Chapter 10

Konrad had returned to the Gardner Museum to think. The place was ideal for that. Not only was it an art museum, but the whole building surrounded a courtyard rich with verdant plants and flowering shrubs. Gray stone benches had been strategically placed throughout the courtyard in order to appreciate the subtly fresh scented air and quiet surroundings.

Too preoccupied to appreciate the beauty all around him, he paced and obsessed about his impossible predicament. Now that he’d told Roz he was in love with her and knew she was in love with him too—despite reservations, he had to tell her the truth. Trust was such an important ingredient in a mature, loving relationship.

But how do you tell the woman you love you’re a werewolf, and you want to be mated for life? How do you admit you lied to your lawyer and committed the crime you were accused of? How do you keep pretending you’re unemployed and expect to pay the rent?

Konrad sank onto a bench and slumped over with his head in his hands. The last thing he expected was for anybody to come over and talk to him about it! People in the city didn’t talk to strangers. If you were on fire, they might stop to put you out, but they might also walk right past you, glaring at you for having the nerve to disrupt their thoughts.

That’s why he jumped, startled, when he felt a touch on the back of his head. As he whipped around to see who was standing behind him, he felt a sharp prick of pain from his scalp. A few of his hairs had been yanked out—by a toddler.

The child’s mother rushed over pushing an empty stroller. “Oh, I’m so sorry! I thought it was safe to let him walk off a little energy here.”

Konrad smiled, relieved that no one wanted to chat his ear off and simply wanted to pull his hair. The boy clutched a few long strands of blond hair in his chubby fist.

“Oh, he got some of your hair!”

“Don’t worry. It’s no big deal.” He patted the little tyke on his head.

Just as he said that, the boy started to draw the strands toward his mouth. The woman pulled away his fist quickly and worked the hair out of his hand. She dropped them on the path and said, “No. dirty.” She shook her head vigorously and annunciated, “Dirrr-tey.”

I washed my hair this morning.Even though he understood a toddler needed simple explanations, Konrad couldn’t help being slightly offended.

The woman didn’t say another word. She simply plucked the boy up off the ground before he went after the fallen hair and wrestled him into his stroller as he squirmed and whined. Eventually, she pushed the screaming child away.

So much for peace and quiet to think.

“Finally. I have some of this freak’s DNA and I know right where to put it,” Reginald said to himself later that evening.

The long strands of hair appeared to float on an invisible wind, through the dark gallery and down to the basement.

“They didn’t have that type of testing back in my day. They didn’t even have finger printing back then. Of course, they did in the nineties, but the real thieves wore gloves, so they didn’t leave any prints.”

As the hairs disappeared behind some shelving, they attached themselves to a piece of duct tape that had been left behind when one of the bound security guards was cut loose after the robbery.

Konrad strolled along the wide sidewalk with his twin brother, Nick. Their broad shoulders seemed to span the whole width and a passerby walked into the gutter to avoid them.

“Now that you’ve ignored my advice and gotten involved with this human lawyer, you want my advice again? Isn’t that a little ironic, bro?”

Nick hadn’t used the word irony properly, but Konrad wasn’t about to correct him. He needed his kindness and Nick was sensitive to criticism, no matter how well intended.

“So how should I tell her?”

Nick shrugged. “Don’t ask me. I’ve never had to fess up to a woman before. I just love ‘em and leave ‘em. It’s what we do.”

“I’ve never liked that part.”

“Yeah? Well, you should try it. Much less messy.”

“How would you know that?”

Nick gave his brother a sidelong glance. “Because it is. Look at you. You’re a wreck. I’ve never seen you this insecure!”

“She’s worth whatever pain I have to go through.”

“You mean, It’s better to have loved and lost, and all that?”

“Maybe, but I’m hoping not to lose her at all. How can I manage that? I mean, the stakes are ridiculous. I just don’t know if she trusts me enough, yet.”

“You should have stuck to our own kind. They know the ropes. Speaking of ropes. You could test her trust.”

Konrad raised his brows. “How?”

“Ask if she’ll let you tie her up.”

He laughed. “I guess letting me do that might be a sign of trust. Or how kinky she is.”

Nick looked over at him. “By the way, that doctor you sent my way… What a freak!”

“Oh, shit. Sorry bro. I didn’t realize.”

Nick laughed again. “I mean freaky in a good way! She was all over me like an octopus on caffeine.”

Konrad laughed out loud with his booming voice. “Must have been a fun night.”

“The best.”

“Aren’t you tempted to call her again?”

“Nope.”

“So that’s it? You’re just going to dump her and let her wonder why?”

