Page 37 of Fire Dancer
“Baseless, huh?” I murmured.
Pippa stared at it. “Could be another one that looks the same.”
I jutted my jaw. Right down to the dinged bumper?
Pippa squinted. “Too far to see the license plate…”
We watched silently as it rolled down the road and disappeared around a bend.
Pippa shivered, rubbing her arms. “Now you’re making me paranoid too.”
I didn’t reply.
After a few quiet, pensive moments, Pippa shook her head wearily. “Either way, we need to get going.”
I looked around. The sun would set soon, and we had a long way to go back down the mountain.
Pippa headed back toward the Jeep, then pointed a finger at me. “And don’t forget, you owe me.”
My inner wolf wagged its tail.Anything.
“I do. You have something in mind?” I asked, following her through the scrubby bushes.
She didn’t turn around, but I could hear the mischief in her voice. “You know the old saying about a bull in a china shop?”
“Yes…” I replied, curious.
“Something like that, maybe.”
I had no idea what she meant, but I was intrigued. And to be honest, even a little hopeful, because any time with my true love — especially at a time like now, when darkness crowded out light in my soul — was time well spent.
Dangerously hopeful, one might say.
Chapter Nine
PIPPA
“Well, thanks for the ride,” I said, sliding out of Ingo’s Jeep in my best fake-casual way.
And, woo-hoo for me. I’d managed two hours in a confined space with Ingo, and I hadn’t even slept with him.
Just those couple of kisses we pretended didn’t happen. Side effects of the vortex and all that.
Never mind that my heart was still tap-dancing and my nerves fluttering, dammit.
“Thanks for showing me around,” Ingo murmured.
His pupils were still dilated, and that woodsy scent he got when his wolf inched closer to the surface clung to him.
Roscoe rushed out of the house, jumping at me in greeting. Calvin and Hobbes weren’t far behind, and they all swarmed Ingo in glee. Wolf shifters were the canine equivalent of rock stars, and it showed.
“All right, all right,” Ingo laughed, motioning for them to sit.
All three obeyed instantly, butts glued to the ground, tails wagging at warp speed.
Claire emerged next and called from the porch. “Hi, Auntie Pippa! Hi, Ingo!”
Ingo waved. “Heya, kiddo. Heya, Hopper.”