“I don’t know, Grandpa.” Abby was all too aware of Knox Trevelyan, who was able to hear every word. Knox had left the pilot’s seat momentarily to open the cargo door, but now he was back.
After meeting several Weres, Abby couldn’t help looking at the dark-haired, dark-eyed Knox and wondering what he’d look like when he shifted. She’d estimate he was about the same size as Roarke and Aidan, and if his dark hair was any indication, he’d transform into a wolf black as the night.
Obviously sensing her scrutiny, Knox turned to her. “I brought a bandana along for myself, but you can have it instead.” Pulling a blue-and-white patterned square from his pocket, he held it out.
The scent of mint wafted toward Abby, and she was sorely tempted to take the bandana. “That’s very generous, Knox, but I begged my way on this trip at the last minute, and taking that would be so unfair to you.”
“Would you rather have a barf bag?”
Abby lifted her chin. “I won’t need that, either.”
Earl turned from the window to look at her. “Take the bandana the young man’s offering, Abby. It’s a gentlemanly thing he’s trying to do, and your color isn’t so good right now.”
“But yours is fine,” she said. “Doesn’t the smell bother you at all?”
“Oh, I can tell it’s bad, and I’m sure once they’re in the helicopter it’ll be quite overpowering. But, Abby, I’m about to be within a few feet of a mated Sasquatch pair. The stink means nothing to me when I realize that.”
“Yes, but Knox isn’t looking forward to that experience. He deserves the bandana.”
Knox reached back and dropped the bandana in her lap. “This will be bad, but walking into the cosmetics section of a department store is worse for me, believe it or not.”
“I don’t believe it.”
Knox shrugged. “It’s true, though. These two will stink, but at least it’s an organic smell. It doesn’t burn my lungs like a big dose of perfume.”
“They’re coming out! They’re coming out!” Earl practically bounced in his seat.
Abby turned toward the window, and sure enough, Roarke descended the slope followed by two enormous, apelike creatures covered in long, unruly hair. The larger Sasquatch was a dark brown color, and the smaller one, who had a definite baby bump going on, was more reddish.
They seemed prehistoric, and yet strangely familiar. Their foreheads protruded in the same way Abby pictured cavemen and cavewomen must have looked. She’d worried that she’d be afraid of them. After all, they were capable of crushing her with a single blow.
But when she saw them coming down the hill, her fears evaporated. They were walking hand in hand.
Beside her, Earl kept muttering, “I can’t believe this” and his lanky body quivered with excitement. He gulped for air. “Look at them, Abby. They’re actually right there. Right there.”
“I know, Grandpa. It’s amazing.”
“I knew they had to mate and have babies. I just knew it, but no one has ever . . . Okay, I’m blown away by this, but believe me, I’ll never breathe a word of it.”
Keeping her gaze on the Sasquatch, Abby reached over and patted his knee. “I know you won’t. Roarke wouldn’t have brought you if he thought you would tell.”
“I owe that boy so much. I swear, he could ask me to do anything—anything—and I’d do it in a heartbeat. Oh, God, they’re hesitating. Look, Abby, they’re pointing at the helicopter.”
Abby held her breath as Roarke turned back to the Sasquatch pair. They faced each other for what seemed like forever, but might have been only a couple of minutes. The Sasquatch couple put their heads together as if conferring. Then the female patted her tummy and took a big breath before motioning to her mate that they should continue. After another long pause, he took her hand again and they began walking toward the helicopter.
Emotion clogged Abby’s throat as she realized the courage required to climb into what must look like a monster machine to these creatures. But the combination of Roarke’s gentle persuasion and the pair’s devotion to their unborn child had won the day.
Abby didn’t remember the bandana in her lap until the creatures were only a few feet away. She’d been so caught up in the drama that the smell had become secondary. But once they were this close, the smell was all she could think about.
She tied the mint-scented bandana over her nose and mouth like an old-fashioned bank robber and made a silent promise to do something nice for Knox Trevelyan if the opportunity presented itself. Even with the bandana offering some protection, she fought her gag reflex as the Sasquatch couple boarded from the rear amid various grunts and groans.
