet you,
too."

"Bud, this is my wife,
Anne."

Bud's face dropped at the
word
wife
,
but he controlled himself and returned to grinning. "How long are
you staying for?"

"He was just leaving," Kim
interrupted.

Bud rolled his eyes, his face twisting
to annoyance. "Will you give it a—"

“I said no!” Kim snapped. Jax’s bottom
lip started to twitch and shiver. Anne grabbed a handful of blocks
and crashed them together.

The small explosion of noise and color
brought a smile to Jax’s face.

"Actually, she's right. I can't stay. I
should go before mom and dad come back," Mike said, likely thinking
of the danger that Hadrian still posed.

Even if the warlock wasn’t a threat,
would their reaction to Mike be anything like Kim's?

Anne got up from the floor, signaling
that she was ready whenever he was. They’d been inside barely ten
minutes and she was ready to get out.

It didn’t go unnoticed by Bud. His face
dropped like he’d just been told his dog died. "You can’t leave me
already. You just got here."

Anne blinked but said nothing. Kim
picked up her son, not looking at either brother.

Mike folded his arms loosely over his
chest. "I know, I know. I just wanted to check in, make sure that
you're all okay. I'll keep in touch if you want me to."

Bud’s face hardened. "Duh. My e-mail
address didn't change in the last five years."

Anne wished she could be as capable of
putting such a warm smile on Mike's face as his brother seemed to
be. Their exchange was the only bit of warmth to be found in the
cold house.

Mike recited his phone number and his
brother wrote it on his hand with a pen from his pack. Then he and
Bud exchanged one last hug and slapped each other's backs a bit
with vows to keep in touch before he and Anne left the little
house. Bud stood in the doorway, watching them leave with sad
eyes.

Anne couldn't keep her questions to
herself. "You haven't seen your family in five years?"

He nodded. "Bud was almost eleven when
I was officially kicked out."

“Officially?”

He nodded. “When I was sixteen I was run
over by Mrs. Jacobs’ truck. Bud was just born, anyway, she was in
her seventies, probably dead now. But, when she hit me she panicked
and hit the gas. Ran me right down.”

The blood drained from Anne’s face.
“That’s…how could you survive that?”

Mike shrugged. “Don’t know. Should’ve
died, especially since my head bashed into the asphalt pretty bad.”
He took off his Stetson and tilted his head. “Have a
look.”

Anne wasn’t sure if she wanted to, but
curiosity took hold. Hesitantly, she reached her hands into his
dark, thick hair. She moved around the strands and
frowned.

“I don’t see anything.”

“It’s right here.” He reached his own
hand into the locks, found her fingers and guided them to the spot
about two inches above his ear.

Anne’s fingers brushed against it first.
The scar felt like a long bump in his skin. She hissed when she saw
it, her fingers jerking away.

“I know. Not exactly
pretty.”

“
That’s not why I did that.”
Shit. She didn’t want him to think she couldn’t handle seeing a
scar. Even though it was long, pink, jagged thing on his head.
“It’s just that…for a second, I thought it would hurt touching
it.”

Mike straightened and put his hat back
on. He smiled and Anne was relieved. “The accident was too long
ago. Just another part of my body now.”

Anne bit her lip. “So, when you woke
up, you could hear people’s thoughts?”

He scratched his forehead with his thumb.
“Kind of. Mostly I see what’s in their heads rather than hear it.
Kept it to myself for a while. My parents thought to set me up with
a psychiatrist at first. Wasn’t until I freaked the guy out and he
quit that everyone started to believe I could get into their heads,
see some of their private memories.”

It still didn’t seem like a valid
excuse to send him away. “That’s why you left?”

He nodded. “Stuck around for a bit
first. For my sister, then Bud.”

Anne examined his face, searching for
any sign that he regretted his situation, mourned the loss of a
relationship with a brother who obviously adored him.

All that was there was a calm resignation,
as though he’d adjusted to the idea that he was no longer a part of
that family.

“So, you see other people’s thoughts
and memories?”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

“Not your own?” She couldn’t keep the
hope out of her voice.

He looked at her. “I don’t think it
applies to me, seeing as how I already know everything about
myself. Then again, no one ever tried to kill me for potentially
being something even I didn’t know about.”

He might as well have lifted his giant
booted foot and squashed her hope like a bug. Why did he have to
say that?

“What’s the matter?” He stopped walking
and took her arm. “You alright?”

She forced a smile, eager to change the
subject. “Just thinking about a few things. From what you were
saying in there, I got the feeling that Stan was a dirt
bag."

Mike's lips quirked. They started
walking again. "Still is, from what I was seeing."

"You were watching your sister's
thoughts?"

He shrugged. "She already considers me out
of the family, not like there's anything I can lose by doing it.
Anyway, when I told her all he wanted was tail, she wouldn't
believe me.

"Bud's the only one who never really
cared that I could read people's thoughts. Kid thought it was cool.
Probably ‘cause the only thoughts running through his head were how
much he hated school and wished he could play his video games all
day. Eventually he started noticing his teacher’s—"

Mike cut himself off, looked away and
scratched his glowing cheek.

Anne sputtered a laugh, imagining how
big boobs could hold the attention of a prepubescent kid like that.
"Sounds like a ten year old to me."

Mike made a sound of agreement. "I
didn't have control back then like I do now. Whenever I slipped
into someone's head I had no choice but to hear them until I left
the room. No one likes having their dirty secrets laid out like
that."

Not even his parents.
A thought occurred
that made her skin tingle. "Have you ever gone into my
head?"

He grinned. "I tried, in the beginning
when I thought you were all crazy. But it's hard to get into a
were’s head. When I gave you those instructions like when Gordon
had his little test, it wasn't because that's how it works, but
because your thoughts are different and I needed extra
help."

Anne sighed. Confused between being
disappointed that he didn’t know of her attraction to him, yet
grateful that it was still a secret.

"Don't worry. Your thoughts are safe
from me."

"That isn't what I meant. I just—" She
stopped herself when she realized that, yes, it was exactly what
she meant. "I'm sorry."