I played with the quilt a second not sure if I should bring up the rest. He nudged me and I smiled at him. I should know better. Even when he didn’t like what I had to say, he listened. He always listened.
“When I touched Luke it’d been different. I zoomed in on one specific spark, a yellow-violet one on the east coast. The paper I gave Luke? That was directions to find her. I think she belongs with him. I think I found his mate just by touching him.”
I grinned, thinking of the phone call from Luke. “I don’t think he appreciates my help though.”
Through my entire monolog, Clay lay on his side up on an elbow watching me intently. His serious expression conveyed his concentration on what I said. When I finished, I waited for his reaction.
Instead of shrugging as I expected, his head suddenly snapped toward my bedroom window, the one facing the front of the house. A soft snarl filled the air as he threw off the covers and couched on the bed, head moving to track something I couldn’t see.
Scrambling to my knees, I stared at him, wondering what he heard. Fangs exploded from his mouth and his ears partially changed. Now I knew what Luke had been laughing about. But I didn’t find it a bit funny as I watched. I held my breath and strained to hear what he heard. The beating of my own heart filled my ears.
Both our heads turned toward a chuffing laugh near the window. A taunt to draw Clay out.
Opening my mouth to point it out, I wasn’t prepared when his hand darted out nudging me backward before I could make a sound. Too close to the side, I lost my balance. As I tumbled over the edge of the mattress, he leapt toward the bedroom door clearing it and switching off the light before I landed on the floor.
The explosion of the front door slamming against the wall as he flung it open echoed through the house. It closed itself on the backswing, cutting off the chilly breeze that had gusted along the floor.
Hidden in the semi-darkness, I caught my breath. Luckily, I’d landed on a pillow, which I’d knocked off with me. Any recovery I’d experienced while I slept had vanished as soon as I hit the floor.
My head pounded with renewed vigor, but I thought clearly enough to wonder if Rachel had spent the night here or with Peter. The snarling outside my window grew in volume, too loud to sleep through.
Despite Clay’s obvious wish that I stay down, I peered over the mattress, my eyes adjusting to the gloom of my room. The window glowed from the streetlights outside. Snarling, growling, even vicious yowls filled the air out there.
Inside the house remained quiet, except for my frightened breathing. I tried quieting it and pulled myself up to crawl over the bed toward the window. Cautiously, I pulled the curtain aside about an inch to peek out.
Clay and another man fought on the front lawn in the snow. I cringed looking at Clay’s bare feet and chest. The challenger at least had shoes and a shirt.
Clay swiped at the man, ripping a good portion of his shirt away. Good. Clay wouldn’t be the only cold one.
They skirted the direct glow of the streetlight, but didn’t stick to the shadows closest to the house either. The neighbors would not only be able to hear them, but see them as well. Didn’t the idiot challenging Clay think of that before he approached our house from the front? Pack law forbade public shifting.
The snow crunch under the challenger’s feet as he rushed Clay. Clay spun avoiding the charge. He used the man’s momentum to trip him up and then knock him into the snow. As the man fell, he shifted noticeably.
Clay shifted further as well, his mouth extending better enabling the use of his fangs. I cringed at the thought of the neighbors spotting him and trying to explain away the disconcerting appearance of his ears and fangs.
The other man rolled and rose to his feet with his head almost completely contorted to wolf form. My eyes rounded. I wanted to look that the houses around us, but couldn’t tear my gaze from them. He snapped at Clay, narrowly missing Clay’s chest. His attempt distracted Clay from blocking a well-placed punch to his gut. I cringed and then silently cheered when Clay gave back as good as he got.
Twice the other wolf feinted away from the house, but Clay refused to follow forcing the Challenger to come back to him. I understood then why they skirted so close to the streetlights. The Challenger jabbed, taunted, and evaded Clay always edging toward the street. Clay would not distance himself any further from the house and leave me unprotected.
Knowing I’d regret it, I stretched my sight unsurprised to see another’s blue-grey light nearby. As quickly as I opened my spark-filled view of the world, I closed it. It hurt and I couldn’t afford to distract Clay with my pain.