Chapter Twenty-Three
It had been five days and seventeen hours since Greer had been bitten, and so far, not much had changed. Oh, she could painfully shift her body now into the form of a cream-colored wolf with deep brown eyes, but other than that, life was the same as it had always been. She took in clients, she made pretty designs, she got paid, and she stayed in watching Swayze and eating ice cream.
She was on a Kevin Bacon hiatus until further notice.
Of course, the police had discovered that the recent murders had been carried out by a shifter who, thanks to an anonymous tip, was found in an isolated cabin with several gunshot wounds to the chest. They hadn’t discovered who killed him, but they did find his last victim down by the river. Case closed.
The Wolfe clan had left this morning. Norma, Betty, and Paulette were still staying with Greer, and although she appreciated their help with the wolf stuff, she wasn’t ready to talk about why she was avoiding Xander. They’d taken off this morning to go exploring with Clyde and the boys. She’d finally convinced them she could survive a day without them.
Someone knocked at her front door, and she opened it to find Jill holding a basket in her hands.
“Really?” Greer groused. “I just got rid of one group of babysitters.”
Jill gave her the look, the one that said she would not put up with her attitude. “Okay, someone is suffering from a major bitch attack and it needs to stop. I am not here to sit with you. I am dropping off a care package from my parents who heard you were sick.”
Greer reached for the basket with contrition. “I apologize.”
“I am actually headed off with Dereck. He is looking at some apartments in town. I told him I was fine with him crashing with me, but he is being stubborn.”
That was a new development. “Dereck wants to move here?”
“Yep. He says it’s for his job, but I think he might be sweet on me.”
That warranted a grin. “And are you sweet on him?”
Jill held her thumb and trigger finger an inch apart. “Just a little.”
“Good.”
“How about you? Have you talked to Xander?” she asked.
Greer scowled. “No.”
“Why are you punishing him? It’s not like he’s the one who bit you!”
“I don’t want to talk about this, Jill.”
Jill crossed her arms, her chin taking on a stubborn tilt. “You’re being snappy and cruel and it isn’t like you. I know this sucks, believe me, I am right there with you, but you can’t blame Xander.”
“Then who do I blame?” Greer asked.
“I don’t know! The two psychos who did it?”
Greer closed her eyes, breathing in her nose and out her mouth, trying to sooth her emotions so she wouldn’t shift. Every time she thought of that night, rage rushed over her like a tidal wave.
“Okay, well, I’ll work on that. Have fun with Dereck.”
“Greer, honey…”
“I can’t right now.”
Jill nodded. “Alright. I love you.”
“I love you.”
Greer shut the door and walked out into her back yard. The snowflakes in the air didn’t bother her, and she actually slid her toes through the fresh powder on her deck. The fall festival had come and gone and now, all anyone could talk about was Thanksgiving and Christmas.
She closed her eyes, trying to think of happy things. Norma had described being bit against her will as a trauma, and that if she needed to talk, Norma had a friend who was a professional. A shifter therapist. She really had been in the dark about the paranormal world.
She heard a twig snap and opened her eyes, her gaze immediately zeroing in on a flash of gray and white fur. Damn, Xander. She hadn’t been ready to talk when he’d come by the day after her first shift and she definitely wasn’t ready now.
“I thought I told you to give me space?”
He came out of the woods, trotting toward her. He sat on the edge of the yard, a good fifteen feet from her as if to say, “See? Space.”
He just sat there panting and fury assailed her, making her skin hum with electricity. Her nails lengthened, telling her she was about to lose control and so she did.
Her bones twisted and fur slid out of every follicle, covering her body. The jaw slid out in front of her, and she shook her head as her ears popped up.
She leapt off the porch, snarling as she ran past him into the woods. She could hear his big paws eating up the ground behind her and she pushed harder, faster. She wasn’t really running from him; she wasn’t sure what she was running from.
She was just so mad. She was furious with herself for getting involved with him, and because of her association with him, Pax had targeted her. Poor Kelsey and Sam would be alive if she hadn’t wanted Xander.
Even though she’d said it and thought it all week, she didn’t really blame Xander. She did, however, blame herself, and that infuriated her even more. She was a victim. She’d gotten bit and had the choice of becoming a were-wolf taken from her. When and if she’d ever imagined becoming a shifter, it would have been during a scenting ceremony, like the one Barbara Wolfe had told her about.
Greer knew she loved Xander as surely as she could breath. The sight of Dakota attacking him had sent her into such a rage that she’d been willing to give up her life for his. Eventually, she would have chosen to let Xander bite her, binding them together forever.
Only that couldn’t happen now. She was surprised that Xander even bothered to follow her with the way she’d shut him out. She just didn’t know how to get right with what she was and what that meant for her and Xander.
She wished that she could be more like Jill, who had initially been freaked but had embraced her shifter side. And she’d set her sights on Derick, even if she wasn’t ready to admit it out loud. Dereck had decided to stay in town, crashing with Xander. So, if she had to hazard a guess, Greer thought pretty soon the two of them would be making everything official.
Suddenly, Greer was knocked for a loop, rolling until she was on her back. Xander stood above her, snarling at her and she snapped her jaws at him. Then he was shifting above her.
He held himself up on his arms, glowering above her, and her heart slammed against her chest.
“Stop it, Greer. Talk to me. Whatever you’re feeling or thinking, if you tell me what you need, I can fix it.”
He wanted her to talk? He thought he could fix this?
She shifted beneath him and pushed against his chest, but he didn’t budge. “It’s the same thing with you over and over again, Xander. You want me to talk. You make promises. But when the tables are turned, you tell me you can’t put it into words or you don’t want to burden me. Well, guess what? I don’t feel like talking.”
“Are you still obsessed with knowing how my parents died? What do you want to know? I will tell you anything you want if you just talk to me. If you’ll come back to me and be that girl I fell in love with.”
She blinked up at him. “What?”
“I said, I love you. I knew it the first time I held you in my arms.”
She didn’t say anything, couldn’t. Her mouth was completely frozen.
“You need more, fine. I walked into my house when I was twenty-three after a bachelor’s weekend in Vegas to find my father on the floor, his skull bashed in. It looked as though they had just unloaded two clips into each of my brothers. And my mother was tortured and raped. That is what I didn’t want to talk about. Can you see why?”
“After that, yes, I was hell bent with revenge, it was all I’d been living for, all that kept me going for five years. Even when I met you, it was hard to give that up. And I am sorry it took you getting abducted to realize that, but even if you hadn’t been taken, I would have figured it out—
She cut him off when she lifted herself up, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulled him down for a kiss.