Content To Be Claimed (Beauty And The Beast #1)

Chapter 26

My phone rang, jolting me from my concentration and I looked up from the tangle of French I fondly called homework. When I saw Victor's number I smiled and pushed my books away, sitting cross legged on my bed. "Hi."

"Hey. You free?"

I eyed my mount of homework, half done, as I replied, "Yeah. What's on your mind?"

"It's time I lived up to my word. So, coffee?"

"When did you promise to take me out for coffee?"

"Now."

I shrugged. "Fair enough. Where?"

"Just meet me outside your house and I'll arrange everything."

"Okay." I hung up, picked out a jacket, slipped my feet into shoes and went downstairs. Keith was buried in the morning paper. "I'm going out, Dad."

He surfaced. "What's that? Oh. Are you done with homework?"

"Don't worry about it."

"That's a no,"  he observed, and I closed the door before he got philosophical.

Outside, I felt a low wave of static that made the hairs on my neck prickle. It sounded like a drawn out whisper of my name. In the next instant, Victor was standing in front of me in the forest fringe, out of the glare of the sun. I smiled easily as I went to him. "Hey. What was that? It sounded like the wind was whispering my name."

"It's my echo vision."

"Your what?"

"It's my way of locating anything withing a few miles of me. You know, like bats? Or dolphins with their sonar."

I grinned. "Nerd."

"Shut up," he grinned back, then backed away when I got close to him.

I stopped, offended. "What?"

His short laugh was tolerant. "You've been standing too close to the Strandtons. Their scent is all over you, and it's too much for me right now." I rolled my eyes and he went on, "Let's walk first? Until it either wears off or I get used to it."

"This is ridiculous," I muttered, but followed him into the forest anyway.

He just smiled, slipping a hand in his back pocket as the other toyed with his ear. "How did you get drenched in their stench anyway?"

"It's not stench!" I defended.

"Okay, sorry!" he laughed, hands in the air.

"And if you must know, I spent the weekend with them."

"Weren't they hunting on Friday?"

"How'd you know?"

"Please! All that grunting and growling like a litter of kittens! If I slept, they'd have kept me up all night!" I was about to ask when he drew me into his arms, knocking my feet from under me. "Hold on."

He started running, the forest blurring around me. "Where're we going?"

"My place?"

"Then why didn't we just drive?"

"It'd take forever." There was laughter in his voice as he said, "Don't worry, I won't drop you."

A few minutes later, he came to a sudden stop in a doorway and set me on my feet. "Wow!" I whispered, walking in. "Who designs these places?" I turned to him, tucking my hair back. "Your house should be on TV."

He was watching me intensely, and breathed a laugh at my suggestion. I turned back to the house, walking into the kitchen as I took in the open floor plan. The house was simple and elegant. His good taste in furniture spoke of wealth, but he wasn't big on creature comforts. After a minute, l realised that it didn't feel lived in.