“We would like to come, Julie,” Kieran said.
“Great!” Julie didn’t even look to Alex for confirmation. She pulled a napkin out of the table dispenser and a grubby pen from her pocket. She began to sketch, tongue between her teeth. “Here’s a map. It’ll be fastest if you come cross-country. You just go straight across from your cabin, heading north, like this. Mom’s house is here.”
She shoved the makeshift map across the table to Alex, and then glanced at her watch. “Oh shit, look at the time. I got to go. Vern Mercado’s truck is supposed to be finished by five.” She started down the aisle and turned. “You two show up around two, okay? We’ll eat around three or so. Just bring yourselves and a good appetite!”
As soon as she was out of earshot, Alex stood and made a grab for Kieran, swinging him around. “What the hell did you think you were doing?”
His expression was unreadable. “Accepting an invitation.”
She balled her fists. “Great. Your memories are coming back, but you’ve been human less than a day. You aren’t ready to deal on such close terms with strangers. You need more time.”
“For what, Alexandra?” he asked. “Haven’t I done well?” One corner of his mouth lifted in a smile she might have called mocking. “Haven’t I behaved… like a human?”
“I asked you to follow my advice. This is the second time you’ve deliberately ignored me.”
His smiled vanished. “No, Alexandra. I’ve never ignored you.”
The feral yellow of his eyes held hers implacably. She shook her head to break the spell and noticed the curious faces turned their way. She slapped money on the table, slid from the booth, and strode down the aisle, Kieran a step behind her.
A draft of cold air swept into the room. Alex charged blindly for the door and nearly collided with someone entering the cafe.
“Hey, watch where you’re going!”
The voice was all too familiar. Howie Walsh and a couple of his buddies blocked her only path of escape, looking her over slowly. Howie’s contemptuous gaze lingered on her scar.
“What? Not out baby-sitting your cute little killers?” he asked with mocking exaggeration.
All the anger she’d been holding back broke loose. “What?” she echoed. “Not out poisoning wolves?”
Howie scowled at his friends and jammed his hands in his pockets. “Bitch,” he muttered.
Out of the corner of her eye Alex saw Kieran move closer and fix his amber gaze on Howie.
The other two men exchanged uneasy glances. “Come on, Howie,” one said.
Howie gave Kieran a belligerent stare. “Friend of yours. War-ring-ton?” he said.
Alex followed his look and forgot her rage. Kieran’s eyes were lambent, his body drawn to its full, imposing height. The way he was focused on Howie left no doubt in her mind as to the current train of his thoughts. “I’ll protect you,” he’d told her.
He looked like a wolf ready to defend one of his own.
Even Howie had the sense to size Kieran up and decide against direct confrontation. Like all bullies, he only attacked when the odds were in his favor. He let his friends tug him toward the rear of the cafe, but his next words were carefully calculated to be audible to everyone in the place.
“Didn’t think she could get a man, ugly as she is.”
The taunt still cut like a knife, even after all these years.
“At least I can find better recreational activities than poisoning animals,” she called after him. “Is that the best you can do for kicks, Howie?”
Howie turned around, but whatever retort he was gathering died before it reached his mouth. Kieran brushed past Alex and started down the aisle, shoulders hunched, growling in his throat.
Alex plunged after him while diners at booths and tables up and down the length of the cafe stood or craned their necks to witness the incipient confrontation. Alex managed to get between Kieran and Howie at the last minute.
She reached out to Kieran just as he began to blur. The strange mist was gathering around him, and she remembered what had happened when she last witnessed that eerie effect.