All We See & Seem (Timber Wolves) (7 page)

“I’m sorry to ask, but…” She laid her hand on the table, palm up. Walker looked at it like it was the chemistry homework she was actively avoiding, but placed his own on top of it. Talley hoped the smile she shot him showed all the gratitude she sincerely felt. “So you believe your grandmother was a Thaumaturgic?”

A spark of confusion. “A Thauma-what?”

“You don’t know what a Thaumaturgic is?”

More confusion, and this time it was accompanied by a shot of embarrassment. “Should I?”

“No, not at all,” Talley said, trying hard to alleviate his discomfort. Maybe it was because she was getting used to Seeing him, or maybe because he was making an effort to be Seen, but Talley was able to catch a little more than just flecks of emotion. For example, she knew that he worried she would think he was uneducated and uncouth because he didn’t know what a Thaumaturgic was, and he thought that lack of knowledge was part of the reason she didn’t want him. “It’s just this urban legend that Shifters and Seers like to spread around. Except, I’m starting to wonder if they’re real.”

Some of the tension eased slightly out of him. “You think my grandmother might have been one?”

“It fits what I know about them.” She felt a tiny bit of hope through their connection, so she continued on. “According to legend, they’re women with the ability to control some natural force in the world. Things like the wind or fire or—”

“Or plants.”

“Or plants. I’m guessing your mother has the same affinity?”

Walker’s eyebrows pinched together. “Not really. I mean, she’s got a few things sitting around the house and has some flowerbeds and stuff outside, and it’s not like she’s got a black thumb or anything, but she’s not like my grandmother. Her plants live and grow, but no better than they would for anyone else.”

This was the problem with trying to find out anything in the supernatural world. There was no Wikipedia site devoted to Thaumaturgics, and a Google search would only uncover a list of definitions and a few role-playing games. There was a library up north somewhere, but it wasn’t exactly like they would let just anyone access the archives, and Talley doubted they would actually hold anything useful if they did. Facts weren’t a concrete thing when dealing with the supernatural, and every time you thought you uncovered one of them, something would come along throw a bunch of confusing muck on top of it.

“How about your grandmother who is a Seer? Can she See your mother?”

“She can, but she says its muted, as if her memories are painted with watercolors when everyone else uses acrylics.”

“And you?”

“I never thought to ask.”

Talley pulled her hand out from under Walker’s and leaned back. “Even if your grandmother wasn’t a Thaumaturgic, it makes sense that whatever made her invisible to Seer Helkamp would be passed down to your mom and then you.”

“But I’m a guy. I thought you said these Thaumaturgics were women.”

Talley wound a piece of hair around her finger, no longer worried about how uncool her nervous habit might make her look. “Over the last year I’ve learned that you can’t rely on what gender a power is supposed to belong to. Sometimes the strongest powers come in a box you weren’t ever expecting.”

Walker studied her face for a long moment, and Talley feared that she’d said too much. She trusted Walker and knew he was a good person, but sometimes good people believed in the wrong thing. She was trying to think of a way to cover for the way she’d just stated her belief in Scout without actually renouncing Scout when he said, “You look sad. Is everything okay?”

Talley tried to smile but knew it wasn’t convincing. “I’m just disappointed.” She hadn’t realized that she’d put so much hope into finding out how Jase could block himself from her until it was taken away.

Walker’s smile was even less convincing than her own. “I guess that makes two of us.”

“Walker, I—”

“It’s okay.” This time his smile was a bit more genuine. “I really think we could have been good together.”

Talley had to blink a couple of times before she could respond. “We could’ve been great.”

“I hope he realizes how lucky he is.”

Talley reached for his hand and gave it a squeeze. Not for the first time, she wished her power worked in reverse so he could know the sincerity of her words. “I wish you all the love in the world, Walker of the Helkamp Pack. If there is anything I can ever do for you, just ask.”

Jase Donovan had to be the most unlucky human being on the face of the planet. Not only had he ended up with the hardest Math 109 professor at the university, but the TA who was supposed to explain things to the dumb students had only the most basic understanding of the English language, and Jase had less than a basic understanding of her accent. As a result, he was staring at a page filled with problems that made about as much sense to him as the third
Pirates of the Caribbean
movie, when he caught a familiar scent on the air. Less than a minute later, there was a soft knock on the door.

Jase rolled his shoulders and counted to five in his head. He didn’t want her to think he’d been sitting here and staring into space waiting for her to get back.

“Have fun?” he asked, turning around and walking back to his desk the moment he opened the door. Her natural scent was mixed with coffee, donuts, and
him.

Walker Helkamp, the seventeen year old son of Anderson and Jodie Helkamp. A senior at Hayden High School in Winkelman, Arizona. Football player. Honor student. His last girlfriend was a girl named Keyley who sang in the school choir and had an obsession with Sherlock Holmes. On the Shifter dominance scale, he was barely a step up from an Omega.

Not that Jase had made calls or done any cyber-stalking. It was beneath him, which is why he made another member of the Hagan Pack do it.

When Talley didn’t immediately answer, he couldn’t stop himself from turning to look at her. It took less than a second for him to decide that Walker Helkamp needed to die, that he would be the one to do it, and that he would never, ever regret that decision.

“What did he do?” The urge to grab her and pull her to him was beyond distracting. “If he touched you…” What was the word for ripping someone’s guts from their body? Eviscerate? That sounded like a good word. Whatever it was, he would do it to Walker.

Talley passed him without so much as a glance and dropped herself onto his bed. “Save your righteous anger. He didn’t do anything. Walker Helkamp is a great guy. Smart. Funny.” She swiped at a single tear streaking down her cheek. “He thinks I’m pretty.”

“He just wants to use you for your position.”

“No, he really doesn’t.”

“How do you know?”

