Page 96 of Bent Out of Shade
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Sabrina was deliveredinto Zev’s care without incident, though the handover involved two large golf umbrellas and a heavy blanket covering her. A sensible precaution even if it was raining. That good news was followed up by the even better news that her shadow had regenerated, but my happiness crashed down upon learning that Juliette still couldn’t rouse her.
“We’ve decided the best use of your time is to find a way to wake Sabrina,” Emmett said on the phone after the update.
I jammed the nozzle into my gas tank, one eye on the dollar amounts creeping higher on the pump, and the phone cradled on my shoulder. I agreed with Emmett, but his high-handed directive put me off. “Who exactly is ‘we’?”
“Not me. I’m not that foolish,” my boyfriend called out on the other side of the line. His shifter hearing rendered speakerphone moot.
Also, boyfriend? What was I, fifteen? My partner? Eh. Regardless of the label, Huff ’n’ Puff was a smart man. And mine. I smiled dreamily.
Emmett snorted and made the sound of a whip. “Me and Mr. BatKian decided it.”
“Wait, what? Laurent took you with him to Blood Alley?”
“Obviously,” Emmett said. “Why else would I be in his truck now?”
“Rodrigo conveyed the orders,” Laurent said. “The vamp wasn’t there and Emmett had no part in it.”
“I’d just been about to suggest Miri work on waking her,” Emmett protested. “It’s like I’m in sync with Mr. BatKian.”
“Uh-huh.” The pump clicked off. Emmett had done a one-eighty from being down on himself to issuing orders; a way of feeling in control. “Where are you now?”
There was a blast of a rock song through the phone followed by the golem’s “Ouch!” and the music changing to a classical piece.
“Following Rodrigo,” Emmett said.
“Following him where?” I replaced the nozzle and tightened the cap on my gas tank.
“He and a bunch of vamps spent the night tracking down Vincenzo and his goons to a place in Southlands.” There was a noise like Emmett had cracked his knuckles, which was weird because he didn’t have bones, did he? “We’re gonna stake them. Pay that asshole back for freezing me.”
So much for any midafternoon date today. Also, was taking Emmett along a wise idea? I punched the button on the gas pump for my receipt. “Put Laurent on.”
“No, because you’ll tell him I can’t do it. The wolf said that I survived the Human Race and I’m tougher than I give myself credit for. Smarter too.”
Laurent had a heart-to-heart with the golem?
A fizzy warmth whispered through me. I was going to lavish that man with gratitude the next time I saw him.
“Don’t call him the wolf.” I shoved the receipt in my wallet and got in my vehicle.
“Wolf is my nickname for him,” Emmett protested. “He also said you need to stop mothering me because I can handle myself.”
“I did not,” Laurent said.
“You implied it,” the golem said breezily.
It wasn’t easy to correct my original impression of him as having the emotional intelligence of a young child, but he’d matured a lot in our short friendship. “You’re right. You are a very capable and valuable member of this team. I won’t mother you anymore, but that doesn’t change the fact that this doesn’t make any sense. Killing Vincenzo will start a vamp war. Zev had no interest in that last night, so what changed?”
“Rodrigo said—”
Emmett was cut off by Laurent speaking up in the background. “Vincenzo won’t turn the other cheek when he learns about Sabrina, and with the assassination of his second, his death can be played off as a successful hit by his enemies.”
Wrenching on the ignition, I pulled away from the pump. “So, Sabrina wakes up and she’s got nothing? Not her humanity, not her career, and not her fiancé? You can’t do that to her.”
“It’s not your call,” Emmett said.
“Did you check in with your actual boss, Tatiana, about killing her client? She’s not a big fan of losing her paycheck,” I said icily.
