Page 64 of Bad Medicine

“Probably,” I told him,scanning the shadows for the wolves Jared had sent to follow us. “Most wolvescan bite humans without turning them, because they don’t carry the spark thatcarrier wolves are born with, and the human doesn’t carry the gene that willallow them to transform. Alphas can almost always turn humans, whether thehuman has the gene or not, but...” I shook my head. “Those wolves are notnormal, really. There are born wolves who have two shifter parents, but theycan’t shift until they’re of a certain age.” I shivered, then, remembering howawful it had been for me, a born shifter, to be unable to shift as a teenager.

But Adam was gone, and thatpart of my life was over.

“I’d like you to bite me,Kait,” Joe said.

I gaped at him. “What?”

“I want to become a wolfshifter.” He crossed his arms and stared me down. “I’m limited as a human, andI want to fight the way you do. This is my life, hunting and fighting andtaking out bad supernaturals. I can’t do it very well as a human.”

“You do it just fine as ahuman,” I told him. “I would never do that to you, Joe.”

“You know one of these nightssomeone is going to kill me,” he said, calmly. “I’ve nearly been there a timeor two in the last couple of months alone. I want to be a wolf. Who the hellwouldn’twant to be? I’ll live longer, fight better, heal easy…”

“Joe—”

“I want to have your back,Kait. This—” His sweeping hand encompassed the area. “And you are my life now.But I need to be stronger.”

I took his hand. “Joe,” I said,gently. “Think of Max.”

He paled, just a little.“Shit.”

“Yeah. Now put that nonsenseout of your head. Anyway, if by some chance someone attempted to turn you, forwhatever reason, the transformation would very likely kill you.”

“What? Why?”

“Because it’s a vicious thing.And we should leave it at that.”

“Son of a bitch,” he said.“What about if I became a vampire?”

I recoiled. “You’d actuallythink about becoming one of those disgusting, nasty soulless creatures, Joe?Seriously?”

“I’m quite sure the vampirecouncil would be upset by your prejudice, Ms. Silver,” someone said, andBastien stepped out of the shadows.

Wellhell.

Immediately Jared’s four wolvessurrounded me, and Joe had ripped his machete from the sheath on his back.

I looked heavenward and thenpushed my way from the center of all that muscle. “Bastien,” I said. I didn’tapologize for what he’d overheard. “I was coming to see you.”

He’d changed since becomingcounty master. He was less…smiley. The weight of responsibility was heavy onhis shoulders, and the normal vampire sorrow in a vampires eyes had brightenedto a whole new level. That was something else Joe should know. Vampires wereonly infants for a little while. After that, there was only a grim knowledge,the darkness of forever, and the overwhelming fear of a terrible afterlife.

His blank stare dropped to mybadge, and there wasn’t a flicker of emotion in his eyes. “Are you in there,Bastien?” I asked, sick of coldness.

He smiled, then, but it waspolite and not real at all. “We can talk inside. Just you and the human,” hesaid, when the wolves started to follow me in. “Wolves in Scarlett’s would onlycause tension and likely a fight, and I’d rather not be forced to kill any ofJared Walker’s wolves tonight.”

“Damn,” I said. “You’ve goneall soft and sweet.”

For a second, his smilewidened, and there was a spark of familiar humor in his eyes. The edges of histeeth were slightly pink from a recent feeding, and he blanked his stare onceagain when I inadvertently shuddered.

He turned and strode toward thedoors without another word, and I paused to speak with Jared’s wolves beforeJoe and I followed him. By then, Bastien had slipped through the doors, and thebouncers stopped us when we attempted to enter the club.

“Get in line,” someone yelled,and a few of the other people impatiently waiting picked up the chant. One ofthem thought it’d be a good idea to throw a plastic cup of alcohol at me. And whenit hit my arm, wetting my clothes before falling to the pavement, I got mad.

All at once rage rushed overme, and that rage was ahugeoverreaction. I knew it was, but I was toomad to care. I ground my teeth and strode toward the young man who’d thrown hisdrink at me, and even as he held his hands up, laughing, I grabbed him by thethroat and slung him through the air. He landed hard on the sidewalk, and hedidn’t move as I walked toward him.

Maybe I’d have killed him ifJoe hadn’t stopped me. “Kait!” He grabbed my shoulders, spun me toward him, andshook me. “What the fuck, girl?”

Some of the people had left theline, hurrying away as they glanced back at me, and there were a couple ofwomen crying. They all looked at me like I was a deranged person.