He remembered Angela being a sweet little kid who was always smiling. Janie wouldn't lie about her sister. She couldn't fake the concern in her eyes.
She didn't want to tell him what threat this boss of hers had made if she didn't return with the Eye. He was willing to bet it was severe—that Janie's life was in jeopardy.
He shook the thoughts away and looked at her again. Then he began to work on the knots he'd tied.
"Thanks," he said softly.
She frowned. "For what?"
"For letting Barkley go." He swallowed hard. "He's a good guy. Got his own problems. It would be par for the course if I'd gotten him killed. I always screw up everything."
"Always?"
"Always. You should have asked my father. He thought I was a waste of skin. A total disappointment to him, right to the end."
"I only remember meeting him once, but my first impression was that he was a jerk."
"Didn't make him wrong. Malcolm was the only one who ever was nice to me back then. I owe that guy big-time."
"The guy who knocked me out and told you to drain me."
His mouth quirked. "Yeah, that one."
Her frown deepened, and she searched his face. She rubbed her wrists after the rope fell away. "I need to find that map. You can either help me or you can stand in my way."
He studied her for a moment. "Angela's really been missing for so long?"
She cringed and nodded. "I thought for a second that your werewolf friend might be serious about being psychic."
"The redhead from his dreams? You think that Angela's the one he was talking about?"
"Probably just wishful thinking." The expression on her pretty face hardened. "So you're saying that your long-lost best bud Malcolm didn't even tell you where he was going? Why would he leave you behind like that?"
He didn't reply.
She tensed. "Hedid . Hedid tell you where he was going, didn't he? He must have. You have to tell me,
Quinn, where he—" She stood up in one fast movement, then swayed on her feet and brought her hands to her head. "Oh, my God."
"Take it easy, Janie." He caught her before she hit the ground.
He eased her gently down to the dusty floor and stroked the hair off her forehead, tracing his thumb over smooth, pale skin.
"Brain hurts," she said, keeping her eyes closed.
"Yeah. I guess your head isn't as hard as I thought it was. Who knew?" He moved back a little. "We should get you to the hospital."
"No, don't stop. That feels good." She grabbed his hand and brought it back to her forehead.
Who was he to argue? He continued to stroke her forehead, pushing errant strands of blond hair from her beautiful face. She closed her eyes and sighed.
He stilled for a moment. "I do charge sixty bucks an hour, I'll have you know."
"Money well spent."
She looked so innocent lying there. Not helpless like she'd looked before when she was unconscious and he'd almost devoured her. This was different.
At that moment all he wanted to do was to make her smile again, like she had on the drive over there.
The smile that was bright enough to light something up inside him that had been dark for a long time.
She opened her eyes and reached up to take his hand, holding it against her cheek and with her other hand, reached up to run her fingers through his hair, just staring up at him without saying anything. Her hand felt warm against his.
The cell phone rang and he jumped.
Moment over.
She reached for her phone and brought it up to her ear.
"Yes?" she said wearily. She closed her eyes and pressed her eyelids together. "Fine. Hang on."
She pulled the phone away and looked up at Quinn. "The werewolf wants to talk to you."
He nodded. He probably wanted to say good-bye. Nice guy, that Barkley.
"Barkley," he said. "You okay?"
"I don't know if I'd say that exactly. I'm finding it hard to hold one form. One minute I'm a werewolf, and the next I'm human again. Is there some sort of lunar eclipse scheduled that I don't know about?"
"Not that I know of."
"Anyhow, I'm calling because I realized something. When I'm asleep in wolf form, I can totally channel my dreams into visions. I can basically ask to see something and then I see it."
"LikeMonday Night Football ?"
"No. Although that would be really cool. But I'm talking about that dream that had to do with Janie. Her necklace, remember?"
"Yeah." He glanced over at Janie, who hadn't gotten up from the floor yet. She lay there with her eyes closed again. His gaze moved down to the necklace in question. "What about it?"
"I realized why the necklace set off my powers. It was made by somebody from my pack. She and her pups moved down toMexico years ago, but she always stayed in touch. The woman weaves actual werewolf hair into the pieces of jewelry she makes. She called them were-looms."
"And?"
"The redhead," he paused. "I get the weird feeling that she's related to Janie. By blood. That's why they wear the same necklace, maybe. When I was dreaming a minute ago, everything became a whole lot clearer."
"What did you see?"