Bound to Shadows (Riley Jenson Guardian 8)

"If I knew that, I wouldn't be asking the question. " I crossed my arms and stared at him. He was a little taller than me, and broader in the shoulders. His face was rough-hewn but oddly handsome, and his scent said he was a wolf. From the red pack, if his longish hair was anything to go by.

Part of me felt like I should have known him, but the other part, the instinctive part, said he was a stranger.

"Hanna, you know who I am. " He reached for my hand, but I avoided his touch. Surprise ran through his eyes. Surprise and concern. "You really don't, do you?"

I didn't bother answering. Just waited.

"For fuck's sake, what's happened to you?" He scrubbed a hand across his face. "I'm Evin. Your brother. "

My brother.

No, I thought, staring at him. He wasn't my brother. Not the brother I wanted, not the brother I was expecting.

God, this was all so damn confusing.

"How do I know you're telling the truth?"

Frustration and hurt rippled through his expression. If he was acting, then he was damn good.

Why would I think he was acting?

I didn't know. I just didn't know.

It was becoming somewhat of a theme for me.

"I can't prove it here, obviously. I didn't bother collecting our life history when I came looking for you. " But he reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, flipping it open to show me his license. His name was indeed Evin. Evin London. He flipped it closed before I could catch the address, and said, "Happy?"

No, I thought. But simply said, "So, you knew I was out here?"

It came out almost as an accusation, and he raised his eyebrows. "I didn't know for certain. But when we found your car - "

"My car?" I couldn't remember a car. No surprise there, either.

"Yeah. By the look of it, you'd hit a kangaroo hard enough to roll the car. It's a total bloody mess. I had to hire another one. "

But I didn't hit a roo, I'd hit a truck. Or rather, it had hit me.

Or was that just more mixed memories?

"What the hell did you do with your clothes? They weren't in the car," he said.

r /> I shrugged, not knowing and not caring. "Where did you find my car?"

"About an hour out of Dunedan. The local cops have already hauled it back into town. "

Which was not helpful, given I had no idea what or where Dunedan was. "And where are we now?"

"About a hundred miles southeast of that point. "

Which was a hell of a long way to walk in the time I'd apparently been missing. "Then how did I get here?"

His gaze ran down my battered body. "Looking at the mess your feet are in, the answer is pretty obvious. And you've got a nice sunburn going. "

He peeled off his shirt and handed it to me. His body was well toned, but it wasn't the body of someone who trained regularly. For some reason, that struck me as odd. I put on his shirt on and did up the buttons. It was long enough to cover my butt, which was probably a good thing if I was going back to civilization. Humans tended to get antsy about nakedness.

"Now, let's get you to - "

"No hospital," I interrupted. "I hate hospitals. "