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“My head?”
“Your hair.”
I just lifted my brows.
“Just checking,” he said with a teasing smile. “We are going to an event, after all.”
“An event for shifters, which means most of them will probably be in T-shirts and boots. And I revise my prior conclusion: You’re still a punk.”
“I prefer ‘thorough.’ Your impressions of the shifters so far?”
“Cash is worried.”
Connor looked down at me. “Worried?”
“He sat down on the couch—moved away from you. He wasn’t going to show you any deference. Casual disdain,” I decided.
“Okay,” Connor said.
“But that’s not what was in his eyes. That wasn’t casual, and I don’t think it was about you. It was worry or concern. He didn’t like you asking questions, because I don’t think he’s comfortable with whatever the answers might be.”
He studied me before turning the bike, picking up his helmet.
“What?” I asked, a little unnerved by the intensity of his stare.
“You’re good at this.”
I lifted my brows. “Did you think I wouldn’t be?”
He grinned. “I’ve never known you to half-ass anything. But this isn’t just practice. It’s... innate. A kind of instinct for reading people. You’ve got it.”
“I’m a vampire,” I said.
“A lot of people are.”
“No, seriously,” I said. “I mean, I appreciate the compliment, and I’ll take it. And you told me you wanted to know what I thought, so I assumed you were serious and I paid attention.”
“Good.”
It was my turn to smile. “But vampires—” I paused to gather my thoughts. “Wolves are predators, but they’re predators—mostly—of animals. You understand land, animals, their behavior. We hunt humans. We know how to watch them. It’s our nature.”
“Have you ever bitten a human?”
“No. Have you?”
His smile was lazy. “Only when asked.”
I just rolled my eyes, picked up my helmet, but paused before getting on the bike. “I want to ask you something. Not about biting,” I added at the flare of heat in his eyes.
“Okay,” he said, his response quick and sincere.
“Did you bring me here, into this compound and this lodge, to piss them off?”
Heat flashed in his eyes. “I don’t use people. You’re here because I want you to be here.”
“But?” I prompted when he paused.
“But, yes, I’m paying attention to how they react to you. Because they’re a microcosm of the Pack.”
