“He’s right,” she said quickly. “I’ll be fine, it was a stupid idea.”
“No, it’s not,” I argued. “It’s perfectly reasonable, and I’d feel better being near you anyway. We could push the beds together…”
Dean's face went blank. “Are you implyingweshould share a bed?” he asked, motioning between the two of us in unabashed horror.
“Of course not. You’re more than welcome to sleep on the couch,” I quipped. It was too easy to get under his skin, and much too satisfying. “Or on the floor, where dogs belong.”
A muffled snarl rumbled in Dean's chest, but he settled for glowering at me instead of pummeling me like he probably wanted to. “No way in hell. I’d rather sleep with a bloodsucker than sleep on the floor while you two…cuddle.” His nose wrinkled in disgust.
I doubted Bells was willing to go that far for comfort, but I wasn’t going to risk self-deprecation around him.
“So we’ll share, then,” Bells said, sounding relieved. If she wasn’t scolding us for bickering, she really was shaken up. I decided to be on my best behavior for the rest of the night, for her sake.
Even if it meant laying with a dog.
Chapter 15
Bells
By the timeI got changed into my pajamas and came into Dean's and Alistair’s room with my pillow, they had already pushed the beds together. I could tell neither of them were happy with the arrangement, but it meant a lot that they were willing to tolerate it for my sake.
I hated feeling like a clingy chicken, but Dr. Andrianakis, or whatever his name really was, was only part of what was bothering me. The face and voice that haunted me the most belonged to the cultist who’d seemed so familiar, yet had been so willing to plunge that dagger into my heart.
So much for hoping that my time at the Academy would illuminate my past. Now it was more lost than ever, and I wasn’t sure I’d want to uncover the truth once it was all said and done. At least for the present, about to fall asleep between two of the most powerful beings on the campus grounds, I felt safe.
At the moment, the guys were both as far apart as the pushed together beds would allow, like they were polarized magnets. I couldn’t stop myself from rolling my eyes as I stood at the end of the bed, my hands planted on my hips. “You’re both ridiculous, you know that, right?”
“I don’t want to take any chances with fleas,” Alistair muttered, turned toward the wall.
Dean was stretched out on the other side of the bed, his arms behind his head and his legs crossed. “I don’t havefleas,” he grumbled, glancing over at the vampire with an irritated look. For once, though, he didn’t insult him back.
I climbed into bed, getting settled underneath the covers. I’d never actually noticed just how warm Dean was, but he put off enough heat to be an electric blanket. Alistair was right about him taking up the bed, I realized. “Thank you for putting up with each other,” I said pointedly, hoping they’d behave themselves.
Alistair sighed heavily.
Dean grunted, rolling onto his side to face me. “No problem,” he said, gazing at me as if I was the most interesting thing he’d ever seen. His hand twitched, like he wanted to reach out and touch me, but he kept it to himself.
I couldn’t help but smile. Now that I’d seen him at his most intimidating and knew for a fact he wasn’t a danger to me, it was easier to find his behavior charming. “Your wolf form is pretty cute,” I told him, earning a snort from the vampire behind me.
“Cute, huh?” he echoed with a bewildered frown. “That’s, uh, the first I’ve heardthat.”
“Well, it’s pretty scary,” I conceded. “But I wasn’t expecting fluffy white fur.”
“Fluffy?” He seemed like he didn’t know whether to be insulted or not. I got the feeling he wasn’t used to receiving compliments of any kind on his other half. He propped himself up on his elbow to look over my head at Alistair. “Am I fluffy?”
Alistair lifted his head to cast an annoyed glance over his shoulder. “You’re covered in fur, so...yeah. I’d say that’s one way of describing it.” He turned back toward the wall. “‘Hellacious mongrel’ would be mine.”
Dean's eyes narrowed. Then, shockingly, his lips slowly curved into a grin. “That’s fair, I guess, considering the words I’d use to describe you.”
Alistair scoffed a laugh. Seemed their truce was stable enough, for a moment.
“Do all vampires and werewolves hate each other so much, or do you two just have a special relationship?” I asked flatly.
“Well, our species do hate each other,” Dean replied. “Apparently, anyway. I wasn’t a werewolf until a couple of years ago.” He held up his beefy forearm, showing me his mark. It resembled a crescent moon with a line going through it. “He’s got reason to hate me, to be fair. This mark here means I committed a hate crime against another supe. It was probably a vampire.”
It took me a few seconds to process that. When I glanced over at Alistair, he didn’t seem affected by the remark. “Is that true?” I asked. “Is that why you hate him?”
“Not at all,” he answered calmly, rolling onto his back with his arms folded behind his head. His long limbs took up most of the length of the bed, and up close, I realized he was a lot more muscular than he looked in his uniform. His T-shirt strained over toned biceps, and while he wasn’t nearly as bulky as Dean, he could do a lot of damage even without the superhuman strength of a vampire. “If anything, that’s a point in his favor. I hate him because he’s a garish idiot even by werewolf standards.”
