Wolves in the Shadows (The Wolf Clan Chronicles) (17 page)

Chase glanced
at Elizabeth sleeping peacefully on the bed.  “I think it’s more thanks to her,” he mumbled to himself. 

Lord Reginald must have heard because before leaving the room, he turned and said, “
It’s a good thing then that Marcus has such a respect for his family.”  He opened the door and was gone before, Chase could reply. 

Chase sighed and looked back at Elizabeth. 

Romulus lifted his head and gave him a piercing stare. 

“Don’t look at me like that,” Chase said. 

The wolf gave a quiet growl of warning. 

Chase chuckled and shook his head.  “It’s been a long day,” he told Romulus.  “Wake me up if anything else happens.”  He stretched himself out on the second bed in the room and was asleep by the time his head hit the pillow. 

Monday

Chapter 1

Elizabeth woke with a start to see sunlight streaming through the window.  She was lying on a large bed with a lumpy mattress and stiff white sheets.  As she looked around at the dingy walls with cheap looking watercolor painting of sailboats and an identical bed beside the one that she was in, she realized that she was in a motel room. 

She closed her ey
es and tried to piece together the events of last night.  She remembered falling asleep in Lord Reginald’s arms, but then how had she gotten here? 

The door opened and th
en closed with a quiet click, and something big and furry jumped up on the bed beside her and started to lick her face. 

“Hey
, Romulus,” she said as she ran her fingers through his rough fur.  She opened her eyes and blinked in surprise at the sight of the wolf.  It definitely was Romulus, but he looked and smelled all wrong.  His fur gleamed as if it had just been brushed and he was wearing a big red collar.  She scratched him affectionately behind the ears and asked him, “Who gave you a bath?”

She laughed as a vision of a very wet Chase with a soap covered wolf in a tiny hotel bathtub filled her mind. 

“It took plenty of convincing on my part.” 

Elizabeth looked up from Romulus to see Chase standing at the foo
t of her bed with a wry smile.

“I’m glad to see he’s okay,” she said
, smiling back.  “And you too, Chase.” 

“I’m pretty happy about that myself,” Chase said. 
He held up the box of donuts with two cups of coffee perched precariously on top.  “And I hope you’re hungry.” 

Elizabeth’s eyes widened.  “You are my new best friend,” she said. 

Romulus whined and nuzzled her cheek. 

“Sorry, Romy,” Elizabeth said with a
smile.  “But he does have food.  She sat up and took a sip of the coffee that Chase had handed her. 

“I didn’t know what you like, so I just got a bunch of different ones,” Chase said as he set the box on the nightstand between the two beds. 

“Fine by me,” Elizabeth said through big bite of a maple bar.  “I don’t think I’ve ever been this hungry in my life.” 

“That’s saying something,” Chase said as he sat down on the second bed and helped himself to a cinnamon roll.  “I
’ve seen how much you can eat.” 

Elizabeth finished the maple bar and picked up another donut.  “I like Romulus’ collar by the way,” she said.  “Red’s my favorite color.” 

“I figured that it would work better than a pink and sparkly one.” 

Romulus grunted in agreement. 

“Though you can be the one to give him a bath next time,” Chase said.  “I figured he’d be more convincing as a dog if he had a collar and wasn’t covered in blood.  Plus, I told him that you’d like him better if he smelled better.” 

“There’s no way anyone would think he’s a dog,”
Elizabeth said with a chuckle.  “But it’s worth a try.”  She finished her second donut and picked up her third.  “His cuts are healing nicely,” she said before taking a bite. 

“
They might leave some scars, but other than that he’ll be fine,” Chase said. 

“And you’re definitely okay, right?”  Elizabeth asked.  

“I’ll be fine too,” Chase said with a wink.  “As long as you don’t eat all the donuts.” 

Elizabeth selected her forth donut from the box and grinned mischievously.  “You just need to eat faster.” 

#

In the end, Elizabeth did eat almost the entire box of donuts by herself, but Chase insisted that he’d had enough. 

“You’d better not say anything about feeling fat now,” he warned as her as she rubbed her stomach contently. 

She stuck her tongue out at him and rolled her eyes. 

He chuckled and shook his head.  As she had eaten, he had told her about how Lord Reginald had asked him to watch over her during the day and then meet up after sundown.  He had not mentioned the fact that Elaine was his mother, and he did not feel even remotely inclined to do so. 

“I can hardly remember last night after Demetrius’ died,” Elizabeth said.  “I know it’s there; it’s just really jumbled.” 

“You just need more rest,” Chase said. 

“I remember being w
orried that Sir Marcus wanted to kill you.” 

“M
ost vampires tend to want,” Chase said with a snort.  “But then again, I usually kill any vampire I come across.” 

“You’d better not try to kill my uncle,” Elizabeth said.  She found it hard to sound as serious as she felt.  “That might put a damper on our relationship.” 

Chase grinned and said, “Our relationship?” 

“Our friendship.”  She tried to stress the word. 

“I like ‘relationship’ better,” Chase said.  He raised his eyebrows. 

Elizabeth threw a wadded napkin at him.  “I’m trying to be serious,” she said. 

“Your choice of weapon tells me otherwise.”  Chase replied.  He had dodged the napkin that Elizabeth had thrown and was crumpling up his own arsenal. 

“It honestly worries me,” Elizabeth said with a sigh, growing more serious with each passing moment.  “I like you, Chase, I really do, and it genuinely scares me.”  A slight line appeared on her forehead as she scrunched her eyebrows together. 

Chase cocked his head to the side and asked, “why?” 

“You’re a hunter,” Elizabeth said.  She ran her fingers through her hair, trying to organize her thoughts.  “And some part of me will always be afraid that you’ll-”  She found that she could not finish her thought. 

