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“I can talk to the real spirit. I see them all over, but I can also call them if I have access to their body before they move on.”
“And the vampires needed you to talk to Rachel why?”
“Because the vampire who killed her went missing, and they wanted to figure out why.”
He pressed his lips together for a moment then shook his head. “Ava, you don’t want to get involved with this. If you already know the vampire killed at least one person, why help look for him?”
I set my fork down a little harder than needed, and it clattered against the plate. “I didn’tvolunteer. It’s not like I put out a paper ad for the job. Kase showed up at my house in the middle of the night and there wasn’t any saying no. When I tried to get out of it, Colter made it clear it wasn’t a request I could turn down.”
A flash in his eyes, the way they brightened, reminded me he wasn’t anywhere close to human. Still, he reeled the reaction in quickly. “That explains why you started helping them. You came to me for information after you’d already found her body, though. Don’t look at me like that—corpse smell doesn’t wash off well, even after a shower. If you did what they wanted, why are you still looking into this?”
“Because when I tried to call forth her spirit, there was nothing there. It was like she was gone.”
The memory of how that dark void had sucked me into the blackness made me shudder and close my eyes. I’d never felt so lost before.
Iknewwhat happened after death, so fear hadn’t meant much to me. Even if something got me, I had no question about where I was going. That made it easier to accept death. It wasn’t an end, only a change of address.
Death had always been safe but life? That was the scary thing.
However, when I had stared into that void, I’d realized there were parts deeper and darker than I’d ever known.
Andthatterrified me.
A warmth on my arm made me open my eyes to find Troy’s hand on me. The touch was sweet, and far too personal.
I extracted my arm from his grasp, unsure how to respond or deal with his sympathy.
Thankfully, he didn’t call me on it. He picked up his fork and took another bite, chewing slowly, gaze down. I could almost hear his brain working, moving back through all our interactions, seeing them through a new lens.
Hell, I’d done the same since I’d found out about him. Suddenly, the time he’d laid bricks for a retaining wall in his front yard held new meaning. He’d done it with no shirt, and it made sense now how he’d managed to lift them all. Hell, with werewolf strength, he probably could have moved the pallet all on his own if he’d wanted.
And wouldn’t that be asight to behold?
The fact he turned into some sort of dog-creature occasionally was something I chose not to think about. I’d never actually seen a werewolf change, because that required getting far closer to them than I’d ever wanted to. I preferred the very hypothetical knowledge I got from Gran rather than anything more hands-on.
Of course, hands-on with Troy would be…
A growl from him had my back straightening. How the hell did a sound likethatcome from ahuman body?
He stared at me with such intensity that I took my lip between my teeth. How did I become so easy with just one little growl?
As quickly as he started it, however, he silenced it. His slow inhalation made me wonder…Can he smell me?
My cheeks heated at the idea that he knew exactly what I’d been thinking.
“So you won’t let this go?”
It took a moment to recall what we had been talking about. “No, I can’t. I don’t understand what happened, but I need to figure it out.”
“Why?”
“Because this is all I have. I’ve always understoodthis,if nothing else. It’s like you finding out you couldn’t shift for some reason. Would you turn around and go ‘oh, well, guess that doesn’t matter?’ No. You’d do anything you had to to figure out why it happened, to make sure it didn’t happen again, wouldn’t you?”
He chuffed, the sound reminding me of a dog. “Be very careful, Ava. No matter what skills you have, you’re still human, and humans tend to get trampledin our world. Call me before you dig any deeper.”
I pushed my plate forward and rose, nodding. “Sure. I’ll call.”
Like hell.
I went to leave but Troy grasped my arm, halting me. He didn’t look up and into my eyes at first, as though he had to calm himself. After a moment, he lifted his gaze to mine, and again, that brightness startled me. I would have pulled backward if his grip weren’t so solid.
“Call me, Ava. I don’t want to find your body because you were being stubborn.”
I gulped at the seriousness of his tone, at the crushing weight of his gaze.
All I could do was nod before he let me go and I could get out of the house.
Thatwas my neighbor? The sweet but strait-laced silver fox next door had just all but eye-fucked me while giving me that ‘do as I say’ voice that made my knees weak.
If I’d realized that was what was inside that man, I’d have taken up nude sunbathing years ago.
