CHAPTER 21

Gina was never certain if she threw Teo off the bed or he rolled over so fast he fell. Either way, he landed on his ass on the floor.

The screams continued. The two of them dived for their clothes, shoving their bare feet through the legs of their sweatpants in such a hurry they didn’t realize—

“Shit.” Gina dropped the much too large garment to the ground, even as Teo cursed when her much too small pair got stuck at his knees. They tossed each other their respective pants as earsplitting shrieks threatened to puncture their eardrums.

Shoving her head and arms through her T-shirt, Gina followed him to the door, then rammed into his back when he tried to open it, forgot it was locked, and got nowhere.

As they ran down the stairs in the wake of everyone else, the screams suddenly stopped. Gina’s ears continued to ring.

The guests all crowded into the kitchen, staring at a hysterical Amberleigh being soothed by Fanny as Isaac stood in the open doorway with his gun.

Gina pushed her way through the crowd. “What happened?”

Amberleigh took several gulping gasps, opened her mouth, and began to sob at nearly the same volume she’d shrieked.

“Sheesh,” Derek muttered. “She’s loud.”

Melda scurried forward and folded the girl into her arms, urging her out of the room, away from the door that Amberleigh kept staring at as if it might sprout teeth and bite her, then into the dining room.

At least the old woman seemed more herself today. For that matter, so did Amberleigh. Loud really was her thing.

“Should that door be open?” Gina asked.

Isaac scowled and slammed it shut. “Sun’s up. Wolves are gone.”

“Gone where?”

“Back to being people. Shifted right there in the yard.” He lowered his voice. “Mel’s naked behind is somethin’ I never wanna see again.” Isaac fixed the group with a glare. “Just ’cause they look human now don’t mean they are. Their selves died when they did. They’ll do everything they can to lure us out, keep us there until they can make us like them. It’s what they do.”

“What set Amberleigh off?” Teo stepped into the room. His shirt was caught up on one side, revealing a slice of rippling abs. Gina swallowed the urge to lick him like an ice-cream cone. She settled for tugging down his shirt, then taking his hand.

When she glanced again at Isaac, his gaze was on those hands; then it went to Teo’s chest and finally to her face. Though his dark eyes held no recrimination, she could tell that he knew where she’d been and whom she’d been doing.

Her fingers released Teo’s, but he would not let hers go, and the next instant she was glad. Pretending they weren’t together wouldn’t work. Because they were and they were going to stay that way. Everyone needed to get used to it.

Isaac lowered his eyes. “She said Ashleigh wanted to see her.”

“Ashleigh’s a werewolf,” Gina pointed out. “How would Amberleigh know what she wanted?”

“According to—” Isaac jerked his thumb toward the dining room, where Melda had gotten Amberleigh calmed down enough to emit only great, gulping, nearly silent sobs. Go, Melda! “She heard her name on the wind.”

Gina stilled. Uh-oh.

Teo’s fingers tightened on hers. Had she started? She wouldn’t be surprised. “And then?” she urged.

“She snuck past Fanny, followed the sound downstairs, and found a wolf in the kitchen.”

Now Gina started so violently she nearly yanked her hand from Teo’s without even trying to. “Inside?”

“So she says.”

“She’s been sucking her thumb for two days,” Tim pointed out. “Should we really believe anything she tells us?”

“I saw it!” Amberleigh shrieked, getting to her feet, ignoring Melda’s attempts to stop her. “It was right there.” She pointed a badly trembling finger at the floor next to Isaac. “The eyes,” she moaned. “They were horrible.” Then, strangely: “My ankle hurts.”

“Let’s go upstairs and…” Melda’s voice trailed off. That seemed to happen a lot now that Mel was no longer around to finish her sentences. But Amberleigh allowed Melda to lead her away.

“She is one weird dude,” Derek murmured.

“Not a dude,” his father said. “But definitely weird.”

“If one of them got inside, why would it leave?” Teo asked.

“If one of them got inside, how could it leave?” Gina countered. “Was the door open when you got here, Isaac?” He shook his head. “How would a wolf get out, or in?” She wiggled her free hand. “No thumbs.”

“What if crazy chick let it in?” Derek asked. “What if it’s still in?”

