Secret of the Wolf(23)

"I just didn't. Jeez, I'm not one of your suspects for you to interrogate." He leaned down and rearranged the silverware in the dishwasher basket and then pushed the rack into the machine and closed the door.

Tori noticed he started tapping his foot. One-two-three-four-five-six. Pause. One-two-three-four-five-six. Pause. Repeat.

"Honey, are you okay?" She walked forward and took his hands in hers. She stared into his eyes. "You seem … " While she searched for the right word he jerked away from her.

"I seem what? Sick and tired of you always being a council liaison? Never my sister?"

She frowned. This wasn't the first time she'd caught this attitude from him. How could he be tired of her doing her job when he hadn't even been here a week yet? "I'm worried about you. I noticed you've been acting a little … " She sighed. "I think your OCD is getting worse. Maybe you should see someone."

"See someone? Like a shrink, you mean?" He shrugged off the placating hand she tried to put on his shoulder. "There's nothing wrong with me."

"I didn't say there was, but sometimes talking about a problem can help. Maybe there's a medication that could alleviate some of the symptoms." She hated to see him like this.

"I'm fine," he insisted, his eyes amber with anger.

"Okay." She'd let it go for now. "You know I'm here for you."

"Right. Yay me." He scowled and turned on his heel to head toward the front of the house. "I'll see you later."

"Where are you going?"

"Out." The door slammed behind him.

Tori sighed and leaned over the counter, letting her head hang. The muscles in her neck and shoulders ached in protest as they lengthened, loosening from the stress that had tightened them. When had things gotten so strained between her and her brother? Had they always been, in the other dimension, and she hadn't recognized it? Or had she chosen not to see it?





Dante gave Lily a boost onto her horse and then rechecked the cinch, making sure it was properly fastened.

"Stop motherin' me," his sister said. "You've already checked it three times."

"And now I've checked it a fourth. You can never be too safe when it comes to riding horses."

She pressed her lips together, but not before a dimple flashed, telling him she was fighting a smile. "Okay there, Ranger Rob." She gave him a two-fingered salute.

"Lily."

"What?" She shot an innocent look his way. "Oh, just stop it, Dante. Muffin's such a sweet boy. He would never do anything to make me fall off, would you?" She leaned forward and patted his neck.

The quarter horse turned his head and shook it a couple of times, nickering low in his throat.

"See?" Lily sat straight with a grin. "He's a good boy."

"All right, all right." Dante hoisted himself into the saddle and clicked his tongue. Big Ben set off at a slow walk, Muffin catching up to walk by the Appaloosa's side.

>

"So," his sister said in that sly, teasing way of hers, "tell me about her."

"Who?"

"Don't be coy with me, mister. You've met someone, I can tell. Spill."

Dante concentrated on guiding Ben around a flat-paddled prickly pear cactus. "I don't know what you mean." He barely had a handle on his feelings about Tori. There was no way he was ready to talk about it, least of all with his sister.

"Ha!" Lily moved Muffin closer so she could reach over and smack Dante on the shoulder. "You do so know what I mean. Who is it? Is it someone you hooked up with at the club last night?"

"I don't ‘hook up' with women." He shot her a frown. "And if I did, I wouldn't be talking to my little sister about it."

"Okay." She held up one hand in surrender. "You don't want to talk about her, I get it."

He knew his sister. She wouldn't let go of it for very long. She should've been a cop. "There's nothing to talk about," he insisted. "I … was working."

"Uh-huh." She eyed him. "You went out to that nightclub and didn't come home until almost two. You don't usually stay out that late when you know we're getting up early for a ride."

"Talk about mothering," he muttered.

"Fine." She gave a scowl but couldn't hold it and broke into a grin, shaking her head. "Let's talk about something else, then."

"Yes, let's." He tipped his cowboy hat farther forward, giving more shade to his eyes.

"Any interesting cases you're working on?" Lily clicked to her horse, urging him up a slight incline and then back down. She was a natural horsewoman, riding Muffin with ease. She looked … happy for the first time in a long while.

Dante was glad he could give her some peace of mind. He knew for himself there wasn't anything quite as relaxing as riding a horse, out in the desert where there was only the sound of nature-a few caws from the ravens circling overhead, the rustle of leaves as a slight breeze blew through the nearby mesquite trees.

"Had a werewolf and vampire get into it a couple nights ago," he said. "Well, the werewolf tried to get into it with the vamp, but I don't think he quite managed it."

"What do you mean?"

Dante glanced at her. "He bit a human on his way to the vamp."

"Really?" Lily's eyes went round. "Wow. Is the human okay? Will he … will he turn?"

"No. The werewolf didn't let loose any of his preternatural stuff."

"Stuff? Is that the technical term for it?" Her lips tilted in a smile.

"As a matter of fact, it is." Dante shared a grin with her.

"So how does that work?" she asked. "I've never been sure."

Dante pulled Ben to a stop in the shade of a mesquite and waited until Lily maneuvered her horse next to him. He grabbed the canteen off his saddle and handed it to his sister, then took a swig of water after she passed the canteen back to him. "It's just like in the legends. Werewolves can make another werewolf with just their bites. Vampires have to seal the deal with blood because they're the weakest of all the prets."

"The weakest?" She frowned. "Just a few days ago there was a news report about a vampire who picked up a minivan full of tourists and set it down on top of another car just for shits and giggles."

"Yeah, that's the weird thing … one of the weird things about vamps," he clarified. "They're the weakest of all prets when they first come through the rift. They can only take over bodies that are close to death or have just died. Once they've acclimated to their host, th [heiiftough, physically they're the strongest." Big Ben shifted his weight and Dante leaned over and stroked the horse's neck.

"Can you imagine? Living forever." Lily turned Muffin and started back toward the trailhead where they'd left the truck and horse trailer.

Dante pressed his heel to Ben's side and followed his sister.

"Seeing history as it unfolds and being a part of it … You'd have all the time in the world to do what you want to do, not having to worry about getting sick or dying." She turned her face away from him, and he knew she was fighting back tears.

"Well, they can die," he informed her. "It just takes some doing."

She met his gaze, her eyes sad and full of the worry that he knew was her constant companion these days. "But they're not going to get some kind of illness that eats 'em from the inside out."

"No, probably not." Dante urged Ben closer to her. "Honey, you've got this thing beat."

She looked down and then back at him. "I know." She pressed her lips together. "What if it comes back, Dante?"

"Then you'll fight it again." He tugged off one of his gloves and reached over to brush a tear from her cheek. "And I'll be right there with you."

Lily gave a tremulous smile. "I know you will be. I'm a lucky woman, to have a brother like you. I love you, you know."

He lightly chucked her on the chin and then pulled his glove back on. "And I love you too, squirt."

She laughed. "You haven't called me that in years."

"Yeah, well, I outgrew callin' you names to make you mad." He dropped one eye in a wink. "I have other ways."

"Oh, boy, don't you!" She shook her head and sent him a sidelong glance. "You sure you don't want to talk about your woman?"

"I don't have … " He rolled his eyes and tipped his hat back. "You just don't give up, do you?"

"Nope." She pulled her horse to a stop beside the trailer. "I'll get it out of you, sooner or later."

She probably would, too. Not that he minded. He wasn't trying to keep Tori a secret. But talking about her made things more … solid. Real.

For once, Dante couldn't control where his heart was heading, and he wasn't sure he was ready for what that meant.

                       
       
           



       Chapter Ten



After a refreshingly uneventful Monday at work, Dante was bent over the computer parts on the dining room table at home when his cell rang. He pulled the phone from his belt and put it on speaker. "MacMillan." He set the phone on the table.