Page 41 of Bitten

“Regular food,” Kane said, nodding. He ate very little. Didn’t need to. But he was starving tonight.

“There’s a mom and pop joint on Elm that delivers the best Elvish food. I’m addicted to their waybread pizzas. They use real cheese made from milk of the dual-horned unicorn. And the gemsbok stew is to die for.” Caelian groaned. “Their ale is damned good, too.”

It wasn’t the burger and fries he’d imagined, but Caelian looked too pleased to say no. “Whatever you want,” Kane said, moving to the windows to check once more. He needed to fight the desire he felt. Best way to do that was to focus on the job at hand.

Caelian lifted the hotel phone from the receiver and made the call. Kane listened to the man’s voice, hating how it affected him.

One was bad enough. Now two? Fuck.

After the call, Caelian turned to him, an odd look on his face. “I’m going to take a quick shower before the food gets delivered. Keep an ear out—I’m allowed to charge it to the room, so just sign for it if it comes.”

Kane nodded and watched as the elf picked up a few items before heading into the bathroom. Once the door was closed and the water on, Kane struggled to keep himself from charging in and taking the man right there in the shower.

To keep his attention focused elsewhere, he eyed the strange contraptions Caelian had set up as booby traps. They looked like some weird Home Alone set-up, ready to take down the bad guy burglars. A lot of thought and planning had gone into them—he just wondered if they truly worked.

There was a little part of him that wanted to connect one of them and see how it worked. But a knock at the door interrupted him. He walked over slowly and peered through the keyhole.

Nothing.

He knelt and looked through the middle hole.

An elf much smaller than Caelian stood on the other side, several bags of food hanging from his hands.

After watching a moment, Kane rose and opened the door.

“Hiya,” the elf said before handing everything over. “That’ll be fifty-eight, nineteen.”

“Charge it to the room,” Kane said.

“This ain’t room service. Pay up,” the pipsqueak said.

Kane sighed. He didn’t have room for a wallet in his armor. He eyed the elf and leaned over. “Send the bill to the king’s guard.”

The elf eyed him again before turning to leave. “Whatever, dude. They don’t pay me enough for this shit.” He paused and turned to Kane. “And thanks for the tip, motherfucker.”

Kane felt bad for the guy. “I’ll make it up to you.”

“Sure you will,” the elf said before walking away.

As soon as he’d locked back up and laid the bags on the small table in the room, Caelian walked out of the bathroom. A puff of hazy steam came first, carrying the elf’s clean scent into the room. When he walked out—in only a towel—Kane’s cock stood up and really took notice.

He’d been battling a hard-on most of the day, but now? It was impossible to ignore.

“They don’t charge the bill to the room,” Kane said.

“Oh? Don’t they?” Caelian said, his tone a bit too high.

“You knew.”

Caelian shrugged. “Not like I’m being paid for this gig.”

“From the sounds of it, you’re being paid with no prison.”

“Possibly,” Caelian said. “But a man has to eat.”

Kane’s curiosity was getting the better of him. The general term ‘man’ or ‘woman’ was often used for human-like beings in paranormal circles. Some preferred to use the more technical male or female. It appeared to be a regional and/or race preference.

Having been born human, man and woman worked easiest for Kane.

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