“Harder to keep from ripping your brother’s throat out for not listening to me.”
She heard that. Except whenever she felt that way about Vic, it was an exaggeration. She was pretty sure Simon couldn’t say the same.
“Then you come home, pissed off and suddenly without a career, and everything’s different. This Carl wants you to submit, but you’ve got anger issues. So off you go to UP to get your head on straight only to shift to bear and stay there. For ten months. And then I show up. Have I got that right?”
“Yes.” The word was clipped and angry, but he didn’t elaborate. Good because when he took that tone, he scared the shit out of her. Fortunately, he made no moves. He just sat there and brooded as the miles sped by.
She judged it prudent to let him be for a bit, but an hour later they had to stop for gas. He’d been pretty cooperative so far, but he hadn’t exactly promised to help Vic. In fact, even at his most uncommunicative, he’d said he’d be no help to her brother at all. But the gas tank wasn’t going to refill itself, so she had to take the risk.
“I need to get gas,” she said by way of opening. Typically, he didn’t comment so she was forced to ask the question bluntly. “Can I trust you to stay with me? That you’ll go to Detroit and see if you can help Vic?”
“I cannot help him. I’m sorry.”
“Vic says you can.” Then she held up her hand rather than rehash the same argument. “Just say you’ll come with me to see him. Please.” She hated that she had to beg the man, but what other choice did she have? When he didn’t immediately answer, she tried for a light joke. “Besides, what else have you got to do?”
“I have been out of touch for ten months,” he said. “There is a great deal I should do.”
Like have a dominance fight with his alpha? No way was she letting that happen before he saw Vic.
“But you can take a day or so, right? See Vic while you remember how to be a guy?”
She held her breath while he seemed to think about it. And while she waited, they passed a freeway sign. There was an exit coming up with gas and fast food. She’d managed to snag a piece of pizza before it was gone, but she’d kill for a strong cup of coffee. This was the perfect place to stop, but only if he promised not to run.
“Simon—”
“I cannot read yet,” he said, his gaze dropping to his hands. “Numbers have come back, but the words aren’t there.”
“So you need time to remember. I can help you, if you like.”
He took a deep breath, his nostrils expanding as if he were pulling in her scent. “I would like your help.”
“Deal.” Relieved, she headed toward the exit. “I’ll help you remember how to read. You see if you can help my brother.”
His lips pulled back into a dark smile. “I will kick Vic’s ass for worrying you with this lie.”
She’d take it.
CHAPTER 5
Simon stopped answering questions somewhere in mid-Michigan. He was more interested in separating parts of his personality and body into categories. For the animal, all was one in a gooey disorganized mess. The man hated that. Overwhelming emotions were steadily pushed down into the bear and his cage. Certainly, he missed the bear’s contentment with sunshine and green trees, but that loss was miniscule compared to the steady quieting of confusion. Bears did not travel at eighty miles per hour down a freeway, so even though the man understood cars, the animal felt nervous with it. Pushing that away helped the man take control. As did focusing on freeway signs and the symbols they contained.
By the time they hit Lansing, he recognized the golden arches of McDonald’s and the green splatter of lines that was the Starbucks mermaid. Other memories were coming back, too. He spent twenty miles remembering how a car worked from the headlights through the tailpipe and every part within and around the engine. Which meant that numbers made complete sense to him. Letters couldn’t be that far behind, right?
His companion, however, remained a mystery. A female human with that intriguing nutty, pungent scent. She was drooping with fatigue and they still had several hours to go, but he didn’t have the mental skill to probe into that mystery. So his mind went elsewhere. He had been ten months unaware of the world. The man in him itched to focus on something other than the fact that he could not read.
So he turned on her radio and tuned it to the news, but listening was a struggle. The newscaster’s voice was too different from Alyssa’s, and he had to concentrate very hard. And still little made sense until Alyssa reacted. Her body tightened and her mouth flattened into a hard line.
Which was when he decided to ask her questions.
“What is he talking about?”
“The Detroit Flu.” She glanced over at him. “It’s some hideous virus that hit the city a couple weeks ago. There have been two outbreaks so far. I got it the first time and was a little cranky for a while.” Her lips twisted into a mocking smile. “Well, crankier than my normal.” Then her expression sobered. “Vic got it in the last outbreak. That was a few days ago. And he…and well, you saw what happened. That was the video.”
Simon shook his head. “That video was not real.”
“I shot it myself?—”
“He fooled you. That was makeup. Prosthetics. Vic can be very dramatic.”
