Chapter 14 #2
Not that Catcher could corroborate my story, and thank God for that or he’d have a lot more to add to the tale.
Tak pretended to gobble up Jasper’s hand with an audible slurp, and the baby giggled before throwing himself against Tak’s thick chest. “Virgil and Krys will help. Then it won’t take you so long.”
“I appreciate that. I was worried your horse might stomp on it. You have all that high grass.”
Virgil jogged out of the room. “Let me get my hat!”
Tak stroked his thumb over the baby’s eye, and it relaxed him. “Someone needs a nap. I’ll be in my recliner if anyone needs me. Keep the noise down. This is Hope’s time to relax.”
When Virgil came bounding into the room, Tak shushed him.
I smiled at his brown fedora and underwear. “You should put on clothes. It’s chilly out there.”
“A balmy sixty-three.” He sang the words a second time, revealing an impressive set of vocal cords.
“He’s an exhibitionist,” Krys informed me.
Virgil strutted toward a door by the window. “I’m comfortable with my own body. If we were meant to wear clothes, we wouldn’t be born naked.” After disappearing into the room, he emerged wearing stretchy black biker shorts that revealed every curve and bulge. “Happy?”
I laughed at his skintight blue shirt that said Punk Rock Girl. It barely covered his belly button.
Krys shook his head. “Mel’s gonna kill you if you stretch that thing out.”
“Hers are the only clean clothes in there,” he argued.
Not knowing how long the search would take, we detoured to the heat house so I could grab my green sweater. The men waited patiently outside, where I discovered Virgil doing a handstand on only one arm.
As soon as I walked out, he dropped to his feet and held out his hand to Krys. “You owe me ten bucks.”
Krys narrowed his pale blue eyes. “I didn’t agree to the bet. You just threw it out there.”
“I didn’t hear any objections. So you just wanted to watch?”
Krys took his wallet out and flicked money at his packmate.
With a cocky grin, Virgil locked eyes with me and made a sweeping gesture with his arm. “Lead the way.”
As I strolled through the backyard and then along the pasture fence, everything appeared different in the light of day. Tak’s white horse immediately galloped over and nudged me as if we were old friends.
“What’s your animal?” Virgil asked. “I’m picking up Shifter vibes. That horse doesn’t like just anyone. It took Luna a while to warm up to us. She was raised around wolves, but she still has to get to know you first. You must be a doe.”
Glancing over my shoulder, I replied, “I’m a maned wolf.”
Krys barked out a laugh. “No shit.”
I slowed down to walk alongside him. “You’ve heard of it? I always get funny looks from people when I tell them. Then I have to explain.”
“Yeah. I knew a maned wolf a long time ago.”
“Really? We’re so rare. I might know him. Who is he?”
“He’s dead now.”
Virgil slapped his back. “Way to be a buzzkill.”
“I’d let everyone down if I wasn’t.”
I kept walking, pretending to search the grass, but I had a feeling I knew where my locket had fallen. The only trouble was I couldn’t remember precisely what section of the fence we were sexually violating each other against.
“What’s your thingamajig look like?” Virgil asked.
“Silver with a long chain. Just be careful not to step on it. My father gave it to me.”
Virgil’s tone grew somber. “He’s gone now?”
“Yeah.”
“Sorry, sugarplum.” He put his arm around me. “When a parent dies, it’ll either wreck you or free you.”
“What about your father? Is he still around?”
“Nope. As the great Phil Collins said, I don’t care anymore.” He walked ahead of me and sang, “No more, no more.”
“I hope I didn’t upset him,” I said to Krys.
“He’s gone through some shit, but he doesn’t whine about his trauma like some people.”
“Maybe he should. It’s good to feel your feelings.”
Krys grunted in disagreement.
“Everyone in this pack is so different. Not just your personalities but also your Breeds. A lot of the packs I’ve met have a lot of blood relatives. Usually when an alpha forms a pack, their siblings and other family members want to join. It creates a lot of nepotism.”
“Archer’s my cousin,” Krys remarked.
“Really? You don’t look related at all.”
“Cousins usually don’t.”
“I once knew eight men who were all cousins from three different marriages. They could’ve been hatched from the same egg.”
He flipped back his long hair when it blew forward. “Maybe they were. Family secrets.”
I playfully tugged his long hair in the back. “You’re a troublemaker, aren’t you?”
He smoothed down his facial hair but kept a stoic expression.
“So I’ve been told.” Krys leaned over the fence and scanned the ground.
Then he reached through the opening at the bottom and pulled out a flattened Coke can.
