He cringed. "Don't yell at me."
Oh jeez he was on ketamine. What else would they use on a shape-shifter? She should have known. She'd had a college roommate who'd loved experimenting with all kinds of recreational drugs, and Special K, an animal tranquilizer, in particular had been a favorite. If Susan remembered correctly, it often left her roommate highly sensitive to light, sound, and touch.
Wanting to test the theory, she reached out to stroke Ravyn's hair. Like a cat, he arched his back and actually purred. It was so out of character for him that she wondered what he would say if he weren't under the influence.
He raised his hand up to cup her cheek. "You're so soft," he breathed. He grimaced as if something pained him. "I don't feel good."
Susan looked around quickly until she spotted a small trash can near the door. Releasing him, she grabbed it and barely made it back to him before he unloaded the contents of his stomach into it.
She cringed. They must have seriously overdosed him. Her roomie had often been nauseated by the drug, but Susan couldn't ever remember her actually getting sick from it-just very stupid and extremely over affectionate.
When he was finally finished, he fell back onto the mattress, where he panted and groaned.
Susan sighed wearily as she wondered what to do with the trash can. "What a perfect end to a perfect day."
Stryker stood in an alley outside of the Serengeti with three of his men and Satara. He glared at Trates, who'd allowed Ravyn to escape them yet again.
Stryker's second in command gave him a sheepish look that said he knew exactly how displeased Stryker was with him. "At least we know the tranquilizer works and it's every bit as fast acting as Theo promised."
Little consolation that.
Stryker licked his fangs meaningfully. "And where is the good doctor now?"
His face paling, Trates stepped back.
"Grow a ball, Stryker," Satara said irritably as she cast a glare toward the club. "March in there and take him down already."
" Grow a brain, little sister. You violate sanctuary and you open a whole can of worms that not even you can deal with."
"How so?"
Approaching her menacingly, Stryker backed her up against the wall. "I realize that as a handmaiden to Artemis you think you're immune to everything. Lucky you. But the rest of us aren't that fortunate. You go in there after Ravyn and you'll bring the wrath of Savitar down on us all. Not to mention it would become open hunting season on Spathi. We use those places to run to as much as the Were-Hunters do."
Her nostrils flaring, she pushed him back. "Then what do you want to do? Give up on taking Seattle?"
"No," he snarled. "We've gained too much ground here, and so far the humans have proven themselves worthy. We will wait them out and kill them when they leave."
She let out a disgusted breath. "You know what your problem is, Stryker? You think like an eleven-thousand-year-old man."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You're too set in your ways. Give me a team of men to lead."
Yeah, right. Like he would trust her? She was too quick to act and too slow to think. "Are you insane?"
"No, but unlike you, I think outside the box." She gestured toward the buildings around them. "You want Seattle? I can give it to you."
Stryker hesitated as he considered her proposition. For centuries, Satara had kept to herself and only visited him whenever Artemis had no need of her. It was only in the last two years that she'd become a more frequent visitor to Kalosis. And with each visit, she seemed to get more and more agitated. Something had happened on Olympus to infuriate her, yet she never spoke of it.
But then maybe she had a point. He was old and tired. And set in his ways. Maybe she did have an idea that the Dark-Hunters and Acheron in particular wouldn't see coming.
"Fine." He looked back at his second in command. "Trates, go with her. If she makes a move to compromise any standing treaty, kill her."
Satara gave him a snide grimace. "I love you, too, Brother." She pulled the dagger out of her boot. "But don't worry... things are about to go deliciously our way. "
Ash woke up in a cold sweat as fragmented, displaced images shifted through his mind like a broken kaleidoscope. Sitting up naked in bed, he could hear desperate voices calling out to him with unspoken pleas...
And then he felt it. The cold, demanding hand on his bare shoulder that jerked his senses away from the nightmare.