Zeph rambled on and Mateo occasionally threw in a few words like ‘no kidding’ and ‘seriously.’ He appreciated his friend, but the guy clearly didn’t get it. You couldn’t decide to turn off your dark nature. He’d tried with Selena already and failed. Miserably. He wasn’t going to let it happen again.
“Yeah, it was a pretty bad situation, but it turned out fine.” Zeph paused a full five seconds. For a moment, Mateo thought the guy’s lady friend must be doing something to him. “Are you even listening to me?” Zeph growled.
“Your sister. Human guy. Things are peachy. Yep.”
“Dickwad,” Zeph said. “You haven’t listened to a word I’ve said, have you? The guy’s a sweetblood, and the two of them could have some helpful tips and advice for you.”
“For fuck’s sake, Zeph. Who says I want to try making things work? Or that she does? The woman just learned that monsters exist and have been preying on her. And that once upon a time the guy she used to date almost killed her. You seriously think all we need is a little relationship advice?”
“Whatever,” Zeph said, dropping the subject. “Listen. I’m texting with…my future brother-in-law…about them…coming to the island.”
“Jesus, Zeph. I not going to—”
“Too late. He’s going to see about flying a few agents over to Vancouver Island tomorrow evening. And if I can catch a flight, I’m going to join you.”
Mateo was confused. “Flying? Out here?” How had Zeph coordinated that so fast? It occurred to him that maybe he’d been tuning out his friend longer than he thought.
“If you’d been listening to me,” Zeph said slowly, enunciating each word, “you’d have heard me say that Finn is a helicopter pilot for the Horseshoe Bay region.”
“Wait. The sweetblood guy your sister’s married to works for the Agency? And he flies agents around with him in a tiny enclosed space?” If he didn’t know Zeph like he did, he’d have thought the guy was lying or grossly exaggerating the facts.
“Yeah, amazing, huh?” Zeph said, his tone saccharine sweet. “And sometimes they’re even cooped up together for hours. A sweetblood and several vampire males. But then, you’d have heard all that if you’d been paying attention.”
Mateo was glad his friend wasn’t here to see him rolling his eyes. He could be so goddamn sensitive sometimes.
