The place was relatively quiet for a change. Tao was in the kitchen, humming happily as he worked, and several waitresses were clearing tables, readying for the next rush of people. I flowed up the stairs and into the changing room, ensuring no one was about before I shifted back to human shape. I released my grip on my phone and purse a second before I hit the tiled floor, then stayed there for several minutes, battling for breath and waiting for the pain in my head and the shaking in my body to ease. It had been one hell of a night, and I just had to hope the surprises were done with. I really couldn’t take much more right now.
"You need to eat," a soft voice said behind me.
I jumped instinctively, then swore as I recognized the familiar wash of heat when he stepped into existence.
"Damn it, Azriel," I said, pushing up onto my knees. The pain in my head sharpened briefly then eased off, but the ache in my ribs remained at a barely bearable level. "You really have to stop scaring me like that."
"And if you’d been more attuned to your instincts, you’d have felt me coming long before I actually arrived."
And if any other man had said that, I might have been tempted to grin and tease him about double meanings. But Azriel wasn’t any other man.
His legs appeared in front of me. I glanced up the length of him, unable to help admiring his lean, muscular body, then met his gaze. His expression was as neutral as ever, but his eyes, like the sword strapped to his back, were filled with energy. I sighed. "Azriel, I’m really not up to an argument about Lucian right now."
Surprise flickered briefly across his face before neutrality clamped in again. "I wasn’t looking for an argument."
He offered me a hand and I accepted it gratefully, allowing him to pull me to my feet.
"And the Aedh is right," he added, not releasing me immediately. "You stink."
"Thanks." I glanced down at our hands and he took the hint, letting go. I flexed my fingers, unable to escape the warmth of his touch, and tried to ignore the feeling that he’d wanted to say more than he had. I stepped back. "Did you and Lucian investigate the room I’d been held in?"
"The Aedh did. I examined the body in the sewer."
I turned around and began stripping off as I walked toward the shower. Azriel’s gaze was a weight that pressed against my spine, and despite the fact that I was werewolf—and more than used to parading around naked before all and sundry—embarrassment began to swirl through me.
Because he wasn’t all and sundry.
And that, I thought in annoyance, was the stupidest thought I’d ever had. He wasn’t all and sundry because he was a reaper, and he didn’t care if I was clothed or naked, upside down or inside out. The only thing that mattered to him was achieving his mission. Nothing more, and nothing less.