Chapter 6
Dawn squirmed uncomfortably in the front seat while she tried to ignore the awkward silence that hung in the car. The trip to the club seemed to last forever. Crystal seethed in the backseat. Every once in a while Jerrit would glance at her in the rearview mirror and smile with a self-satisfied grin which only escalated Crystal’s bad mood.
There was so much that Dawn wanted to tell Crystal and so many questions that she was dying to ask Jerrit but she could do neither while they were both around. Dawn just kept hoping that she would wake up from this terrible, and awesome, dream.
She turned to Jerrit with the intention of striking up a conversation but she was struck dumb. What could she possibly say to lighten the mood in the car? Nothing. Crystal was going to be mad no matter what Dawn said because Jerrit had pissed her off. The man was going to have to perform some grand feat to get into her good graces. Good luck with that.
Then there was the fact that Dawn couldn’t think of anything to say that wouldn’t embarrass her more than she already had. Dawn would have given anything to be normal, but even without being half animal, Dawn was far from normalcy. As it was, she just wanted to pretend that the man did not make her heart race and turn her on with just a sideways look. She wanted to be more suave and aloof, but that seemed impossible for her. She was a notorious klutz and the harder she tried not to be the worse it got.
She was not naïve enough to think that Jerrit had any real interest in her. He was attracted to her physically, she had felt that, but his interest would be fleeting. Her only goal was to keep herself from looking like a fool, if at all possible. It usually wasn’t.
The silence persisted until Jerrit pulled his shiny silver Jaguar up next to Crystal’s ancient, army green Jeep Wrangler, affectionately known as Sarge. If Dawn had a choice between the flashy sports car and the beat up SUV, she would choose the Jeep. Dawn was not usually into flash, at least not when it came to her car. As long as it ran and got her where she needed to go, she was set.
Jerrit left the engine idling while he waited for Crystal to get out of the car. Crystal looked at Dawn, intently ignoring Jerrit.
“You know, I can take you home, Dawn. You don’t have to go with him.” Crystal made a point of emphasizing her disgust when she indicated Jerrit.
Jerrit smiled to himself. The girl had nerve. Even after his threat, which she knew was not idle, she was insulting him. He turned to Dawn and immediately sobered. She looked so uncertain about what to do. “Dawn, I…”
“Dawn!” Crystal interrupted loudly, refusing to look at Jerrit, “The only one to whom I am currently speaking, you do not have to go with him.”
Dawn shook her head with a calm smile. “Thanks for the offer, Crys, but I am going to be fine. You have done more than I deserve to ask for and I have a lot to sort through. Plus, my mom trusts him enough to send him my way, so i…trust her judgment, I guess.”
“But Dawn…”
“No Crystal. He knows more about what is going on than anyone. I know that it doesn’t show but I am really freaking out right now. I have to have answers to the millions of questions that are screaming in my head and he has them. So, even if you don’t trust him, please trust that I will be able to take care of myself if anything happens.”
Crystal let out an unconvinced breath.
“How about this,” Dawn continued, “I’ll call you this afternoon to check in. If I don’t call by, let’s say six, you have permission to call campus police or even Greeley PD to raise all hell. But nothing will happen to me.”
Crystal glared at Jerrit before she turned back to Dawn. “If you don’t call then I am going to call in the National Guard. If they find your body in a ditch somewhere, I will find some way to bring you back to life just so that I can kill you again.”
“I guess that I’ll have to dump her body somewhere more creative then, huh?” Jerrit’s face was completely stoic.
Crystal’s eyes went wide. She let out an angry shriek when Jerrit gave her his attractive smirk. Dawn had to bite her lip to keep from smiling herself as Crystal’s face turned red with anger. It should not have been funny, but there was something about the way Jerrit delivered it so perfectly…or maybe it was just Dawn’s dark sense of humor.
“I will call you, Crys.” Dawn could not keep the amusement out of her voice. “but in order for me to do so, we have to actually part ways. So…drive safely.”
