Page 45 of Rarely Pure and Never Simple
A strange thing happened. Damien's mouth drew down in hard lines. His eyes sparked with something dangerous. "Don't. Just don't."
In that moment of hard-eyed tension, something clicked for Blaze. Of course. He patted Damien's arm. "Easy, tiger. He's just being his idiot self."
The twitch under his hand was minimal, which did all sorts of things to calm Blaze's anger. He dared a little stroke up Damien's forearm that earned him a startled glance.
Shudder held both hands up. "Sorry. Won't disturb any sacred cows."
"Yeah. You're so good with animals," Blaze drawled, allowing an evil grin to spread across his face. Abruptly, he dropped the insults. "So your place is safe, McKenzie."
"What about you, Blazey?"
Blaze shrugged. "I don't have any reason to point the authorities this way. They never did me any favors. Haven't handed you over before. I won't now."
"Aw, he still cares. That's so sweet." Shudder batted his eyes and laughed when Blaze growled. "Never did get over me."
"Stop being such a fucking prick. And you can leave Damien the hell alone now."
Damien cleared his throat. "That may be difficult."
"Why?" Blaze heard the snarl in his voice but he couldn't modulate it. The loss of control only made him want to punch something.
"Because I'm coming with." Shudder shoved a golden curl off his forehead and shoveled a forkful of pancake in his mouth.
"Like hell you are."
"Blaze, I asked him to." Damien's soft, gentle voice made even those nonsensical words sound reasonable.
"The fuck?" The kid putting a plate of pancakes in front of Blaze dropped them on the table and scurried away.
A slow exhale came from Damien, his usual substitute for a sigh. "You should eat. We have a long day."
"Damien—"
"I did ask him." Damien interrupted him, then had the nerve to hold a hand up to forestall more protests. "I don't like where this is going. Don't know what we're walking into. Someone with Shudder's skills would be useful in a bad spot. What if he'd been on that plateau with us?"
"He probably would've mouthed off to the damn human firsters and gotten you killed."
"It's more likely you wouldn't have been shot and I wouldn't—"
"Hey." Blaze reached out to grip Damien's arm again when his trembling telegraphed through the bench. "Don't think about that now, okay? I get that things might get hairy. I get you might want backup. So why not call the Guild?"
Damien actually leaned against him. It was subtle, but the shift in weight toward him further calmed Blaze's pulse. "I'm not sure yet that they're not involved."
"See? He agrees with me." Shudder pointed with his fork. "It's a government conspiracy."
"He didn't say that, you idiot."
"He's right here," Damien said in his driest tone.
"You didn't say that."
"No, I didn't. But I can't discount anything, and with the hints and rumors from these kids, I'd rather err on the side of caution."
"Yeah, but—"
"He's volunteered. We could use another set of eyes and something to augment your considerable firepower."
"And you trust him. Just like that."