“If a werewolf got inside,” Isaac said, “there would be more blood. If…” he lifted his brows, “crazy chick had opened the door, they’d all be in, not just one.”

“None of them came in.” Fanny, who had been sitting quietly at the kitchen table, now stood and moved to the window. She lifted a tiny sprig of dried purple flowers from the sill. “Wolfsbane,” she said simply, then returned the plant to its place.

Gina glanced around, but no one, not even Isaac, seemed to know what in hell Fanny was talking about.

“What does that do?” Gina asked.

“Keeps them out.” Fanny sat again at the table. “I placed a piece at every window and door. You don’t think they sat out there all night because of one gun, do you?”

From Isaac’s scowl, he had. “Where’d you learn that?”

“Mother.”

“When did you—?”

“Nineteen-sixty-five.” Isaac’s scowl deepened, and Fanny shrugged. “Better safe than sorry.”

“Why?” Isaac asked. “The Tangwaci Cin-au’-ao was confined. He was never supposed to get out.”

“They’re never supposed to get out,” Fanny said. “You told the tale of the Tangwaci Cin-au’-ao at every campfire since I was old enough to understand words. It scared me. Once I put wolfsbane everywhere, I could sleep at night.”

“So Amberleigh’s crazy,” Derek murmured. “Seeing things? Hearing them, too?”

“Not necessarily,” Isaac said. “The Tangwaci Cin-au’-ao has been calling people to him since he was buried. Maybe he called Amberleigh.”

“Probably he called Amberleigh,” Gina said, and shrugged. “He called me.”

Isaac’s gaze narrowed. “When?”

“Since I fell in the cavern the first time.”

“And you didn’t mention this before now?” Isaac asked.

“Would you have believed me before now?”

“Yes,” he said simply.

“Well, I didn’t know that. I just thought I was imagining that the howls of the unwolves sounded like my name.”

Or that I was nuts.

“I always wondered why you insisted on going out there even though I’d forbidden it. I guess if he was calling you—”

Gina shook her head. “I didn’t hear it until we were rescued.” Isaac frowned. “Or maybe I heard it down there first.”

Which was why she’d always thought the voice part of her neurosis. After what had happened beneath the earth, why wouldn’t she have issues? Didn’t it make more sense that what she’d heard on the wind was nothing more than a guilt-induced echo of the last words she’d ever heard in her parents’ voices, rather than the call of an invisible Aztec werewolf sorcerer that she hadn’t even known about?

Teo squeezed her hand, and when Gina looked at him he smiled. “We may never figure all of this out. But since the sun’s up and the werewolves are gone, we should probably all drive to town.”

“I can’t wait to get on a plane,” Tim muttered.

“Excellent!” Derek announced, and gave his dad a high five.

“Everyone get dressed and packed,” Gina said. The sooner she got the guests out of here, the better. “I’ll have Jase—” She glanced around. “Where is Jase?”

No one answered. Gina got a prickling sensation along her back as her gaze rested on the door.

Jase wouldn’t have done anything stupid.

Would he?

*   *   *

From the expression on Gina’s face she thought McCord had walked out of the house and directly into the gaping wolf jaws of death.

Matt crossed to the window. Since there weren’t pieces of McCord all over the place, he doubted it. Most likely the man was in the barn or one of the other rooms of the house, pouting.

Isaac went out the back door looking as worried as Matt had ever seen him. Though Matt would prefer never to lay eyes on Jase McCord again, he hoped they found him soon for everyone else’s peace of mind.

The Gordons disappeared, no doubt to dress and pack at the speed of sound. Fanny had already pulled out a skillet, eggs, milk, and bacon. She pushed a button on the coffeepot and coffee began to stream into the carafe.

Gina jerked her head toward the hall. Matt followed her out of the kitchen and into her office.

“Shut the door,” she said.

He lifted a brow, but he did as she ordered.

“You think Melda’s going to leave Mel behind?” she asked.

Matt hadn’t thought about it. He hoped so. The fewer warm bodies around here, the better.

“And Amberleigh,” Gina continued. “We’re gonna have to drop her at the local loony bin, then call her folks.”

“Okay.”