Nick shrugged. “What would you suggest? Date her for a month, have lots more great sex, fall head over heels in love, and then tell her I’m a werewolf? Oh, no wait. That’s what you’d do.”

Konrad let out a long sigh. “It’s more than that.” Taking a deep breath, he told his twin the rest. “Rosalyn is my soulmate.”

Nick stopped walking. “Your what?”

“My mate. The one. The love of my life.”

“Shit, how do you know that?”

“We’re able to communicate telepathically.”

Nick’s jaw dropped. “Get the fuck out. Did you just say you can hear her thoughts? And worse…she can hear yours?”

“Yeah. It’s been a challenge, believe me.”

“How the hell…” At last Nick clasped his brother’s shoulder. “I hate to say this, big guy, but you are so fucked.”

“Thanks, Nick. You’ve been a big help.”

Sly stretched out on Konrad’s sofa. His long arms spanned the back of it. He crossed one ankle over his knee.

“What’s so urgent?” he asked.

“Nothing’s urgent.” Konrad settled into the adjacent chair. “Can’t I just want to spend some time with my buddy?”

Sly lifted one eyebrow.

“Okay, okay. I have a dilemma. I thought you might be able to give me some advice since you went through it recently.”

Sly cocked his head. “I did? What are you talking about?”

Konrad smiled. “I know you told Merry about your being a vampire. Now, I have to tell her best friend I’m a werewolf.”

“And then if I weren’t her father and she weren’t married, we could double date?” Sly mocked.

Konrad reeled back. “What the? Incestuous visual aside, that’s…oh, you’re kidding again.”

Sly laughed. “Of course I am. I just couldn’t resist yanking your chain. You sound like an adolescent talking to his older, more experienced friend about girls.”

Konrad’s lips thinned.

“I’m sorry. You had a dilemma. I shouldn’t have poked fun, but you have to admit, it broke the ice.”

Konrad leaned against the back of the chair and blew out a long breath as he stared at the ceiling.

Sly said, “Come on. Give me a break. It’s not an easy subject to discuss. I tend to joke around instead of getting overly serious.”

Konrad leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. “Tell me about it.”

Sly’s voice softened. “Naturally, I was afraid of what she’d say. Or do. But Merry’s not like other girls. She has the heart of a lion, but the compassion of Mother Theresa. And she’s open-minded. I know she had doubts, even so.”

“I think because you and I had saved her from that rapist, she was predisposed to trusting you.”

“That probably didn’t hurt. She did feel indebted to both of us. But when I expressed my concern about her relationship with Falco, she showed me what she was made of.” Sly shook his head wistfully, “Just like her mother.”

“So, how did you tell her?”

“I didn’t. Nathan did. Then all I had to do was tell her he was right and try to dispel the myths.”

“Shit. I’m not about to let Nathan tell Roz for me. He’d scare her to death and laugh about it.”

“No, I wouldn’t recommend that. I didn’t ask him to tell Merry. He just blurted it out. Apparently, she wanted to bake a dessert to thank us for coming to her rescue. When she asked Nathan where I lived, he couldn’t resist telling her my lair was in the basement and I was on an all-liquid diet.”

Konrad chuckled. “Sorry, man. I can just imagine what she must have thought.”

“Yeah, she thought Nathan was psycho, not me. Not that he isn’t…”

Konrad shook his head. “Man, that must have been bizarre for poor Merry.”

“I’m sure it was. I’m glad she didn’t take his word for it and came to me instead.”

“Yeah, but you had to tell her it was true. What did she do then?”

Sly shrugged. “She listened. I think she might have been too stunned to speak, so I took advantage of the silence and poured out my whole story.”

“And she believed you? Just like that?”

Sly shook his head. “Not ‘just like that.’ I had to give her details no one but her biological father would know. And then she added things up. My strength, her birth surname being the same as mine, my watching over her…But her ability to smell blood a mile away was what finally made a believer out of her. She’d never been able to explain that, except to say it predisposed her to becoming a nurse.”

“I see. You actually had to persuade her of two things. Not just your vampirism, but also your being her only living—let me amend that, her only blood relative.”

Sly smiled. “Yeah.” He adjusted in his seat. “I’m afraid I don’t know your Roz at all. I’ve seen her, but we’ve never met. I don’t know what she’s like or what you should do. I’m sorry.”

Konrad sighed. “It seems like a recurring theme. I’m the one who knows her, and I have to decide how to tell her. I get that. The only problem is she’s the type who needs proof. She wants to see or experience everything herself.”

Sly shook his head. “I don’t envy you. Do it wrong and you’re screwed, man. So screwed.”

