She strode off into the kitchen to leave Stasia panting under the weight of this new information. Never in a million years had she suspected that Billy Finley had a fiancée. The thought never crossed her mind. But even now, she could see how foolish that had been.
A figure crossed in front of the living room window. It was Billy, standing with a drink in one hand and Frisbee in the other. He tossed it and threw his head back in laughter, a response to some unheard joke. Stasia crossed the room and watched him from the shadows of the heavy drapery surrounding the double-pane windows. There was so much she no longer knew about the man standing in the front yard. Years and experience separated them. What else would their time together reveal?
Garret threw the Frisbee back and Billy had to chase after it, sending him straight into a thorny hedgerow. Stasia giggled as she watched him mouth several dissatisfied words and throw the Frisbee on the ground in frustration. He managed to temper himself long enough to pat a worried Garret on the back and abandon the game for a safer activity in the back of the house.
Stasia turned away from the window and rested the back of her head on the wall. Of course, a man like Billy would eventually marry. Most werewolves did to ensure the future of their pack. And Billy certainly had the good looks and innate strength to have his pick out of most packs. She shouldn’t have been so surprised to learn that he’d had a fiancée waiting for him in America. It was only natural.
She’d just never imagined him as a man in love.
Chapter Seven
Billy wrapped a towel around his waist and wiped a hand across the steamy mirror in his bathroom. His face appeared in the streaked reflective surface,
a harsh reminder of the years that had passed. With a grimace, he finished brushing his teeth and went to fetch his clothes.
A good day’s work lay ahead of him. He couldn’t wait to finish the truck so that all his attention could be focused on the Chevelle. Several plans swirled around in his head for the rusted classic. The starting point all depended on her current state. He just needed to crack her open to see what was going on underneath the surface before diving in too deep.
A noise in his living room made him pause at his bedroom door. It sounded like someone was inside, shuffling through his belongings. Alarm bells went off in his head. There had been a few thefts in town recently. Billy had brushed them off as the work of a bunch of foolish teenagers. But if they dared come into his house, his domain, they were going to feel the wrath of an angry werewolf.
He rushed through the doorway and shouted, brandishing a rolled-up newspaper in his right hand. Two pairs of eyes looked up at him in shock. A young man with shaggy blond hair lounged in his favorite spot on the couch with the TV on, an overconfident smirk taking over his face. He was just the sort of thief that Billy had imagined. A young man whose parents had neglected to teach manners. Billy would set him right.
Before he could deliver his smack-down, his attention was diverted by the second pair of eyes. A familiar mop of curly hair bounced around in his tiny kitchen. Stasia carried an armful of dirty dishes and was in the process of dumping them unceremoniously into the sink. A gush of water ran out of the faucet and a warm bath of soapy water awaited in the other side of the sink.
“Don’t you knock?” Billy demanded, clutching at the towel slipping dangerously low on his hips. He pointed the newspaper accusingly at her.
“Don’t you lock your doors?” she shot back with a grin. Grabbing a sponge from the soap dish, she turned to scrub at his moldy cereal bowls. “Billy Finley, meet my brother, Maxim.”
The blond boy nodded his head in acknowledgement and grinned. “I’m her assistant.”
“And my bellboy,” she retorted with a splash of water.
Billy shook his head to wake himself from this strange dream. The one-bedroom home might not have been much to look at, but it was thoroughly his. The idea of people barging in and making themselves at home made him bristle with anger.
“This is my home. You don’t need to do that,” he said, taking a step toward the kitchen. He paused when the towel slipped an inch more and he needed two hands to keep it up.
“It’s fine, I don’t mind.” Stasia waved a hand over her shoulder, her eyes glued to the dishes. “As soon as I’m done, we can head to the barber.”
Billy’s face flushed and he sputtered out a few unintelligible words. “I can’t do that.”
“Well, not dressed like that, you can’t.” She gazed at him, her eyes raking over his naked chest and down to the white fluffy towel.
Suddenly aware of his delicate position, he grunted and marched toward his room to change. The sound of a young werewolf’s laughter followed him. Fully clothed and feeling much more confident, he headed back into the kitchen where Stasia was making good headway with his mountain of dishes.
“I’m not going to the barber,” he said through gritted teeth. “That wasn’t part of the bargain. Besides, that old man’s a hack. Wouldn’t surprise me if he cut off half my ear in the process.”
In Billy’s opinion, Bernie Little had been cutting hair for far too long. He was half-blind and shaky. Billy’s distrust of the man was partially to blame for his own shaggy look. The rest of it was simply laziness.
“I was thinking you’d say that.” Stasia turned to him, her eyes twinkling. “That’s why I bought a set of clippers at the Mart this morning. Maxim’s going to help. We can’t have you looking like a woolly mammoth for the cameras, can we?”
He stared at her for a long minute, emotions fighting for purchase inside his head. Same old Stasia. Her reckless joy and enthusiasm had been what had attracted him to her in the first place. Back when he didn’t know she was a princess and she’d kept the secret tightly locked away from even him.
They’d met down at the arcade between rounds of vintage pinball. It hadn’t taken him long to figure out that she was squatting in the old abandoned mansion down by Sweetwater Creek. Back then, he’d thought she was just another teenager. How was he to know that the very girl he’d fall for would turn out to be the next in line for the werewolf throne? If he’d known sooner, maybe things would’ve turned out differently and he wouldn’t have fallen so hard.
“Fine.” He shook his head in surrender. “Just get it over with. And watch the ears.”
Stasia whooped and threw her hands in the air, little water droplets flying everywhere. She turned off the water and went for the clippers sitting on the kitchen table.
“Uh, just one question.” Billy’s mouth twisted into a cynical frown. He eyed her as she fumbled with the bundle. “Have you actually ever cut anyone’s hair before?”