Page 37 of Werewolves Don't Howl
“I’m actually current head of the order. You look pale. Do you need a glass of water?”
I stared at him and shook my head slowly. “You aren’t an assassin. You wouldn’t let me die. That’s the opposite of an assassin.”
“I’m currently head of the House of Mercy, so I’m not technically an assassin anymore, although I will kill a monster if it happens that way. You aren’t a monster.”
“I’m a werewolf.”
“But I took very good care to make sure that you were a nice werewolf who could control your instincts, so I’d never have to put you down. It was a lot of effort, which you know, as you were there.”
I stared at him while my heart beat faster and faster. “Are you joking?” I whispered.
“Hm? No, the more torture the werewolf experiences during transition, the more control it has afterwards. Harold transitioned poorly, but we pulled him through. He wasn’t as difficult as you, but he didn’t have any gnome blood.”
“The beast didn’t want you to kill me. He wanted you to keep me alive so that he could get rid of the evidence without your interference,” I said, heart thumping, thoughts tangling. “He’s using me, like he used Ridley. He’s using you too. If you don’t think he is, whoever he is, you’re an idiot. And you aren’t an idiot. What’s your plan? How are you going to use me to catch him? I’m in. Whatever it is. Just let me know what I need to do.”
He kissed my nose, and I pulled back, sputtering.
“What was that?”
“You’re so adorable. Don’t let people use you. Particularly me. No, this is your opportunity to use me. You have everything I have to offer, which, in all modesty, is quite an extensive list of assets. I’m your protector. Whatever you need, however personal, professional, or vengeful, I will be honored to give it to you. Including hugs.”
I blinked at him. “Hugs?”
He gave me a serious stare. “Fifteen years of not having regular hugs will drive a gnome mad. If you weren’t half elf, you wouldn’t have survived the trauma. From now on, I will take the trauma of allowing you to invade my personal space for the sake of your long-neglected mental health.”
I stared at him for another moment of not breathing, my emotions in turmoil, then scrambled to my feet. “You really are insane. Okay. I need to get to work.” I took off without my cookies, barely remembering to grab my bag before I tripped towards the front door. I’d take a bus.
“Miss Delphi,” Henrick said, stepping in front of me and gesturing to the car parked in the circle. “Allow me to drive you this morning.”
“Are you also a member of the House of Mercy?” I flinched and then stared at him, waiting for him to kill me.
His smile only grew more delighted. “Naturally. Did you have someone you wanted killed on the way to work? I’m sure we could fit it in.”
I blinked at him. “Ah. I was joking. You aren’t a member of a secret assassination order. Neither is…Cross.” That’s what the Librarian had called him. I couldn’t think of him as the civilized senator that I’d been developing such an enormous crush on. I’d actually found an assassin pretty? I’d told him that? How…I wasn’t sure what it was. Humiliating? Terrifying? Ridiculous? Did that mean Libby was also part of the secret order of assassins? I shook my head. “No one I know is. Only an idiot would tell a reporter that kind of secret.”Crosswas anything other than idiotic.
“If you insist. If you change your mind, let me know.” He held open the back door, and I stood there, staring at the goblin in his tidy suit, so different from Cross’s lack of shirt and bewilderingly pretty chest. Was he really going to hug me every day? That really would be torture for him. Then again, the head of the House of Mercy could handle torture. Shudder.
Finally, I got inside the car, because there was no sense taking a bus when I was inextricably tangled with this mess. Cross had told me who he was, because he wanted me to understand exactly where I was. Which was standing in the jaws of doom, where I’d been from the moment the monster had targeted me to distract Cross. It shouldn’t have worked. If Cross was so good at doing whatever he needed to do for the greater good, then he should have pursued the monster and left me to my inevitable fate. It was a miracle that I’d survived turning, in spite of his efforts. I wasn’t a great asset to the world. Was I? Maybe he thought I’d become the next great female Alta. I shook my head because if that’s what he thought, he was an idiot. He might be insane, but he wasn’t stupid.
“Your new laptop is beside you,” Henrick said.
I glanced at the wrapped box on the bench next to me. “I never ordered one.”
“I took liberties. As the Senator’s girlfriend, it’s my privilege to take care of such things for you. Anything else you need, personal, professional…”
“Or vengeful, yes. I already heard the spiel. It makes no more sense now than it did then. I feel like I’m in a very bad dream. The senator’s girlfriend?” I made a face while my stomach churned. I hated him. He was still unnaturally attractive, but that feeling was hate. He’d tortured me so horribly. Because he didn’t want a monster to win? Because he had more ego than sense? I’d spent years with the questions gnawing at me, and now they were all as viciously demanding as ever. There was no reason that would justify his torturing me, particularly when he was a trained killer.
“I believe you have an event to attend with him this evening.”
I gritted my teeth and opened the box. Three hanks of gorgeous yarn tumbled out onto my lap. For a second I froze, before I shook my head and pulled out the laptop. I wasn’t getting distracted by yarn. I wasn’t a kitten. I turned on the new, cutting-edge laptop and accessed my files while we drove. Going through missing persons wasn’t particularly restful, but it was something to do.
He finally pulled up at the office building, and I got out before he could open the door for me. “Thank you,” I said, closing the door and hurrying inside before he could offer to kill someone for me again.
While I was settled in with my research, Mossy came up to perch on the edge of my desk. “Fairies sell things way too easily. And your cookies went fast. I had to hold back or I wouldn’t have been able to interview the whole neighborhood. By the way, no one knew anything about the kitten, but they did say Loren had a boyfriend that came over some nights.” She wiggled her brows at me.
“Loren had a boyfriend? Maybe it was an informant.”
“Handsome, tall, elvish?” Again with the brow-wiggle.