“Someone’s gonna get their ass kicked. Tak doesn’t like people trashing up the property. ”
“It’s not mine,” I quickly said.
Virgil climbed the narrow fence ahead of us and walked it as if it were a tightrope, his arms out to maintain balance. “What were you doing way out here?”
“Paying a visit to Mother Nature. You have a gorgeous property.”
“Huh.” When he jumped down, his hat tumbled off. Virgil dramatically snatched it off the ground and plopped it on his head. “You can’t see much out here at night. In fact, it’s so dark that you can barely see your hand in front of your face on a quarter moon.”
As we neared the corner of the fence, I pointed left. “It might be over there. I walked in that area and sat on that rock. Can you look around?”
Krys branched away to scour the ground in search of a locket that most definitely wasn’t over there.
Virgil stayed glued to my side. “Some goofball was asking about you at the bar last night. Golden retrievers usually belong to someone.” He jumped in front of me and walked backward while watching my expression. “Don’t worry. Virgil Nightingale is the master of secrets. Is he an old lover?”
“Just a friend. Can you not talk to him if he shows up in the bar again? I want my privacy.” After turning the corner, a glint of silver caught my eye.
Thrilled that the horse hadn’t eaten my precious locket, I snatched it from the tall dead grass and slipped the chain over my neck.
As I clutched it tightly in my palm, I stared at the fence, lost in my reverie.
That fence had a story to tell.
When I snapped out of it, my eyes widened in horror at my pink panties lying in the grass.
After returning to the heat house that night, I’d gone right to sleep.
The next morning, I jumped in the shower, dizzy with my thoughts about the night before.
I hadn’t noticed my locket was missing until a little later, and I definitely hadn’t noticed my panties were missing until three seconds ago.
I snatched them off the ground and hid them from Virgil.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“Nothing.”
“Looks like more than nothing. Show me.” When he stepped around me to see what I was hiding behind my back, I bolted into the woods like a spooked mare.
“It’s nothing!”
“Then show me.”
Oh my God, he’s running after me!
I looked over my shoulder to make sure Krys wasn’t following and then stopped. “Please just drop it!”
He gave a smug grin and swaggered toward me in those silly biker shorts and cutoff shirt. “That would be impossible.” Virgil’s hand shot out as fast as a snake, and he snatched the garment from my hands.
“What’s this?” His turquoise eyes widened like saucers at the sight of my panties.
“Give me those.”
He dangled them over his head, far out of my reach. “Not until you tell me how they got all the way out here with your locket.”
“I had to shift.”
He laughed like a hyena. “Liar, liar, pants on fire. Or should I say panties? We would know if another wolf was on the property.” He twirled them around his finger.
“You’re a bad girl, Quinnie-Quinn-Quinn.
Hmm, now who could be the lucky guy? It definitely wasn’t me, and Krys was at the bar with me all night after dinner. So that only leaves—”
I snatched them out of his hand and stuffed them into my pants pocket, creating a bulge that made Virgil laugh.
“Please don’t say anything. Normally I wouldn’t care, but I could lose my job.
I’m already walking on eggshells staying on your land.
If Tak finds out, he’ll think I’m taking advantage of him. ”
“I don’t think it was him you were taking advantage of.
” He stole the panties from my pocket. “I already knew Doc had a crush on you. I just didn’t realize it was reciprocated in kind.
If you want to learn how to keep a secret, you need to properly hide the evidence.
” He lifted his fedora, put the panties inside, and then dropped the hat on top of his head. “Your secret’s safe with me.”
“My dirty panties are on your head.”
“Story of my life.”
I gave him a skeptical look. “Do you promise not to say anything? This job is so important to me.”
“Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye.”
“Taz!” Krys shouted. “Where the hell are you?”
I walked past him and headed back. The sweet relief of having my locket in my possession was now eclipsed by the embarrassment that my fate was resting on Virgil’s head.
“Hold your horses,” Virgil called out. “You can stop your search because—”
I heard a strange rattle; then Virgil’s shout made me spin around.
Virgil clutched his inner thigh and staggered toward me. “Rattlesnake!”
I froze in panic. No amount of shifting would expel poison or venom from our body.
Krys charged onto the scene. “Did you say snake?”
Virgil stopped and lifted his hand to look at the blood trickling from his wound. “It was huge and all coiled up. I didn’t even see it.”
“Where did it go?”
“Into the grass.” Virgil swayed. “I don’t feel so good.”
Krys shot past me and threw Virgil over his shoulder. “Get the hell out of here. Run!”
I sprinted to the fence as fast as my legs would carry me.