Page 17 of Just in Time
Chapter Four
“Spill it, Brody. No secrets between time travelers,” I gently goaded, poking him in the ribs until he grabbed my hand with his gloved one, holding it tightly, his brown eyes bored into mine. “Now that I’m thinking about it, no secrets betweenus, either…”
Indy had left us about five minutes before, transforming back into the tawny wolf and taking off through the forest. Before he’d gone, he’d promised to come back with changes of clothes for us so we wouldn’t stand out so much while we were trying to fix the time rip.
Brody was acting like a growly brat, scowling deeply at Indy until he’d gone. And the scowl remained afterwards.
“What gives?” I asked, leaning over to nudge his shoulder with my own. I’d waited a good five minutes for an explanation, and when none was forthcoming, I decided to start digging. “Why are you all grumpy and scowl-y? We found someone to help us.”
“He’s from the same pack my family belongs to,” he answered, his tone clipped and short.
The smile immediately fell from my face. Brody’s old pack was bad news.
And while I’d only ever seen the things they’d done as memories in Brody’s mind, I knew that his former pack wasn’t one we wanted to be tangling with. Especially since I was a human witch. They’d done terrible things. Like eaten humans.
Shifters didn’t have to eat humans to survive, and the vast majority either ate human food when they were in human form, or they hunted game in the shifted form of choice.
For example, Brody only hunted during the full moon, when the cycle of the tides forced him to shift at night. He changed into his preferred form, a silver wolf. And he’d nevereverkilled a human.
“Indy’s a part of all that?” I asked, grimacing at the thought that the smiling fella who’d just left us was as bad and as crooked and as tainted as Brody’s daddy and brothers were.
“Indy’s not only a part of it, he’s one of the reasons they do it,” Brody said, his tone low as his eyes never left the spot where Indy had disappeared into the trees. “Indigo Payne. He’s one of the Four.”
“The Four?” I asked, eyebrows raised.
Brody let out a low growl. “The Four were shifters who martyred themselves for the ‘cause’.” His gloved fingers made the most aggressive air quotes I’d ever seen. “They did some big gesture of something or other. Killed some human in a high seat. Died for the privilege. Now they’re hailed as gods, pretty much. Indigo was the last of the four, the others were way before even my Daddy’s time.”
“Who does Indigo kill?” I asked, my voice no louder than a whisper.
“The sheriff,” Brody said slowly. “My grandpa. On my Mama’s side. I never met him, but I know the story.”
Now I felt even worse for ogling Indy when we first met him. But he was attractive. How was I to know he killed Brody’s grandfather?
“I didn’t know,” I murmured softly.
“It’s okay,” he said, tearing his gaze from the forest long enough to shoot a longing look back at me. “I was just worried. He was scenting you.”
I frowned. “Scenting me?”
“He likes your scent,” he explained, spitting each word. “LikeIlike your scent.”
“I know what it means, but it makes no sense. I’m with you,” I said simply. “I don’t care who likes my scent.”
His voice lowered. “You know how it is in bonded packs, Lily.”
“You’re not in a bonded pack with him, so it doesn’t really matter, does it?” I asked.
He snarled all the same. “He’d do anything to be with you,” he countered. “I know I would.”
“There isn’t any way I’m taking up with a shifter who kills your family, Brody. Who killsanyone,even.” I turned to lock my gaze with his. “I love you too much.”
He gulped, his eyes closing for a long moment before he answered me. “I love you too, Lil.”
“Okay. Now that we’ve established that, I need to like… walk around for a minute… my brain is just… everywhere at once…”
I wish I knew exactly what day it was that the rip happened. When Brody’s dad went to see Dirty Dancing and inadvertently met Brody’s mom. Something to ask Indy when he returned. Maybe he was close enough with Jesse Rickard that he knew when he was heading to the movies. If he was, then we could promptly ditch him. Since he was apparently some kind of crazed, human-killing, shifter beast.
And I wanted nothing to do with that, thank you very much. No matter how hot he was.
