Beth merely nodded and popped the blood bag to her fangs. She was pretty sure her attacker wasn’t anyone she worked with. But she wasn’t positive.
Scotty got through to Mortimer right away, but was still on the phone with him when the bag at her mouth finished emptying. The microwave began to beep, announcing it was done, as she tore the bag away and tossed it out, so she retrieved the pizza and moved to sit at the kitchen table to eat.
“Mortimer checked and said we’re the only hunters in the whole province of British Columbia right now. There isn’t even anyone in Alberta at the moment,” Scotty said with a frown as he slipped his phone back into his pocket.
Beth merely nodded as she chewed the bite of pizza she’d just taken.
“He also says we’re the only ones who knew he was sending us out here.”
Swallowing, she added, “And Matias.”
“Aye, but he was here in Vancouver so couldn’t have caused the accident with the truck, or had the knowledge read from his mind at the accident site.” He frowned and then added, “I’ll have to ask Donny if Matias was inside during your attack or—”
“Matias would never hurt me,” Beth interrupted at once.
“Oh, aye, because he wants ye in his bed,” Scotty muttered.
Clucking her tongue with irritation, Beth shook her head. “No, he doesn’t. He is just teasing about that. It’s his way of trying to make me see him as a man and not the boy whose diapers I changed and whose snotty nose I wiped,” she explained with a faint smile. “Everyone treats him like a child still and he’s struggling to be seen as a man . . . with everyone.”
Scotty’s eyes widened slightly as if that possibility hadn’t occurred to him, and then he relaxed and murmured, “Oh.”
Beth took another bite of pizza, shifting her mind back to the “accident” and the attack. After swallowing, she heaved a sigh and pointed out, “It seems obvious that the crash and the attack tonight can’t be connected.”
“Aye, it would seem unlikely that they are,” Scotty admitted, not sounding pleased.
She understood that. It certainly would have been easier if they were connected. Then there would be only one person out to get her and not two. But . . . maybe there still was only one, she thought suddenly.
“Since no one knows I’m out here,” Beth said slowly, considering a brief thought she’d had earlier, “maybe the attack tonight wasn’t directed personally at me.”
“What?” Scotty stared at her with bewilderment. “Who was it directed at, then? The mortal? It wasn’t her head he was trying to cut off.”
“No, but I was thinking, maybe it could be an immortal who’s newly gone rogue and was looking to kill just an immortal female, or even just a hunter, and I happened to be there tonight,” she pointed out. “The only other option seems to be that it was someone with a beef against me who just happened to spot me at the club and decided it was a perfect opportunity for some revenge.”
Scotty scowled, and Beth got the feeling he didn’t deal well with not knowing what a situation was.
Shrugging, she finished off her pizza while he mulled over matters, and then stood and rinsed her plate. Beth set it in the dishwasher with the other dishes, and then dried her hands on a dish towel and turned to head for the kitchen door. “I’m going to bed.”
“I’ll come with ye.”
That brought her to an abrupt halt. Turning, she peered at him blankly. “What?”
Scotty eyed her determinedly as he crossed the room. “Ye’ve been attacked twice now, lass. Whether it’s by two different people, or one somehow managing to track ye here, ’tis clear ye’re no’ safe. Someone should be with ye at all times until we sort this out.”
Beth frowned. “So . . . what? You plan to sit in the hall outside my door until Donny gets up to replace you?”
“Nay,” he said, and Beth was just relaxing, thinking he meant only to escort her to her door, when he added, “I plan to stay in yer room.”
“Oh, hell no!” she said at once. Dear Lord, she had sexual fantasies and wet dreams about this man all the time. Every night. There was no way she was having him actually in her room with her while she moaned and panted his name. Not that Beth knew if she did that, but if she did, she sure as spit didn’t want him there to witness it.
“Beth, ye’ve narrowly escaped death twice now, and were badly injured the last time. I’m trying to keep ye safe,” he said reasonably.
“Well, I have news for you, my friend, you’re not—” She paused abruptly and then asked with sudden frustration, “What do you care?”
Scotty blinked in surprise. “What?”
Beth scowled at him as various emotions rolled through her. Mostly confusion, with a side order of bewilderment and a touch of hurt. The handful of times she’d encountered him before this, Scotty had treated her with cold disdain. Now, this trip, he was suddenly deigning to smile at her, and talking to her like she was a real human being rather than the scum of the earth he’d seemed to see her as for the better part of one hundred twenty-five years. And he was worried enough about her that he was willing to give up a night’s sleep to guard her?
Beth had no idea what had brought on this sudden about-face in him, but she wasn’t sure she liked it. The truth was, she was finding it somewhat alarming. It was one thing to lust after a man when you knew he didn’t like you. It had ensured she couldn’t like him either, so that her passion for him had remained firmly housed in the “he’s a hot hunk you can fantasize about, but don’t think it will go further” category.
However, now he was here, treating her like a human being and acting all nice and seemingly concerned about her well-being and—frankly—it was scaring her silly. She could like this guy who was nice to her, and that wasn’t a good thing, especially when he had a life mate somewhere he was just waiting to claim.
“What do you care?” Beth repeated now. “You barely know me.”
“That’s not true,” he said with surprise. “I’ve known ye fer nearly a hundred and twenty-five years.”
Beth snorted at the claim. “You’ve popped up in the same area as me a handful of times over one hundred and twenty-five years and looked down your nose and been a thorn in my butt every single time before this. So, what’s changed?”
“You have,” Scotty responded at once, and then looked as if he’d quite happily snatch the words back.
Tilting her head, Beth eyed him solemnly. “Explain.”