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8
ADDIE
If a god had it out for Maddox, then he would need people on his side. I had a plan that would give him allies and help his beast at the same time. It would be risky to put Maddox so close to Ryder when we didn’t know if Maddox was responsible for the missing people or not, but I had to do it. I couldn’t leave Maddox on his own.
“Hear me out,” I began.
Already, Maddox narrowed his eyes at me. His glare broke only when he pulled a clean shirt over his head. The boundaries between us were blurring the longer I stayed here. He’d come out of the bathroom in his boxers earlier and was dressing in front of me while I tried to talk.
The man knew what he was doing. He could tell that I had a request, and he must have hoped that the sight of his bare chest and muscled thighs would be enough to scramble my thoughts. It almost worked.
Almost.
“You should petition to join the Lakesedge Pack.”
He froze. I could hear the slow creak of his neck as his head swiveled towards me. The way he blinked several times said that he was trying to process whether or not he’d heard me correctly. That meant he did not like this idea.
I tried to give a reassuring smile. This was our best bet. Surely, he understood that.
Well, okay. He didn’t know that this was for the best because I still hadn’t told him everything. He didn’t know that Hel was my relative or that she wanted him dead. Maddox only saw me pass out after yelling at a ghost last night. I hadn’t told him what happened while I’d been unconscious.
“Give them a chance,” I said. “They’re good people, and being around other shifters could be good for you!”
He turned away from me without saying more. Maybe he wanted to shut down this conversation, but I wasn’t going to let go. I darted in front of him, blocking his way so that he had to acknowledge me.
“You should go to meet my friends, if anything.”
Oh, that made Maddox shake his head in confusion. “You’re talking like we’re a couple and I’m the new boyfriend that you’re parading around.”
My cheeks warmed. I hadn’t thought of it that way, but Maddox was right. We’d spent the rest of the night in the same bed. Our bodies had been tangled in one another until late in the morning. He’d held me so tight that I’d thought we would become one at some point.
It’d been oddly intimate and far more comforting than I’d expected. He wanted me just as badly as I wanted him. There was so much standing between us now, though. The mysterious disappearances, the corrupted ghost haunting us, and now Hel’s demand that I kill him were all obstacles that seemed to be too much.
I reached out to him, but I let my hand fall before I could touch him. We weren’t meant to be together. I had to come to terms with that at some point.
“That’s not what I meant,” I said. “You’re a shifter now. It would be good for you to meet other shifters and learn from them. Your quality of life would improve vastly.”
“You want me to make friends with shifters fromSyracuse? No thank you.” Maddox side stepped me and left the room.
I spun on my heel to catch up. A bit of a laugh escaped me. “That’syour only reason for turning this opportunity down? I know the city sucks, but not everyone in it is that bad. And half the city is an illusion. Lakesedge keeps the supernatural community hidden from sight, so of course half the city looks like garbage.”
Maddox glanced back with a questioning expression, but he didn’t stop. I had to jog to keep up with his long shifter gait. The man moved fast, even if he wasn’t trying.
“Just meet with them. There don’t have to be any strings attached.”
Maddox stopped and let out a load groan. “There are murders to be solved!”
Maddox
I foundmyself back in Syracuse—no, Lakesedge.
I didn’t want to be here, but Addie had been persistent. She gave me a nervous smile, like even she knew this might not end well. Though I wanted to give her a tired look, I couldn’t find it in me. For once, I wasn’t exhausted.
My beast hadn’t taken off in the middle of the night. No nightmares plagued my sleep. Wrapped around Addie, I’d found the most restful sleep of my life. Nothing else compared, not even drug-induced sleep.
A muscle car pulled up to the curb. I’d already met the man that got out, but I studied him once more as he approached. He carried himself with confidence. The way he held his head high allowed me to see the shadows in his eyes, though. He had the look of a killer.
Just like every other supernatural I’d met so far.