The helicopter rocked with their weight and Knox hopped out and ran around to the back hatch. Abby had to assume Roarke got in, too, but she was so focused on not barfing that she didn’t turn around to look.
Knox had left the helicopter’s windows open, but that didn’t help much. When he climbed back into the pilot’s seat, Earl leaned forward and tapped him on the shoulder. Good old Grandpa Earl didn’t seem fazed by the stench.
“I don’t want to frighten them by staring,” he murmured. “Is there a possibility I will?”
“Just glance back there every once in a while and smile,” Knox said. “They might find that reassuring. Smiles are a universal language among humanoids.”
Earl nodded. “Good advice. Thanks.”
Knox raised his voice. “All set back there?”
Roarke gave a short yip, which Abby interpreted as an affirmative. Knox must have interpreted it that way, too, because he revved the engine.
Both members of the Sasquatch couple began to howl in obvious terror. The eardrum-splitting sound, added to the horrible smell, created Abby’s version of utter hell. She clapped her hands over her ears.
Once again Knox dug in his pocket and extended his hand back to Abby. In his palm rested two foam-rubber earplugs. She took them without protest and stuck them immediately into her ears.
The earplugs muffled the sound and slowly her tense muscles relaxed. She glanced over at her grandfather, but he was involved in giving the Sasquatch pair reassuring smiles and didn’t seem to notice the racket any more than he’d noticed the odor.
When the helicopter lifted off the ground, the howls grew louder. Abby wondered if Knox had a parachute in his pocket and if he’d offer her that next. Roarke had said the flight would take about an hour, and Abby wondered if they’d all have permanent hearing loss by then.
But instead, miraculously, the howls tapered off and eventually stopped. Abby took out her earplugs to make sure she wasn’t imagining things, but all she could hear was the rhythmic sound of helicopter blades slicing through the misty air.
Earl nudged her. “Take a look back there.”
Abby turned around in her seat. The Sasquatch pair sat on the floor of the helicopter, their legs out in front of them. Sandwiched between them, looking for all the world like the Sasquatch family dog, was Roarke. The female was gently stroking his fur.
Knowing how reassuring that thick pelt could feel, Abby wasn’t surprised that the howling had stopped. Roarke was providing comfort to them in the same way he’d provided comfort to her in the tunnels under the Gentry mansion. But when she looked into his green eyes, she was glad to be wearing a bandana over her nose and mouth, because his miserable but resigned expression made her grin.
The hour passed more quickly than she’d expected. Knox circled a wooded area and set the chopper down near a small waterfall that fed into a rocky stream. Then he hopped out and opened the door for the Sasquatch pair.
Abby turned to watch their departure. They clambered out of the helicopter much faster than they’d climbed in, and then they stood, obviously waiting for Roarke. Abby hoped they hadn’t decided to keep him.
Roarke jumped out, too, and trotted around the clearing as if pointing out its advantages. He sniffed at a bush, and the female came over to rip off a few leaves and munch on them. When she sat down next to the bush and continued to eat, the male came over to join her, and soon they seemed to be enjoying lunch together.
For a while Roarke stood watching, but then the female glanced up and made a shooing motion with her hairy hand. Roarke trotted back to the helicopter and once he’d leaped inside, Knox shut the door. Within seconds the helicopter was airborne.
Abby turned around, wondering if Roarke would come up to the front again now that the Sasquatch pair was gone. Instead he stayed far back in the helicopter, his head on his paws. She could imagine why. After such close contact with the creatures, his fur must stink to high heaven.
Earl plastered his face to the window for several minutes and then finally settled back in his seat with a sigh. “Wow.” Then he turned to the back where Roarke lay. “Thanks, Roarke. I’ll never be able to repay you for that.”
Lifting his head, Roarke whined softly before settling back down.
That soft whine did it. Abby unbuckled her seat belt and moved to the back of the helicopter. Then she pulled off her bandana and sat down next to Roarke, who did indeed smell like a thousand pissed-off skunks. “I’m not letting you stay back here by yourself.”
He looked at her as if she’d lost her mind and tried to scoot away.
