Something. But apparently she was asking too much.
"Thank you, D'Aria," Wulf said, his voice deep and strong.
The Dream-Hunter inclined her head to them, then vanished. There was no trace of her. No sign.
Cassandra looked around the elegant garage of a man who had lived for untold centuries. Then she looked at the small signet ring she wore on her right hand that her mother had given her just days before she died. A ring that had been handed down through her family since their first ancestor had prematurely crumbled to dust.
All of a sudden, Cassandra burst out laughing.
Wulf appeared bemused by her humor. "Are you all right?"
"No," she said, trying to sober. "I think I snapped a wheel at some point tonight. Or at the very least stepped over into the realm of Rod Serling's Twilight Zone."
His frown deepened. "How do you mean?"
"Well, let's see..." She looked at her gold Harry Winston watch. "It's only eleven o'clock and tonight I have gone to a club that seems to be owned by shape-shifting panthers, where a group of vampire hit men and one possible god attacked me. Went home only to be attacked again by said hit men, god, and then a dragon. Had a Dark-Hunter save me. My bodyguard may or may not be in the service of a goddess and now I just met a sleep spirit. Hell of a day, huh?"
For the first time since meeting him in the flesh, she saw a hint of a smile on Wulf's roguishly handsome face. "Just a typical day in the life from where I'm standing," he said.
He moved closer to her and examined her neck where Stryker had bitten her. His fingers were warm against her skin. Soothing and gentle. The scent of him filled her head and made her wish for a moment where they could go back and just be friends again.
There was very little blood on her shirt. "It looks like it's closed up already."
"I know," she said quietly. There was a coagulating gel in Apollite saliva, which was why they had to continually suck for blood once they opened a wound. Otherwise the wound would close before they had a chance to eat. The gel they secreted could also blind humans if an Apollite spat in their eyes.
She was just grateful that the bite didn't unite her with Stryker in any way. Only Were-Hunters had that ability.
Wulf stepped back from her and led her into his house. He wasn't sure why he had been given the task of seeing to her safety, but until Acheron told him otherwise, he would do his duty. Feelings be damned.
As he opened the door, his cell phone rang.
Wulf answered it to find Corbin on the other end. "Hey, did you find Kat?"
"Yeah," Corbin said. "She told me she only went to take out the garbage and came back to find Cassandra gone."
He relayed the information to Cassandra, who looked confused by it.
"What do you want me to do with Kat?" he asked Cassandra.
"Can she come here?"
Yeah. When the equator freezes. He wasn't about to let Kat near Chris or his home until he knew more about her and her loyalties. "Hey, Bin, can she stay with you?"
Cassandra narrowed her green eyes at him with malice. "That's not what I said."
He held his hand up to silence her. "Yeah, okay. I'll call you once we get settled." He hung up.
Cassandra bristled at his high-handed manner. "I don't like being shushed."
"Look," he said, clipping his phone back on his belt. "Until I know more about your friend, I'm not inviting her into my home, where Christopher lives. I don't mind wagering with my life, but I'll be damned again before I wager with his. Got it?"
Cassandra hesitated as she remembered what he had told her in their dreams about Chris and how much Chris meant to him. "I'm sorry. I didn't think about that. So he lives here too?"
He nodded as he turned on a light in the back hallway. To her right was a staircase and on the left was a small bathroom. Farther down the hallway was the kitchen. Large and airy, it was scrupulously clean and very modern in design.
Wulf hung his keys on a small rack by the stove. "Make yourself at home. There's beer, wine, milk, juice, and soda in the fridge."
He showed her where the glasses and plates were kept above the dishwasher.