then turned to me. “I’ll be here at 0800 to pick you up. Call your wolf. If he agrees to assist, and agrees to my terms, he needs to be here by that time too. I won’t wait for him if he’s late.”
I silently nodded my head. My mind was still trying to wrap itself around the idea that I may be an unholy creation. Do they all see me that way?
Chapter Nineteen
Ruarc shook Archer’s hand and then followed his men out the front entrance. Archer returned to me and pulled me off the barstool.
“I do NOT think you are unholy, baby,” Archer said softly but sternly, tilting my head up so our eyes met. “I just don’t want to take any chances with the sword. That’s all I meant by it.”
I should be mad he had read my mind, but I learned long ago that whenever I thought extra hard on something or if something particularly bothered me, my thoughts tended to broadcast themselves loud and clear.
I nodded my head and allowed him to pull me into a tight embrace. “Why don’t you go ahead and go upstairs while I finish up down here. We’ll stay the night in my apartment. I’ll call Gunnar and have him bring you by a few sets of clothes, okay?”
“Yeah,” I nodded again. “Okay. I’ll go call Dean and see if he wouldn’t mind helping tomorrow.”
I called a quick goodbye to everyone and accepted a comforting hug from Trey. As soon as I was in Archer’s office on the third floor, I closed the door, sat down behind his desk and picked up the business phone. Using his phone reminded me that I really needed to replace my broken cell phone as soon as possible. I cursed my temper as I punched his number in.
The call to Dean was just as I expected. He was all for helping me but he cursed my new condition, Ruarc, and particularly “that sick, psycho son-of-a-bitch” Amun. He said he would ask his best trackers to help but couldn’t promise anything. The fact that he was even friends with a vampire would not go over well with his pack and he wasn’t going to force anyone to help me against their will, no matter how much he liked me. He said he’d call a meeting tonight and he’d see me in the morning at eight.
I hung up the phone, sat back in Archer’s big leather chair, and sighed. The fact that Dean was even willing to help me was huge. I knew how much vampires and werewolves hated each other and the fact that he was trying to maintain a friendship with me spoke volumes. I didn’t think I would ever be able to repay him fully for standing by my side and helping me through all of this bullshit Amun drama. His willingness to stand by me touched me deeply. It was suddenly very obvious to me that Dean was one of those ultra-rare ‘ride or die’ friends; that he would stand by me no matter what or die trying. I loved and deeply respected him in that moment and knew I had to find a way some day to tell him how much his friendship meant to me. Friends like him were one in a billion and I hoped I would get a chance to ‘ride or die’ for him one day and return the favor.
Archer was still busy downstairs so I decided to take a shower and get ready for bed. I was exhausted and knew I needed to be in top form tomorrow for the hunt. I quickly got undressed and hopped into the shower. I spent more time than I needed to in there but it gave me a chance to think. I worried Amun wouldn’t show himself to me if he caught wind of An Dilis or Dean. I tried to find a way around them but couldn’t. There was no way in hell I was going searching for Amun without backup. I told myself that maybe I’d think of something tomorrow and cut off the shower and dried off.
In my haste to shower, I forgot to grab something to wear from Archer’s closet so I wrapped myself tightly in the towel and opened the door. Archer was sitting on the bed drinking a bag of blood and glanced up at me as I entered.
“Are you okay?” he asked, his brow furrowed slightly. “You were in there a while. I was