Chapter 33

Leigh was a little short of breath by the time they reached the Chicago city limits. Her stomach felt like an empty pit. It grumbled, wrenching and tightening the stomach muscles. She knew it was coming—the pain like a charly horse enfolding the stomach. She'd only felt like this a few times in her life, but she knew the feeling well.

She realized that she hadn't eaten any real food for a couple of days now. Sure, she'd eaten the burgers Amber had given her, but that was cooked meat. It only served to make her stomach feel full. She needed some real nutrition.

She gasped, taking in a full dose of Doug's scent. She had an almost uncontrollable urge to reach over and grab him in a vise-like grip and bite in. She was hungry enough that she could have eaten him all.

She hated the way the bloodlust struck so quickly with little warning.

"Leigh, are you all right?" Doug's voice was concerned. He hadn't spoken for the whole trip, his knuckles white against the steering wheel. But it was clear to see that something was wrong with her, and Leigh knew Doug couldn't stay mad at her for long.

His hand reached over to caress her cheek. Her face was smooshed into the dashboard, but that didn't stop her from getting an overwhelming scent of his fingers. She could almost taste them.

"Doug," she growled, speaking sharper than she had intended. But she needed to get the point across because in a second, she'd lose control if he didn't get some distance from her. "Get your freaking hand off me!"

She didn't look up at him as his hand dropped away. The sensory stimulus would have overloaded her brain. He smelled human, felt human. Her every instinct was telling her to bite him.

And then the pain struck. Her stomach twisted in agony. She let out a soft whimper as it attempted to consume the rest of her practicality. The bloodlust was attempting to take over her mind, body and soul.

"Leigh?" Doug asked again. He sounded alarmed.

"Get me to a supermarket," she managed in a gasping breath, "or so help me I'm going to bite you right now, and it's not going to be a good bite."

"Oh!" There was a dawning realization in his tone.

Leigh could feel the car speed up and she held onto the dashboard for dear life. The tires squealed at every turn. She didn't know why she forgot to eat all the time. It was so dangerous. Sometime she was really going to hurt someone. It was only her luck that she hadn't managed to yet.

She heard Doug curse under his breath. A moment later, a siren started up behind them. Doug didn't slow his pace—not once.

Leigh didn't have time to think about the police. She needed to keep all her attention on being wedged in this chair.

"Publix coming up," Doug announced grimly with another squeal of tires. He swore again. "Those police are going to wonder if I'm hiding something."

Leigh groaned inwardly. This was all her fault. What were they going to do? She had only made things ten times worse for Doug—seeing as they had an explosive that would make an entire apartment complex fall in on itself. Not to mention the guns and other incriminating objects that had to be under the tarp.

"I'm sorry," Leigh said on a cringing breath. She knew that sorry wouldn't fix the problem, but she was too incapacitated to actually think of something to fix the situation.

Doug squealed into a parking space. "Do you want to go in while I take care of the problem?"

Leigh shook her head vehemently, her hair bouncing about her shoulders. "I'll bite someone. There'll be all those mothers toting along their children…" Leigh let her sentence trail off as another spasm caught her.

"I'll be right back," Doug jumped from the car, slamming the door behind him. The wolf part of her brain tracked his footsteps pistoning across the carpet like any hunter would. The boy could really book it when he needed to.

There was an insistent tap at her windshield. She tried to ignore it. If she rolled down the window then she'd be able to smell them. That was the last thing she wanted, but the police wouldn't be deterred. The tapping increased.

"Ma'am, I order you to roll down your window immediately!"

Leigh groaned, still stuffing her face in the dashboard. She reached out weakly for the manual window opener. She turned it to open it quarter way. The scent was nearly overpowering.

"Do you know that the driver of this car was going 30 miles over the speed limit?" The cop announced in an authoritative tone.

Leigh groaned. "Can you just give us the ticket and forget about the whole spiel?"

"I don't think you realize the seriousness of your actions, miss," the cop growled in return. He obviously didn't like her insolent tone. "I know you teenagers think you can get away with everything, but there are laws to uphold."

"So give me the ticket!" Leigh snapped.

"I think you should look up so that we can talk, face to face," The cop replied smartly.

"I really don't think you want that," Leigh replied through clenched teeth as another spasm hit her. She gasped.

