Watch Me, page 1
WATCH ME
SILKE JUPPENLATZ
LYRICAL PRESS
http://lyricalpress.com/
KENSINGTON PUBLISHING CORP.
http://www.kensingtonbooks.com/
For Paul–because you rock.
For Nerine–because without our little chat, there would be no sequel.
For my fellow “Critters”–because you guys have my back. Always.
Foreword
When I finished Howl it was a single-title book. Zalin and Lucia were–and still are–dear to my heart, and so was Tiffy. I wondered how she’d cope, and what would happen to her, but I wasn’t planning to write a sequel.
Once the edits were done, and we were nitpicking over some punctuation, a conversation with my editor sparked an idea. And from that little spark grew the fire which gave life to Keric.
I’ve had wonderful reviews for Howl, I’ve had feedback from readers which really made my day. Let’s hope I can make your day, with the sequel.
Don’t worry. You don’t need to have read Howl before reading Watch Me.
I hope you enjoy Tiffy and Keric’s story!
Chapter 1
“There.” Tiffy whispered, pointing toward the trees. She exhaled a dreamy sigh. “See him? Isn’t he a dish?”
Rebecca drew the branches aside and peeked at the spot Tiffy indicated. “Oooh...Tif, He’s hot.”
Tiffy clapped her hand across Becca’s mouth. “Keep your voice down!”
The redhead giggled. “He can’t hear us.”
“He might, and then he’ll leave.” Tiffy leaned forward a little. A strand of her hair snagged in the branches and she pulled it loose, trying not to rustle the leaves. “Have you ever seen him before?”
“No. Why d’you think he’s watching the gate?” She sniffed. “Definitely a Lycan. He could just go up and say hi. Why doesn’t he?”
She’d like to know the same thing. He’d been here a few times now. She’d spotted him three days ago and he’d shown up every day since. Always watching the gate. “Maybe he’s a spy?”
Becca snorted. “Yeah, right. Not a very good one, if you found him. No offense, but your tracking ability is shit.”
True. She wasn’t very good at all the stuff she should be. Like hunting. And tracking. Instead she liked to watch the animals she was supposed to hunt, enjoyed seeing fawns play in the sunshine, and young rabbits bounce around in soft grass. Tiffy sighed. She’d make a lousy hunter. No one would ever want her, least of all a wolf.
The thought of a boyfriend brought an uncomfortable tightness to her chest. Kell had wanted her, but for all the wrong reasons. She was glad Zalin had put him down, but she wished he’d done it before Kell killed her father. In the seven months since then she’d grown closer to Zalin and Lucia. She looked to the new Alpha as a substitute for her father, although he was her brother-in-law. And God, he could be such a pain in the ass sometimes.
Mom was happy with Lucia’s dad and, while life on the ranch was nice, Tiffy felt like the fifth wheel there. Moving in with Lucia and Zalin wasn’t ideal either, but while she could handle her sister mooning over Zalin, seeing Mom make eyes at Graham... Ew. Gross.
“I wish Zalin would let me have my own place,” Tiffy muttered. “I’m nearly eighteen, I could–”
“You’re eighteen in eight months. That’s not nearly.”
Tiffy shot her an irritated look. “Close enough.”
“Uh-huh. Delusional much?” Becca grinned. “Dad said I can move into the basement apartment on my eighteenth birthday.”
Jealousy flared. Why did everyone get to be who they wanted to be, except her? Okay, so she wasn’t as close to her eighteenth birthday as she liked, but she could stand on her own two feet–or four–nevertheless. Becca telling her about getting her own apartment in less than two months just wasn’t fair. Especially when she knew Tiffy would never be allowed to move out on her own if Zalin had his way. At least not until she was old and gray.
Movement up ahead drew her out of her thoughts. Was he leaving? He stood with his back to her, which allowed her to appreciate tight muscles and narrow hips. Most Lycan men had an athletic build, courtesy of their wolf, but this one was a lot leaner than most–young too. She guessed he was in his early twenties.
