AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The last thing I needed was a woman to screw that up because I trusted someone who didn’t deserve it.
I glanced at Liv again. She was focused on her laptop as she took notes of the meeting, her fingers flying across the keyboard. When she paused in thought, her fingers absently toyed with a pendant around her neck.
Why did Jerry have her here as an assistant if she was a researcher on his team?
I was glad he had—I wouldn’t have known about her if he hadn’t. Something about her drew me, and not just because she was so fucking beautiful. I watched as she sucked her bottom lip into her mouth in concentration. I wanted to suck on that lip.
I wanted to do a lot of dirty things to that mouth.
There was something else about her, too, though. Something enchanting, but she was hiding it. Did Jerry know what she was? I couldn’t get a read on her, and that had my back up right away. She couldn’t be trusted if she was working that hard to hide who she really was.
Only traitors hid the truth.
If she was a human, I would have had my way with her and be done with it. Even if she was something else and admitted to it, I would have taken what I wanted, but she was dangerous, because I was drawn to her, and I didn’t know why.
“So, that’s where we stand,” Jerry said, and I turned my attention to him, finally focusing on his words. He looked at me eagerly, and when I didn’t respond, he carefully added, “What do you think?”
“I think I’ll sleep on it,” I said. Ergo, I would have Lazlo tell me what that fuck Jerry had said at all.
I hadn’t paid attention to the presentation because the formalities didn’t matter. We were going to do this project, no matter what. I needed that machine to work. I needed it to help us find a cure for enchanted blood disorders, so I could find a cure for the anomaly that coursed through my veins.
Was I a good Samaritan, wanting to help the entire world?
No. The world was on its own trajectory. People fucked up around every turn, and as far as I was concerned, it was every man for himself out there.
Every species for himself, at least.
No, this project was personal.
My dad had found out, before he’d been brutally murdered, that he’d had a rare blood disorder. It was genetic. For a long time, I’d thought I’d dodged the bullet. I’d told myself again and again I was nothing like him, so I wouldn’t have what he had.
Turned out fate was a bitch. No good deed goes unpunished, right?
I had the disorder, too. I’d found out not too long ago, when Rory—my friend and one of my inner circle wolves—had tested me for it. I’d finally caved and asked her to put me out of my misery and give me answers.
I hadn’t gotten the answers I’d hoped for.
I didn’t show any symptoms yet. If I had, this whole thing with getting the vampires on my side wouldn’t work.
I needed this machine to find a way to fix my ailment, so that I could keep doing what I needed to do. Checking out early wasn’t part of the plan.
This fucked up disorder was one that couldn’t be cured yet, and I wasn’t planning on telling anyone about it, either. If anyone found out the alpha of the city had a weakness, they would double up their attempts to get me out of power.
Rory was the only person who knew, and she would be the only person who knew until there was nothing to know anymore.
Jerry’s face was riddled with disappointment. “When can I expect an answer?”
“When I give it to you,” I snapped. He was a pain in the ass, whiny and nosy and irritating. I wasn’t a big vampire fan. There were the good ones, but Jerry wasn’t one of them.
“Of course, of course,” Jerry said. “I was just curious. You understand I’m eager to get this going, as I’m sure you are, too.”
I was eager to get this shit on the road, sure, but I wasn’t going to indulge Jerry until I knew we were in the clear.
This was risky business—we were changing the way things were. Playing with the future always had to be done carefully. The world had a habit of not inviting change, and change was at the top of my agenda.
When I stood, everyone else stood, too, including Liv. Her scent traveled to me—she wore floral perfume, but her blood had its own scent. It was subtle, but demanded attention. It pushed into my nostrils and wrapped itself around me, asking me to breathe it in, to get lost in it.
It made me hungry for her in so many ways.
