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She looked tired. Drained. Her olive-colored complexion was wan, almost pale in comparison to the dark purple bruises underlining her witch’s eyes.
He was already climbing out of the truck as she shuffled across the sidewalk to get to him.
“Colton,” Shea said as soon as he was standing in front of her, “what are you doing here?”
“I wanted to talk to you but the shop was closed.” He gestured at the front window. “You don’t close ‘til seven. What’s up? It’s not even six yet.”
She shrugged, tugging her coat closed. “I haven’t been feeling so great so I gave myself the day off.”
He took a deep breath. Nothing. Her shields were rock solid again. Not even a hint of her woodsy scent was breaking through.
And, whoa, did that piss him off. His wolf lifted its muzzle, snapping at the air; it took most of what he had to keep from doing the same. After the way she dropped them entirely, inundating him with her true scent, he felt cheated that she was hiding it away now.
Once he kept himself from growling at her, he finally said, “You don’t smell sick.”
“It’s nothing serious. I’m sure I’ll be fine. Shop dies when it gets this cold out anyway and the snow last night didn’t help. I thought I should get some rest. I’ll open up again tomorrow.”
“Why haven’t you tried healing yourself? I thought it worked on everyone.”
“Most of the time it does,” she said. A strange note crept into her voice. She was quiet. Thoughtful. “Sometimes it doesn’t. I’m not worried about it. I just need rest. If my neighbor wasn’t so worried that you were casing the place, I’d still be in bed.”
Her neighbor? Seriously?
Alpha, he was totally fucking up here.
Sloppy.
That was sloppy.
Colt had been watching Shea’s apartment and her shop for months and none of her neighbors have ever caught him before. Probably, he admitted, because he’d always been careful. He never stayed long and, if he planned on staying close, he hovered around back, most of the time curled up in his fur. If they looked real quick, he could pass as a supersized husky.
Today? He hadn’t even given a thought to being careful. Maybe, without admitting it, he’d wanted her to come down and see what he was doing outside her shop.
“I wasn’t casing the place. It’s been a couple of days. I haven’t heard from you… I wanted to make sure you were doing alright. Now I’m glad I stopped by. You need soup?” Soup helped when someone was feeling sick, right? “I can go get you some soup.”
Shea’s mouth dropped open for a heartbeat before she shook her head. “Thanks, but no. I’m okay.”
“What about tea?” She was a witch. She liked that grass shit.
“I’ve tried some peppermint tea earlier, actually. It helped a little. I… I’m just tired. All I need is a nap. It was nice of you to come down and check on me. I appreciate it.”
Nice?
Nice?
Colt wasn’t trying to be nice. Shit, he didn’t even know what he was trying to do, but it wasn’t nice. A mate was supposed—
Ah, but she wasn’t his true mate just yet now, was she?
“Okay. I’ll, uh, I’ll let you get back to bed. Call me when you’re feeling better, alright?”
“I— oh, no.”
“Shea? What’s wrong?” Colt’s wolf went on high alert. He lifted his nose, snuffling when he caught the stench of rotten meat on the winter breeze.
Vampire.
He must be more out of it than he thought if he let a fucking corpse sneak up on him.
