humans and rip their throats open on a regular basis for fun was the diamond ring sitting on her finger.
“You did what?” she asked, her voice breaking as she turned away from the stove. “Ronnie, you could have been killed!”
“He was more interested in killing Colt and Peter,” Ronnie said with a sigh. He decided not to mention the part where the Plague Doctor had come pretty damn close to cutting his head off as well.
“I knew we shouldn’t have let you go,” she said, gathering a few fallen strands of hair on top of her head. “What about the Plague Doctor? Does that… does that make you one now?”
“No,” he snorted, popping a few grapes from the bowl on the counter into his mouth, since he didn’t have high hopes for whatever was sizzling on the stove. “I’m not awake yet. No superpowers or anything.”
“It’s not funny,” she said, lowering her voice to a whisper, as if Evelyn might be lurking behind the sofa.
Then again…
“Do you realize what the Council would do if they found out?”
“I imagine if I was a Plague Doctor, they wouldn’t do much,” Ronnie mused. “Considering what that thing did to Colt and Peter.”
His mother grimaced. “It was that bad?”
“Colt said it felt like being torn apart from the inside, and since he shifts into a damn werewolf every other day and doesn’t think anything of it, yeah, I’d say it was pretty bad.”
Susan fell silent and seemed to be trying to process it all. “Are you sure you’re alright after that?”
“I told you, I’m fine.”
“I don’t mean physically.” She frowned, studying his face closely. “You killed someone, Ronnie. You’re a ‘vegan,’ for goodness’ sake, that has to be traumatic.”
“I’m fine,” he said in what he hoped was a more convincing tone. The truth was, he wasn’t sure what he was, but if he admitted that, she was just going to smother him with pity and overcooked pancakes.
At least, he thought those were pancakes.
“Oh, shit,” Susan hissed, following his gaze to the burning skillet. She yanked it off the burner and turned off the gas. “I’ll make another batch.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m not that hungry, anyway.” It was the truth. He knew that was probably just going to throw up more red flags since he rarely turned down food, but it was the last thing he wanted to think about now. Especially when his mind kept drifting to Vaughn on top of him, his spindly fingers wrapped tightly around Ronnie’s neck.
Of all the fucking things to be traumatized by, it had to be that.
Then again, it wasn’t so much the incident as what it reminded him of. Better just to push it all back and hope it didn’t overflow.
“Are you sure?” she asked, watching him with even more concern now.
“Positive. I just want to sleep.” He gave her a kiss on the cheek to put her at ease and went to his room.
He shrugged out of his clothes, noting a few spatters of blood he’d missed before. At least it would just look like paint to any human who’d noticed. He threw the clothes in the garbage can outside his bathroom and turned the shower on, scrubbing until he felt reasonably clean. He turned out the lights and climbed under the covers. Sleep had always been a sanctuary, but this time, he wasn’t even sure what he was hiding from and it eluded him for longer than he wanted to admit.
Maybe it was just because he knew what—and who—would be there waiting for him when he finally succumbed.
Chapter 25
Colt
After being chased from the hospital since he wasn’t a blood relation to Jason, or his partner in any official capacity, Colt finally gave in and left once he had made sure the hospital was as heavily guarded as Fort Knox. He was too manic to even think of sleep, so he spent the night patrolling the area in his truck and telling himself things weren’t as far out of control as they seemed to be.
Jason didn’t remember anything. That was good, wasn’t it? So why did it feel like they were back to square one?
He knew what Stan would say, which was part of the reason he hadn’t been back home. He didn’t need to hear that Stan thought he was just relieved he’d finally had reason to tell Jason the truth, and in an instant, that had gone from being what was best for him to the exact opposite.