I finished the last of my Coke, then pushed the empty cup away and crossed my arms on the table—an action that brought me closer to the heat of him. It trembled across my skin in waves, warm and disturbing. But oddly, he had no scent. He might wear the flesh of a man, but he didn't smell like one.
He didn't smell like anything, really. Not even the rain that still beaded his skin.
"Meaning there are others like you out there searching for him?”
He hesitated, then nodded—another brief but oddly lyrical movement.
"But why? What has he done to incite such interest from the reapers?”
"It's not what he has done, but what he might do.”
Frustration rolled through me, but there wasn't much point in venting it. It wasn't exactly wise to get annoyed at someone who could steal your life away between one heartbeat and the next. And though it was obvious he wanted to use me to get to my father, that wasn't a comforting thought. Not when I knew so little about the reapers as a society or as inpiduals.
"So what is he up to that's causing you so much consternation?”
He crossed his arms, and I had to resist the urge to let my gaze linger over the lean, muscular goodness such an action revealed.
Damn it, I either needed to get to Franklin's—a discreet, upmarket wolf club—or break my vow to stop using Tao. This was getting ridiculous.
"To answer that,” he said, after considering me for entirely too long, "I really need to know just how much you know about us.”
I replied, "As much as any half-Aedh knows.”
"Which is not helpful, as I am not aware of what a half-Aedh might know.”
I swear his lips twitched as he said it—almost as if he was restraining a smile. I wondered again if reapers were capable of amusement, or whether it was simply a function of hormones that—for some damn indefinable reason—seemed to find him attractive.
But that could have been deliberate on his part. If he knew I was half Aedh, then he more than likely knew I was also half wolf, and the form he'd adopted could be an attempt to appeal to my more sensual nature. After all, the full moon was only a couple of days away, and for most werewolves this was the time of the moon heat.