Most young men left their pack at his age and sought out another. Maybe he was one of them? Someone looking for a new pack, looking for a new home?
“He’s leaving,” Becca whispered.
“Yeah.” Tiffy watched him go, hoping to catch another glimpse of his face. The first time she’d seen him he’d kept his back to her the entire time. Then, yesterday, just as he sneaked out of his hiding place, he’d turned his head and she’d instantly fallen in love.
She’d always laughed at the notion of love at first sight. Not anymore. Seeing his sharp face, so full of angles, had her reconsider her belief. His sensual, wicked mouth broke up all the hardness, made him seem somehow sexier, although if pushed, she’d say his best feature were those stunning gray eyes. So rare among the wolves, she hadn’t seen the color much before. His hair was dark, shaggy, flecked with gold and slightly too long. It brushed his shoulders and Tiffy longed to slide her fingers through it. No doubt he’d be a beautiful wolf too.
None of the boys she knew could compare to him. But then, they were all boys. Boys who played pranks on her, teased her about being one of them. Boys who didn’t see her as a woman. Her job didn’t help.
She glanced at her fingernails, short and blunt, with a bit of dirt under them. No matter how much she scrubbed them, engine oil was hard to shift. Tiffy knew she’d never sport the kind of manicured nails Becca had, unless she quit her apprenticeship as a mechanic.
What man would ever fall in love with her? They were either after someone like Becca, or they turned into her buddy and wanted their cars fixed.
And Dale, who’d paid attention to her after her father’s murder, was immature and...well...weak. A beta, hell, a delta, if truth be known. They’d gone out for two months, and he’d never even tried to kiss her.
This one...no. He was a man. He was all lean strength and feral grace. There was nothing immature or boyish about him. An Alpha, through and through. This guy wouldn’t go with a girl and never kiss her. He probably went much further on a first date.
Of course, she wouldn’t let him go all the way. Not on a first date, anyway. He’d have to wait, maybe as long as the third. Tiffy suppressed a sigh, wondering what it would be like.
He didn’t turn this time. On one hand she was disappointed, on the other...she didn’t want Becca to see his face. Becca was so much prettier than her. Tiffy envied her the red mane and painted nails. She was stuck with boring blond, not even golden or anything, but boring, almost white, blond. Groomed and sophisticated lasted about five minutes on her, then her hair was a mess again. Becca never had that problem. She always looked as if she’d stepped out of a fashion magazine.
Her stranger would never give Tiffy a second look as long as her hot best friend was there. Seeing his face would make Becca try to get his attention. No, tomorrow she’d come alone. He was hers, and Becca better not try anything.
Tiffy’s stomach rumbled. “Hey, you want to go for a burger?”
“Nah, I can’t. Dad’ll kill me if I’m late. It’s his birthday.” Becca’s lip lifted with displeasure. “Wish I could. Would be more fun than hanging with old folks.”
Tears stung Tiffy’s eyes. She’d give anything to celebrate Dad’s birthday. “Say hi to your dad for me. I might stop by later and wish him a happy birthday.”
Becca hugged her. “I’m sorry. I know you miss your dad.”
She extricated herself and pasted a smile on her lips. “It’s okay. I’ll grab myself something to eat. Maybe I’ll run into the hottie? Ooh, wouldn’t that be something?”
Becca’s eyes lit up. “Ha, you find anything out you let me know, right?”
“Sure.”
* * * *
Keric headed back into town, still no closer to any answers. It was frustrating. This was the last address he had for his brother, but in his four days here he’d seen no sign of him. Not even a glimpse, or a whiff of his scent. Maybe he’d left? Then again, if he had, he’d have mentioned it. He hadn’t written or called in more than seven months, which wasn’t normal for him. Kell always sent a note, at least every couple of months.
Keric had spent his twenty-third birthday alone, without a call from his oldest brother. Unlike Keefe, Kell never missed a birthday. He still resented that his middle brother had come home three weeks after his birthday, with bloodshot eyes from too much drink, and reeking of cheap perfume. Not that he’d been invited to whatever party Keefe had enjoyed.