Roz dragged herself home from work the next afternoon, completely fried. Some of the sociopaths she had to defend were extremely intelligent, fooling even the savviest judge, and some, like the idiot she got today, were stupid enough to shoot themselves in the foot, literally!

The guy then had the nerve to say it wasn’t his gun. He was “holding it for a friend” when it went off in the convenience store. And she had told him not to open his mouth! Why didn’t the dumbass just sit dumbly and let her do the talking?

She fiddled with her keys and let out a huge sigh as the door opened in front of her. Nathan, her neighbor from across the hall was exiting the building and held the door open for her.

“Thanks. I don’t know if I would have had the strength to open the damn thing if you hadn’t come along.”

He stared at her. “Were you hit by a truck?”

She chuckled. “No, I just feel like I was.”

“You look like you were too.”

Oh, nice. “Thanks, Nathan.”

“Where are you coming from?”

“Work.” Anxious to get rid of him, she said, “Well, you have a good evening.”

“Yeah, I will. My job must be a lot easier than yours—and sometimes I come home dead tired.”

She didn’t care what he meant by that. She slogged past him to her apartment, still looking for her keys. Before she had the door open, she remembered scheduling her girl-time with Morgaine for that evening.

“Aw, crap.” All she wanted to do was fall face-first on her bed and sleep until morning. But as she thought about it, a nice massage and some aromatherapy might do her a lot of good.

Once in the door, she dropped her purse on the sideboard and hung up her coat, keeping her keys in her hand. She’d ride the elevator to the third floor today, even though ordinarily, she’d walk the three flights of stairs and call it exercise.

Heavy footsteps sounded on the stairs. She no sooner relocked her door and spun around than Konrad came into view. First his thick, muscled thighs, then his taut black t-shirt that showed off his abs and pecs, and then his— “What the…”

Konrad’s long, blond hair was gone! His chest and shoulders were no longer covered with a curtain of gold. Instead, he sported a tousled style, still longer than most men wore, along with his always present facial scruff.

Holy heck…Roz had never seen him looking so good. And she thought she must look all the worse because of it!

“Roz!”

Oh no. He spotted me. No chance to duck back in and close the door quietly so he’d never know I was here.

“How’s the ankle?”

“Oh, uh…much better. Thanks.”

“Why do you look so nervous? Is everything all right?”

“You cut your hair. I almost didn’t recognize you.”

He grinned. “Yeah, you like?” He turned his head left and right so she could take in the whole thing. The sides were swept back but it was hard to say where the rest was going. It certainly wasn’t parted anywhere.

“I love it. When and why did you cut it?”

He shrugged. “A couple hours ago. I was just in the mood for something different.”

“I hope you sent the rest off to Locks of Love. I’d hate to think of all that gorgeous hair just going into the trash.”

“Actually, I have it upstairs. I figured I’d donate it, but I didn’t know where to send it.”

“Morgaine and I were about to go to a Day Spa and salon. I’ll ask them if they know. Maybe we can send yours and Morgaine’s at the same time.”

His eyes widened. “Morgaine’s cutting her hair too?”

“Maybe. She’s getting a whole makeover and asked me to go with her. I can’t wait!”

“Oh.” His face fell.

“What’s wrong? We weren’t planning to go out until tomorrow morning’s date, skydiving, right?”

“Yeah, but I thought, maybe I’d see if you were free tonight.”

Her heart leapt. He couldn’t wait until tomorrow to see her? Suddenly it occurred to her why and she gasped.

“Were you going to tell me your secret? Is that why you cleaned up?”

He shrugged. “It’s no big deal. Why don’t you go have your fun and I’ll see you tomorrow. You still want to try jumping out of a perfectly good airplane?”

Roz bit her lower lip but smiled. “I committed, so I’ll see it through. I mean, it would be too easy to chicken out, right?”

“Right. Well, then, give me a kiss and I’ll see you in the morning.”

“I could come up tonight after I’m all relaxed and cleaned up. I figured I’d get some pampering while Morgaine is going through her transformation. Then maybe I’ll look as good as you do.”

He laughed. “You look fine, but I’d love to see you.” He framed her face with his big hands. “I’ve missed you.”

“But it’s only been a couple of days.”

“Really? It feels like a couple of weeks.”

“Awww…”

With that, he slanted his mouth over hers and lowered his lips for a warm, kiss. When he pulled back, he whispered, “I love you.”

She smiled, but still didn’t know what to say, knowing he was keeping a secret. “We need to resolve this, if for no other reason than to feel comfortable saying it back—or not.”

He pulled her into his arms and held her. “It’s enough to know you want to.”

“Are you two at it again?”

