Page 9 of Surge of Heat

He rubs his face with his good arm, looking upset. “Smell, Sam?”

“Yes.” I move closer and sniff his neck. He freezes. “Even you and Aydan smell good. I don’t know how to explain it. It’s like some kind of biological thing.”

Granger drops his arm back around me, staring at me strangely. “Ismell good?”

I nod, even though I feel like I’m getting off topic and slip closer, breathing him in again. “Like soap and old books.”

He gives a strange laugh. “Is that good?”

I nod, drawing back, feeling embarrassed. “Yes. But that isn’t my point. This thing with Evander and I isn’t logical. It’s animalistic.”

He looks thoughtful. “You interacted with the green dragon, right?”

“When he made an… unwanted advance on me,” I say, nodding.

His eyes widen, and I see anger in his face. And Granger is never angry. “He tried toforce himself on you?”

I nod.

“You should be more upset about this,” he grounds out.

I shrug. “I was, but I’m doing better now.”

He turns away and starts sucking down his Dr. Pepper. I grab my own and take a sip, getting the feeling he needs a minute to gather his thoughts.

When he’s done, he sets down his drink a little too hard. “Did you like the green dragon’s scent?”

I wrinkle my nose. “No, it was awful.”

He looks thoughtful. “Then it isn’t as if you like the scents of all living beings, just certain ones.”

“Exactly.” I take another sip of my sweet, sweet liquid. “Granger, I don’t think I could stay away from Evander if my life depended on it. But if what that guy from the institute said is true, then my life seems to depend on me continuing to… you know? To cover my scent.”

“And do you think your scent is still covered now or is the green dragon on our tail?”

My stomach flips. Has it been too long since Evander and I had sex? No, it was just last night. I should be okay.

Just thinking about Evander makes my chest ache. It looks like he might have been hurt or killed. And if he was, the green dragon is likely searching for me even as we speak. If he finds me, I don’t think I can survive him on my own, and Granger and Aydan are only human, not that they'd let that stop them from doing everything they can to help me, but ultimately it will lead to their deaths.

I can’t let that happen.My stomach turns, and for a minute I can’t catch my breath.I don’t know what I’d do without them.

“Sam?” he asks, looking at me with concern.

I settle back against his arm. “I don’t know.”

“And do you think covering your scent requires… semen specifically?”

Ah, fuck.“I imagine so based on what the scientists at Specter Inc. said.”

The door jingles, and I already know who it is before I see him because that delicious smokiness that is all Aydan reaches me, and I realize, even with the distance, all the other customers, I can pinpoint his unique aroma. It’s strange how my sense ofsmell works. It seems to be more in tune to people than things, probably some biological evolution to allow survival of my kind.

Aydan scoots into the booth across from us and Granger takes his arm from around me. Aydan is radiating the kind of barely controlled anger that I’ve only seen from him when I’ve pushed him too far. Luckily for me, before he can say a word, three waitresses arrive at our table and slowly begin squeezing plates on it. They bring Granger another drink, and then we’re all devouring our food like we’d been lost in the woods for days. There’s no conversation, not until we’ve cleared our plates, and the waitresses have mostly cleared off our table.

We settle back, our bellies full. Some of the tension between us has eased. Granger gives the waitress his card and leaves her a big tip, and then we’re all sipping our drinks and avoiding what we need to talk about.

It’s a couplelongminutes before I make eye contact with Granger and know the conversation is about to begin. I just hope it’s less awkward than these long moments of silence.

“So, tell us why Specter Inc. is the place we should be going right now,” Granger says.

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