Two Minutes (Seven Series Book 6) (3 page)

She ran across the room and pulled me into a tight hug. “How long are you staying?”

“I don’t know,” I murmured in her hair. “How long do you want me?”

I felt her body sag and then her arms squeezed harder. Austin came up behind her and cupped my cheek.

“Missed you,” he said. “Your room’s been waiting for you.”

Lexi wouldn’t let go.

“You smell like outside,” I said, wrinkling my nose.

She laughed and stepped back. “Sorry. I was helping Austin dig up Mom’s flower bed in the back. A bunch of blue jays ate up her tomatoes a couple of years ago and she threw in the towel on a vegetable garden. We’re going to try it again, and Austin’s going to put up some kind of a mesh fence around it.” Lexi touched the wily hairs around the nape of her neck that had curled from the sweat. “Where’s your stuff?”

“Wheeler already took up my bag. I didn’t have much to bring.”

I’d never been a girl who accumulated things. I’m not sure why, but when I left England, I decided to stuff the things I really loved into a bag and give away the rest. Turns out the only things I kept were a few old letters, some clothes, and photographs. I had no idea what my plans were, but this was where I needed to be.

The entire day felt like a carousel reunion.
Jericho and William returned that afternoon with Melody, who was over the moon to see me. When my mom got the call from Lexi, she took the entire day off. In fact, I was willing to bet she’d canceled all her appointments with her clients for the full week. April and Trevor weren’t due home from work until later, Reno was doing PI work, and Izzy left at three to cover the last shift at the bakery.

It was just like old times with everyone coming and going. It was as if life had gone on without me, and I wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

A knock sounded at my bedroom door and I peered down the length of my body. “Come in,” I said, a bit groggy.

The hinges squeaked as the door opened. “We need to fix that,” Lexi murmured. She closed the door behind her and sat next to me on the edge of the bed. “Are you feeling okay?”

“Jet lag.”

She nodded. “Sleep all day if you want. Not to pressure you or anything, but dinner is in two hours, and we’d love for you to join us. But if you’re too tired to socialize, we’ll understand. I’ll bring you up a tray.”

“I’ll come down.”

“Feel free to get your bunny-slipper fix on; you know how we embrace casual wear.” Lexi patted my hip and then stared at the table beside my bed. She lifted a small toy and turned it between her fingers. “I don’t remember seeing this in here before. Is this yours?”

I glanced at the tiny princess. “I thought I’d lost it a long time ago.”

She set it back on the table in a pool of warm tangerine sunlight that was filtering through the window. “Are you here to stay, or are you just passing through? I know you must have a lot of friends up north from high school.”

“I haven’t decided yet,” I said quietly. “My life is a little up in the air at the moment. I just wanted to come home and…”

“And what?”

“See if I still belonged, I guess.”

Lexi brushed my hair away from my shoulder. “You’ll always belong with family. Have you thought about what we discussed on my last trip? I mean… have you given it any thought?”

During Lexi’s visit last summer, she’d taken me out for a sisters’ day. We had lunch at a trendy café, strolled through a park, and then she sat me down to reveal a secret that shook me to my core.

Lexi revealed that the birthmark on my shoulder blade wasn’t just a random mark; Austin had seen one exactly like it before. The pattern was the unique shape of a spade, like on a playing card. Austin told Lexi he’d met a woman with the same exact mark who’d once been a human and then became a Chitah.

By choice.

Chitahs were born into their Breed, couldn’t have children with humans, and certainly couldn’t turn a human into one of them. Her story seemed impossible to believe until he saw the same identical mark on me. According to the old woman, I was a Potential. Born human and would die human, but something in my genetic makeup could alter my DNA if I had sex with someone who was Breed. Supposedly I’d absorb whatever magic it was that made them a Vampire, Mage, or what have you, and I’d become that. Forever. No takebacks. Very few Breeds could turn a human into one of them, but most could not. Somehow this little spade was a trump card and would allow me to play genetic roulette.

Lexi wanted to tell me sooner—afraid I’d accidentally sleep with someone who was Breed—but Austin had assured her he’d scouted the area and discovered I wasn’t living anywhere near Breed and that it wouldn’t pose a threat. He’d gone out of his way to locate the Breed district, and that made Lexi realize she couldn’t put off telling me any longer.

