Turn Darkly by Heather McVea Page B

unlocked the driver side door.
    Regan put her hand on the window to stop the woman from opening the door, and presumably driving away forever. “Who?”
    Lily looked at Regan, her expression unreadable. “Robert or Caleb.”
    Regan shook her head. “Who?”
    “The two men you’ve seen with my brother.”
    “Do you even know them?” Regan couldn’t believe she was having this conversation with any woman in a first world country in the twenty-first century, much less a lesbian.
    “I’ve known them my entire life.” Lily looked at Regan’s hand. “Excuse me.”
    Regan didn’t move. “Why would you agree to this?”
    “We’re near extinction.” Lily stood with her hand on the truck’s door handle, her head lowered.
    “Then let Robert and - ah, Caleb go find themselves a nice willing and straight woman to copulate with.” Regan’s heart was pounding in her ears, and she was struggling not to berate Lily with a full on rant about the importance of being true to who she was, regardless of what her family wanted.
    Shaking her head, Lily looked at Regan. “Don’t you think I would if I could? A child with a human has less than a fifty percent chance of being a werewolf.” Her eyes narrowed, and her voice hardened. “Why do you think the bloodlines are nearly extinct now?”
    “But you can’t be the only woman around?” Regan wondered why it should matter to her so much what Lily did. Hadn’t they already determined their relationship was temporary and once she left Howell, nonexistent?
    The look of desperation and despair on Lily’s face forced Regan to dial back her irritation and shock.  Before she could attempt to console the woman, though, a pair of headlights appeared on the road. Moments later, a black Chevy truck Regan recognized as Trent’s pulled into the parking lot.
    “I have to go.” Lily wrenched the door open, and pushed past Regan to get into her truck.
    Trent pulled behind Lily, effectively blocking her from leaving. Flinging the door open, the man bolted from the Chevy, his face twisted in a hateful sneer.
    “Who the fuck do you think you are?!” Before he could reach Regan, who stood stunned next to the truck, Lily sprung from the vehicle and stood between Trent and Regan.
    “I’m leaving, so calm down.” Lily’s voice was quieter than the tension in her shoulders and back indicated.
    “You stay. She’s leaving!” The man reached for Regan, and was halted by a swift slap to his right cheek by Lily.
    “Stop!” The woman’s voice was pleading.
    Holding his hand over his cheek, Trent’s eyes were wide with shock. “Get in my truck. We’re going home.”
    The thought of Lily being hauled off by this maniac brought Regan out of her stunned stupor. “She can do whatever she wants.”
    Trent, who had been glaring at his sister, turned his wrath on Regan. “No doubt she’s told you everything, so you know if you don’t shut your mouth I’m going to rip your goddamn throat out.” The man’s eyes flashed a lustrous yellow as he practically snarled at Regan.
    “If you hurt her, I won’t help you.” Lily put her hand on her brother’s shoulder.
    Trent’s yellow eyes shot back and forth between the two women. “Get in the truck.”
    Lily turned to Regan. “I’m sorry. Please, just leave.” Not waiting for an open mouthed Regan to respond, Lily shut the truck door and walked toward the Chevy.
    Regan took a tentative step forward only to have her path impeded by Trent. “She told you to leave.”
    Looking past Trent, Regan watched as Lily got in his truck. “What people say and what they want aren’t always the same thing.”
    Huffing, Trent stepped toward Regan, their faces inches apart, his breath hot of Regan’s face. “You think she’ll protect you? I’m family.”
    Regan was tired of this man’s threats and open hostilities. Though her common sense told her not to pick a fight with a werewolf, she wasn’t going to be bested by a backwards Neanderthal.