Chapter 50
WHITE LIGHT ILLUMINATES THE STREET from the overhead light poles.
There's a comforting uproar about this time of the evening when people are returning home and families are sitting down to dinner.
Tonight, based on my father's text sent nearly an hour ago, he won't be dining alone.
He's taking full advantage of the fact that I won't be at home, invited Tracey for a home-cooked meal, and there's a good chance she'll stay for breakfast too.
Of course, his messages came with a barrage of warnings to not do anything irrational. On the other side of the street, one house to the right of the Conner's residence, that black sedan is parked. The window is rolled up all the way, the engine turned off. The driver is nowhere in sight.
Still, I keep it on the backburner of my mind until further notice.
Beside me, David Conner stands with his hands in his pockets. He's still wearing his work attire having come straight from the hospital. He'd spoken briefly with his wife and while Jace helps his mother set the dining table for four instead of three tonight, he asked me to walk with him.
Here comes the talk.
The man has yet to say a word. It's either he's waiting for the right timing, purposefully upholding silence to squeeze some fear into me, or he's searching for the right words. Where Kathryn Conner seems easy enough to figure out, on the contrary, her husband is proving to be a bit of a challenge.
Jace tells me that his father accepts our relationship and maybe he does. The question is to what extent since neither his face nor demeanor gives a clue away.
"How long has this been going on?" It is not the first question I anticipated to come out of his mouth. In fact, I hadn't been expecting a question at all. I half-expected David Conner to slip into protective-dad mode and interrogate and intimidate me into dirt.
"How long have we actually been together? A little less than a week, I think."
"That's not what I mean."
Crossing my arms over my chest, I turn to look at David Conner. The tone of voice and the stern expression he wears points to what I've suspected since the day of the break-in.
"A month."
"How did it happen?" he follows.
"Physical contact," I offer as the start of my explanation. "We had an argument and he pushed me. It's different with...humans."
"I haven't heard of many cases where your kind gets a human mate."
I nod. "It's rare. But it happens. Can I ask you something, Dr. Conner?" When he doesn't say anything, I take that as my cue to carry on. "How do you know about werewolves? How'd you know I'm one of them?"
"I've been in the medical field for over twenty years," he admits. "Contrary to popular belief, there are certain characteristics that set your kind apart from the rest of us. Care to know how?"
"Yes, actually. I didn't realize there were tells."
I honestly thought we'd been careful to keep our existence secret, confined to the knowledge of only a few humans in the upper echelons of society or humans in positions of authority.
"Most are subtle, but when you've been in the field as long as I have, you pick up a few things. Patients come in with bad injuries but don't return for follow-up consultations or treatment. And you see them walking around like they were never injured."
"Is that all?"
"There've been cases of wolfsbane poisoning. It affects humans differently and in most cases, it's lethal. Yet, werewolves interact differently with it."
"That's true but some species are still lethal to us," I correct him. "What else tipped you off?"
David Conner smiles. "About three years ago, a patient came in. Tiny thing of a woman. Terrified of needles though. So terrified, she put the ER nurse through a wall."
I raise an eyebrow wondering what is so significant about it. Adrenaline can make people do strange things.
"The nurse was a one-hundred-and-eighty-pound man. He was twice her size, yet she picked him up like he weighed nothing and chucked him through a wall. He had to be hospitalized."
"Still could've been adrenaline."
Dr. Conner laughs. "True. But can adrenaline explain her glowing eyes, sharp teeth, and fingernails that weren't previously so long?"
"Okay, you've got me," I admit. "So, you know a lot about my kind, then?"
David Conner inhales deeply. "Not really. But I know enough about the founding families in this town. And I know that your family name is a big deal in your world."
"Does that worry you?"
Without meaning to, my attention turns to the black car one house away, parked on the side of the street. The driver is yet to return. When I turn back to David, he's already looking at me. I'm not sure what my face looks like in the moment but whatever he finds there makes his brows furrow.
I won't admit this out loud to him or Kathryn since they could use it as a reason to keep Jace away from me, but the fact that my family name is a big deal in my world frightens me.
McKenzie. Hayes. Daniels. Stone.
