Page 46 of Newly Undead in Dark River

I thumped on the door with my elbow and Brody pulled it open. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, and my mouth watered. Then my fangs popped out, and I realized how long since I’d gotten laid, or tasted Brody’s blood. The thought was enough to make a low rumble sneak past my lips. I’d been avoiding intimacy with Brody out of respect for Tex because quite frankly, it was just weird. I couldn’t make love to Brody while the guy I gave my virginity to, my motherfucking mate, was sleeping on my couch.

I let out a huge sigh and stood on my tiptoes to kiss Brody’s cheek. His eyes were hooded, he could smell how aroused I’d become at the sight of the hard planes of his chest. Dammit. I resisted the urge to pout.

Brody leaned forward, capturing my lips with his. “Soon.”

I nodded, nipping his full bottom lip in that way that always made him groan. But I couldn’t imagine when, because I couldn’t send Tex home knowing I was alive and Tex couldn’t live here with me in Dark River. Maybe if my maker hadn’t been such a psycho, he could have mind-wiped Tex and sent him on his way, but when I’d suggested it to Brody, he’d shuddered.

“To have every memory of your mate wiped from your mind, but knowing that there was something missing from inside you. That’s a fate worse than death to a shifter. Maybe he’d be okay, being only a half. But he followed you to the end of the world because he knew you weren’t dead. And that was when he didn’t even know you were his mate.”

The absolute horror in Brody’s voice made sure that option was firmly off the table. I could never do that to Tex.

Speaking of the handsome devil, somehow he’d lost his shirt as well, and my hungry gaze ate him alive. He was more tattooed then I remembered, his tattoos running up and down his arms and across his chest and back. The dark ink contrasted with the alabaster shade of his skin. It occurred to me that he looked more like a vampire than anyone else in Dark River. Oh, the irony.

His hair was mussed like he’d just woken up. Considering it was like three A.M., maybe he had. He was having trouble adjusting to the topsy-turvy schedule we all kept.

“I’ve got lasagna,” I said, plonking the huge foil trays down on the kitchen bench. I needed two because between Brody and Tex, they ate like horses. How Tex’s parents had ever kept him fed without getting a second mortgage was beyond me.

I looked between the two guys, my past and my present and wondered if I had a future with either of them.

I dished up two plate-sized slabs of lasagna and placed the salad in a bowl on the bench. It was domesticated if nothing else. I left enough for Walker, in case he stopped by, which he usually did about now. I wasn’t sure if he came over because he wanted to see me or to check I hadn’t lost control and eaten both Brody and Tex into sexy, paper husks.

As if summoned by my thoughts, someone knocked on my door. He was predictable in the best possible way. I could depend on Walker, and I don’t care what people say about bad boys, sometimes dependability was the sexiest thing in the world.

Smiling, I pulled open the door, and Walker was standing there in his uniform, hat, and everything, looking every bit as handsome as the first time I’d seen him. My eyes drifted past him, and my smile fell. Judge stood behind him, looking haunted.

“What’s going on?”

Walker reached out and squeezed my arm. “Let’s go inside first, hey?”

I moved aside and let them in, my eyes tracking Judge. He held himself stiffly, though his forehead creased when he saw Tex. His jaw tensed, but he kept silent. He moved through the room silently, but Tex’s face moved with him as if he could sense the predator in the room. I wasn’t going to break it to him; we were all predators.

“Uh, Judge. This is Tex. He’s from… before.” Apparently, you could fit an entire lifetime into those six letters. Before. Before I’d become Raine. Before Mika had died. Before I’d come to Canada. Hell, before I’d left for college without any idea what I wanted to do with my life.

“Tex, this is Judge, my… friend.” I finished lamely. Jesus. Could this week get more awkward?

Judge nodded, though Tex wouldn’t be able to see the gesture. “The Sheriff told me. A human found you here, in the world’s most obscure town. I don’t believe in those kinds of coincidences.”

Brody stood and slapped Judge on the back affectionately. “I’m glad you’re back, Bro. But I think Walker left out one vital piece of information.” He raised his eyebrows at the Sheriff in question, and who just gave him a flat stare in return. “Not just a human. Raine’s mate. Shifter mate. Guess Raine’s harem is at two all now.” Brody’s grin said he wasn’t mad about this change of circumstance at all, the competitive bastard.

Judge turned to stare at me, and I shrugged, glaring back. I hoped my stare saidSucks when you are left in the dark, doesn’t it?

“Mate or not, he needs to leave.” As I opened my mouth to protest, he raised a hand. “For this conversation.”

Tex crossed his arms over his broad, bare chest. He needed to put a shirt on while I was in a room full of men who can tell when I’m aroused or not. The tattoo that ran along his collarbone was an intricate musical piece, a swirl of words and instruments and musical notes. I ached to study it up close, to talk for hours like when we were young. But I couldn’t see how that would ever happen again.

“He can stay. What more could you tell him that is more earth-shattering than ‘hey, vampires exist, and I am one,’ or my personal favorite, ‘Yer a werewolf, Tex,’” I said in my best Hagrid voice.

Tex’s lips twitched, probably because he was the only one young enough to get the Harry Potter reference.

“Shapeshifter,” Brody corrected.

“How about the fact that you aren’t the first backpacker to go missing in these parts, but you were the first one to stay dead?”

Okay, maybe that.

I blinked rapidly, and my eyes went to Walker for confirmation, but he wasn’t giving much away.

“You mean someone is breaking the rules and drinking from humans?”

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