CH: 9 THE DOG THAT STRAYS TOO CLOSE TO THE RIVER, SWIMS

Brown knew his hunches were never far from truth. His werewolf senses had never been wrong, so far. The little boy had disappeared after a bend, but his scent was still thick in the air. Brown followed it down the alley, taking a let once the scent got stronger down the bend.

“Brown?” Rebekah called behind him. He needed to have a believable lie if he was to get away with this stunt he had just pulled. He couldn’t tell her that the ice cream had been laced with trace amounts of wolfsbane. Not enough to kill a werewolf, but enough to render him weak for a few days.

“Jeff” he muttered under his breath. Only his step brother would go as far as using a little boy to achieve his sinister goals. He increased his pace and bolted into a half run till he got to a dumpster with two teenagers standing next to it. They shook hands suspiciously and ran away as Brown approached.

Brown didn’t care. The boy couldn’t have gone far. He approached the dumpster by the corner and the boy’s scent grew even stronger. He was inside of it.

“Brown!” Rebekah called again behind him. He ignored her. The boy was close; he could smell him.

“Care to explain what is going on here?”

He turned to see Rebekah with her arms folded across her chest. The smell of the boy was thick here. He was close.

“I just really needed to...”

“If you badly needed to get away from me, you could do it without creating a scent you know”

She had no idea of what was going on. He considered telling her about the wolfsbane he had perceived in the cones seconds before he had come down from the jeep. Then he would need to explain what wolfsbane was and why it affected him that way. And who would want to sneak wolfsbane into something he would eat? How could they tell he would stop there? Then he would need to explain how Jeff was related.

No, that would be too many explanations.

“I recognized his face, Rebekah”

“Recognized who?”

Neither of them had moved from where they stood now, facing each other. Brown’s fingers twitched as his werewolf senses threatened to take over and pull the boy out from the dumpster and shake him until he confessed everything.

“The boy. Last week, some kids had come over to my cabin and stolen a few choice properties I left outside” He told a whitse lie. The first week after he stated in is cabin, someone had stolen his choice rocking chair he always left outside his house. He hadn’t caught anybody because he hadn’t considered it worth looking into.

“Stolen?”

“Yes. Stolen. I had tried to get them, but then the little devils were as slippery as an oiled eel”

He knew she wouldn’t buy it, but that was the best he could do. He wasn’t really the best of liars I the family, Arya beat him to that. He needed to find out why Jeff would try to poison him in broad daylight. On second thought, what if it wasn’t Jeff? Could it be that there was a wolf hunter in town?

“Would you keep standing here, then? Go ahead, find your thief. I’d take a cab home.”

Brown’s shoulders slumped.

“I’m sorry. I acted too impulsive for a second there”

“A second? Never mind, Brown. I’d go home myself. I can take care of myself”

Brown flung his hands up and down in frustration the moment she turned her back and walked away.

“I didn’t mean to disappear the way I did, Rebekah” he explained as he walked up behind her. She totally ignored him and walked on. They were already making a scene.

“I’m serious, Rebekah I just needed to see his face I was…”

“Brown” she spun around and cut him off.

“Yes milady”

“For a man that acts so much like a gentleman you know nothing about treating a lady.”

Brown shook his head from side to side. What was she talking about?

“You don’t explain to a lady, Brown. You always apologize first. You don’t explain until she wants to hear it. Urgh!”

“Oh”

“I’d be waiting in the jeep”

Brown turned back ad looked at the dumpster or a few seconds but immediately thought against it. He’d rather confront Jeff once he dropped Rebekah off. This was way above the line.