Page 39 of Bitten

Caelian closed the door and locked it before drawing a few wards along the frame. The wards glistened with magic before fading away.

The runt had a little magic in him.

“You live in a hotel?” Kane asked, getting a whiff of day or two old food.

“Cannon complained about my place, so they moved me here a couple of days ago.”

“Was your place worse than this?”

Caelian frowned. “You bastards are huge. I live in Fae Glade. He complained that it wasn’t big enough for guardsmen.”

“Ah,” Kane said. Fae Glade was an Elvish and Fae neighborhood. Because most of the residents were under five-foot-tall, most of the ceilings were only six feet high. Well below Kane’s six-foot-five. Since most of the guardsmen were his height or more, he could see why they complained.

And he was thankful he wouldn’t have to suffer a stiff neck after a night spent there.

He looked around the dirty hotel suite. There were empty food containers and cans of Elvish ale. Clothes were strewn all about. The unmade bed looked as if a tornado had slept in it. “You made all this mess in a couple of days?”

“I didn’t want the maids to come in,” Caelian said with a shrug. “They might sneak in a decoy maid that could leave a curse on my pillow. No thank you.”

“Who’s after you?”

Caelian shrugged again, looking uncomfortable. “Bad men.”

“I should know what I might be up against.” I want to be up against Caelian. He winced and shook his head. Shit. Stop thinking that. He walked over to the window to peer out and make sure they were secure.

“If guys show up trying to kill me, stop them,” Caelian said, lifting a brow.

“What guys?”

Caelian stared at him, silent.

Kane stared back, expecting an answer to come. His skill at getting people to talk didn’t seem to work on Caelian. At all.

Considering the fact he didn’t know how it worked, it wasn’t like he could try harder.

“Can you give me something? I’m potentially putting my life in danger to protect you.”

The elf sighed. “I had a failing business… so I agreed to… transport something into Midnight. Merchandise.”

“Did you smuggle drugs or people?” Kane asked, lifting a brow.

Heat filled Caelian’s face. “I never said anything about smuggling.”

Kane gave him a glare. “You didn’t have to.”

Shame washed over Caelian’s face. He lowered his gaze, his whole frame showing how humiliated he was. “Drugs.” His head whipped up. “I don’t use them. Never have and never will. And… I needed the money. I was desperate.” He sighed before scrubbing his face. “I wish I’d never done it. It’s brought me more trouble than it was worth.”

“Because now they want to kill you for coming clean.”

“Yeah, well—we’re not sure they know. Theis came asking for my help with research, and I assumed he was hunting me down for what I’d done. I spilled everything when he wasn’t even there for that.” Caelian sat on the edge of the bed, head low. “I’ve been looking over my shoulder since I brought that damned bag into the station, knowing I’d be caught. I ended up catching myself.”

“Wait… so you spilled your guts for no reason to Theis and I had to actively pull teeth just to get the short version?” Kane asked.

“I’m trying to be careful. I already got myself in deep shit once because of my mouth,” Caelian said. “And… and I didn’t want you looking at me like you’re looking at me right now.”

Kane met his stare. He tried to relax his expression some—but only so much. Kane could sense the man’s discomfort, but Caelian had brought it on himself. He deserved a little of what he was feeling. It was the only way he wouldn’t make the same stupid mistake in the future. “Never take the easy way out.”

“Hindsight is fifty-fifty,” Caelian said. “If I could go back and do it again, trust me, I wouldn’t.”

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