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“Unless Pilates has become downright lethal, I’d say you two were fighting, and fighting so loudly, in fact, that I could hear you from several miles away.”
Annette’s face went ashen as he let his shields drop so she could feel his rage. Out of everyone in his life, he would have sworn thatshewouldn’t betray him, yet it was clearer than the blood staining the blade in his hand that she had.
“Rodney,” Cat suddenly said, rushing toward the ghoul as if he was a life raft and she was drowning. “Come in, come in!” she added to her men after giving Rodney a big hug.
The three humans did, their wary gazes flicking to the broken pieces of furniture peeking out from beneath the drapes before landing on Cat and Annette. Bones didn’t bother to introduce her. He was still fighting his urge to shake Annette until she spilled every single word of whatever poison she’d said to Cat. Blimey, Cat was so upset that she wasn’t even screaming at either of them. That concerned him to no end.
“Hey, the food’s here,” Cat said as a new vehicle pulled up. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m starving.”
“I think I’ll change before supper,” Annette said, slinking out of the living room.
“Excellent idea,” Bones said. “You should, too, Kitten.”
Her gaze darted away from his. “I have to get the food-”
“I got it,” Rodney said, smiling.
Cat gave Rodney a single glare in reply, but then compressed her lips and followed Bones upstairs.
“Not now,” she said as soon as the bedroom door shut. “Yes, Annette and I fought, but we settled it. Plus, the guys are now here and so is dinner. Let’s sit down on whatever furniture is left and eat. The rest can wait.”
Her legs were planted, her arms were crossed, and her chin jutted out with more than its usual amount of stubbornness. Everything about her screamed “back off!”
Bones forced his impatience aside. Let her have this charade of a dinner, then. He could spare an hour to get himself under control, too. “All right. But nothing’s been ‘settled.’ You’re still seething mad, I can smell it, so wearedealing with this tonight.”
With that, Bones left, and braced for the battle to come.
38
Annette spent the dinner putting her charm on full display. Juan looked half in love with her by the time dessert was served, and Cooper had relaxed enough to laugh. Even Tate no longer acted as if he had a stake shoved up his dour arse. But all of that was background noise to Bones. His focus was on Cat.
She kept glancing at him, too, but then her gaze skipped away, and her scent remained a burnt aroma that not even the heavy garlic from the Italian food could mask. The reason why was obvious. He didn’t know why he hadn’t guessed it at once. Annette must have told Cat she was the woman from that regrettable night in Chicago. But was that all she’d said?
“Cards, gentlemen?” Annette said once the last fork had been set down. She even produced a deck from her purse and began shuffling the cards.
Bones stood. “Not for Cat and me, but by all means, Annette, enjoy your game with the blokes. Then you can take them back to the compound. Rodney will accompany you and show you the way. After that, your luck will have run out.” Then, Bones turned to Cat. “Shall we?”
Cat got up, muttering, “That was hardly polite.”
She still couldn’t stand tolookat him for more than a few seconds, and he was supposed to fret about her mates feeling mildly uncomfortable by their abrupt exit?
“You may as well leave it open,” Cat said once Bones shut the bedroom door behind them. “With everyone’s upgraded senses, they’ll all still hear us.”
“Anyone ill-mannered enough to eavesdrop when they can choose to ignore us does so at their own peril,” Bones countered. “And dinner was a waste of time since you barely ate, so now, tell me what happened between you and Annette.”
Her mouth tightened. “A catfight, no pun intended. Annette said some nasty things. I did, too, and then I stabbed her to make a point. Okay, that last onewasa pun.”
“So, that’s it, then?” Bones’s tone dared her to look at him. “All’s well and no hard feelings?”
She met his gaze, swallowed hard, and nodded.
He pulled her close and bent his head. His mouth had barely brushed hers when she tensed as if she’d been slapped. Fear iced his veins. What thehellhad Annette said to her?
“Right,” he said in a carefully controlled tone. “There are two ways I’m going to hear every blasted word that Annette said. The first is from you by request. The second is after I beat the truth out of Annette, which sounds gratifying now, but it would defeat the greater good. I’ve always said that you can tell me anything, Kitten. The question is, will you?”
The polite mask Cat had been wearing cracked. Her brows drew together, her face flushed, and her lips pursed as if she were holding back a torrent of curses. All of it was a relief. This was the real Cat, not the controlled imposter from dinner, as she proved when she drained the last of the gin from a mostly-empty bottle on her nightstand dresser.
“Fine,” she said curtly. “Annette basically told me that you were a raging pervert who preferred your women in minimums of twos, usually more, humans especially because of their warm bodies, you’ve fucked more women than the population of this state, and because of all that, I’d never hold your interest.”
