“Yeah. How are you feeling?”
“Verrry bad. Weak. But you are here now. I feel betterrr,” she purred.
“He’s gone. He can’t hurt you again,” Grant promised and made a silent vow to himself to make certain that was true.
She reached out and stroked his damaged shoulder as Sonia had done. “You are hurt.”
“A little, but mostly I’m damn tired. Too tired to go all the way home. Mind if I sleep here for awhile?”
“You are always welcome in my bed. You know that. Come. Rest.” He sighed as he crawled beneath the covers and snuggled against her warm body. Marina licked his shoulder then breathed deeply of his skin. “You smell like wolf and human…and sex. What you been up to, Grrrant?”
“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you later.” His voice was muffled against her warm skin, and already his consciousness was slipping away.
“I will be verry interested to hear such a strange tale.” She stroked him with her soft, wet tongue once more, and that was the last thing Grant remembered.
Lydia Cox held out her hand to Sherrie. “Welcome. I’m so glad you could come. Liberty’s been looking forward to meeting you. We should’ve had you sooner, but we wanted to make sure she was fully recovered.”
“I’m looking forward to meeting her too. Although I feel a little like I already know her. The night I held her hand, I didn’t tell you the truth,” Sherrie admitted. “I met her…inside her mind. Saw what she’d seen and got an impression of the man who was holding her hostage. I didn’t want to scare you, so I only told John later, after we left.”
Mrs. Cox nodded and gripped her hand tighter. “All that matters is that you saved our little girl.” She nodded toward her husband standing behind her in the entryway of their house. “Brian and I… Our entire family is in your debt. Anything you want or need…”
Sherrie smiled. “To tell the truth, all I really want is a friend or two in this town. People are polite to me. They’re all so grateful. But I’ve been here over a week now and, other than John, I don’t really know anyone yet.”
Lydia returned her smile, teeth flashing against her brown skin. “You have friends in this house, and I’ll introduce you around. Our people can be slow to accept strangers, but once they do, you’ll become one of their own.”
The Coxes ushered Sherrie and John into the house to the living room where Liberty sat on the couch with her brother R.J. playing a video game. When she glanced up and saw Sherrie, she dropped the controller and jumped off the couch. Her dark eyes shone as she walked quickly across the room. Then she appeared to grow suddenly shy and stopped a few feet in front of Sherrie.
“Hi.” She dipped her chin, not quite meeting her eyes.
Sherrie gave a reassuring smile. “Hi. How’re you feeling?”
“Okay.”
“Good. That was some pretty scary stuff, huh? Freaked me out.” The little girl risked a glance at her. “I know you?” It was half statement, half question.
“Yeah, I think maybe you do. I was poking around inside your head a little, but I didn’t look at any secrets, I swear.”
Liberty flashed a grin.
“What you playing?” Sherrie asked. “I love Xbox.”
The girl shrugged. “One of my brother’s dumb sports games. But if you want, we could play DDR.
My parents won’t buy a Wii. DDR is a really old game, but I still like to play, sometimes, only no one ever wants to do it with me.”
“Sure. That’s the one where you dance, right? Show me what to do and I’ll dance you into the ground, sister.”
Liberty giggled. “I don’t think so.”
As the girl scampered away to pull the plug on her brother’s game and set up her own, Sherrie winked at John. It was easy to make friends with a kid. And now that she had the Cox family on her side, maybe she could make some inroads into the community.
In the week she’d lived here, she found the people polite but distant, perhaps concerned about her connection with Evan Blake. She’d seen the house he’d grown up in and had visited the graves of her possible grandparents, Steve and Amanda Blake, but she didn’t feel any connection or sudden recognition.
Maybe her father being their son was just Evan’s fantasy.
John had taken her to see Anna. The wisewoman was a surprise. She didn’t give off a New Age mystical vibe or have penetrating, far-seeing eyes. In fact, she reminded Sherrie very much of her eighth-grade gym teacher, a middle-aged woman with a butch haircut and thick calves. Her manner was abrupt and to the point.