Free Make Me Howl by Susan Shay Page A

they were picked up by every guy in the place.”
    Heat seared his skin. Who did Spence think he was to speak of Jazzy that way? Chase spoke through gritted teeth. “Those damned brothers of ours, and probably the rest of those men, don’t have sense enough to pour piss out of a boot before they put it on, much less act like well brought up human beings. How’s that Jazzy’s fault?”
    As if he hadn’t heard, Spence strode into the house.
    “Get in here, son, and shut the door.” Sam motioned to Chase from the kitchen.
    “I’ve got coffee on,” Beatrice added as Chase walked through the door, then patted Sam’s shoulder. “Decaffeinated—so your father will be able to sleep tonight.”
    Sam grimaced then grinned at Chase. “I hate unleaded, but I do like a good night’s sleep.”
    Spence came out of the bathroom with his jacket over his shoulder and his sleeves rolled up. “With apple dumplings swimming in ice cream, you’ll never even taste the coffee, Dad.”
    Chase took off his jacket and laid it across the back of a chair, then accepted the dessert and coffee from his mother. Moving to the kitchen bar, he set his plate on the counter and slid onto a stool.
    Cutting into the flaky crust, he took the first bite. Tart apple combined with cinnamon for mouthwatering sweetness. As he sipped from the steaming mug, he finally relaxed the muscles tensing his shoulders. But try as he might, he couldn’t get the image of Jazzy out of his mind.
    ****
    I lay across the couch as Bella rushed around the apartment, pulling out suitcases. Did she really think leaving town would make the incredible heat sizzling through my body go away? It was as if I’d traded in my blood for an infusion of caramel macchiato—hot, sweet and topped with creamy lusciousness. It made my toes sweat and gave the rest of me an interesting tingle. Well, I had news for my big sis. I didn’t want to lose it.
    “Are you going to pack? Or would you rather buy all new clothes while we’re away?” Bella’s words sounded like yips from a small dog.
    “Are you going to tell me where we’re going?” Just to irritate her, I picked up an emery board and smoothed a tiny nick on the nail of my right index finger. “I can’t pack if I don’t know—”
    “Snowstorm!” Bella tossed a handful of underwear into her bag. “We’re going to the spa at Snowstorm. It’s the ski resort with the highest elevation in Colorado, so there’s sure to be snow, even if they have to manufacture it. You can ski until you’re too exhausted to do anything else. And we’ll have healthy meals, massages, facials, anything that’ll make us feel…”
    “Human?” When she hesitated, I couldn’t keep from tossing out a word guaranteed to make her feel guilty. Sometimes it was as if my problems were harder on Bella than on me.
    But this time Bella didn’t care. “Human…normal… Call it what you want, but we’re going to be gone until you are back. Now pack, because we’re leaving tomorrow.”
    A few hours later, we were on our way to Denver. The flight was uneventful—all right, it was boring . As usual, the airport teemed with people. As if she were afraid I’d escape, Bella glued herself to my side while we shoved our way through the swarm of travelers. At the first rental desk, she made arrangements for a car.
    Her entire body shivered by the time we got to the courtesy van, which would take us to pick up the car.
    “You shouldn’t have packed your coat.” I gave her a sweet smile.
    She practically snarled as she climbed inside. “And wrestle it the entire time we were on that plane?”
    “At least you wouldn’t be cold now.” I shook my hair back from my face—a gesture she hates—and shrugged.
    The fact that I wasn’t cold simply because I was in heat infuriated her. It was as if she could forgive the fact that often, I didn’t have human skin, teeth and senses but instead had a pelt and fangs, but couldn’t forgive the fact that the