“Fine,” Crystal said through clenched teeth. She glared at Jerrit as she slid out of the car and slammed the door. Without looking back at them, Crystal got into her car and attempted to peel out, but her car stalled. Swearing loud enough that Dawn could hear her through the closed doors, Crystal threw her car back in gear and took off.
Dawn let out a long sigh and leaned her head back to the headrest. “She is not going to be fun to deal with later.”
“She’ll come around.”
“This is your fault, you know.” Dawn turned her head to look at him. “You had to do it. You had to strike a nerve, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” Jerrit replied bluntly, putting his car in gear.
“She’s just looking out for me. Like most of my friends, she mistakes my klutziness for ignorance.”
“You don’t have to explain.” Jerrit pulled out of the parking lot and headed toward campus. “I’m actually relieved to know that you’ve been taken care of. The girl may get under my skin but she looks out for you, so I can’t hold it against her…no matter how tempting it might be.”
“Taken care of? So wait, are you saying that I can’t take care of myself?”
Dawn lifted an eyebrow, daring him to answer. He smiled at her. “That is not what I am saying, at all. I mean, you do give off that naïve, ditzy, klutz thing, but that doesn’t mean that you are really naïve.”
“But I am klutzy and a little ditzy,” Dawn admitted.
“Well, you have tripped over yourself several times already today.”
Dawn giggled. “Fair enough.”
“I know that this sounds stalkerish, but I have been watching you for a while, Dawn. In that time, I have learned that people are drawn to you. You don’t see it but there is this, sort of, ring of protection around you. Crystal is only one of many who would stand up for you without hesitation, and she is not the most dangerous, I might add. If anything were to happen to you then whoever harmed you would be ‘taken care of’ and you wouldn’t even have to ask. In fact, you might not even know that anything had happened.”
Dawn opened her mouth to reply, but there was nothing that she could think to say. He was right. Crystal would not hesitate to go after anyone dumb enough to hurt any of her friends. Natalia, Alex and Jack were only a few others who would do the same. The more that she thought about it, she realized that everyone she knew would come to her rescue if she called, and she would do the same for them.
The car stopped and Dawn was surprised when she realized that they were already outside of her apartment. They had made it in record time.
Jerrit looked over at her. What was it about those eyes that took her breath away? The car suddenly seemed a lot smaller. Dawn did not look away from Jerrit as the urge to get out of the car overtook her and she fumbled to get the door open. Without a word, Jerrit leaned over her reaching for the door. He took her searching hand into his own and led it straight to the handle. Dawn was agonizingly aware of how close his lips were to hers. It had been a while since any man had been that close to her. She had to fight the urge to close that distance as she felt his breath on her skin. A shiver ran down her spine.
She really needed to get out of the car.
She pulled on the handle and the door popped open. Jerrit moved back into his seat. Dawn let out a quiet breath that she hadn’t realized that she was holding. She could not tell if she was disappointed or relieved by his retreat.
Jerrit got out of the car with a cocky smile that immediately brought her back to where she was. She should have known better. He was messing with her. How typical. He was a gorgeous man who probably had dozens of women lining up for him. If he had any interest in her it was only because she was convenient.
Dawn angled out of the car but her foot caught on the lip of the door and she fell out of the car. She let out a yelp as she fell to her hands and knees. Only they weren’t hands that lay on the pavement in front of her. They were paws. Large paws.
“Son of a…”
“Swearing is not going to help the situation, Dawn.” She glared up at his amused smile. “At least you fell gracefully.”
Dawn suddenly had the urge to rip Jerrit’s throat out. It only lasted for a second but it was almost as hard to resist as the urge to kiss him had been. She was not generally a violent person, mostly because she was able to control herself, but the sensation had never been so strong before. At least she hadn’t actually ripped his throat out. Thank god for small favors.
Jerrit looked around, making sure that no one was around. The complex was as deserted as usual.
“Let’s get inside before anyone sees you.” He looked down at Dawn then smiled attractively. “Or worse, sees me walking around with a wolf and talking to myself.”
