Kenzie had seen him transform several times before. But knowing that this was now her fate made the spectacle more foreboding.
“Does it hurt?” she asked.
Hayden shook his head. “No. It’s just a little uncomfortable, since you feel your hair growing out really fast, and of course your nails and teeth. Oh, and your ears and nose, sometimes your jaw…”
Hayden stopped short. Kenzie was inadvertently making a face tinged with peril.
“Remember, I’m here,” Hayden consoled. “And I don’t care what you end up looking like. I love you, and I’ll always love you, no matter what.”
“Thank you.”
Kenzie had been sure that as soon as Hayden transformed, she would shortly thereafter. But she didn’t.
“Do all werewolves transform at the same time?” she asked, bewildered.
“Normally, yes. When the moon’s at its highest peak, all werewolves transform into their wolf state, unless they were already in that state. But maybe it’s different for new werewolves.”
Still, minutes turned into hours, and Kenzie remained completely normal. She’d planned to stay awake all night, but her eyelids were beginning to droop, and she was actually getting frustrated. She was finally ready for this to happen, and it wasn’t happening.
“This makes no sense,” she quipped as Hayden paced the room. They were both growing more and more perplexed, and Kenzie was also impatient. By this time, it was nearly sunrise.
“Maybe he didn’t bite you hard enough,” Hayden suggested, though not sounding convinced. “Let me see your arm.”
Kenzie had forgotten all about the bite, focusing only on the aftermath. She hadn’t even noticed it lately, really. She extended her arm, and both she and Hayden received a shock. There was no evidence of a bite whatsoever. At least, not to Kenzie’s eyes.
Hayden, however, scrutinized the invisible wound and furrowed his brow.
“How…?” he began.
“What? What is it?”
“The wound. It’s…it’s still there, I can see it, very light. But it’s healed.”
“Healed? In three days?”
“Exactly. We both saw that wound. We know it was there, and it was deep.”
“It drew blood and went right through my coat.”
“I know. But now it’s…gone. Healed. And the only way that could happen is with superior healing abilities, which only belong to vampires and werewolves.”
Hayden sat on the edge of the bed to ponder this. Kenzie was just as befuddled as he was. She was a human. She’d been human her entire life. When she’d gotten scrapes on her knee as a kid, it would take at least a week for them to heal. But now, somehow, a werewolf had bitten her and the wound had healed itself in three days, and she didn’t transform.
Hayden was punching something into his cell phone, his face molded into one of curiousness, concern, and relief.
“Ellis,” he barked into the phone, “did you find anything out about that kid that bit Kenzie? I don’t give a shit what time it is. This is serious. Besides, it was a full moon; I know you were out doing the creator knows what. Now spit it out.”
Ellis said something inaudible to Kenzie’s ears. Another factor that confirmed that she was indeed human. She didn’t have superior hearing, and she had to wear glasses in order to see great distances. She couldn’t be a werewolf or vampire.
“You’re sure there was nothing suspicious about him?” Hayden was going on. Finally, he heaved a resonating sigh and hung up.
“What did he say?” Kenzie asked.
“The kid woke up and they questioned him, but there was nothing wrong with him. No reason to explain why you didn’t transform. He was a rogue, just as I’d suspected, who couldn’t handle his transformation.”
“Well…isn’t this a good thing?”
“Of course it is. I’m beyond relieved, believe me. But I’m an investigative reporter, so of course I’m curious.”
“I am, too. I’m a detective, so my curiousness is spinning out of control.”
“Well, maybe Paige and her coven will know something about this, or even Isaiah. They didn’t know of a cure, but this is something different.”
“It’s worth a try.”
“Yeah. But first, let me give you something.”
Hayden walked over to Kenzie and pulled her off the bed. Then, he wrapped his arm around her and kissed her deeply.
Kenzie eagerly returned the gesture as she placed her hands on Hayden’s chest.
“What’s this for?” she asked after they parted.
“Nothing in particular. I just love you and wanted to kiss you.”
“Would you still have wanted to if I’d turned?”
“Of course I would have. The only reason I was against it was because I was afraid of the transformation hurting you. I know you have a low pain tolerance. I told you last night that it didn’t hurt, but it might have for you.”
“Hayden, we don’t know that I’m completely safe yet. Maybe you should hold off on telling me this.”
“Right. Sorry. I’ll call Paige.”
“I’ll fix us some breakfast. And don’t you have to go back to work?”
“I called the other day. Told the boss something serious had come up, and it could very well lead to a story, so I’d need some time off. He didn’t even argue.”
“He didn’t?”
“Well, not to sound smug, but I am one of the best reporters he’s got. He trusts me.”
“Well, that’s a good thing, then.”
The two embraced once more before Kenzie threw on some fresh clothes and trotted downstairs to fix some breakfast while Hayden called Paige.
*********************************************************************************
Kenzie dug through the fridge and extracted some milk, eggs, and fruit. She thought a hearty breakfast of eggs machiavellian would hit the spot for both her and Hayden.
She was so absorbed in her task that she didn’t detect Hayden come up behind her until he wrapped his arms around her.
“Hayden!” she shrieked with a laugh. “You scared me!”
“Sorry. Something smells good. What’s cooking?”
“Eggs, maybe some bacon if you behave.”
“Mmm, bacon. I can already tell you’re going to be a great cook.”
“You’re not so bad yourself.”
“Glad you think so. Here, allow me.”
Hayden reached around Kenzie and began slicing the watermelon. She noticed that he was no longer in his werewolf form, and that he’d also changed out of yesterday’s clothes.
“Did you find anything out from Paige?” Kenzie asked.
“Well, sort of. She agrees that it’s very odd that you didn’t transform last night like I did, but she has a theory she wants to test. Apparently, Erika’s family has some old legends that might explain what happened, so they’re going to look into that. They’ll call me back.”
“Okay…and what legends are they looking into?”
“She didn’t say. I think she just doesn’t want to jump to conclusions and wants to know for sure before telling us.”
“I see.”
The two carried their plates to the table and sat down to dig in.
“This tastes great!” Hayden exclaimed as he took a hearty bite out of his bacon.
Kenzie giggled. “I’m glad you think so. I’m usually not the best cook in the world.”
“That’s okay. It tastes great to me, and that’s what matters, right?”
“Exactly.”
They’d just finished the meal when Hayden’s cell phone rang. He answered it and began talking to Paige. Kenzie listened to his side of the conversation as she cleaned the dishes in the sink before transporting them to the dishwasher.
Her ears perked up when she heard Hayden say, “Are you sure about that?”
She stopped splashing water around to listen closer.
“Okay, well, should we go there or do you want to meet us here? Oh, okay. All right, we’ll head out, then. See you later.”
Hayden hung up and Kenzie spun around.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, suddenly apprehensive again.
“There’s a spell they can try to determine what’s up, but they’ll need your blood to do it.”
“Wonderful. And we’re going to Lucky Palms?”
“Yeah…they called Isaiah to ask him for his input too, and he’s on his way there right now.”
“Is Jillian going too?”
“Of course.”
Hayden could sense Kenzie’s turmoil, so he wrapped his arms around her in consolation. “It’s going to be okay,” he soothed. “I promise.”
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