ChangingPaths by Marilu Mann Page A

motorcycle accident but a few said you were
in some kind of fight. I think they said a prize fight. But you can’t get hurt
that way from boxing can you?” Her voice trailed off. He figured it was in
response to the heat in his gaze.
    “I really don’t want to talk about it, Rain.” He turned to
look at the faucet that slowly continued to drip. But she wasn’t going to be
redirected.
    “Right. That’s what my mom says when I bring up my dad. I’m
not a baby. I mean I know I’m not supposed to pry and stuff but we all agree,”
she waved a hand as if encompassing the entire universe-worth of all curious
teens. “That it isn’t something you should hide.”
    He watched her skin pink up. She blushed just like her
mother. That memory had him clenching a fist around a wrench to distract
himself. The teen took a breath then blurted the rest out.
    “We all think it’s kinda sexy. Well, all the girls anyway.
Not the guys…well, Patrick too but you know about him.”
    All he could manage was a nod. Sexy? They thought the
hideous scar, the white, sightless eye sexy? He didn’t know whether to be
flattered or appalled. He decided to go for amused, so he chuckled.
    “Yeah, I know about P. He’s a good kid.” Trying for a change
of topic, he questioned her. “So the other kids don’t pick on P, right? I told
him to come tell me if they did.”
    “Oh not at all. I mean some of the boys tease him but it’s
not mean or anything. He teases them right back. We don’t hang out with the few
who are jerks about it.” Rain seemed willing to let the matter of his scar drop
as she swung into a discourse on who was dating whom. He noticed how quickly
she had become part of the younger group of shifters and that she stumbled a
bit when she mentioned Keme’s name. He covered his smile by scooping up a
wrench.
    “If you’re gonna sit in here and talk my ears off, you’re
going to help me, okay, pup?” The endearment slipped out. He wished he could
swallow it back.
    “Okay, but what’s with all the dog references around here?
Keme has a ‘Pack’ and that not the first time someone’s called me a pup.” She
narrowed her eyes, looking so much like her mother that he smiled. “You aren’t
going to call my mom a b-word, are you? ‘Cause that’s not okay if you do.”
    His immediate “hell no” made Rain laugh. He didn’t answer
her other question but stuck his head under the sink even though he knew it was
a washer in the faucet. It would take at least an hour before dinner was ready,
so he had to make this last. Or find something else to fix. Or break something
so he could fix it. What the hell was going on with him? He forced the
self-examination down, choosing instead to focus on the sink. Might as well
remove the U-joint and clean it while he was here, right?
    “Hand me that wrench.” He was surprised when Rain actually
handed him the right item. “So you know your way around a toolbox, eh,
p—princess.”
    Her snort told him what she thought of that. He grimaced at
the hair and debris in the U-joint. As he pushed it out onto an old cloth from
his toolbox with a screwdriver, Rain parked herself on the floor. Propping her
chin on her hands, she looked at him.
    “So really. How did you get the scars?”
    “Rain Softly Johnson!” The exasperation in her mother’s
voice made him wince. Instinctively Rain hunched her shoulders.
    “I know but…” With soft brown eyes downcast, she murmured, “Sorry,
G-man.”
    As the teen shouldered her way past her mother with a
mutinous glare, he watched Harmony’s own brown eyes. He wasn’t sure what he saw
there but he hoped it wasn’t pity. He couldn’t take that. Not from her. He didn’t
want her to see him as weak. Before she could speak he levered himself off the
floor. She gasped as he moved to her.
    “I have to do this. I’m sorry.” He pressed his mouth down on
hers. Fire lit in his belly as her soft lips moved under his, parting just
enough to allow his