Morgaine came up behind them and Roz hadn’t even heard her approach. I guess that’s how distracted I am when this man kisses me.

“Hi, Morgaine.” Konrad stepped away.

Morgaine folded her arms. “I hardly recognized you without your hair. If I didn’t know better, I’d have thought Roz was kissing another guy.”

“Ha. She’d better not.”

That was a little presumptuous.

“I just meant that you’d break my heart.”

Oh, you heard that?

“Yup.”Konrad faced Morgaine. “I understand you’re going out for some pampering?”

He may have been changing the subject, but the girls had to get going anyway. She could talk to him about it later. It seemed like they had a lot to talk about later.

“Yes, I made an appointment at a beauty school. It’s cheaper since the students get a chance to practice on real volunteers.”

“In other words, you’re guinea pigs?” Konrad scrunched his eyes shut. “Sorry. That didn’t come out right.”

Both Roz and Morgaine laughed.

“Don’t worry.” Roz patted his arm. “I know what you mean. It’ll be okay though. Their instructors are right there, so they can’t screw up too bad. Besides, I can’t look much worse.”

“Hey, cut that out. You’re always beautiful.”

“You don’t have to pretend. I know I’m a little bedraggled. Nathan told me I looked like I’d been hit by a truck.”

“Sounds like something he’d say. What’s going on? Bad day at the courtroom?”

“Yeah, but I’d rather just put that behind me and get to my massage.”

“If all you wanted was a massage…”

Roz held up her hand. “Too much information! Quick, let’s go, Morgaine, before he says something I’ll regret.”

Later that evening, Konrad lay in bed reading. He was using his clip-on reading light so his apartment would appear dark. He hated to deceive Roz and avoid her, but he still didn’t know how to tell her what she deserved to know. She’s dating a werewolf.

He hoped she’d still be dating him after he dropped his bombshell. But something else had him worried. What if she didn’t believe him? How could he prove it to her?

She had laughed at the possibility of vampires and werewolves. But legends don’t evolve out of nothing.

He could shift, but that would scare her to death. Hell, it scared him the first several times he witnessed it. Maybe he could demonstrate his super-human strength. But what if she didn’t know werewolves had that kind of strength? She might only think he was freakishly strong and that would reopen the memory of his arrest. If he was capable of, say, lifting his upright piano by himself, perhaps she’d realize he could also lift a freezer.

A knock at the door snapped him into high alert.

“Konrad?”

Roz’s voice seemed excited…expectant.

He froze, not daring to move a muscle. A few seconds ticked by.

Maybe she’d gotten all dolled up just for him. How could he leave her standing out there?

She knocked again. “Konrad? Are you home?”

Crap. He couldn’t ignore her.

“Hang on a minute,” he called out. Jumping out of bed, he messed up his already tousled hair as if he’d just woken from a sound sleep. Then he tossed on his velour robe and plodded to the door. As he opened it, he stretched and yawned.

“Oh, I must have woken you up. I’m sorry. I thought you were expecting me.”

“I was—I mean, I am. I must have dozed off. Come in.” As she walked past him, Konrad did a double take. “You look different.”

“Yeah, while Morgaine was getting her makeover, I had my hair highlighted.” She turned side to side so he could admire the results.

He almost growled his approval and his robe began tenting. “It looks good. What’s Morgaine look like now?”

“She’s a blonde.”

Konrad reeled back. “You’re kidding! How the heck did they take her from black to blond?”

“It was quite an ordeal. They had to strip out all the color, then put in one overall color, then some highlights and lowlights. That’s what took so long. The instructors were thrilled to get such a challenge. And the students did a really great job.”

Konrad laughed. “I’ll have to see it to believe it.”

“They left it long. Just trimmed off the ends. After all that, I was afraid it might fall out! I found out how to send yours to Locks of Love. It has to be at least ten inches.”

“Mmm…I have ten inches for you.”

She laughed. “Are we still talking about hair?”

He reached out and touched her hair. “I’m glad you left yours long.”

“You call this long?”

“Longish.” He slid his hand behind her neck and leaned down to kiss her.

She immediately wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back. Good. Maybe she’d decided to love him regardless of his secret. Could he have been given a reprieve by some giant miracle?

Without waiting to find out, he tossed her over his shoulder and hurried to the bedroom as she laughed. Then he remembered her ankle. Gently placing her on his unmade bed, he asked, “Are you sure your ankle is healed enough for some bedroom aerobics?”

She shot him an impish grin. “We can always try it and see what happens.”

That time he did growl, but it was low and came from the back of his throat. He crawled over her like the predator he was. Her grin suggested she wasn’t afraid of him one whit. Thank God. He wanted her to trust him—as much or more than he wanted to have sex with her. Almost.