“This is Greeley. No one would even give you a second thought.”
Jerrit smiled as he gathered up Dawn’s clothes. He followed her up the stairs to her apartment. Dawn’s sense of humor was refreshing. He did not have to flinch when she glared at him like he did with the rest of his family. Dawn might have been angry with him, but ti was fleeting and did not really have any hatred behind it, like the rest of her family. She had the temper of a Saunders, but she was very different from them. She had a distinctive personality that Jerrit was attracted to and strangely turned on by.
He could not keep his mind from drifting to the image of Dawn standing naked in front of him. The image changed to her wrapped in a blanket in his living room. The changed again as he envisioned her under him while he did wicked things to her luscious body. It was probably a good thing that Crystal had been there. There was no telling what he may have done to Dawn if they had not been supervised. He shivered at that thought. The woman was like some kind of aphrodisiac made specifically for him. He was not used to anyone having so much power over his desire. It unnerved him.
The few times that Jerrit had allowed himself the company of a woman, he always chose a specific type. Blonde, tall, slim and completely fake whet his appetite the best, as long as they were experienced. So why was this short, voluptuous, klutzy, inexperienced girl plaguing his existence? It made no logical sense. At least she was blonde, even if it was a dark shade.
Jerrit shook his head. No matter how much he wanted her, it wasn’t possible. Even if her family was not an issue, he would never expect her to be attracted to him. She had practically jumped out of his lap when she felt his desire. She would want a man who would be able to give her a life like her sisters had. The perfect white picket fence life with the perfect caring husband and adorable children. With normal problems like money and chores and time constraints. She would never want a man who had to hide who he was from her. Who put her life in danger. She would never understand what he was or the horrors of his past. She deserved better than he could offer her.
Dawn waited impatiently behind him while he fished the keys out of her pocket and opened her apartment door. She pushed past him and disappeared down a small hallway. Jerrit closed the door looking around her small home. He stood between two rooms. To his left was a dining room with a basic table and chairs set with four places. Attache to the dining room was a standard kitchen minus the dish washer. To his right was the living room complete with a couch and chair that had been covered with red blankets to cover stains that Jerrit knew were there when Dawn had moved in. There was a small scuffed coffee table in the center of the room and a TV against the far wall. Everything was white and red with the exception of a few yellow decorations that Jerrit knew belonged to Dawn.
Jerrit closed the curtains in the dining and living room, trying to avoid any unwanted eyes from seeing the wild animal in the apartment. When he turned around Dawn standing in the hallway staring at him with her furry head slightly cocked to the side.
“Thank God Brianna’s not here. This would be very hard to explain.”
“Oh, come one, Dawn. How hard could it be to explain how a strange man got your key, knew exactly where you lived and walked around with his pet wolf?” Jerrit smiled sarcastically at her. “You have explained worse, I’ll bet.”
Dawn turned and went back down the hall. “Any other time you might be funny, but right now, you are just annoying.”
“Look on the bright side, Dawn.” He waited for Dawn to turn and look at him before he continued. “At least you’re a wolf and not a cat.”
Dawn rolled her big eyes. “Fabulous. I am finally a normal freak. Open my bedroom door.”
“A ‘please’ wouldn’t kill you, you know?”
“You really want to fight with me right now? I am a wolf and I will not hesitate to bite you. And honestly, I think that it might kill me if I say please to you. Now, would you just open the door, please?”
Jerrit follow her down the hall with a self-satisfied smile. He wasn’t sure if she had even meant to say the last word but he had gotten his “please” anyway. Dawn growled at him as he opened the door. He enjoyed aggravating her far too much. There was something about the fierceness of her eyes and her immediate retorts that he could not resist.
Dawn hated that Jerrit was able to get her so worked up. She butted her door closed a little more forcefully than she had intended to, leaving Jerrit on the other side. She let out a long breath as she turned back into human form.
The fact that she was calling it “human form” was creeping her out. It was okay to think of her other forms as just that, other forms, but to think that the way she was born might not be her true form was too much to wrap her head around.