The titles of the four prominent ranks of Marcana. Families who moved into Jasper Falls generations before when there wasn't much but dirt roads and shrub, a humble wooden structure of a house every few miles and built the town up to what it is today.
Our families have enemies and I believe that this house is being marked once again.
What happened that Tuesday morning is only the beginning.
I feel it in my gut like a bad feeling that won't go away no matter what I do to ignore it, no matter if I tell myself that maybe it's the novelty and pressure of finding my mate who happens to be human that's putting me on edge.
No matter how hard I try, the night my mother died seems to clash violently with the break-in at the Conner's. I don't see my mother fighting for her life. I don't see her throat being ripped out.
It's Jace that I see. I see his parents dead and bloodied, torn to shreds. Lifeless eyes gazing up at nothing. I see Jace choking on his own blood, the life and light draining out of his eyes.
And in the dreams I've told no one about, I'm stuck at the door of the Conner's house, unable to move, rendered useless as everyone I love dies all around me.
"Of course, I'm worried."
David Conner's voice cracks like a whip of thunder, dragging me out of dwelling on the nightmarish dreams that have stolen my sleep for the better part of a week. Over the weekend, it's been merciless.
"Your world is different from Jace's. There's a different kind of danger altogether," he continues, unaware that those words only add to the fear and pressure quietly manifesting into a behemoth.
My arms drop and a nervous tick sets in. I pick at my palms and fingers, anything to distract from my thoughts going awry.
It's difficult but somehow I manage to remain in the present, using David Conner and what he's saying as an anchor of sorts. It doesn't help much to keep at bay the flashes of my dreams that haunt me with eyes wide open, but still, I'm here.
Awake and certain that Jace and his parents are as safe as they can be at the moment.
I wish everything and everyone that wants to hurt them would just disappear.
I have no idea how my father did it. How was he able to pick up the pieces of himself after Mom died and carry on for my sake and for the sake of the pack?
Goddess knows I wish I had an ounce of my father's strength.
"So, you don't agree with Jace being my mate?" If I'm being honest, I wouldn't blame the man for being against our bond.
"I didn't say that." David clears his throat. "I'm merely pointing out the differences in your worlds. I have no authority when it comes to keeping Jace away from you. He's your mate, but Jace is my only child. Don't make me regret this."
THE HOUSE IS SILENT.
Jace is fast asleep on his side, one hand draped over my chest, and his cheek pressed to my shoulder. He snores softly; lips open a slit.
Sleep continues to evade me and for once, I'm glad for it. Not only does it keep my nightmares at bay, but there's a more important reason to avoid sleeping altogether. Checking the time on my phone, it reads a few minutes past the midnight hour.
It's about time I get up and check.
Slipping out of bed, careful not to disturb Jace, I push the pillow into his arms and wait.
When he doesn't stir, I pocket my phone and keys and slip out of the room, tiptoeing through the house, checking the windows and all other points of possible entry.
Once assured that they're all secured, I put on my shoes and head out to my car.
The sedan is still parked where I saw it last and this time, the driver is back. The window isn't cracked but through the lightly tinted windshield, I have a clear enough view of the man. Middle aged with dark hair, he pretends not to notice I've walked out.
The entire time I'm rummaging around the floor of my SUV until I grab hold of the small black box hidden beneath the driver's seat, I keep checking the rearview, hearing tuned for the slightest of sounds.
The open and close of a car door. Footsteps. The rumbling start of an engine.
Retrieving the G19 from its protective case, I lock the SUV doors and head back inside. Except, after locking the front door, I don't go back to Jace's room.
I go through the back door and jump the fence that runs the perimeter of the Conner's backyard separating their home from the tree line into the woods.
I turn left and continue walking, passing by a few houses under the cover of darkness.
When I've passed four houses, I exit through a narrow grass alley between two houses and turn to head back the way I came.
I round the fence out front just in time to see the man exit his vehicle, fiddling with something in his hands as he crosses the street.
The man stops at my car and cups his hands near his eyes, peering in through the tinted windows. He searches for a while, but when he doesn't find what he seems to be looking for, he turns his back to the road, tilting his head up toward the Conner's house.