voice thickened with disgust as his hand shifted up and curled around my wrist, his thumb pressing in on the area near where Jude had bitten me. “The vampire is one, I’m going to assume.”
“Jude may or may not be.” I glanced down at my wrist, frowning at the possessive hold he had on me. “Nobody understands how his mind works.”
“Did he bite you?”
“Why are you so determined to hear that answer?”
“Because believe it or not, it matters to what’s going on here.”
Rolling my eyes, I muttered, “Not entirely sure I’m buying that.” Then I sighed. “Yes.”
“How many times?”
“Once.” I twisted my hand out of his grasp and glanced outside, a little surprised to see we were at the little Walgreens where we’d stopped before. He pushed the car into park, but before I could climb out he hit the locks. “Shit. What, damn it?”
“Just once?”
“Yes.” I decided not to mention anything about the fact that I’d owe Jude another bite if he had to help me out of a jam. My plan was not to need him. Then it wouldn’t be an issue.
“He can get into your dreams, now.”
“He’s always been able to force his way inside them. But he doesn’t have any control over me, despite what some of the myths out there say.” I smiled a little. “And that annoys the hell out of him.”
Another one of the endless silences. Nobody could do eerie, unsettling silence like a shapeshifter. Nobody.
The only sound was the quiet little snick of the locks. I climbed out. I was halfway to the store when I sensed him behind me. Keep on walking. That was the plan.
I kept right on walking into the store.
Bottled water, energy bars—nasty things, but I figured they’d do the trick. I thought about buying some chocolate to stash in the bag, but it wouldn’t hold up under the heat. Trail mix might…okay. A bag of that. I did grab a candy bar to eat on the way. Nothing bolstered the mood like chocolate.
“Done.”
He wasn’t behind me anymore. I’d lost him somewhere between grabbing the energy bars and finding my trail mix but I figured he’d hear me anyway. I was aware of him—too aware. Like a warmth hovering just above my skin and it was the craziest damn thing.
In rut—
Hell. I needed to figure out what in the world that meant. I pulled my phone out and sent Colleen a message.
Hey. What’s it mean when somebody says a shifter cat is in rut?
Her response was almost immediate. And I couldn’t decide if it was comical or freaked out. It was two ‘O’s side by side, like she was bug-eyed. I glanced around and put my back to the display of soft drinks at my back. The last thing I wanted was for him to come up behind me, the sneak.
What does that mean? I demanded. If she’d been there, I might have shaken her.
Has he said he’s in rut?
Grumbling under my breath, I tapped back, Would you just answer the damn question? No. He hasn’t said a damn thing and this isn’t about anything he has said. I heard somebody else say it while I was working the case.
And that was absolutely not a lie.
Oh. Good. That’s good. Rut’s crazy. It’s basically their emotional commitment. It sounds like going into heat, but it’s more than that. It’s an emotional connection, it’s physical…and they have to want it, too. It’s like Mother Nature gives them a choice in the matter. Not fair, if you ask me. Do we ever get a choice who we fall for? But I’ve heard it’s supposed to be really intense.
My head felt a little weird. Okay. A lot weird. Swallowing, I tapped back, Thanks.
She sent me back a smiley. Hey, don’t let the sexy asshole bite you. I think that’s kind of their sign they’ve accepted it. And if you let him…well, you’re telling him you’ve accepted it.
I was still trying to wrap my mind around that when two things happened.
I sensed a shift in that weird energy that was Damon’s presence.
And my instincts started to scream a red alert.
Ducking around the display, I moved. My hand itched. I wasn’t scared. I was furious—didn’t even know why.
And then Damon was there.
“Do that disappearing act,” he growled in my ear.
I shook my head, staring toward the front of the store. “No.”
“Do it,” he ordered. “Now”
“Heads up, genius. In a store. Security cameras and scanners. That’s one of the few things I can do that