Nope. Instead he’d sat by the phone, waiting for one of his brothers to call, worrying about both of them. He should have known better than to worry about Keefe, but Kell’s silence wasn’t like him, and he’d never been out of contact this long.
Something was wrong, Keric knew it in his gut, and unless he found out where his oldest brother was, he wouldn’t be leaving.
In the meantime he’d find a way to insinuate himself into this pack. From the snippets of conversation drifting to him from inside the compound, he knew who the Alpha was, had even seen him in a car yesterday. He wasn’t the biggest Alpha, but neither was he a wimp. For a moment Zalin’s dark amber eyes had been fixed on the spot where he was hiding, and he’d been sure the Alpha had seen him, but he’d driven on without stopping.
Zalin was formidable, but from what he’d heard, he was reas
Back at the guest house, Keric pulled out the last letter he’d received from Kell, read it again, and there was no mention of anything odd. As usual his brother ranted about the Alpha, how the guy was too old to run the pack and complained about a newcomer who was in his way. Same old, same old. No names were mentioned, but Keric wondered why Kell had thought Zalin too old to be Alpha. They were about the same age.
Nothing stood out, and he put the tattered letter away. He’d grab a bite to eat at the local diner and, once the sun went down, he’d go running in the woods.
* * * *
The diner was busy, five of the six booths at the window were taken, but he managed to snag the last one. Keric was pleasantly surprised by the small restaurant. It was old, yes, but there was a fifties charm to it, although all the furniture was from a much later era. Red seats and clean imitation wood tables surrounded the counter, and an old soda machine gleamed at the end of a glass top. No one paid him much heed, aside from the usual curious glances a stranger received in a small town. He didn’t mind. They probably thought he was a tourist.
A glance at the menu made him realize how hungry he was. Someone approached his table and he looked up, expecting to see the waitress. Instead a blond girl stood there, smiling at him.
Keric found himself smiling back. She was cute, dressed in faded jeans and a baggy t-shirt, her feet in raggedy sneakers. A plastic pink skull and crossbones earring dangled from her left ear, and a matching pendant on a long leather string hung around her neck. The freckles spattered across her upturned nose made her look wholesome, and a far cry from the girls he normally noticed.
All in all, she looked like a tomboy, but one with the most incredible blue eyes he’d ever seen. Someday this little girl would be a stunning woman. Once her body filled out and lost the lanky boyish look, she’d leave men salivating.
“Hi.” She motioned to the bench opposite his. “Do you mind if I sit here?”
He glanced at the counter, but all the spots there were gone. He was the only one alone in a booth. “Sure. Go ahead.”
She slid into the booth and held out her hand. “I’m Tiffany.”
Keric wasn’t sure what to make of this, but saw no harm in telling her his name. He stopped short of taking her hand, and nodded instead. “Keric.”
Tiffany let her hand sink and indicated toward the menu. “Are you done with this?”
“Yeah.” He inhaled surreptitiously. Definitely Lycan, most likely from the pack outside town. Why had she sought him out? She had to know what he was, yet gave no indication of it.
She yanked the menu off the table and held it in front of her like a shield, but instead of reading it, she watched him over the top. “You’re new in town.”
Great. Now he was being interrogated by a teenager. “Just passing through.”
Her gaze lowered and she wouldn’t look him in the eye. “Oh.”
An older woman stopped at the table. “Are you folks ready to order?”
Keric gave her his order and she scribbled it down.
“How about you, Tiffy? Chocolate milkshake and a burger?”
Tiffy? He forced himself to keep a straight face when she nodded and her cheeks flooded with color. Ah. The girl hadn’t wanted him to know her nickname. It was kind of cute, but she had to realize he’d never hook up with someone as young as her. She looked about sixteen, maybe seventeen, and he really didn’t want to spend his time here in jail.
She lowered the menu, still avoiding his gaze.
“Tiffy, huh?” He couldn’t resist teasing her. “Cute.”
“They still treat me like I’m five years old,” she muttered. “I’m so sick of it.”
