Page 90 of It All Started with a Bite

I nodded, a little disappointed that our moment had been interrupted.

“Good.” Samuel surprised both Hugh and me by kissing my brow tenderly. “I’ll be in touch this weekend. Make sure you get some rest.”

I went out into the main office and tried to not get distracted by the lingering effects of my close encounter with Samuel while I filled out the incident report.

As bonded mates, the attraction between us was undeniable. I was painfully conscious we were both avoiding the inevitable. After all, we’d met each other less than a week ago and hadn’t spoken much. Yet the more time I spent with Samuel, the more I felt like I had known him my whole life.

Which was weird.

“You’ll have to be more careful from now on,” Didi warned as I handed over the paperwork. “The Council of Elders will be watching your every move after what happened today.”

Gavin nodded. I did my best not to grimace.

Doing my job under a magnifying glass sounded like my idea of Hell.

By the time Bo and I got home, I was more than ready for the weekend. A pang of guilt shot through me as I slipped the BMW’s key in my bag.

Ethel was still in the Hawthornes’s garage.

“I’ll give the new car back eventually,” I told Bo as we rode the elevator.

“I didn’t say anything.” He gave me an innocent look and swung his tail like a snake oil salesman pitching a miracle elixir. “That BMW’s AC is gonna be sweet come summer though.”

My dog knew how to make a convincing argument.

We walked through the front door of our apartment and found it smelling of coffee beans and something distinctly otherworldly.

“Is that—?” Bo sniffed the air cautiously.

“Vampire,” I confirmed warily.

Ellie was in the kitchen. She was surrounded by coffee-making paraphernalia and practically vibrating with excitement.

“You’ll never guess what happened,” she blurted.

“You got a job at Bean Me Up?” I hazarded.

Ellie deflated slightly. “How did you know?”

It was scary how accurate my wolf’s nose was getting.

“Lucky guess.” I decided not to mention that she reeked of Virgil’s scent. “When do you start?”

“Monday.” She beamed. “The manager said I have a natural talent for customer service.”

Bo and I exchanged a look as she went back to practicing her coffee making.

“You should stop her,” Bo whispered stealthily. “She’ll probably poison someone!”

“You don’t know that!” I whispered back.

The doorbell rang before my dog could come up with a clever repartee.

I left the kitchen to go answer it and stiffened when I picked up on a pair of familiar scents coming from the hallway. Bo followed me with a look of hesitant hope.

Victoria was on our doorstep, Pearl in her arms.

“Good evening,” the Hawthorne matriarch said.

---