Gina nodded, chewing on her lower lip.

“You didn’t call me in here to go over the plan, Gina.”

She lifted her gaze. He wanted to cross the room and kiss the crease between her eyes. So he did.

She relaxed into his embrace. “I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t here.”

“Manage.” He rubbed her back. “You always do.”

“Not very well. I lost the ranch.”

“It’s yours now. I promise.”

“Jase thinks I slept with you to get it back.” She lifted her head. “Do you think that?”

“It never once crossed my mind.” Her smile was worth a thousand sunrises, and when she laid her head back on his chest Matt ran a palm over her tangled brown hair. “You should have told me you heard that thing calling your name.”

Her chest lifted and lowered against his, making him think of things other than the situation at hand, but he held her until she stepped away.

“Sorry. I can’t think when you touch me.” She sat behind her desk. “Or I can think, but not about anything but you.”

Matt’s chest went tight. He wondered if she’d agree to go to town and stay there until this was over. If he lost her, he didn’t think he’d survive.

“Ten years ago I felt a … presence down there. I was out of it, scared, high from lack of oxygen maybe, but—” She lifted her gaze, and her pupils had dilated until her eyes appeared black. “When it’s dark and I’m alone, I know that something evil played Duck, Duck, Goose with our lives.”

“What does that mean, Gina?”

“Someone had to die. Then I didn’t know why, but now I think sacrifice kept that thing alive, if alive is what he is. All the people who died on that piece of land fed him somehow, and when no one came, because of the curse, he called names until someone did.”

As theories went, hers wasn’t half-bad. Especially since she didn’t know yet what Edward Mandenauer had told Matt.

“Maybe Amberleigh did hear what she said she heard,” Gina continued. “Maybe she saw what she said she saw.”

“She might have heard something, but I doubt she saw it. Fanny put wolfsbane at the entrances.”

“Does that really work?”

“Hell if I know,” Matt muttered. “But I think Isaac’s right. If the werewolves could get in, they would have.”

“And we’d all be dead. Or worse.”

They remained silent, thinking about worse; then they both spoke at the same time.

“You should stay in town,” Matt said.

“I want you to go back to Arizona,” Gina blurted.

They stared at each other; then they both said, “I’m not leaving you.”

“Well.” Matt scrubbed a hand through his hair. “I’m glad that’s settled.”

“I can’t leave my ranch, Teo. I won’t.”

“The cavern’s still there waiting to be explored, and the wall with the glyphs could prove my mother’s theory.” Although if they’d been drawn by a Ute shaman Matt wasn’t quite sure how. He still planned to study every last stick figure.

Eventually.

“You aren’t going to be able to explore until we get rid of this thing, so you may as well—”

“No,” he interrupted. “I want to be here when Edward comes.”

“Edward?” She tilted her head. “That’s who Isaac called?”

“You know him?”

“He’s a friend of Isaac’s from the war. Him and his granddaughter…” She paused, thinking. “Dr. Hanover. Elise. They came here to study the unwolves.”

Matt lifted a brow. “I think they came to make sure the unwolves weren’t werewolves.” Quickly Matt told Gina what Edward had told him.

“The old German guy is a monster hunter,” she said when Matt finished. “You’re sure he’s not nuts?”

“Yesterday I would have wondered that myself. Today…” Matt shrugged. “Let’s hope he’s not, because he’s all we’ve got.”

“Swell,” Gina muttered, and let her forehead bang against the desk with a thud.

*   *   *

A half hour later everyone except Amberleigh, whom Melda had managed to get to sleep and they’d decided to leave asleep as long as they could, less noise that way, had eaten and assembled in the yard.

Jase walked out of the barn whistling. Gina experienced a wiggle of déjà vu. He used to do that every morning.

Until Teo showed up.

She glanced at Teo and shook her head, indicating he should stay where he was, then hurried to Jase. “Where have you been?”

She was half-afraid he would turn away without answering. Instead, he shot her a look as if she’d lost her mind. “In the barn. The horses needed feeding, watering, tending. You know, the usual?”

A slash of guilt tore through her. She hadn’t thought of the horses once this morning. Thank God for Jase.

“I was worried,” she said.

