Tooth and Claw (The Harry Russo Diaries Book 2) Read Online Free Page A

bring it back,” Isaac said as he
walked around the corner and into the kitchen. With a little huff, Gran
disappeared.
    I looked at Isaac critically. He was dressed in black jeans
and a charcoal, long-sleeved shirt. No suit, no tie. Not bad. Tess and I had
been working on him to try and take his usually formal dress code down a notch.
Last week he had even trimmed his shoulder-length hair, to a more modern men’s
style. It had amped up his sexy factor three-fold. “Looking pretty good there
Isaac,” I said.
    Isaac’s hands flew up to the tie that wasn’t there at his
neck and I tried to hide my smile behind my hand. He shrugged, brushing
imaginary lint off his shirt instead. “I feel under-dressed.” He frowned.
    “You look great. Trust me.” I turned my attention back to
the mug. The pencil in question rattled back and forth against the other pens
and pencils, but remained where it was. I huffed out an exasperated breath.
“Tomas made it look so easy.”
    Isaac laughed. “Tomas has had over a century to practice.”
    “A century! How old is he?” Tomas looked to be about twenty-five,
if that.
    “Tomas has been with Salvador for over two-hundred years.
In fact, he was around your age now when first I met him.”
    I sat there trying to process the information. “So I won’t
age anymore?” Was I going to be stuck at twenty-three forever?
    “No, you will still age, but much more slowly, more in par
with how a werewolf ages in fact.” Cool, so Tess and I would age the same. I
could live with that. “You won’t stop aging, no matter how slowly, until your
first death,” Isaac continued. “Once you are a full vampire, you will no
longer age.”
    I squirmed at the words ‘first death’. They ranked right up
there with ‘feeding’ in terms of words that made me uncomfortable. There were
some things about my true nature which I wished I could have remained
blissfully ignorant.
    I turned back to try the pencil again, but the door opened
with a bang and Tess rushed in, all in a fluster. “Sorry, sorry. I’m late.”
She threw her bag down on the couch. “Matt was supposed to start at six and he
never showed up, so I had to take his beginner Tai Chi class.” She kicked off
her shoes and threw them under the bench by the door. “I just need to jump in
the shower and then I’ll be ready to go.” I had let her talk me into going
to the Lodge tonight, although I was having second thoughts. She stopped short
and looked at Isaac. “Isaac, looking good, looking good, my man.” She turned
to look at me. “Is that what you’re wearing?” She wrinkled up her
nose.
    I looked down at my clothes. I was dressed in a pair of
faded jeans and a pink, baby-doll style t-shirt with cap sleeves. “What’s
wrong with what I have on? I told you I’m not going dancing.” What would be
the point? After the last time I was there, no male with an ounce of
self-preservation would come near me. It was all Nash’s fault. He had given
me a bowl of stew which in some sort of barbaric, male werewolf code meant I
was off limits to anyone with a Y chromosome.
    “You look fine, just…” Tess trailed off with a shrug. “You
look fine.”
    Hmmph. Fine. I rolled my eyes and followed her upstairs.
Okay, so maybe I could dress up a little .

    ***

    Two hours later - we had been distracted by an episode of Big
Bang Theory - we were walking up to the Lodge. I was dressed in black
jeggings and knee high boots. On top I had my favourite copper-coloured cable
knit sweater. It had one of those deep cowl-necks that showed off a bit of
collar bone. Tess had taken a note from the casual page as well and was
dressed in black jeans and a tight little top that highlighted all her curves.
    The Lodge hadn’t changed a bit since the last time I was
there. That is to say, it still looked like a total country dive bar. I knew
now that it was all a façade to keep the tourists away; the real party was in
the Ice House behind the pub where