Page 41 of The Vampire and the Case of the Cursed Canine

‘She was taking a shower and going to bed. You’ll disturb her if you bother her now.’

I chewed my lip. ‘What about Fluffy and Shadow?’

‘Fed and also in bed.’

I melted against him. ‘Thank you so much, Connor.’

‘You’re welcome, doe. I’m taking you home. You’re exhausted, and to be honest we both need a shower.’

I looked down: my shirt was torn and I was covered in dust and sweat which had turned to mud in places. And I was tired to my toes. Braving the beast beyond the barrier seemed like a lifetime ago, but it was only a matter of hours. It really had been a long-ass day.

‘I hear you,’ I sighed. ‘But I don’t want to go home.’ I didn’t want to wake up to Mum’s judgement though admittedly, bar one or two off comments, she hadn’t been as bad as I’d expected.

‘My home,’ Connor offered softly.

I looked at him. He smiled and I wrapped my arms around his neck. ‘Do I have to come back to this dump?’ I whined.

‘Not for a good eight hours,’ he promised.

‘Sounds like heaven.’ I kissed him and felt his smile beneath my lips. ‘Let’s blow this joint. That’s what you Yanks say, right?’

He swept me into his arms and stood up in one smooth motion. I squealed, even though Mum had taught me that a lady shouldn’t squeal because it was unbecoming. I decided right then and there that it was a stupid rule that was definitely meant to be broken when sexy vampire men were involved.

I looked at him and his eyes darkened as he looked back. I wanted food, a bath and Connor in that order. He needed to move faster – now and later – because I wasn’t in the mood for slow. Some of the heat in my stomach must have reached my eyes because he hustled us out of the back door and into the car park.

He set me in the passenger seat, belted me in and turned on the heaters. The warmth, combined with the scent of him and the rocking of the truck, sent me straight to sleep. I’m a fabulous date.

I woke up in Connor’s glorious bed – alone. I reached over to make sure: no, he wasn’t there. I groaned and grabbed my phone from the nightstand to check the time. It was early evening and I had to go to work soon. At least I felt rested and mostly recovered from yesterday in my body, if not my mind. The more interaction I had with the beast beyond the barrier, the more scared I became. It was some sort of giant cat doused in shadows that acted like acid. Learning that had been more fodder for my nightmares.

And how was I going to save Fluffy? He wasn’t cursed in the same way, but would the left-over azalea be enough to save him? Hopefully now that Anissa had broken the curse on the others, she’d help me with my boy.

I was about to get up when Connor appeared balancing a tray in his hands. I hurriedly pulled the covers back over me and sat up. ‘You brought me breakfast in bed?’ No one had done that for me except my nana when I’d been ill.

Thinking about that stirred a lot of childhood memories. I was sick or injured a lot as a child and it was always Nana who looked after me, her blue eyes flashing with rage because she hated it when I got hurt.

I’d been a really clumsy kid, which was another reason I hadn’t got many friends because I’d taken lots of time off school while I was healing. Only my excellent memory had kept me from falling behind.

Connor placed the tray on my lap and raised an eyebrow. ‘Are you going to share with the class?’

‘Just remembering some childhood stuff. I was a sickly, clumsy kid. Luckily I grew out of it, though I did get hit by a bus once. It’s ridiculous – who gets hit by a bus?’

‘How did the tray make you remember that?’

‘My nana used to bring me breakfast in bed when I was sick, and one of the times was the bus thing.’

Connor was frowning. ‘Talk to me about the bus,’ he said tightly.

I didn’t understand why he was looking so upset because it had been years ago. I grabbed a piece of perfectly crisped bacon and nibbled on it, but a lurch in my stomach reminded me I needed to have blood before food. I took the glass, plugged my nose and downed it in a few swallows, then happily tucked into my bacon.

‘American bacon is so much better,’ I said happily. ‘You have streaky bacon but in the UK we mainly eat back bacon. It’s a lot meatier and not half as crispy.’

Connor’s eyes were still intense. ‘The bus, Bunny.’

I rolled my eyes. ‘It’s not a big deal. I was twelve. I was crossing the street in London. I’m not sure what distracted me – the bus sort of wiped that out of my memory.’ He was listening intently. ‘Do you know those large red tour buses we get in London? Double deckers? Well, one of them came out of nowhere.’

I frowned as I tried to recall it. ‘It was weird though, because you really can’t miss them,’ I said slowly. ‘And they don’t move fast because of the traffic, but I swear it wasn’t there one minute and the next it was. Bam.’ I winced as remembered pain flooded me and I absently rubbed my leg. ‘Luckily, it was a glancing blow, though it broke my left femur. I was in hospital for a while. I guess they brought me breakfast in bed, too.’

I picked up a slice of toast and bit into it. It was delicious and all of a sudden I was ravenous.

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