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immune to catching the giggles. He started shaking first, as he tried to fight off the attack. It was no good though. Before long, the two of them were howling out loud, heads back as the wind blasted around them. For that moment, that one, blessed damn moment, nothing hurt. Mali’s entire body, her entire being, was lifted up and she felt like she was flying above the hurt and the confusion and the strangeness all around her.
    When they finally stopped cackling like a pair of idiots, Mali unconsciously hugged Jake tighter. He felt good against her. His hard, muscled back was warm to the touch, even through the leather jacket he wore. His scent was entirely his own, and that’s when Mali realized that she was smelling him .
    “Oh my God,” she said under her breath. “Why can I smell you?”
    He chuckled. “One second.”
    He pulled off the highway, but didn’t stop the motorcycle. They puttered slowly toward the trees, and as soon as they were in the forest, Jake switched off the bike, and sighed heavily. “We gotta get in here,” he said. “I don’t know why, but I get the feeling we’re not gonna be alone for long. Those guys aren’t gonna let you go that easily, and whoever’s tooth this is, well, they probably want it back.”
    “Probably right,” she said. In the distance, Mali could make out individual bird chirps. She cocked her head, confused as all hell, but entertained by what seemed to be burgeoning super hero senses. “Why can I hear birds like this?”
    Jake laughed again. “Well, I wasn’t lying,” he said. To explain without having to come up with words, he gently touched her neck. “Weren’t there bite marks there a little while ago?”
    “Shut up ,” she said, slapping at Jake playfully and then brought her hand up to her throat. “What the hell’s going on?”
    “It’s pretty cool, ain’t it?” he asked. “I mean, I’ve never been a human so I’m not sure what it’s like to not be able to hear the way I do, or smell the way I do. I imagine it’s a lot more boring, though.”
    “More lonely,” Mali said, not really meaning to unleash such a revelation, but once she did, it felt good. “We’re just kind of alone in our own little worlds. We don’t really... I don’t know, we don’t really mix with the world around us.”
    He nodded. Mali realized that Jake had moved his hand to the other side of her neck, and was stroking her gently with curling fingertips that moved against her skin like the softest breeze. “I can’t do this,” he said under his breath. “Not now.”
    Mali cocked her head to the side. “Do what?” She asked as she nuzzled Jake’s cupped hand.
    “This,” he said again. “You, me, can’t happen. I’ve got a job to do. I can’t get all sidetracked and flustered.”
    She nodded slowly. “Right, gotcha,” she said. “Your big important job. You’re willing to screw with my life, you’re willing to turn me, apparently, into a goddamn werewolf, but you aren’t willing to do something nice? Figures.”
    He shook his head. “It isn’t like that,” Jake said. “I’ve got to get back to my brother and figure this tooth business out. If this is something that could put Jamesburg in danger, he’s gotta know, and I’ve gotta help. I can’t screw up, not again. I promised him. And anyway, I’m in big trouble for all this. I can’t believe what I did. Even if Erik lets me into town, I’m probably gonna be as good as screwed when he realizes why you’re with me.”
    With her eyes narrowed, Mali frowned. “What are you talking about? So you saved me, what’s the big deal? Look, I’ve seen Dracula movies. I know I’m going to have to have someone around to teach me all about being a big furball, and it is your fault that I’m in this situation, so why not be a decent person... wolf-man, whatever?”
    “I never said I was leaving you anywhere, it’s just that I might be nailing my own coffin shut by doing that,” Jake responded.