Page 91 of To Challenge a Wolf

Now that she thought about it, her failure to ask seemed unlike her. Maybe, no matter how well a human knew a vampire, certain topics never felt open.

Blaine got up and rinsed his glass and straw before putting them in the dishwasher. “Anything else, while I’m feeling talkative?”

“Beauty sleep agrees with you.” She grinned.

“Mmm.”

“How’d you manage to sleep less than twenty hours? You said it could be days or a week.”

“If I had collapsed, yes. You prevented that.” He came back to the table, sat across from her, and smiled. But his eyes still held some deep emotion for her, as though she’d truly spared him.

She pointed at him with mock sternness. “You’re right. You owe me. So, next up in Things I Didn’t Know: you eat vegetables.”

He laughed. “You expected me to be a carnivore.”

“Well, duh.”

“But you know I don’t need food for sustenance.”

“No, but I assumed you’d…I don’t know, gag on veggies or something.”

“Not at all. I enjoy cooking, and I enjoy eating widely. Studies say our palates are three-to-five times more discerning than the finest human palate.”

It really was mind-boggling, the number of ways an apex could best a human. “So vampires eat all sorts of different diets, just like humans?”

“Sure. Probably even more varied, because we eat for enjoyment without worrying about nutrition or allergies.”

“This is so interesting. And unfair.”

He shrugged, but he was smiling. “Have we exhausted your curiosity yet?”

“Give me a minute. I know I can come up with more.”

“You know you can leave anytime you need to? I’m fine, and you’re here as a favor.”

She knew him better than to assume he was getting rid of her, but he might be glad for some solitude, and now that she’d talked herself out about the wolf who didn’t want her, maybe she’d be glad for some too. A time to recharge and turn her face toward a life that no longer included Rhett.

“I don’t have to search for him anymore,” she whispered. “I’ll always know exactly where he is.”

“I’m sorry,” Blaine said.

“Me too. You know what? We’d have been epic together, me and Rhett. We’d have been…everything. Together.” She swiped away twin tears and forbade any more.

From the den, Vivian’s phone beeped like a car horn.

Blaine winced. “Is that volume necessary?”

“Oh, I turned it up last night before I went to bed. I didn’t want to miss a text while I was sleeping. In case he…” She shrugged. No need to finish that sentence. She fetched her phone from theden and ambled back toward the dining room while she checked her messages. Her breath stalled. She froze in place.

Rhett:Where do you live

She must be losing her mind. She couldn’t make sense of his question. For a moment she wondered if some creep had stolen his phone, but the odds a random person would also be incapable of using the question mark was too slim.

The greater Chicagoland area.

Rhett:Address.

Why? Am I going on your Christmas card list?

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