Page 59 of The Doctor's Wolf: Part Two
“Where do you want me?”Gordon asked, leaning forward from his place in the back seat.
“Home, ideally,” Adler grumbled.
Gordon couldn’t help the fondness rise in him at Adler’s words.Moments later, it happened again.
My mate.Soft.Should be where it’s safe.I will protect him.
The thought wasn’t his, Gordon knew that, and he wasn’t stupid, wasn’t able to ignore facts for too long.This is the mate bond.I can hear his thoughts through the mate bond.I’ll have to tell him and…fuck.He’s going to be able to hear mine, eventually.
Gordon decided this was a bridge he wasn’t quite able to cross yet, a conversation that could wait.
Maxim turned to Gordon, the hunter still looking more serious than was the norm for his broadsword-wielding, ridiculous self.
“You’ll stay behind me.Adler can bring up the rear.”
Gordon frowned.“But if this guy’s a vampire or works with one, then isn’t this little adventure more dangerous for Adler than me?”
Adler, predictably, growled.My mate thinks I’m weak?!No.No, that’s not it.He wants to protect me.I hope he wants to protect me…
Gordon cleared his throat and put a hand on Adler’s shoulder.“Not that I think you can’t handle a vampire, but if this one is as old as Maxim, then it’ll be dangerous.And I want you safe as much as you want me safe, detective.”
“You two are indeed adorable.”Maxim tapped his fingers on the steering wheel.“Leave the vampire to me and my blades, darlings.Adler, you should make sure to hold everyone and anyone else we might cross paths with inside in case they were compelled.”
“Right.Let’s hope we find whoever we need to find here.”Adler placed his hand on Gordon’s, his thumb stroking Gordon’s pinky.
“Indeed.Detective, Gordon, let’s go.”
They got out of the car and walked in silence, Maxim completely so in that uncanny way Gordon knew some of the older vampires had, he and Adler simply not talking.Adler was close behind him, and Gordon knew if they did run into danger, Adler was going to pull him to the ground or something over-the-top like that.It made him smile for a second, and then he felt mildly guilty at taking Adler’s protective instinct so lightly.
They headed down the street and took first a left turn, then a right one.The old typewriter shop, simply named “Highgate’s Typewriters,” looked as though it had been around for the founding of New Amsterdam, the building weathered and dwarfed by its neighbors.For all that, it wasn’t neglected or abandoned.Gordon saw typewriters in the shop’s windows, machines he hadn’t seen in decades.
“Are those prices for real?”Adler mumbled as Maxim strode toward the door like a stormfront heading inland.
“I told you, collector’s items.”
Gordon expected…something.Screams from the inside.Maxim moving so fast he blurred.Fighting and things breaking.
None of that happened.Maxim went toward the shop’s counter ahead of them, looking left and right, and now that they were inside, Adler was touching-close, one hand on Gordon’s back.
A shop clerk came out toward the front through a doorway at the back, a middle-aged human.
“Hello there,” the man said, his brows rising as he laid eyes on Maxim.“Are you here to get a typewriter fixed?”
“No.”Maxim sped, closing the distance between himself and the salesperson, and immediately making hard eye contact.“Is there anyone else here with you?”
“No, just me,” the human said.This time, it wasn’t surprise on his face but fear.
“I see.”Maxim blinked, dropping the compulsion.The human gasped and stumbled backward.
“You are—”
“A hunter of the Forum,” Maxim said.“I do apologize, but we’re here on time-sensitive business, and I needed to be certain.You’re not in any kind of trouble, so please relax.”
“Relax?Well, fuck me.Vampires.”With that, the fear on the human’s face shifted to anger.Disgust.
Oh, lovely,Gordon thought.
Maxim laughed, a stage laughter that likely carried through the entire building.
