Page 103 of Throwing Shade
He stopped, warily assessing me, which I took as a good sign.
Some of my anxiety receded. “That’s right. Let me help you.”
He prowled closer and I screwed my eyes shut. Running would definitely paint me as prey, so I stayed still, trusting in the bond we’d formed working together.
His cold wet nose brushed against the underside of my jaw and I swallowed, pressing my hands against the concrete so hard that tiny pebbles stuck to my skin. His hot breath gusted over my skin, his teeth scraping against my fluttering pulse, and my heart skipped a beat. He smelled musty, but not in a bad way, kind of like an old forest, and when his fur tickled my neck, the faintest trace of cedar kissed my skin.
Two hundred pounds of muscle leaned into me.
I cracked an eye open, his gaze hitting me like two flares. He stayed that way for two slow blinks, then he gave a dangerous growl that shivered down to the tips of my fingers, tore himself away, and sprinted behind the house.
Cold sweat had plastered the sides of my shirt to my body. I sat there, trembling, colors heightened into a sharpness that was almost painful.
“Hurry!” Jude cried, her head sticking out of the window.
The dybbuk. I stood up on rubbery legs and got into the car.
“You good?” she said, her eyes clouded with worry.
“Yeah. You?”
She dropped her gaze, twisting her hands in her lap. “As well as can be expected.”
Laurent had left the keys in the ignition so I started the engine, fiddling with the heat and staring into the night. If only I could turn back time and take back my words about him being a mercenary, because even with payment, a true mercenary would have cut and run a long time ago. But this lone wolf had stuck by my side through vampires, his best friend’s anger, and making sure that Jude was safely found. Once more, he’d been hurt because of this job, and yet, even wounded and in wolf form, he hadn’t attacked me.
I couldn’t repay him with callous abandonment.
Jude started with a sharp intake of breath, before scrubbing a hand over her face.
“Jude—”
“Oh fuck,” she said, and dropped her head between her knees.
I rubbed her back, feeling tangled up in a ball of yarn, unending, unyielding, growing ever more knotted and trapping me in place.
A desolate yowl pierced the night and Jude flinched, her eyes wide.
Did she know she was enthralled? Rupert had, but my friend didn’t give any indication of being aware she’d hurt Laurent.
My shoulders slumped. It was a long way back and I couldn’t risk having the wolf in the car with us.
“Sorry,” I whispered, and peeled out of the lot.