“Yeah, but there’s something to be said for having people around who’ve known you all your life. Don’t knock it.” He hadn’t realized he missed his hometown until now. As annoying as it was when everyone knew everything–or almost everything–about him, it was also a comfort when things weren’t going well. He grimaced. “My folks used to annoy me by calling me Kerry.”
She smiled and her expression brightened again. Keric loved the way her eyes sparkled and seemed to shift color according to her mood. He’d never seen it before. With eyes like this, and a body on the verge of womanhood, she would turn heads once she grew up a little. He almost wanted to come back to see how she turned out.
The waitress arrived with their drinks and Tiffy thanked her. She took her milkshake and stirred it with the straw, then captured the small tube in her mouth and sucked. His brain froze.
“So what brings you to this godforsaken dump?”
Keric forced the thought of her sucking on something other than a straw to the back of his mind, wishing he could banish the sight of her tongue snaking around the straw forever. Those pouty lips should be illegal on a girl like her. The thought gave him pause. They were illegal, and he had best remember it. “Like I said, just passing through.”
“Uh-huh.” She toyed with the straw. “Do you have a girlfriend?”
Whoa. Not the route he wanted to take, but he had no idea how to derail her–unless he lied. “None of your business.”
She lowered her lashes and licked the straw. His gut tightened and he cursed his body for reacting to her little ploy. The last thing he wanted was a hard-on for a little girl, and yet he couldn’t help it. Something about her drove him nuts. He inhaled once more, scenting her. Clean, fresh, without perfume–and with an underlying tang of wolf.
A wolf who drank chocolate milkshakes. Keric bit back a smile. She liked to live dangerously, considering chocolate could poison her. To be fair, he liked the odd bit of chocolate too, and it showed guts to fly in the face of convention the way she did. He’d have preferred if she were human. It would be easier to reason himself out of being attracted to jailbait.
“Do you want one?”
Keric almost missed her quiet question, the turmoil in his head too much to form a straight thought. “Tiffy...” He struggled for words to let her down easy. “You’re what? Sixteen?”
She stiffened. “Eighteen!”
Yeah, right. Sure she was. Seventeen at the most. “You’re still, uh, young. Don’t waste it. Grow up a little before you hit on someone several years your senior.”
“I’m not a little girl!” Tiffy jumped to her feet. “Screw you.”
Keric watched her run out of the diner and shook his head. What on earth was the girl thinking, coming on to a stranger like that? If she wasn’t careful she’d get into all sorts of trouble.
The waitress arrived with the food and raised a brow at him, but didn’t comment. Keric stared at his burger, suddenly no longer hungry, and motioned to the waitress for the check. He’d get stuck with Tiffy’s tab, but so be it.
Outside he took a deep breath, trying to push the entire encounter from his mind. If he didn’t spot Kell tomorrow, he’d leave town and try another tack. No doubt Tiffy would alert her pack to his presence, which shot his plans to hell. If he joined them now, they’d be too suspicious of him and wouldn’t give him any information. If he didn’t join them, it wouldn’t be long before they tracked him down and interrogated him. Either way, this little girl had just sabotaged the easiest way for him to find out about Kell.
Keric headed for the guest house, taking in the deserted main street with its array of stores. It wasn’t terribly late, but apparently this town shut down after dark. He wondered if it had to do with all the Lycans on their doorstep.
This place was so different from his Wyoming home. It had a small town appeal, but managed to appear touristy nevertheless. The surrounding woods were popular with hikers, and he’d been unable to get one of the cabins, even out of season. Everything was in walking distance, except the compound where Kell had lived. It seemed the Lycans stayed well away from the human population and didn’t mingle much.
Aside from one nosy teenager. Damn her.
He kept walking, but half way to the guest house the footsteps behind him became too attuned to his. If he hesitated, the person behind him hesitated. If he sped up, they matched his stride. It didn’t take a genius to realize someone followed him. He ducked into an alley, relatively certain his stalker was Tiffy, but he wasn’t taking any chances in case it wasn’t.