Talley waved her spirit fingers at him. “Magic hands, remember?”

Jase wasn’t petty enough to feel raging jealousy, so there had to be another name for the emotion burning inside him. He just couldn’t think of what that might be. “If he’s so perfect, why are you sitting in my room crying?”

“I’m not crying,” Talley said, wiping away another tear. “And I’m in your room to discuss your phone call with Sarvarna.”

Jase leveled her with a stare. “Talley…”

“He’s gone, okay? You don’t have to worry about Walker Helkamp anymore, or ever again. He was a nice boy who actually liked me and didn’t care that I was an Alpha Pack Potential, and I used him for information and sent him away.” She plucked a ratty old sock monkey from its perch beside his pillow. “He’s not the bad guy,” she told the stuffed animal. “I am.”

“He’s gone?”

“Well, we just left the coffee shop a few minutes ago, but he’s leaving. We’ll never see him again.”

With Talley’s teary-eyedness, Jase figured doing a fist pump and yelling, “Yes!” at the top of his lungs might be a bad idea. Still, he couldn’t stop the “good riddance” from escaping his lips. Talley, however, didn’t respond. Her focus was entirely on the sock monkey in her hands. She looked at it as if she was waiting for him to open his mouth and spill the secrets of the world. Jase knew where her thoughts were before she spoke.

“Do you think she’s okay?”

“Of course.” She had to be. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if Scout wasn’t okay. He had to believe that everything had gone as planned and at that very moment she was holed up in some undisclosed location with the most kick-ass Shifter Jase ever met. “Liam will take care of her.”

Talley turned the monkey around so it was facing Jase and moved his head up and down. “Scout can take care of herself,” she said in what Jase could only assume was supposed to be a monkey voice.

Jase got up and moved over to the bed, sitting as far away from Talley as was possible on a dorm bed. “Where do you think she is right now?”

“I don’t know. Maybe—”

“I wasn’t asking you. I was talking to Guido.”

The sock monkey turned to face him once again. “Bahamas. Sitting on the beach, soaking up the sun, and drinking frozen drinks she’s not legally old enough to imbibe.”

“Sounds just like my sister. Out there goofing off while the rest of us are working our asses off. She’s such a slacker.”

Guido tilted his head to one side. “Language, Jase.”

“Ass.”

“Jase…”

“Assy-ass ass-ass.”

“Stop it,” the monkey commanded.

“What are ya going to do, Orangutan Butt?”

The sock monkey turned his little head to Talley and nodded. She nodded back. Then, she slowly and deliberately raised a finger on the hand that wasn’t controlling Guido and starting inching it towards Jase. As he watched it drawing closer and closer to his skin, he imagined letting her do it. What would it be like for her to know everything going on inside his head? Would it be one of those and-the-truth-shall-set-you-free moments? Or would she be repulsed by what she Saw? Could he survive it if it was the second? Was it worth the risk if it was the first? He made his decision with only two inches separating Talley’s finger from his bare arm.

“Okay, okay. I give. I’m sorry for being such an ass and saying ‘ass’ an ass-million times.” The finger came an inch closer. “Okay! Fine! You win. No more potty words. Pinky-promise.”

Once Talley’s finger moved out of the danger zone, he leaned over so he could be face-to-face with the monkey. “You do realize it’s totally unfair to make Tal do your dirty work for you, right?”

Guido leaned in. “You do realize you’re having an argument with an inanimate object, right?”

The force of Jase’s laughter was enough to topple him onto his side. On any other bed in the world it would have been okay, but Jase figured the guy who had his mattress last year must have weighed at least 500 pounds and slept on the very edge of the bed. As a result, it had absolutely no support, which sent Jase on a collision course with the floor. On instinct, Talley reached out to stop him, and in attempt to avoid her touch, Jase twisted himself away mid-fall. He wanted to be impressed with his awesome Shifter dexterity, but he was too busy stringing together a collection of the world’s greatest non-cuss-word exclamations to describe his feelings about landing in the middle of the open pizza box.

“Sorry,” Talley said, her hands doing some strange dance in front of him, desperate to help but unable to do so without touching him. “Oh, Jase. I’m so sorry.”

Jase stood up and peeled a slice off his butt. “Stop saying you’re sorry. It’s not your fault I’m an idiot.” Talley was always apologizing for crap she didn’t do, and it drove him insane. Why on earth she felt the need to bear the problems of the world was beyond him.

Actually, no. That was wrong. He knew the exact reason; she felt like she was always the one to screw up, and one of these days he was going to make sure to thank her mother for that.

“I don’t suppose you know whatever my mom’s secret trick is to get grease out of clothes,” he said, pulling his jeans down over his hips.

A yelp had Jase turning to see what was wrong. He found Talley with both hands over her face.

“What are you doing?”

“Taking off the Pizza Pants of Shame.” He looked down to make sure he hadn’t accidentally jerked down his underwear in the process. “I’m wearing boxers, Tal. It’s okay. I’m fully covered.”

“No you’re not.”

Once again he looked down, making sure everything was staying in the appropriate article of clothing.

“I’m one hundred percent covered. Promise.”

Talley peeked through her fingers and quickly sealed them back together.

“Jase, you’re standing around in your panties. Get some pants on. Now.”

“I am not wearing panties. These are boxer shorts. Very manly boxer shorts. They’ve got the Incredible Hulk on them, who is like the living embodiment of testosterone. He would smash you for suggesting otherwise.”

“That’s not the Incredible Hulk. It’s Captain America.”

Jase chuckled. “So you looked?”

“I didn’t— I wasn’t—-” Talley tucked her head into her chest. “It’s not like I could help it. You’re the one who dropped trou without any warning.”

“Is ‘dropped trou’ smart people talk or hillbilly talk for ‘took off your pants’?”