Page 80 of Addicted in Blood
“I am tonight.That’s what you’ve been downing, isn’t it?”
I nodded and sipped this one.I still had to stumble my way across town to the condo.
“I would have eventually come to you, but it’s probably better this way.”He downed his shot and poured another.
I was surprised by the statement but decided to let him continue in his own time.
He rested his forearms on the desk and pinned me with eyes that seemed to have an inner yellow glow.I’d bet a month’s salary, if I had one, the color of that glow would match his wolf’s eyes.
“I wanted to thank you for saving Devon.”
I was speechless.That rarely happened to me.“No one else seems to think that.I get the feeling I made it worse.”
He nodded while he topped off my shot and poured another one for himself.He was bright-eyed and didn’t seem impaired, so these were either his first drinks of the night, or like vamps, shifters weren’t hampered by alcohol.
He lifted his glass, I lifted mine, and we clinked them together, sloshing a bit of the clear liquid onto his desk.“I say fuck ’em.”
I spit out a laugh.“I thought you were friends with the cadre.”
He shook his head.“I’m friends with Devon.I put up with the others.”He growled.“Sometimes they can be so narrow-minded.I get that they’re vamps, and they think they know whats best for Devon.Like they know everything about their inner beast.”He finished his shot, slid the glass aside, and began playing with a paper clip, bending and straightening it.“And I suppose they do to a point.But they haven’t seen the true destructive power of the Poppy.”
“You helped Devon through it before.”
“And a few others.”He leaned back in his well-worn but comfortable-looking chair.“If the beast had only taken over for a day, I think Devon would have pulled through on his own.But it took more than a day before I was able to get him away from the Poppy.And I didn’t see any noticeable difference in his physical appearance once it was out of his system.”
He squinted as he studied me.“I don’t know what you are.”He lifted a hand against a protest I was forming.“I don’t care.Devon trusts you, and that’s good enough for me.”
“He’s got a strange way of showing it.”
“That’s pride getting in the way.I know he fed from you, and I don’t know what’s in your blood, but it was enough to satisfy the beast.”
“And left him with brain damage.”
He barked out a laugh that at first unnerved me, but then made me smile.“He’s in a mental fugue.I got the same message as everyone else.The healer, who wasn’t given the entire story on how the beast was put to rest, believes he just needs a few days of her potions and less stress.”
“And what do you believe?”
He shrugged.“That everyone should listen to the healer rather than think they know better while blaming those that got him this far.”He leaned over his desk as if he had a secret to share, and I couldn’t help lean in myself.“I didn’t know you knew The Wolf.He’s quite fond of you.”
My cheeks heated.“We’re just friends.”
“And Elijah isn’t usually one to make friends in wolf form.He must sense something about you.”
I knew Elijah was the alpha of the Humboldt pack, but I’d never met him.Then a feather knocked me over.“He was Mr.Black.”
Decker gave me a strange look.
It was my turn to laugh.“The black wolf.There was a gray one, too.”
“Don’t tell me.Mr.Gray?”
“The Wolf didn’t introduce us.”
“It’s actually Ms.Gray, just so you know.”
“A female?”
He nodded.“Elijah’s second.Remus asked the neighboring pack to keep an eye on Devon.”