“I’m actually a Slayer, remember?” Chase gave her a roguish wink. 

Romulus growled a warning. 

Elizabeth gave up trying not to smile.  There really was no point.  Chase always seemed to be able to disarm her completely with his charm.  She could feel Romulus’ mind press against hers.  She could tell that he didn’t like or trust Chase very much. 

Chase gnawed his lower lip.  “
The truth is if it was anyone else, I wouldn’t be here,” he confessed.  “I’d be hunting for Lord Reginald and Sir Marcus’ current daytime resting places, and then if I couldn’t find them, I’d take you somewhere and rig up every sort of anti-vampire charm and trap that I could think of.” 

“But they’re different?” Elizabeth asked hopefully. 

“No, Lizzy,” Chase said.  “You’re different.” 

Elizabeth’s smile drooped into a frown.  “I’m getting a little ti
red of hearing that,” she said. 

“It’s true,” Chase said with an unapologetic shrug.  “You are a rare individual.  Whether you want to accept it or not.  I have more reason to be scared of you.  You could easily rip through my mind.” 

Elizabeth yawned, suddenly feeling ready for a nap after all that food.  “Well,” she said.  “You don’t have to worry about me for a bit.”  She settled comfortably against her pillows and smiled as she looked up at Chase.  “Thanks for breakfast.” 

Chapter 2

Elizabeth’s eyes snapped open; she sat up and looked around wildly. 

“What is it?”  Chase asked. 

“I killed her,” Elizabeth said.  The jumbled memories from last night had suddenly coalesced as she had been napping.  She ran her fingers through her hair and shook her head.  “How could I have done it?  I didn’t-” 

Chase hurried to her side and shushed her.  “It’s okay, Lizzy,” he said taking her hand. 

Romulus lifted his head from between his paws and watched him warily. 

“It was self-defense,” Chase
said.  “I know you didn’t want to do it.” 

Elizabeth relaxed a
bit and frowned as she looked up at Chase.  “Who was she?” she asked.  Her gaze bored into Chase’s skull. 

Chase looked away and said nothing. 

“She was you mother, wasn’t she?” Elizabeth asked. 

Chase’s entire body went rigid with shock. 

Elizabeth pulled her hand away from his and clapped it against her mouth. 

“How did you know?” Chase said at last, his expression wooden. 

“I just know,” Elizabeth said.  “I think Romulus told me.” 

Chase frowned and glanced at the big wolf who had put his head back down between his paws and had closed his eyes. 

“You weren’t going to tell me were you?”  There was a hint of accusation in Elizabeth’s voice. 

“Did Romulus tell you that too?”
Chase asked.  His eyes narrowed into slits as he looked at her. 

“He didn’t have to.” 

Chase rubbed his temples.  His head was beginning to pound.  “You’re messing around in my head,” he said. 

Elizabeth wrenched
her thoughts away from his mind.  She felt sick to her stomach at what she had found there. 

“She would have killed you;
you know that right?”  Chase said. 

Elizabeth nodded, but did not reply. 

“You know I don’t blame you.” 

“It’
s not that,” Elizabeth said.  “She was your mother, but you feel nothing.” 

“You heard her say that she never wanted me,” Chase fe
lt a twinge of shame as he spoke.  What sort of monster was he?  It was true that he had never considered Elaine to be his mother, but she had been.  Had he become completely desensitized to death? 

“
She was lying, Chase,” Elizabeth said.  “I could see it.  She was proud of you.” 

“She probably wouldn’t be proud if she could see me now,” he said with a self-deprecating smile.  He sat down and shook his head. 
“Sir Marcus offered me a chance to fight him to avenge her, but I turned him down, and here I am protecting the one who killed her.” 

Elizabeth frowned.  “
My whole life is about to change, isn’t it?” 

Hasn’t it already?” Chase asked, raising his eyebrows.  “And is that really such a bad thing?” 

Chapter 3

Elizabeth let out a contented sigh.  There was nothing like a long hot shower to make the
world a little brighter.  She wrapped a towel around her and poked her head out of the bathroom. 

“At ease, Romy,” Elizabeth said with a chuckle at the sight of Romulus sitting stiffly by the door. 

The big wolf looked up at her and whined. 

Elizabeth stepped out of the bathroom and patted him reassuringly on the head.  She was actually relieved that Chase hadn’
t returned.  He had been a perfect gentleman when he had suggested that she relax and shower while he got her some fresh clothes, but there had been an undeniable tension between them.  She felt like she needed to talk about Elaine’s death, but it was clear that Chase had no interest in discussing it.  His lack of remorse worried her, but far worse than that was the fact that there was a part of her that had enjoyed digging around in his mind.  She was slowly coming to realize that she really could rip apart his mind if she wanted to.  It was both terrifying and exhilarating. 

“What’s the matter with me?”
she said out loud.  She instinctively threw up barriers around her mind. 

Romulus cocked his head to the side as he l
ooked at her. 

“I don’t really want to know, Romy,” Elizabeth said with a shrug.  She could feel his thoughts pressing against hers.  She tapped her forehead with her index finger.  “There’s too much going on in here for there to be room for you right now.” 

The wolf kept looking at her silently. 

Elizabeth ran her fingers through her hair.  “Things are happening so quickly, I hardly know what to think,” she said more to herself than to Romulus.  “Sometimes I wish you could just speak plain English and tell me what’s going on.” 

Romulus whined sympathetically. 

“Just having you around, is comforting.  I can’t imagine what it’s like having so many souls in you.  I feel lost and confused, and it’s just me in here.”  She drew the towel around her more tightly and sat in the chair by the window.  It was frustrating how quickly the delightful feeling of being clean and safe had slipped through her fingers.