Page 63 of The Doctor's Wolf: Part Two
“Maxim, if that’s a yes, just hurry.I don’t want to make room for any more corpses in my morgue.”
Adler agreed with Gordon, and apparently, so did Maxim, ignoring a red light and weaving through traffic as if he did nothing else all day, every day.
Adler’s grip on his seat tightened.Ugh, I hope we’re there soon.
As if he’d heard the thought, Gordon’s hand sneaked forward yet again, and he squeezed Adler’s shoulder in reassurance.Adler relaxed if only slightly.
Chapter 34
Theywentbacktothe typewriter shop, walking toward the door with quiet tension, Maxim at the front.
“Adler.Remember not to look a stranger in the eye, even if you feel your mate is threatened,” Maxim said.
Gordon heard Adler’s huff.
“Why?”
“Because this old vampire with the interesting lecture about how you and I shouldn’t be together can compel you.”
We should be together.We share the mate bite, Gordon heard in Adler’s thoughts, loud and clear, these past few hours enough to make this…ability an undeniable fact.To strengthen it, if anything.
“I’ll be careful.”I’ll protect my mate, if I have to do it blind, I’ll protect my mate.He’s too soft, not like a wolf.
Gordon had thought that it was going to work the other way around, that Adler would be able to hearhisthoughts for the shift during the full moon, thathewas going to be exposed.He’d been afraid of laying the insides of his mind bare like that, even if it was to Adler.And now, I’m the one listening in when he doesn’t even know.That’s wrong.
“Adler,” Gordon started, but snapped his mouth shut.Maxim had his hand on the door.“Let’s all be sure to be careful, okay?”
Adler placed his hand on Gordon’s hip.“We’re going to be, sweetheart.You just stay back if anything doesn’t look right.”
Maxim opened the door, and the three of them walked inside.
The shop was unchanged, and after a few moments, the manager who’d never been compelled and had never met a vampire, allegedly, walked back out from the back, frowning when he saw them.
“What now?If you’re here to take me in for questioning, don’t even bother.I know my rights.”
Maxim strode toward him, moving with sleek elegance.“That’s so very good for you, good indeed.But knowledge never matters when one is at the hands of the ruthless like you have likely been, and while your attitude is rather the purview of philosophy and the teachings of empathy, I’ll grant you are not to blame for what was done to you.There is an apartment above this shop, yes?”
The man cocked his head, snorted.“Never been at the hands of anyone, and the purview...Whatever.Yeah, there’s an apartment upstairs.Nice old lady lives there.She’s quiet.Only has the TV on sometimes.”
Gordon saw Maxim’s frown.“The TV.I see.”
The guy crossed his arms, shrugged.“Likes thrillers and murder mysteries.You know how old ladies get.Sometimes I hear it when she’s got it on loud, the fake screaming and all of that.”
“Age is a privilege, not a pain, and your ignorance is blessed.The way to her apartment is through the back?”
“No.You have to go around the side of the building, but you had better bring a warrant.”He pulled out his phone.“I’ll let her know you don’t have one.”
Maxim was faster than the human could handle, and he snatched the phone from the man’s fingers.
“Let me keep this.I think you were compelled to be a convenient alarm.”
“Hey!You fucking vampire scum!”
Gordon didn’t so much hear his mate’s growl as feel it.Adler physically pushed him aside when the shop manager grabbed a pair of scissors from the front desk and went at Maxim with them.
The whole episode took maybe two seconds.Maxim grabbed the man’s wrist and twisted it in some kung-fu move, the scissors dropped, and then he jumped the counter, levering the man’s arm once he landed, effectively pinning him against the counter.Two of the typewriters out on display rattled their keys, and the guy hissed, but that was about all the commotion there was.
“Adler, admirable, but perhaps you could part with your handcuffs?I daresay you ought to take care of our friend here.”
