Lilith

Chapter 7

I was being tailed. It wasn't really a surprise, just troublesome. I was always very careful when I moved to a new place. I got a post office box associated with an apartment I didn't stay in. I got another apartment for living in. The creatures that lived in the world were almost always interested in me, and I had to make it as hard as possible on them.

Jack was, no doubt, frustrated to find that the records his company had for me lead to a dead end, as did my banking records. I used cash to buy cashier's checks to pay the rent on the place I really lived, and never from a bank I had an account at. Unfortunately, werewolf noses were harder to escape, and I had no doubt he was using his best tracker to locate me.

Worse, I'd seen the light in my tracker's eyes. He thought I was his mate. Currently, we were playing a game called, "Can you follow me from train to train?" I would take a train from one place to another, changing trains, or sometimes appearing to change trains, as often as I could. I'd almost trapped him on a train as it was leaving, but he slipped out at the last minute. It was only the fact that I was in public that was keeping him at a safe distance.

As I got off the fifth train, I felt a hand clamp around my wrist. Looking up, it was the tracker. He no longer looked amused or entertained. That made two of us. "Let go," I stated with iron in my voice.

"I don't think so, mate. I don't know what you are, but you're no ordinary human to make me work this hard to stay with you. I'm tired of playing." The firmness in his voice matched my own.

"I'm not your mate."

"I can smell you. You are."

"Tell that to Jack. I'm sure he'll be pleased to hear that Addy Jones is your mate."

His eyes lost focus while he kept an iron grip on my wrist. Abruptly, his eyes widened, even as he growled possessively. He'd clearly just been informed who Jack thought I was. "Why does he think you're his mate?" he finally asked me.

"Every unmated werewolf thinks that. All of them. Now be a good boy and let me go. I'm not going to lead you to my home. That should be clear by now."

"No can do, my mate. I'm under orders, and I won't let you escape me, now that I've found you."

Have I mentioned that werewolves are annoyingly predictable? As monsters go, they're actually quite clever and resourceful, but they're also creatures of instinct, and suffer a bit of tunnel-vision. I was now hungry, getting tired, and rather annoyed. Time to hurt him.

"If you're going to follow me around, then the least you can do is let me buy you dinner," I offered.

He cocked an eyebrow at me, but didn't stop me from leading him to a Thai restaurant. I'd done my research, and this one would give me what I needed. We were quickly shown to a table, but before the waiter could leave I said, "I'd like two plates of something authentic. Not the weak stuff you server for American tastes."

The waiter paused before asking, "Are you certain, Ma'am?"

I switched to Thai for the waiter's sake. "I spent a few years in Thailand. I miss the real stuff. I understand I can get it here. Also, this guy is being a boor, and I want to put him off his game."

He nodded and left, while my dinner partner eyed me cautiously. "What are you up to?"

"Look...." I paused, waiting for his name.

"Andrew." And there it was!

"Andrew. If you're going to annoy me, then I'm going to have some comfort food for my trouble."

"I don't like Thai food."

"Too bad. If I'm your mate, you'll be eating it a lot."

"I don't think so. We eat fresh kill at the pack, more than anything else."

"I don't like meat."

He stared at me a moment, before laughing. "I see why Alpha Jack likes you. Too bad for him you're my mate, instead."

I smiled indulgently. "Did he tell you I threatened your pack if I leave Chicago?"

That got his attention. "A little human like you could harm our pack? I don't think so."

"No, not me, one of my kids. He has a bit of a fixation, when it comes to me."

His eyes narrowed a bit, while his nostrils flared. He was trying to scent out a lie. "You're too young to have kids that could do anything, and they'd be human, too." He didn't sound certain, though.

"I'm older than you think, Andrew. I've had to deal with far worse than you, or your alpha, over the years." He still couldn't smell a lie from me. He looked disquieted.

It wasn't long after our food arrived, the scent causing him to recoil as I inhaled deeply. The heat wafting off it was curling my nose hairs, and I loved it. Almost immediately, I dug in, letting the flavors and the heat roll around in my mouth. I couldn't help it, I moaned in pleasure.

Andrew, meanwhile, was keeping as far away from his plate as he could. His nose was wrinkled, and he was eying it as if it were a cobra, waiting to strike. When I was almost done, I texted for a cab on my phone under the table.

"Andrew, we're not leaving until you eat your food."

"I'd rather not."

"This will be delightful! I'll get to tell your pack about how you couldn't eat something your puny, human mate did. You'll be the biggest joke of the pack, ever!"

He finally took a bite as the cab pulled up outside. I dropped two twenties on the table and left him behind, pawing at his nose and mouth in agony. Werewolf noses were their weakness, along with their egos. It took another train and cab to get home, well after midnight, but they didn't know where I slept.