something to thank you.”
“What for?”
“This.” He tapped the center of his own chest. “Would still be stuck as a beast if you hadn’t found Vance’s cabin.”
“Hey, don’t give me all the credit.” She smiled at him as she ripped open a cereal bar. “Looks like you can shift all on your own after all. Lupa’s dart must have worn off by now, right?”
He toyed with an apple, looking down at it. “Yes.”
“Well, there you go. The fact that she shot you again might have given you a boost, but you’re the one holding things together now. I bet you’d have figured it out eventually, even if I’d never found Vance.” She reached for her juice. “That’s a huge weight off my mind, actually.”
Fenrir’s head rose sharply. “It is?”
“Oh yeah. I mean, I’ve worked on high stakes cases before, but I’ve never had someone’s actual life depending on the success of my investigation. I know we still need to catch Lupa and Vance, but…” She gestured at his broad-shouldered form. “At least you don’t need me to find the source of the serum now. I gotta admit, that was a lot of pressure.”
“Oh.” Fenrir stared down at his apple again, turning it over in his huge hands. “Yes. It would be.”
Something about the way he was avoiding her eyes made her pause. “Fenrir…you’re worried that you’re going to revert back to animal form, aren’t you? You’re still counting on me to find Vance, and the secret of his serum.”
His mouth firmed. He put the apple back on the platter, lifting his gaze to hers, copper eyes clear and steady.
“No,” he said. “Is my fight, not yours. Must learn to hold this shape on own. Would still like you to find L-Lu—my sister. But for her sake, not mine.”
“I’ll do my best. I still need to find Vance for my client, anyway.” She tried a smile, striving for a light tone. “So I guess you’re stuck with me for a while longer.”
He didn’t smile back. “Good.”
The sexual tension in the room rather abruptly kicked up several notches. Darcy’s throat went dry. Other parts did the exact opposite.
Problem was, she knew exactly what he wanted…and it wasn’t just sex. He wanted all of her, not only her body. Forever.
“Uh.” She shot to her feet, accidentally bumping the table. “Well, um, I—I guess I’d better get to work.”
Fenrir nodded slowly, as though she’d answered a question he hadn’t asked out loud. He began gathering up the breakfast things.
“Darcy,” he said quietly, eyes on his hands rather than her. “No pressure. No expectations. Just take this one day at a time, yes?”
She relaxed a little. “Yeah. That sounds good. But I really do need to get back to work. Which means I need to talk to you about Lupa.”
His shoulders tensed. “Nothing to say.”
“I know it’s hard for you to remember, but—”
“Not hard,” he interrupted, a hint of a growl in his voice. “Impossible. Told you last night, don’t remember. Can’t remember. Please, Darcy. Don’t ask me again.”
She opened her mouth to argue—and then remembered how he’d nearly lost control of his shifting when she’d pushed him on this last night. She couldn’t risk tipping him over that edge again. Not when they didn’t have any serum left; nothing to help him hold on to his humanity, if it started to slip away from him.
“All right,” she said. “It’s okay, I’ve got some other tricks up my sleeve that I can try. I’ll figure out a way to find Lupa. But if you do remember anything, tell me, okay?”
He didn’t answer. He straightened, balancing the tray, and turned to go.
“Hey, Fenrir?” Curiosity prompted her to ask. “What are you going to do, now that you’re human?”
His expression lightened. He flashed her one of his shy, toe-curling smiles.
“Go to work,” he said. Then his forehead wrinkled. He added, with a slight note of bafflement, “Blaise said that you might want to watch.”
Chapter 23
“God bless you,” Darcy murmured to Blaise.
The other woman shot her a shamelessly filthy grin. “Thought you’d want to see this.”
Darcy wasn’t sure that she should be watching this. It certainly wasn’t doing anything to calm her raging hormones.
“Move your lazy ass, you motherloving slacker!” Buck roared. “Are you a hellhound or a slug shifter? Let’s see some sweat!”
Fenrir already seemed to be sweating quite enough to Darcy. Despite the freezing air, his t-shirt stuck to his broad back. His bare arms gleamed as though oiled, huge muscles flexing.
“Do you want to be on