“He’s fine. Think cost,” I called from the deck as she backed out of the driveway.
I went inside and immediately called Sam letting him know about the attack. He assured me of my safety, which I already knew. Paul and Henry long ago educated me regarding challenge etiquette. A challenge questioned Clay’s right to me. If present, I needed to stay near him to show my support of his right. Fleeing rejected him. Though rejecting him sounded tempting on the surface, doing so would put me back into the eligible pool. I didn’t want that either.
Sam said he would let Elder Joshua know about the attack too. He went on to say he felt certain the challenger wouldn’t try again anytime soon given the extent of his injuries.
A werewolf’s tough hide deflected many of the things that could damage human skin. What it couldn’t deflect, it reduced in severity. A knife could still cut them for example, but not lethally like it could me. On top of their nearly impenetrable skin, nature also threw in a phenomenally fast healing process. A shallow cut would knit together in less than an hour, with no scar visible in less than a day. However, injuries from another werewolf tended to take twice as long to heal. Still faster than a human’s though.
Talking to Sam helped settle my nerves. Though the werewolf’s odd light still bothered me, I couldn’t bring it up as I’d never shared the details of my ability with Sam. However, I did almost bring up the vet visit. Clay’s willingness to go had me keeping it to myself at the last minute. I felt guilty enough and didn’t need to add a lecture to it.
Before hanging up, he reminded me that challenges weren’t unheard of and that I had no reason to worry yet.
I agreed, neither of us saying what I already knew. Challenges occurred when more than one werewolf became interested in the same potential mate and the potential in question didn’t have a preference. Werewolves usually had a strong preference to just one potential mate. So the challenge was my fault.
An hour and a half later, I’d showered, scrubbed the kitchen floor, and vacuumed every room in the house keeping myself awake for their return.
At the sound of Rachel’s car in the driveway, I ran through the house and out the back door. I leaned over the porch railing trying to see into the back of the car.
“How’d it go?” I asked from the deck attempting to sound indifferent.
Window still down, Rachel put the car in park in front of the garage and smiled at me. I had to wait for her to roll up the window and open her door. I spotted Clay lying on the back seat, head down. He didn’t look up at me.
“He took it like a champ,” Rachel said climbing out to open the back car door for Clay. He lifted his head and stood with obvious effort. Then he hopped down slowly, pathetically climbing the deck steps to my side.
“What’d they do to him?” I looked down at him in concern. Rachel shook her head and closed the door.
“He wasn’t acting like this when we left. I swear. I think he’s hamming it up for you.” She patted Clay’s head with a laugh, which he accepted with a defeated grunt.
He stopped hobbling and started walking with his usual gait. I heaved a relieved sigh. He looked up at me and winked. I quickly checked to see if Rachel had noticed, but she already walked away from us into the house. I shook my head at him before following Rachel in.
“So what shots did he get?” I asked pouring some orange juice from the refrigerator and taking a drink. Clay followed us in as well his eyes never leaving me.
“Just rabies. The vet had a hard time determining his age by his teeth, but thought him to be in his prime.”
I choked a bit on my juice. “That’s great,” I managed to gasp out, flicking glance at Clay. A small smug smile curled his lips. I needed to find a way to tell him, nicely, that his wolfie smile looked creepy.
“Hey, while I was waiting for him, Peter called. He said he had a good time last night and hoped Scott hadn’t ruined his chance by coming on too strong. He’s never seen Scott be anything but smooth. He naturally thinks Scott’s falling for you hard.”
Both Clay and I gawked at her. I know my jaw had dropped a little and wondered if Clay’s had done the same.
“I’m just repeating,” she held up her hands with a laugh at my expression. “Anyway, Peter said Scott’s already been bugging him this morning about getting your number to set up another date. Given what you told me, I said no, that last night was just a friendly get together and that you were seeing someone else.”