I wasn’t sure if she wanted me to become Breed or not, but I could see she was uncertain. Even now as she looked at me, her eyes were filled with caution. The family didn’t know, and Austin said he’d never heard of a Potential before meeting the old woman.

“Well?” she asked, nudging my hip.

“What do you want me to say?”

She groaned a little. “I don’t know, dammit.
Something
. You didn’t say anything about it when I told you, so I gave you time to think about it. You know I’d never lie to you, Maze. Not something like this. You had the right to know why we made you hide that mark all your life. I just didn’t think you were ready to handle that kind of news when you were a teenager—especially when we weren’t around. I was afraid you’d make an impulsive choice without thinking it through. But you still need to keep it hidden. You’re older, and it’s too risky to have someone recognize it. It’s a dark world we live in, and I worry about my little sis. I haven’t decided how I feel about it, but what about you?”

I pushed myself up and sat Indian style. “I guess I’m confused about how I’m supposed to react. Is it a lottery ticket or a curse? I’ve given it a lot of thought, but without any hard facts on what it means to be a Potential, I’m not sure how I feel. Does it always work? Are there certain Breeds it won’t work on? Will it last forever? Can I have kids? Has anyone ever died during the transition? Not only that, but I won’t sleep with a man just to become an immortal.”

A half smile curved up her face. “Wait a sec; hit rewind. What have you been keeping from me?”

“I’m twenty-three years old, Lexi. I’m not a nun. I just so happen to like privacy when it comes to my love life. Please don’t tell Mom I’ve misplaced my virginity,” I said with a smile.

Lexi snorted. “I’ll make a note not to bring it up when she serves the cheesecake. Austin might organize a search party to see if they can find it.”

I knitted my brows and looked down at my palms. “There’s just not enough information to go on. Part of me wants to believe it’s not possible, but I was raised by wolves, so I have no room in my life for denial.”

Her face paled. “That’s what scares me. Austin said he doesn’t know anything except what that old woman was babbling on about. But…”

“What?”

Lexi tucked her brown hair behind her ears. “There’s one other person who seems to know what you are. He recognized the mark when he accidentally saw it.”

“Who?”

We simultaneously turned our heads toward the door when a set of toenails clicked across the wood floor in the hall. Something scratched on the door and then we heard a low groan.

Lexi got up and slowly opened the door. A black nose poked through and she suddenly stepped back.

A grey-and-white wolf entered the room, his nose up in the air sniffing heavily. When he approached Lexi, she held out her palm. Then he turned his head toward me.

In a flash, Denver’s wolf launched onto the bed—tail wagging, groaning and whining, his tongue cleaning my neck and face.

“Wow, calm down. Whoa!”

I fell onto my back and the greeting became intense. Denver’s wolf was vicious, the kind that made your stomach twist into nervous knots when he looked at you. But despite his bad reputation, I adored him. He suddenly stilled, and as soon as I kissed his nose, he barked three times and began licking me again.

Naya appeared in the doorway. “Sorry. Denver must have gone out for a run before his date and his wolf smelled you. He kept scratching on the front door to get in and I thought something was wrong. When I opened the door, he tore through the house and up the stairs.”

“It’s okay,” Lexi said.

My fingers slipped through his silky fur and I hugged his neck. I hadn’t seen his wolf in more years than I’d last seen Denver. At least
someone
was glad to see me.

“I missed you too,” I said. “Your breath still stinks. Phew!”

After a few chuckles, I sat up and tried to calm him down. The second Wheeler peered in, Denver’s wolf positioned his body in front of mine, and a dangerous growl rolled in the back of his throat.

“Be chill,” Wheeler said. “Just seeing what the commotion was all about. No need to get your tail in a wag.”

“Same old Denver,” I said, tugging his ears.

***

I’d spent hours sleeping in my room with Denver’s wolf curled up beside me. Denver the man didn’t know what was going on because his consciousness was submerged, but I had a special bond with his wolf. The pack never let him in the house, and they kept the children away to be on the safe side. I knew Denver would never hurt a child, let alone his pack, but Austin’s decisions always centered on the safety of his family, no matter how tough or unfair his choices might have seemed. I respected him for that.

