The Wolf in His Arms (The Runes Trilogy) by Adrian Lilly Page B

that mid-February was not a pleasant time to
visit most places in the northern half of the U.S. Winter had grown old, bleak,
and tired. Snow clung in gray-black clumps to the side of the road, and brown
grasses and broken cornstalks poked through the white and black fields like
liver spots. The sky droned on in a gray that nearly matched the dirty snow—and
Lucy forced herself not to judge Iowa on this visit. Judging a place in
February was simply unfair.
    From
the interstate highway to a state route, they drove for almost nine hours. They
exited the state route for a motel before reaching Lime Springs. Jared paid for
the room with two double beds while Alec and Lucy waited in the car. Alec
looked across the nearly empty parking lot, washed white by the halogen lamp
overhead. A wind gust rocked the car, and he watched as debris skittered across
the asphalt and out of the wash of the lamplight.
    Jared
emerged from the office and waved them to join him as he walked to a
first-floor room near the car. The door groaned against the wind as Alec pushed
it open. He slung his and Jared’s bags over his shoulders as Lucy climbed out
with her bag. Alec grabbed a cooler from the trunk before following Lucy into
the hotel.
    “Cozy,”
Alec said as he kicked the door shut behind him.
    “I’m
just glad to be out of the car,” Lucy said. She yanked the bedspread down and
flopped onto her bed. Jared flopped onto her bed with her, and she shoved him
playfully.
    “I’m
glad to have wine.” Alec removed the bottle of red wine from the cooler and
filled three plastic cups. He handed Lucy and Jared their cups. Alec sat on the
bed with them. “Cheers.”
    “Clank,”
Jared added, imitating glass. “Do you think they’re ahead of us?”
    Lucy
and Alec returned blank stares.
    “Sorry.
The other werewolves. The bad guys. They have to be going after the pack, too.”
    “Without
Darius, I wonder who they’re sending,” Alec pondered.
    “Let’s
just hope we get to them first,” Lucy said.
    Alec
stared into his plastic cup while contemplating. He looked across the bed at
them as a warm smile bloomed on his face. “We haven’t done this for a long
time. Just talked. Had some wine. It feels a little like old times.”
    “It’s
hard,” Lucy said, “balancing the past and the present.”
    Jared
nodded. “I still think about my parents, my sisters all the time. At first, the
only thing that drove me was revenge.” Alec and Lucy remained silent, the room
somber. “I brought the mood down. What should we talk about?”
    “I
could complain about Mitch.”
    “You
did that for the entire drive.”
    Alec
said, “Mom’s been asking about you. I suggested they come by for dinner.”
    “Alec!”
    “Lucy,
you can’t avoid them for the rest of your life. And you have blue contacts to
wear.”
    “The
contacts aren’t the point. And I can try to avoid them.”
    Jared smiled
sympathetically at Lucy. “I know you’re trying to protect your parents, but I
think you’re hurting them more than you ever might because of your affliction.”
    “They
think you hate them because of Rene.”
    “I
don’t hate them. I am angry.” Lucy topped off her cup of wine.
    “Is
that why you keep the distance? Are you afraid the anger could trigger the
werewolf?”
    Lucy
held Jared’s eyes for a moment before she answered. “Yes, I think maybe.”
    “Yet
this Mitch drives you nuts on an almost daily basis. He really infuriates you.”
    “It’s
not the same,” Lucy snapped.
    Jared
nodded agreement. “I’m not saying it’s the same. But, I think that if emotions
triggered a change, you’d know it by now.”
    Lucy
tossed her head back. “Okay. I don’t want to be psychoanalyzed anymore. Someone
else’s turn.” She turned her eyes to Alec, and her face softened. “Why don’t
you visit Adam’s grave?” Her question was sisterly, without malice.
    Alec
topped off his own cup. He felt Jared’s hand rub his shoulder, reassuringly. He
turned