Bending down, he kissed her deeply. He held himself up with one hand and unbuttoned her blouse with the other. Roz’s cooperation had calmed down the urgency he experienced in the beginning of their sexual relationship. Knowing he would be rewarded in the end made going slower tolerable.

She threaded her fingers through his hair. Now that she could do that without getting caught in a snarl along the way, he was glad he cut it. The scalp massage felt incredibly pleasant.

He popped open her bra, then captured her plump breast in his hand and squeezed it gently. She moaned.

Konrad backed down the bed until his mouth was level with her breast and suckled. She arched and moaned some more. Her responsiveness turned him on every bit as much as her beauty.

I can’t believe how much I love her. Why do I have to tell her what I really am? I don’t want this to end.

Roz suddenly retracted her fingers from his hair. “What do you mean?”

Konrad looked up into her expectant eyes. Something like fear brewed behind them.

“Tell me what you heard.”

“Why? Can’t you just tell me what this big secret is?”

He hung his head. Realizing he’d have to tell her something, he decided to divulge the less frightening of the secrets he’d been keeping. She’d probably be angry, but he’d prefer that to her being frightened of him.

He scooted up beside her and pulled her into his arms. “You’re apt to be disappointed with me. Are you sure you want to know?”

After a long pause, she finally said, “Yes.” He’d hoped she might change her mind—at least until after they’d made love. Oh well. It seemed like that ship had sailed for the moment. He hoped it was only temporary.

“Roz, I don’t know how to say this without…well, hear me out before you get angry, all right?”

She took a deep breath. “I’ll try.”

She broke out of his embrace and sat up, leaning against the headboard. The loss of her warmth made his job that much harder. But she was expecting an explanation, so he had to press on.

“Okay, you know I have a brother, right?”

“Yes, your twin.”

“Nicholas.” He sat up and scooted next to her.

She nodded.

“We tried to start our own business together—selling alarm systems.”

“Tried to? I thought you still did.”

“Yes, we do. But it’s a tough time for any small business, and unless people feel security is absolutely necessary, they won’t pay for an expensive alarm system.” He dragged a hand over his face.

She nodded. “Go on.”

“You could say my job was to drum up business.”

She frowned and shook her head. “I don’t understand.”

He took a deep breath. “I’m a thief, Roz. Well, not a real thief. I don’t actually steal anything of value. I just jimmy a lock or break a window—something to make a business owner realize they need to be better protected. In a way I’m doing them a service.”

She snorted. “Is that what you tell yourself so you can sleep at night?”

He hung his head. “Kind of, yeah.”

“So that night you were arrested. You weren’t just taking a walk, were you?”

“No. I—”

“Shhh.” She hurriedly put her finger against his lips. “Don’t say any more.”

He figured she might have to turn him in. There might be some kind of lawyer’s pledge or something, but he was willing to go to jail if she did. By stopping him, maybe she didn’t want to hear the details and wouldn’t have to take any action.

“Are you still…taking late night walks?” she asked.

“No. I haven’t taken any walks like that since, and I don’t plan to. I really do want to change my career.”

She nodded.

“You’re not upset?”

“I didn’t say that. Look…” She sighed. “I understand desperation. The cost of living in this city is one of the highest in the country. Plenty of people I defend are pushed to do things they wouldn’t have attempted ordinarily.”

“But, you’re disappointed.”

“Sad, disappointed, but not angry. I get it. You probably left teaching to make more money, and as soon as you started your business, the economy tanked.”

He nodded. He didn’t exactly leave teaching. He was the dean of students—and a disgraced Alpha, run out of town.

Roz was right. They’d never have started down this path otherwise. But when the business had started to flounder, he and Nick had to resort to desperate measures.

“Was your brother a cop all along? Or did he get into it as a result of the business failing?”

“The latter. He knew a couple of guys on the force, and they thought he might be well suited to the job.”

“How about you? Did you ever think about going into law enforcement?”

“No, that’s not for me. Or as my brother would say, I’m too much of a softie.”

Roz stroked his erection and said, “You don’t feel very soft to me.” She finally smiled and reached for him.

He practically dove into her arms and held her tight. “So, you forgive me?”

“As long as it’s all in the past…”

“It is. I swear on every book in my library.”

She grinned. “That’s a lot of swearing.”

He let out a deep breath. “I can’t tell you how relieved I am.”

“I guess I am too. When I heard you telepathically worrying about telling me what you really were…well, I didn’t know what to think, but I assumed it was something really terrible.”

Before they went too far down that road, he tackled her and set out to finish what they’d started.