He turned then and his gaze collided with mine. Humor sparked in the dark blue depths of his eyes and my stomach hollowed out. "That's not the kind I'm talking about and you know it."

I did. The thing was, I didn't want to know it. I wanted my life to get back to normal.

"I know, but I don't do guns, either."

Okay, so I wanted to jump Ty first and then have my life get back to normal. But I was exercising some self-discipline and controlling that want. Having him teasing and flirting in my head, however, chipped away at my resolve.

I licked my suddenly dry lips and forced my attention back to Lloyd. "I can't guarantee that the two of you will get that familiar with each other." I could only hope and-don't tell my mom-pray. "It's really a matter of chemistry once you meet. But I can promise that she'll be exceptionally beautiful and very amorous."

Lloyd's eyebrows kicked up a notch. "Amorwhat?"

"Amorous," I said again.

"h.o.r.n.y," Morty quipped before taking a quick puff on his pipe.

Understanding lit Lloyd's pale green eyes, but he didn't so much as blush.

I couldn't decide if that was a good or bad thing. Good if I were judging his alphaness. Alpha males obviously didn't go around blushing. That particular quality fell to the full-blooded betas.

On the other hand, Richie Cunningham had probably blushed up a storm during each and every Happy Days episode, which screamed beta, which screamed you are so screwed.

"If you're through pimping, we really need to get back," Ty said as he came up next to me.

I shot him a glare before giving Lloyd a brilliant smile. "So what do you say? You interested in a date?" I focused my most intense vamp stare on the brawny man. Yes, I sent him the silent message. You'll say yes to anything I want because I'm so hot and you simply can't resist my inner s.e.xuality.

His eyes glazed over and he stood dumbfounded for several long seconds before Morty elbowed him in the ribs.

"Speak up, boy."Yes, yes, yes, I echoed silently.

Lloyd's gaze seemed to clear and he nodded. "I guess so."

Bingo.

I think.

I watched as he shoved a finger into one hairy ear and scratched. I tried to ignore the rush of dread in the pit of my stomach and focused on being as positive and as enthusiastic as possible. "Great! The date is Friday night. I'll pick you up here and you can drive in with us."

Drive? Ty asked silently. Sugar, we flew.

"Maybe you could drive," I told Lloyd. "Women love a man who drives." He nodded and I smiled. "It's such a macho thing to sit behind the wheel and have all that power right at your fingertips."

"I guess I could borrow Uncle Morty's station wagon."

"Then again, maybe we could rent a car. What do you say, dear?" I turned my most charming smile on Ty.

"Are you nuts? We're laying low, remember? Laying low does not include handing over proof of insurance and a driver's license to rent a car."

"But it's a station wagon. He can't show up at Viola's in that. He needs something big and macho. A Hummer maybe. Or a Dualie."

Ty shifted his attention to Lloyd. "Borrow the station wagon." Before I could protest, he slid his arm around me and squeezed tight enough to make me wince. "We'll give you directions to Connecticut and you can go it alone, buddy. Later."

"Thursday," I called out over my shoulder as Ty steered me around. I was this close to breaking a rib with my elbow, except that I couldn't manage to get my arm high enough to give him a powerful jab.

For a made vampire, he was surprisingly strong. That, coupled with the fact that I'd been drinking as little as possible around him to avoid stirring the hunger that lived and breathed inside of me. My senses had dulled. I couldn't see as clearly or notice every little detail the way I usually did. Likewise, my hearing wasn't as fine-tuned. Not that I still didn't have it going on in the vamp department. I hadn't lost my abilities. I just wasn't functioning at full capacity.

I stayed glued to Ty's side as he ushered me toward the door.

"Wait a second," Lloyd's voice followed. "I thought you said the date was Friday?"

"Thursday is the predate prep. I'll meet you here."

"You're a jerk," I told Ty when we reached the front porch of the store.

"And you're going to get us caught again. A Hummer? Please."

"Or a Dualie. Can't you just try to see what I'm up against."

"A murder rap."

"I meant professionally.""A murder rap."

"You have a one-track brain. Do you mind?" I glanced at the hand that clamped around my shoulder.

Ty's grip loosened and he winked. "All you had to do was ask."

"Lloyd can't drive a station wagon to Viola's."

"He'll have to."

"Okay, let me make myself clear. Lloyd can't drive a station wagon to the full moon powwow at Viola's because it's totally un- alpha, not to mention I don't do station wagons."

"Then you don't have to worry because you're not going. You're staying right here."

I opened my mouth only to clamp it back shut.

I know. Me? Who would've thought?