“The horses are fine.”

Was he purposely misunderstanding her? Or was he giving her an out by pretending that nothing had happened between them to threaten what they’d always been to each other? Or at least what she’d thought they’d always been.

“Jase.” Gina put her hand on his arm, and when he didn’t pull away she continued. “I don’t want to lose you.”

“You won’t lose me.” He patted her hand and smiled his crooked smile. “It’ll all work out.”

Then he walked off, whistling again. Gina stared after him. He really seemed to have moved on, to have put the ugly scene between them earlier behind him. Or was he just that good at pretending? Gina never would have thought so until she’d discovered that he’d been pretending for years.

And what was she upset about? Did she want him to pine for her? Hell no! She should be thrilled that Jase was willing to fake a case of amnesia. She should try it.

Gina glanced toward the house. Teo stared at her, his concern evident. She tried a reassuring smile. But she obviously wasn’t as good at feigning her feelings as Jase, because her smile caused Teo to frown.

“Jase,” she called. “Can you get the van?”

He lifted a hand to indicate he’d heard, and changed his course from the barn to the garage.

Gina returned to the porch. “I’ll get Amberleigh. Teo.” She took his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze, which seemed to work better than her smile, because his frown smoothed out as soon as she touched him. “Can you help with the bags?”

He nodded, and Gina went into the house, trotted up the stairs. She was so preoccupied with Jase’s bizarre about-face, along with everything else, she’d opened the door to the As’ room before she registered the strange sounds coming from the other side. Then she stood in the doorway and stared.

The place was trashed. Clothes strewn everywhere, most of them shredded. The curtains hung in tatters; the bedspread wasn’t much better.

The strange sounds, which had morphed into gurgles, grunts, and growls, emanated from the bathroom along with the splash of running water.

“Amberleigh?” Gina called, crossing the floor and glancing inside.

The girl leaned over the rim of the bathtub, mouth directly under the gushing stream as she greedily guzzled. The smooth, golden perfection of her naked body was marred only by the seeping, bloody mess of one ankle.

No wonder it had hurt.

“Hey,” Gina began.

Amberleigh’s head whipped around, spraying water across the tile.

She didn’t look like Amberleigh anymore.

Gina slammed the door. What had once been Amberleigh hit the other side with a thud that cracked the casing.

She should run, but she wasn’t going to turn her back on that … thing. No way in hell.

A hand smashed through the wood. Those doors were pure oak. How had she done that? Perhaps the claws that had sprouted where her fingers had once been had helped.

Amberleigh’s face appeared in the hole. Her hair hung in hanks; her eyes had gone feral. Were her teeth getting bigger? Or was her nose getting smaller?

“Shit,” Gina muttered. Amberleigh was changing.

Gina no longer cared about turning her back; all she cared about was getting gone. She ran from the room, down the hall, trying not to scream, afraid to bring the others. Most of them would only be bait.

She tried to think. Where to go? What to do? How to keep Amberleigh in here until Gina could get to the gun out there?

The scritch of claws across the hall floor sounded like a dog trying to gain traction on hardwood. Gina reached the steps and glanced back.

Big mistake, because what she saw made her stiffen, lurch, and then she was falling, grasping at the railing, catching it just enough so that she didn’t die, though by the time she reached the bottom she almost wished she had.

The wind was knocked out of her. She couldn’t draw a breath. Couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak.

It got even worse when Amberleigh landed on her chest.

If the dirty-blond werewolf—guess Amberleigh bleached her hair, big shock—with the big baby blues had gone right for Gina’s throat, she’d have been done for. But apparently Amberleigh liked to play with her food.

Her lip pulled back in a snarl. Foam flecked her snout. If it hadn’t been for the human eyes, Gina would believe a rabid wolf had crept into the house. But the eyes were human, and they were Amberleigh’s.

The creature leaned slowly forward, waiting for Gina to panic, to squirm, to beg. Gina might have, if she’d yet been able to speak. However, the hundred-plus pounds of beast on her chest prevented her from doing anything but gasp.

Amberleigh quickly became bored—another thing the wolf and the girl had in common besides their eyes. She reared back to strike and—

Flames shot out the top of her head.