myself than to my could-be furry companion. I glanced down at my palms and extended my fingers as I searched my tired brain for answers. I couldn’t find any.
“That, my dear Chief, is a long and involved story.”
“So.” I darted a glance at him because I was surprised he’d heard me. I’d basically whispered the words to myself. “You even have incredible hearing? Or did you just pick up on my mind-waves again?”
He shook his head and then pointed to his right ear. “Canine hearing.”
“Ah, right, of course you have canine hearing.” I almost nodded but then caught myself and shook my head. “No, not, of course,” I insisted, my logical seeing-is-believing side beginning to take over. My ‘just the facts, ma’am’ side. It was about damned time.
“How can I help you, Chief?”
“You can help me by proving your claims.” I folded my arms across my chest and glared at him to show him I was serious. “If you really are everything you say you are and can do everything you profess to, let’s see it.”
He shrugged. “Well, you’ve already experienced my mind reading abilities…”
“That’s not what I’m talking about,” I interrupted. “Let’s see you put on this wolf show.”
He chuckled. “While I’m not opposed to ‘putting on the wolf show’ as you so reverently put it, there are some things you need to know first.”
“Okay, out with them.”
He nodded and ran his index finger around the brim of the tankard, increasing his speed until it began to make that weird high-pitched moaning sound. I could feel my irritation peaking and slammed my hand down on top of his, once I couldn’t take it any longer. As soon as I did so, I noticed how hot his hand was.
“My body temperature is naturally higher than yours,” he explained to my unasked question.
“Why?”
He shrugged. “I imagine it’s because my metabolism is faster than yours, given the fact that I can change shape.”
I nodded because there were more important subjects still left to tackle. “What do I need to know before you prove you really can turn yourself into a wolf?”
He nodded and brought his eyes from the beer to mine. “There are a few things…”
“Okay.”
“The first is that I don’t like to do it around people.” He took a deep breath as he glanced around the bar. “So I wouldn’t want to do it in here, for example. I don’t like to have an audience, for obvious reasons.”
“So where would you be comfortable doing it?”
He seemed to consider my question for a moment or two before nodding as his gaze returned to mine. “Outside… in the back of the bar, near the cover of the trees so I can take off if some asshole decides to take a shot at me.”
“No one’s going to take a shot at you with me around.” Then I got his gist. “Oh, you meant I was that asshole.” I smiled in spite of myself. “You have my word that I won’t shoot you.” I held up my index finger to show him I was keeping track. “What’s ‘thing’ number two?”
“When I take the shape of the wolf, I adopt the instinct of the wolf.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that I can’t rationalize like I would as a human. I become feral, just as feral as a wolf is.”
“Then you lose your humanity?”
“Not altogether,” he started and then exhaled as he studied me for a few seconds. “Do you remember when you were taking a jog down Shamrock Street in the middle of the night a few days ago?”
“Yes...” A shiver snaked up my spine and I wondered how this son of a bitch could have known that. Unless he was stalking me…
“You don’t have to worry, I wasn’t stalking you,” he said and then frowned at me as if he’d hoped we were past the suspicious stage. “You ran into a black wolf while you were jogging, do you remember?”
I just nodded because I had a feeling I already knew what was going to come out of his mouth next, but I couldn’t say I was prepared for it.
“That was me.”
Yep. I was right. Maybe I was picking up some of his mind-reading mojo. “The black wolf was you?” I asked, finally finding my voice. Although I couldn’t say I was that surprised because I’d had a feeling that wolf was the same one as in my dreams and Alex’s steel gray eyes had always been the link between the dreams, the wolf and the