"Miss?" The policeman's voice softened slightly. "Are you all right?"

No, Leigh thought. I sure as heck am not all right. And it doesn't friggin' help that you're standing a foot away like a nice little piece of prey. You have no idea how good you'd taste, do you?

"Miss—"

"I'll take care of this," A voice interrupted. The voice sounded annoyingly familiar.

The cop took his attention off Leigh to assess the newcomer. "I don't know you. You're not from this jurisdiction. This is my duty."

"And I've been tailing these guys for weeks. They're my case. I have the papers, if you'd like to see them."

Ah, she definitely knew that voice. It was Tross. She let out a tiny little breath of relief as the cop finally yielded to Tross' demands. There was the sound of a door shutting and tires rolling away.

"He's gone," Tross informed her.

"Thanks," Leigh replied gratefully. "What are you doing here anyway?"

"Making sure you and Doug don't get yourselves killed," Tross replied. "And making sure that you're able to return my belongings so that I don't get my butt whooped."

"How are you going to get inside?" Leigh asked.

"I got equipment of my own," the detective replied in a crafty voice. "But don't let Doug know there were extras or he'll just cause a problem. I'm sure you can be reasonable. You know that you can't do this alone."

"Point taken," Leigh groaned into the dashboard.

"Leigh, are you all right?" He was the third person to ask her that today. Her nerves were worn so thin that she almost snapped at him for the comment, which was really silly. He was only showing concern. That was no reason to have a spaz.

"No," Leigh replied. "Can you do me a favor and not stand so close to the window? I haven't eaten in days and you smell so good."

"Catching your drift," the detective replied, backing up a step. Leigh could hear his feet on the asphalt. There was a type of wonder in his voice, as if he still couldn't believe that she was actually a werewolf. "I should leave anyway. Doug will probably be out any minute. I'll be watching your back."

"Glad to hear it," Leigh replied. "And Tross? Thanks for everything."

The detective snorted. "You wouldn't have said that a few days ago."

"No," Leigh replied, "but I'm saying it now."

"Well, I've got to go," The detective replied, but there was so sound of feet leaving. The detective was pausing. "I'm sorry," he said finally. "Sometimes I get so caught up in my job that I forget to be humane. I should never have threatened you."

Leigh nodded into the windshield, whimpering. "It's okay," She managed. "Now get the heck out of here before I decide to eat you."

The detective left. He didn't need anymore encouragement. There were probably very few people who would stick around if Leigh had warned them that she would eat them otherwise. The thought was amusing, but she refused to let herself chuckle lightly. That would only make the hunger pangs worse. They had subsided for the moment.

About three minutes later, Doug showed up. She knew this because she had nothing better to do than count the seconds. Besides, it seemed to focus her attention on something other than the pain.

She could smell the steak, even before he opened the door. She arose from her scrunched position and practically tore the package from his grip. The plastic surrounding it was a nuisance. She managed to through and began to chew quickly. Her teeth sharpened immediately to be able to chew the meat faster. It slowly began to sate her belly and the hunger pains fell away.

"Sorry that it's just plain," Doug said, looking at her expectantly.

Leigh shrugged and spoke around her food. "Don't mess with what's good."

She downed the steak in about ten minutes.

"Hey," Doug asked with a frown. "Where did the police go?"

Leigh grinned. "Could you believe that I used my wonderful charm?"

Doug snorted. "What did you say?"

Leigh shrugged. "Oh, just that my pregnancy was causing me problems and that I made you take me to the store to grab my vitamins. I made you drive me so fast because I was in so much pain." Leigh batted her hand out in an offhanded gesture. "They let me off with a warning."

Doug let out a little laugh. "Fast thinker."

Leigh felt a little whisper of guilt. It fell away when she saw the crooked smile that was spread across his cheeks. He looked so good like that. She almost wanted to kiss him again. No, she did want to kiss him again.

She leaned over in her seat.

He held up his hands to stop her. "Leigh, I love you," he said, not dropping the smile as he added. "But I'm not going to let you kiss me just after you've been eating raw meat."

Leigh grinned and settled back in her seat. "Can't hurt to try."

Doug brought the truck into gear.

"Some other time," he told her, backing out of the parking space. "If we live through this, that is."