But from the stern set of his jaw and the intense glare in his neon blue eyes, I knew he wasn't about to change his mind at the moment. Besides, I was tired. I didn't have my usual energy and what I did have I needed to preserve. I had much bigger problems to deal with between now and Friday.

Hairier problems.

"Fine," I huffed. "Can we get out of here?"

"That's my girl."

I ignored the warmth that spread through me at the comment and followed Ty around the side of the store and into the woods.

In a matter of seconds, we'd covered the few miles to the cabin.

Inside, Ty headed back to his computer and I made a beeline for my cell phone to tackle problem number one.

Chapter Twenty-six.

"I need you to overnight me a few things," I told Evie when she finally picked up her phone after several rings. I sank down onto the sofa and propped my feet between the photo alb.u.m and the antler candle-holder. Yikes, I needed a pedicure.

"Business cards?" she asked.

"A waxing kit." I conjured a mental image of Lloyd. "Make that five waxing kits." We're talking Lloyd.

I gave Evie the lowdown on my Alpha Doody progress and the mini-makeover I had planned.

"Still," she said when I finally came up for air. "He's bald. Richie Cunningham was not bald."

"Maybe Viola's friend won't notice."

Previous Top Next"Wouldn't you notice?"

"Maybe she'll be too busy." While I hadn't actually seen a pure werewolf up close during the full moon, I'd had a few long- distance peeks through a pair of binoculars at my folks' house. "Viola's parties can get a little wild."

"We're talking bald. Sure, it's ultra s.e.xy to some women, but to others it's a complete turn-off. Total blah. More effective than a cold shower."

"You don't like bald men, do you?"

"Can't stand 'em. My ex was bald and he was the lowest form of life. Just the sight of a smooth head makes my stomach turn."

"Maybe you're the exception."

"I say we don't risk it. Let's just send twenty-eight regular alphas and hope for the best. How mad can she get? I'm sure she doesn't really expect us to send her a redheaded one. That's probably just her ideal. The icing on the cake, so to speak. And who likes icing anyway?"

While I'd never tasted icing, I knew for a fact that it was the best part. A must-have for any decent dessert.

"We'll stick a wig on Lloyd," I told her.

"Wig, check. Anything else?"

My memory stirred and I remembered a glimpse of a very aggressive female werewolf tugging and pulling at her mate's fur. A wig would never work. "Throw in a few bottles of superglue." Never say never.

"Superglue, check, check. If I get this stuff out first thing in the morning, you should have it on Thursday. Where do you want me to send everything?"

I gave her the address for Morty's Commissary printed on one of the bags Ty had brought home our first night at the cabin.

"You're upstate?" she asked after she'd written the information down.

"Yeah, right. Like I would even consider going upstate when there's sun and sand and cute Jamaican guys just a plane ride away." Guilt niggled at me because I (a) had never ridden a plane in my life and (b) would go up in flames at the first ray of direct sunshine. But Evie didn't know either of those things, along with the biggie-I was a vamp-and I didn't want to drag her any further into my mess. Besides, the less I acknowledged my desperate situation, the better. Denial was sometimes a beautiful thing. "I am not upstate."

"Just like you're not with the bounty hunter, right?"

My gaze slid to Ty, who sat at the kitchen table once again, laptop open in front of him, a bottle of blood in his hand. He took a long swig. His Adam's apple bobbed. I felt an ache in the pit of my stomach.

"Exactly," I managed, despite my suddenly dry throat. "Other than the alpha search, how goes it?" I asked Evie. When denial failed, go for a distraction.

"Well, Esther went out with my uncle."

"And?"

"They went bowling. He had a ball. He threw ten strikes.""And Esther?"

"She didn't throw any."

"But did she have fun?"

"At first."

"What does that mean?"

"That my uncle can't see very well and he didn't notice she was standing in the middle of the lane when he went to take his turn.

He sort of hit her with the ball."

"Sort of?"

"Actually, he knocked her down with it and then he stepped on her. She didn't need st.i.tches or anything, just a case of napkins from the concession stand. There was a lot of blood."

Duh.

"But she's okay now. I talked to her myself just this evening. She said she's ready to try again. But no bowling this time. And no one with cataracts. Otherwise, she's up for anything. Talk about a real trooper."

"Send her some flowers and tell her we've got something extra special planned for date number two."

"What do we have planned?"

"I don't know yet, but I promise it'll be extra special. Right now, just do the flowers and stall her until..."

Until I successfully matched up Viola and her werewolf sisters and found the person trying to frame me and made it through another night in the same room with Ty Bonner.

I cleared my throat. "Until things get back to normal."

"I could call another one of my uncles."

"No uncles, but if you've got a few aunts we just might be in business."