“Stop that. I’m sitting by you, and that’s that.” Moving right next to him, she used the bandana to wipe his face. “This should help.”
Roarke sighed and rested his head in her lap as she continued to stroke his head with the bandana.
“Isn’t that better? It smells like mint.” She couldn’t read his mind. Only another Were in wolf form could tune into his thoughts. Still, she did know what he was thinking as she stroked him with the bandana.
It smells like you.
When they landed at Portland-Hillsboro, Roarke waited until Earl and Abby left before shifting and putting on the clothes he’d stashed in the back of the helicopter. Knox had jumped out immediately, too, probably to get his first real breath of fresh air. The poor Were was going to have to fumigate both the chopper and himself.
Once he was dressed, Roarke climbed out of the helicopter and glanced around. Knox stood nearby, but Abby and Earl had walked over to meet Aidan. Aidan was keeping his distance from them, though. Everyone who’d been in the helicopter carried the Sasquatch stink.
Roarke approached Knox and stuck out his hand. “Thanks for doing that, Trevelyan. I know it was a challenge.”
Knox returned Roarke’s firm handshake. “It was, but I’d never seen a mated pair before. When they came down the hill holding hands, I thought that was sort of touching.”
“I thought so, too.”
Knox gazed at him. “Your friend Abby seems very fond of you. Not many humans would have gone back there. You must have smelled awful.”
“I’m sure I did. Abby’s . . . special.”
“You know Gentry’s put out the word that she’s a major threat to all of us.”
Roarke nodded. “That’s why I’m taking Abby and Earl back to New York.”
“Is that your brother standing over there, the one who mated with a human?”
“Yes.” Roarke started to add that he wouldn’t be following in his brother’s footsteps. But he was no longer sure of that. He wanted Abby desperately, and if he thought she was willing to make the necessary sacrifices . . . Could he ask her to do that?
Trevelyan gazed at him with a hint of disapproval in his dark eyes.
Roarke had a new appreciation for how Aidan must have suffered during Roarke’s lectures on the subject of Weres mating with humans. He cleared his throat. “Listen, if I could make it out here for a visit, would you consider giving me flying lessons?”
“I could do that.”
“Great. Well, I need to shove off. Sorry about the stink in your chopper.”
“I’ll deal with it. See you, Wallace.”
“That’s a given. I want to learn to fly one of these eggbeaters. Thanks, again.” Roarke turned and crossed the tarmac to Abby and Earl. “Are we ready to go?”
Abby waved a plastic rectangle that looked very much like a hotel key. “We’re driving to the Marriott first. Aidan refuses to let any of us into the Learjet until we’ve showered and changed.”
“That may be possible for you, since you each packed a suitcase, but I don’t have any clothes other than this.” He motioned to the gray sweats and sweatshirt Earl had contributed.
Aidan held a handkerchief to his nose and moved slightly closer. “I’ve had some time to kill, so I picked up some clothes for you, stud. I figured you’d come out of this stinking up the place. Go to the service entrance and they’ll let you in that way, so you don’t contaminate the lobby. Then all of you just leave your dirty clothes in the room. Housekeeping has instructions to burn them.”
Roarke shrugged. “I won’t argue with that. Let’s go.”
Earl spent the short drive to the hotel raving about his Sasquatch experience. “I have to get it out of my system with you guys,” he said, “because I won’t be able to tell anybody else.”
Roarke decided not to mention that Earl wouldn’t have a chance to talk to other humans for a while, anyway. Better not put too fine a point on that.
When they reached the hotel, Roarke expected them all to be sharing the same room and shower. Instead he discovered that Earl had his own key to the room next door.
“See you in a few,” Earl said with a smile as he walked into his room and closed the door.
Abby had the key, so Roarke waited while she opened the door. But he wasn’t quite prepared for her to grab him by his shirtfront and haul him inside before slamming the door again.
Then she got right in his face. “Listen here, Roarke Wallace! I may not be able to shape-shift, but if that’s the only reason you won’t choose me as your mate, then, as much as I love you, I’ll have to label you prejudiced and narrow-minded. So there.”