Kat retrieved the local street directory and plopped it down on the table. “Where?”
“Forest Road. Some place called The Pines.”
“Out of town,” Kat said after a few minutes. “And not all that far from where the soul-sucker killed the old man.”
“I found a cabin full of zombies up that way,” he said, suddenly remembering them. “About a twenty-minute run north from the old farm.”
Kat gave him a long look. “And you didn’t think to mention it before now? Or were you simply planning to do a little solo exploring later on tonight?”
“Neither,” he said, ignoring the sarcasm in her voice. “I didn’t remember because I had more important things to worry about.”
He held her gaze. After a few seconds, heat touched her cheeks, and she dropped her gaze to the directory again.
Gwen pulled her hand free of his and flexed it lightly. “You have a nice touch, wolf. And you didn’t tell us you were empathic.”
He put the lid back on the oil bottle. “I’m not.”
Gwen raised an eyebrow. “Really? Then why do you seem to be catching Kat’s emotions?”
He kept his face expressionless and raised an eyebrow. “What makes you think I’m catching Kat’s emotions?”
Her cheeks dimpled. “Because I’m a nosy old witch who can sense these things.”
“Well, in this case, the nosy old witch is way off course.” He rose to put the oil back on the coffee table. “We going to call in the sheriff on this one?”
Gwen studied him a second longer, her expression a mix of amusement and concern. Still trying to figure him out, obviously. He had a feeling he’d better be long gone before she did.
“No,” she answered. “We won’t need to if we can stop the mara before it gets to the kid.” She looked at Kat and added, “Did you manage to make those charms earlier?”
Kat nodded and disappeared into the bedroom. Gwen grabbed his hand, her strength surprising him. “Be honest with her, wolf,” she whispered, her voice as fierce as her expression, “or I’ll make damn sure you regret it.”
She was half his size and half his weight, but he had a sudden feeling this fierce old woman could take on a hundred men his size and still come out on top. “I’ve been nothing but honest with her.”
“Then be honest with yourself, or it’s going to cause problems.”
“I have no idea—”
“You have every idea,” she said angrily. “Don’t you lie to me.”
Anger rose, a tide so strong the effort to control it left him shaking. “I haven’t lied to anyone,” he said, his voice surprisingly calm. “And Kat’s a big girl who doesn’t need her grandmother’s protection.”
Gwen snorted and released his hand. He resisted the urge to flex his fingers as she leaned back in the chair.
“Who says I’m trying to protect her? You’re the one who’s going to regret it if you don’t wake up to yourself.”
“You can’t hurt what you haven’t got,” he said bitterly.
“Oh, you have it, wolf. You’re just too blinded by the perceived hurts of the past to realize it.”
He clenched his fists and took a step toward her, then realized what he was doing and walked across to the window. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t I?”
Gwen’s voice, though soft, still reached him easily. And though his hearing was naturally better than any human’s, he had a vague suspicion there was something supernatural—or magical—in the fact that he was hearing her now. And that Kat obviously wasn’t.
“In the meantime,” she continued in that same soft but angry tone, “I’ll just leave you with a warning. If what is freely given is rejected, it is never offered again. We Tanners tend not to forgive nor forget.”
“What the hell is going on in here?”