Bloodfire (Blood Destiny 1) - Helen Harper Page 0,39

much, my lord. That hadn’t been so bad, I thought, and stood up relieved, turning towards the door. I straightened my t-shirt and felt the tension leave my body. He wasn’t so scary after all. My hand was turning the doorknob, however, when he cleared his throat and spoke again.

“Oh wait. One more thing, Miss Mackenzie.” Great. “I’m curious as to what you bathe with.”

Say what? I didn’t turn around but my body stiffened. “I’m not quite sure what you mean, my lord.”

“I mean, sweetheart, that you smell very odd. If you are a werehamster as you claim, then you’re like none I’ve come across before. I can’t quite put my finger on it but it’s definitely an unusual scent that you carry around with you.”

I wasn’t sure if it was my fear that he was skirting towards the truth or the sweetheart comment that did it, but I whipped around without thinking, all cylinders firing. “I fail to see what difference what I wash with or how I bathe has to do with you.” I snarled. “I’ve answered your sodding questions and played along. If you have nothing of any note to ask about then let me go.”

So the kitten roars after all.

I opened my mouth to speak again then thought better of it and settled for glaring at him instead.

“Never mind,” he answered airily. “I didn’t realise it was such a touchy subject. Clearly there are depths to you that I need to plumb further. Some other time, I think, Miss Mackenzie.”

I glared at him again and left. Goddamnit, I’d walked right into that one.

Outside, the blonde shifter was putting another mark on her clipboard. She beamed at me. “See, that wasn’t so bad, now was it?”

Fuck off, Brethren girl. I forced a smile. By the time they all left, my cheeks were going to be aching. “It was great. He is indeed an impressive man.”

“Isn’t he, though.” She sighed slightly and smoothed her hair self-consciously. “And he’s single.”

So sodding what? “Maybe you should ask him out on a date then.”

She giggled slightly. I was somewhat surprised that the apparently stoic and somber Brethren members were capable of giggling. “Oh no, I could never do that. Lord Corrigan likes to do the chasing himself.”

Screw Lord Corrigan. Which was actually probably what she wanted. I tried to smile at her again. “I have to go now.”

“Okay then,” she answered dreamily, no doubt imagining herself and Corrigan walking hand in hand down a deserted beach. I almost snarled again.

Julia was hovering around in the hall, looking over at me anxiously, so I flashed her a brilliant smile of fake reassurance before striding up to the dorms to change the dressing on my wound and get my backpack. Forget about Corrigan, I had clues to investigate and places to go and it was too late to change the fact that I’d stupidly snapped at him.

Once outside, I took a deep breath and filled my lungs. I figured I had a couple of hours before the rest of the interviews would be over. Plenty of time to see what I could find about tree markings and to look for black diamond stones. I’d bound my side and my ribs tightly with bandages and taken a few more painkillers so I was pretty sure that I’d be able to conduct my investigations without the pain getting to me. I briefly considered finding Tom and asking him to come with me – and quizzing to find out how his interview had gone - but I didn’t want to lose any valuable time and I was pretty certain that he wouldn’t take kindly to me patently hoping he screwed it up, so I shifted the backpack on my shoulder instead and walked out towards the beach and the scene of John’s death.

Despite my own ministrations, I didn’t want to risk delaying the healing process by opening the gashes up on my side further, so I refrained from jogging and instead walked casually away from the keep. At least if anyone spotted me I could use the excuse that I was just out for a casual afternoon stroll to clear my head.

The path was lightened by sunbeams, in stark and bitter contrast to when I’d taken this route last time. A few birds chirped here and there. I noted my own tracks from the previous night, as well as a few others that were heavier and no doubt belonged to the Brethren. And John had said