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Rodney pops his head out of the opening, a brown beanie pulled low over his ears. Red flushes the tip of his nose and his cheeks, while his hazel eyes twinkle. “Give me a second, and I’ll grab you a couple of bags.”
He vanishes back into the refrigerator, and I hug my elbows against the chill as I wait.
Rodney is only a couple of years older than me, but well established at the butcher. He helps at the store when he’s not driving the truck that leaves town to pick up orders from the suppliers. He’s here more than the owner, and I wonder how long it will be before he takes over the shop.
“Woo!” Rodney steps out of the fridge, four blood bags in hand, and shoves the barbell to the side with one foot. “It’s cold in there!”
As the door swings shut, he goes to the counter and grabs two plastic sacks, sliding two blood bags into each one.
Turning back to us, he holds them out. “Here we go!”
As I take the sacks from him, I notice a large bandage on his forearm that makes me frown. Wolf shifters don’t usually need bandages unless they’re hurt badly. “Are you okay?”
Rodney glances down at his arm and grimaces. “Got a bad bug bite. It’s mostly healed, but you can never be too safe while handling raw meat.”
“Bug bite?” My mind races trying to figure out what kind of bug could hurt a wolf shifter, and I peer back at Barron. “We don’t have poisonous insects here, do we?”
Barron reaches out to take the bags from me. “Here, let me carry that.”
“Why are you avoiding answering the question?” I hurry after Barron as he slips around the counter and heads for the door before realizing I forgot Rodney. I spin back toward him. “Get that looked at by Dr. Lopez. Especially if you received blood from me or Tris. You don’t want to mess with infections!”
“Will do.” He waves at us. “Have a good day!”
The bell tinkles, and I whip back around to chase after my friend. “Barron, I want an answer!”
He laughs as he holds the door open for me. “There are only a couple, and they usually stick to the woods.”
I shudder. “You won’t catch me in there.”
Especially not after the events of yesterday. When I tried to get more details from Haut and Owen over breakfast, they were annoyingly tight lipped.
They’re not the only sources of information in town, though. I can go straight to the source, just as soon as I ditch my babysitter.
THE YOU KNOW WHAT
My pace slows as we approach the house ahead.
The last time I came here, it looked like any other house on the street. But now, boards cover the windows, and tarps hang from the eaves of the porch. A slit at the top of the stairs allows access to the house.
This must be the home of vampires who won’t receive any more sunlight serum until we can either make more or perform the spell that will allow them to walk freely in the sunlight.
I pull my shoulders back, march up the stairs, and slip through the slit in the tarp. A welcoming glow spills from the porch light next to the door, and no boards cover the windows protected by the tarp. Wicker chairs and a small table sit off to the side, though I can’t imagine anyone sipping lemonade out here with this as their view.
Barron opens the screen door, and I plaster a smile onto my face before knocking.
The sound of movement comes from inside the house, and a moment later, the door cracks open.
Brown eyes dart to me, then the closed tarp behind us before the door opens wider, revealing a tall, lean man in his mid-thirties with closely-cropped dark-brown hair.
He smiles, showing a hint of fang. “Rowe, it’s good to see you again.”
“We come bearing blood.” I take the bag from Barron’s hand and pass them to the other man. “Drake, have you met Barron? He’s shadowing me today.”
Drake takes the bag before his gaze shifts to Barron, and he dips his head. “You’re the owner of Books & Blots, right? I’ve been wanting to stop in and see what you carry, but now I can only go out when you’re already closed.”
“I don’t lock the doors at night. You’re welcome to come in and browse. If you see anything you like, just leave me a note that you took it, and I can email you an invoice.” Barron glances around the porch. “I’m sorry your accommodations right now are less than ideal. But I know Rowe is working on fixing that.”
Drake shrugs. “It’s not so different from how we lived before.”
