Karen Whiddon - One Eye Open

“I’ve been looking for your brother,” he said. “As soon as I got out of the hospital, I started searching. Alex went underground. Obviously, he doesn’t want me to find him.”

She let that one go, focusing on the word hospital. He’d said he’d nearly been killed. “Did it take you a long time to recover?”

He gave a curt nod.

Less than two years. In her own life, a lot had happened in that time. She’d lost a fiancé, misplaced her brother. Meanwhile, this man’s entire family had been ripped away, brutally murdered in circumstances that made her brother look guilty.

“I’m sorry.” She knew her words were inadequate, but she meant them nonetheless.

In response, Carson accelerated again.

Brenna got the message and closed her mouth. The digital clock on the dashboard showed 1:30 a.m. Late for humans, but prime hunting time for those of her kind. Glancing at the shadowy woods as they flashed past, she wondered if any of her people roamed there. Snow had begun to fall, the dainty white flakes becoming thick, heavy ones the farther north they traveled. Soon Carson slowed the vehicle to a crawl, his headlights reaching only a few feet ahead of them on the snow-covered road.

A sign proclaimed they were on the outskirts of Albany, the state capital.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

“I got a lead that some of the gang is holed up in Hawk’s Falls, near the Vermont border.”

Mostly wilderness. Her kind of place. She allowed herself a small smile. As a huntress, her tracking skills were unparalleled. If Alex hid anywhere in a forest, she would find him.

“How long before we get there?”

He shook his head in the clumsy manner of a wolf cub shaking off snow. “We won’t get there tonight,” he said, his deep voice sounding gravelly. “It’s late, and the storm’s getting worse. I need some sleep.”

She sat up. “I’m not tired. I’ll drive.”

He drummed on the steering wheel. “I don’t think so.”

“I want to find him as much as you do,” she reminded him. “You sleep, I’ll get us there. It’s not too far.”

“We’re pulling off at the next town. We’ll take a motel room for the night.”

“But—”

“We have to stop sometime.”

“I’ll stop when I find my brother.”

He shook his head again. “We’ll start fresh in the morning.”

“If we’re not snowed in.”

“I’ve got chains.” He shrugged. “And there’s always a plow.”

She tried not to grind her teeth. “Look, I really think—”

“Enough.” His tone was sharp enough to cut a coyote off in mid-howl. “This is not a democracy. We’re stopping and getting some rest. End of subject.”

Brenna glared. “Fine. You get a room. I’ll stay in your vehicle.”

“Right.” He snorted. “It’s ten below and snowing, and you want to stay here?”

Put that way, her words did sound…unusual.

“I don’t want to waste money on a motel room. I can rest here. This is comfortable enough for me.”

“Money?” He gave her a long look. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll pay. We’re sharing a room, anyway.”

At her sputter of protest, he flashed her a bleak, tight-lipped smile. “Look, I’m not going to attack you. I don’t want sex with the sister of my family’s killer. I’ll make sure we have two beds.”

Safe. If only he knew. She suppressed the desire to growl. “I’m not worried.”

“Of course not.” His tone mocked her. “But like I said, until we find Alex, I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

“I don’t want to be that close to you.”

“Tough.”

She took a closer look at the intense man beside her.

“Fine,” she conceded. “I want to keep an eye on you as badly as you do me.”

“Then it’s settled.” In silence he drove on, windshield wipers slapping ineffectively against the blinding snow. He handled the vehicle with the ease of long familiarity. In the blizzard, the streetlights shone like dim halos, the occasional car or semi looming up huge, then lumbering away, like brief scenes from a surreal, homemade movie.

An exit sign indicated available lodging. They left the freeway, turning right and fishtailing on the snowy road.

“Slow down,” she said.

Instead of commenting, he pointed. “There.” Clustered together were several older motels. A red neon sign at the first one indicated a vacancy.

Carson pulled into the snow-covered lot, parking around back, out of sight of the brightly lit office. With the snow coming down fast and furious, the place looked cozy, inviting, though Brenna knew in harsh sunlight the weather-beaten exterior would seem tired and worn.

With an innate caution that came as naturally as breathing, she took stock of her surroundings. The frame building appeared badly maintained, its fading green paint peeling. A few pine trees, bent and sickly, grew near the office. The weight of the snow on their branches made them seem about to topple.

Despite the storm, or perhaps because of it, the parking lot contained five or six other vehicles, all older, all rapidly disappearing under white shrouds of snow. From the iron bars on the office windows, she judged this would not be a safe place for a woman to wander at night, at least a human woman unable to change.

Carson killed the ignition and pocketed the key before turning to face her, his expression flat.

“Let’s go.” He squeezed her shoulder, effectively cutting off her last attempt at refusal. “Give it up. You’re staying with me.”

“I’m your captive?” Both amused and angry, she couldn’t help but wonder at his reaction if she were to change right here, right now. If she were her powerful wolf self, he wouldn’t be able to contain her. No man on earth could hold her then. Even as a human, she was a formidable opponent. Years of martial arts classes had made sure of that.

For now she could only let him think he had won. The force of his glare told her he didn’t appreciate her amusement or her anger.

“Fine,” she said. “Let’s go.”

“Brenna, I’m warning you.” Illuminated by the flashing neon hotel light, his gaze was as cold as the night and twice as harsh. “Don’t try to escape. Your brother destroyed my family and ruined my life. I will make him pay. Neither you nor anyone else will be able to stop me.”

Releasing her, he pushed open his door and strode around to her side. Before he reached the door handle, she pushed it open herself and slid to the ground in front of him. Squaring her shoulders in the bulky parka, she lifted her chin and stared him in the face, snow swirling around both of them in a heavy cloud.

“My brother is not the man you’re looking for.”

“Unwavering devotion,” he drawled. “That’s good in a sister.” Pausing, he looked her over once. “That is, if you really are Alex’s sister.”

Her breath came out in a hiss. Narrow-eyed, she glared at him with such ferocity that he took a step back. Then she spun on her heel and marched over to the hotel office, yanking open the dirty glass door. She went inside without waiting to see if he would follow.

A few minutes later, metal key firmly in hand, Carson allowed her to precede him toward their room.

On the ground floor, 119 sat at the very back of the building, as far away from the growl and snarl of the normal freeway traffic as the hotel offered. Though the blizzard muffled sound, she was still glad, as the noise, utterly foreign, made her uncomfortable and restless.

Come to think of it, the utter absence of sound, normally welcome, had her feeling skittish as well. Or maybe she owed her heightened awareness to her companion. With his grim-jawed features, he appeared oblivious to her discomfort as he unlocked the door.