While covered in wolf hair, I didn’t smell like a dog. Shifters didn’t have the pungent smell of a regular dog or wild animal. In fact, they carried the same smell as in human form—subtle and yet unique to each person.

When I walked into the kitchen, I lingered by the doorway so I could take a mental picture of what I’d missed the most. The sun had gone down, but the room carried a warm glow from the lights near the stove, most especially all the little white lights that outlined the windows behind the table like something you’d see in a bistro.

I looked wistfully at the kids’ table on my right where the two boys were engrossed in a couple of comic books. A long wooden table stretched across the kitchen in front of a row of windows to the backyard. Austin always sat at the far end with Lexi on his immediate left. Then Jericho, Izzy, Naya, Wheeler, and William. There were plenty of open places to sit since it was a large table to accommodate a growing pack. To Austin’s right were Mom, Melody, Trevor, April, Reno, and usually Denver. Sometimes everyone would shift around depending on who was there for mealtime, but most of the time the pack stayed in their usual places.

“Denver went out for a run,” I said.

William patted his hand in the empty spot across from him. “Mustn’t linger by the door or the food will get eaten.”

“You should sit at the other end so we can see you,” Lexi suggested.

I stepped over the bench and smirked. “And have my back to the boys, who will probably toss peas in my hair? No thanks.”

They snickered mischievously and went back to reading.

“So you’re here for good?” Jericho asked, threading his long hair back.

“I loved living abroad, but I missed it here. We had a lot of the same fast-food places, but it’s just not the same. I never really fit in with the culture there. It wasn’t just the States I missed—it was Austin, Texas.”

Reno lined up his fork and knife and flicked his eyes up to mine. “You need to find a job.”

A few chuckles rose around the table.

Austin tore a piece of bread in half. “Slow down, Reno. She just got into town.”

Reno tapped his finger against the rim of his green plate. “Don’t matter. We all went off and did our own thing before coming back home, but you can’t sit around. A person needs to earn their keep, and that’s the deal. What skills did you learn in that school of yours?”

While I loved furthering my education, I didn’t know what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I’d taken all the right courses for a career in writing, journalism, or even working for a publisher. The only thing I really loved doing was writing stories, but it didn’t seem as though there was a big market for fairy tales.

“I was thinking one of Naya’s old jobs as an exotic dancer might be open.”

Wheeler choked on his food, which began a fit of coughing.

“Maizy, that’s not funny,” my mom said, giving me a scolding look. “There’s no rush. Maybe after a nice vacation you can come work for me.”

Work for my mother?
I loved the woman, but she got impatient when people didn’t obey her. “Maybe I’ll just take the summer off if that’s okay and then figure it out. If you guys don’t want me in the house because I don’t have a job—”

“Bullshit,” Trevor said tersely. “Everyone needs to quit riding the girl. She’s been gone for years. One day back in this house and you’re already scaring her off. Give her a break.”

My plate made it back to me after being passed around the table and everyone adding a little something to it.

“How do the English boys compare to Americans?” Izzy blurted out.

A few of the men glared at her and laughter erupted from Lexi, who then went into her Beaker laugh.

“Um, I haven’t really dated any American boys to compare, but if you want to set me up—”

“Hell no,” Reno cut in.

“Nonsense!” Naya said. “I have all the connections and I’ve started a dating service on the side.”

That came as a surprise. “Seriously?”

She nodded and twirled her finger around a curl of her dark hair. “Absolutely. I have all these clients, many of whom are single, and I have a good sense of matching personalities. Why not? I’ve already had three who went on to mate.”

“Out of how many?” Austin asked in a skeptical tone.

She waved her hand. “It doesn’t matter. It’s all in good fun, and it’s not like the Breed have dating services out there. Blind dates have a certain appeal. You never know what you might get.”

“Now
that
scares me,” Denver said from the doorway.

The hair on the back of my neck stood up, and I glanced over my shoulder. He was leaning against the wall wearing a tight-fitting royal-blue shirt and a pair of jeans.

“Really?
That’s
what you’re going to wear tonight to make an impression?” April admonished him with a single glance. “At least put on a button-up over it and look like you’re trying.”