The moment made my heart thump oddly in my chest. I would have blamed it on his vampire pheromones, but those didn’t work on slayers. Most likely, it was that I was used to being affronted by handsome supernaturals but not at such a close range.
“Is there a reason why you’ve been more physically affectionate recently?” I asked, genuinely curious. “Are we at a new level of friendship that introduced it?”
Connor lost his usual confident grin, his expression turning blank as he stared down at me. “What?”
“You’ve been touching me a lot more,” I pointed out. “Arms over the shoulder, touching my hair, that kind of thing.”
He kept on staring at me, not replying.
“I don’t mind it,” I said. “But is this some kind of vampire tradition I don’t know about?”
It wasn’t. At least, as far as slayers knew it wasn’t. But I didn’t think it was some secret tradition—werewolves were the touchy-feely bunch out of supernaturals. A good number of vampires were still scandalized if you flashed your bare ankle.
“Does it matter?” Connor asked, his voice coming out like a purr as he sauntered around my chair, keeping his right hand tucked in my curls, then crouched down in front of me.
“It does if you want me to reciprocate,” I said.
Connor burst into laughter so deep, he had to let go of my hair so he could stay standing without losing his balance.
I waited for some of his laughter to subside before I asked. “Was the idea really so funny?”
Connor plucked my book from my fingers and set it down on the coffee table where I’d left my mug. “It was logical, which I should have expected from you.” He slipped his hands into mine and tugged me into a standing position. “I’m not sure if I should be relieved that you don’t think I’m attempting to seduce you or offended that I am apparently not up to the level you require for romantic entanglements.”
We were so close we almost bumped into each other, which could create a possible accident that, worst case scenario, could end with me getting scratched and bleeding—something to avoid at all costs. So, I let Connor keep ownership of my hands, but crabwalked sideways to put some distance between us.
“I told you before, my focus is on making friends, not starting a romance,” I said.
Besides, as flighty as Connor is, I doubt he’d be good backup in most fights. He’d probably spend most of the time verbally raking his opponent over hot coals.
Being good backup was my base requirement for a serious relationship. Not that it mattered. I seriously needed friends, first. Case in point: Connor meant more to me than any prior dating relationship I’d had.
Connor squeezed both my hands—bringing me back to the moment—before he released them and casually strolled to his kitchen. “Do you require a refreshment, Snack?”
I scratched my side, thinking. “Do you have anything besides blood?”
“No.”
“Then no, I don’t.”
Connor rolled his eyes. “Such attitude. It’s not like you keep pouches of blood around for me.”
I pressed my lips together. “You know, that’s a good point…”
Connor swiped a chilled blood pack from his fridge, then strolled back to where I stood. “So, tell me—or perhaps warn me: What will be your next baking attempt?”
I almost clapped my hands in glee. “I haven’t decided yet—I need to look over my family recipes. Do you want to help me pick?”
“There have been…disagreements between wizard Houses here at the Curia Cloisters during a recent meeting of the Wizard Council.” Sarge rested his hands on the podium, his eyes sweeping across the meeting room. “Nothing has broken into a physical disagreement and I don’t expect trouble given all of the Curia Cloister’s defensive measures, but it’s best to be aware.” Sarge straightened his pile of papers, his silvery scales—which were normally barely noticeable—gleamed on his cheekbones under the overhead light.
I played with my smoothie travel mug as I studied the whiteboard at the front of the room, which was mostly empty except for a few scrawled notes of warring Packs/Families/Houses, and a photograph of the missing human woman the police had given us a month ago.
There haven’t been many disturbances since we captured Orrin. I’m not sure if that’s a sign I was wrong about Gisila, or if she’s just biding her time…
“Additionally,” Sarge continued. “The day squad interrupted a fight between two warring werewolf factions at four o’clock this afternoon. All the werewolves were warned—”
Which was polite speak for the day squad had beaten the fight out of them until the wolves actually listened and stopped snarling.
“But I want you to keep an eye out for werewolf violence tonight as it’s probable the Packs might try to finish what they started earlier this afternoon. With any luck, they’ll choose to do so outside city limits, away from humans.” Sarge concluded.
I glanced at Brody wondering if he’d be offended, but he was scowling and trying to wipe dusty paw prints off his black pants, curtesy of his Pack.
My gaze strayed to Clarence and Tetiana. Tetiana had taken possession of the deck of cards she, April, Binx, and Juggernaut used, and it sat neatly in its box in front of her. Clarence had joined them today, and he’d spent every moment of it sweating like crazy. Even now, he was still tugging on his cravat.
He was nervous, but it didn’t seem like Tetiana forced him to play…
I took one last swig of tonight’s smoothie—a strawberry red bell pepper concoction that tasted better than I’d expected—finishing it off.
I’d been playing with the idea of coming extra early some day and asking Tetiana and the wizards if I could join the game, but I wouldn’t do that if Clarence wanted to play—he was terrified of me.
“Tonight, I want Team Blood—which is Blood, April, and Binx—to follow up with the library fire. Talk to the librarians and check the premises—you’ll need to do it as soon as we break as the library will be closing soon. Once finished, return to your regular patrol pattern.”
CHAPTER
EIGHT
Jade
Iblinked in surprise. He wants us to check out the library? Why? It’s not on the whiteboard, so they can’t consider it a crime.
I’d left a notation in my report that I thought it was suspicious House Tellier swooped in, but while the supernatural community avoided flashing magic around in front of humans—we didn’t want them realizing just how powerful and dangerous supernaturals really were—helping put out the fire with magic wasn’t actually a crime.
Sarge turned to the last page in his packet, and it seemed like he was already moving on, so I raised my hand. “Sir?”
Sarge glanced up, his steely eyes settling on me. “Yes, Blood?”
I hesitated, and carefully chose my words. “May I ask why you want us to check in on the library?”