Dawn found a pair of green sweat pants and a black tank top. She got dressed while she tried to avoid the thought that she might not look the way that she was supposed to and failed. Dawn glanced in the mirror. If she could make a large change, like transforming from a human into an animal, then maybe she could make little changes too, like fixing the flaws that she always saw in herself.
Dawn concentrated on her reflection for a moment, willing it to change. She would take anything; her hair, her nose, her chin, her cheeks…she wouldn’t mind losing some of the pudge that seemed to permanently reside where her abs should be. Nothing happened. It’s not like she really expected it to.
Dawn smiled to herself and shook her head. It was worth a try.
She went back out to the living room. Her dream guy was sitting in the chair next to the door. He shifted uncomfortably as she moved to sit on the couch. She gave him a questioning look as she pulled her legs up underneath herself.
“This is the most uncomfortable seat I have ever been in.” Dawn smiled at the look of disgust on Jerrit’s face. “Seriously, how can you stand this furniture?”
“I am in college. I take what I can get, even the crap that they offer to furnish my apartment with. Besides, you know that you’ve been sitting too long when your butt goes numb.”
“That’s masochistic.”
Dawn gave him a mischievous smile. “Not into that kind of thing?” Jerrit ignored her comment so she went on. “It’s the unfortunate consequence of higher education. You spend too much money on books and tuition to afford the luxuries of life. I can fix my back problems when I have my business degree.”
“Wow…that is depressing.”
“Welcome to my world.” She had made the comment a little more seriously than she had meant to. Jerrit’s gaze made her uncomfortable. She looked away from him, unable to stand the pity in his eyes. She ran her hand through her hair. “So, tell me about the men who attacked Crystal.”
“Are your eyes a different color?”
“What?” Dawn was taken by surprise by the question.
“Your eyes look greener than they did before.”
Dawn rolled her eyes, but made a mental note to check on it later. Not that that would really help her remember. “Seriously? This is how you are going to try to distract me?”
“What makes you think that I know any more about them than you do?”
Dawn glared at Jerrit. He couldn’t possibly believe that she was that dumb. He knew a lot more than he wanted to let on. Playing innocent was not going to work.
“They didn’t run when a tiger came out of nowhere to protect Crystal, but when you come strolling casually around the corner, they scatter like rats. That means something that you are not telling me, so spill it. What were they?”
“Don’t you mean who were they?”
Dawn crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back into the couch. “I meant exactly what I said. They were definitely not human.” She dropped her voice slightly. “They didn’t smell right.”
Jerrit nodded approvingly, his gaze unwavering from hers. “I didn’t think that you would be able to distinguish smells yet.”
“I have natural talent.”
“So I see.”
“You’re trying to avoid the question.”
“Why would I do that?”
“You. Tell. Me. Jerrit.” Dawn emphasized each word.
Jerrit stared at Dawn for a moment before he shook his head sadly. “I don’t think that you are ready to know what they are.”
“Shouldn’t that be my decision and not yours?”
“I am not sure that you can handle what you are asking.”
Dawn sighed trying to keep herself calm. “Jerrit, I am not asking what they are. I am demanding to know it. I am not going to let this go, no matter how much you try to change the subject or how you feel about what I can handle. The easiest thing for you is to just tell me, or you had better hope that you are more stubborn than I am.” She gave Jerrit a calm smile. “now, let’s try this again. What were the things that attacked Crystal? I believe that they called themselves hunters.”
Jerrit could not look at Dawn for a moment. The woman messed with his brain and made him want to do everything that she said. He was stronger than this. There was no way that she could be as stubborn as he was. He had been able to handle both of her sisters, her mother and her father. He could out stubborn the youngest Saunders as well.
He made the mistake of looking back into those eyes. He had no doubt now. Her eyes were greener. The color made her gaze more intense, if that was possible. She was determined to learn whatever she needed to, not only to protect herself, but her friend. The truth was that the more she learned, the better able she would be to do it. He never should have agreed to help this family.
“Vampires.” He said calmly.
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