He gave the sanguine a brief smile.“Your strongest memory is of Orwell being brought into the room we found you in.I think you wanted to eat him.In more ways than one.”He grinned.
The sanguine scowled.“You’re fucking dangerous, aren’t you?”
Bryn laughed.“Sorry.I can’t filter what I see and I can’t lie about it.It is what it is.”
“And I think we’re done here.”Gunnar nudged Bryn’s chair with his foot just as Giles returned with a blood bag and a nurse.
“Talk to him,” Bryn whispered to Trent.“You never know, and wolves are hot.”
Gunnar pulled him away.“You know I can hear you, right?”
“Can you?Wow, who knew?”Bryn pulled his gloves on and pushed his dark glasses up his nose.
“Will you two stop acting like a married couple?”Giles snapped.“Almost everyone in this room has enhanced hearing.”
“Oops.My bad.”Bryn’s face heated but he put his lack of caution down to his now pounding head and an urgent need to sleep.“Time to go.”
Chapter Ten
Bryn slumped in the passenger seat of the armored car, his head against the window.The pounding behind his eyes had intensified, and the brightness of the afternoon sun wasn’t helping.Despite the warmth of the vehicle, a chill seeped through his body.
“You okay?”Gunnar asked, glancing over as he navigated through traffic.
“Peachy.The usual post-read hangover.”He adjusted his dark glasses, pressing them against the bridge of his nose.“It’d be nice if I’d had an actual drink to warrant it.Do you think any of that was useful?”
Gunnar shrugged.“Neither of them told us much we didn’t already know.The email invitations might lead somewhere.That’s a change in procedure worth looking into.”
“And the hunger from our sanguine friend was…intense.”Bryn shuddered.“Whatever they pumped into him definitely enhanced his natural vamp instincts.”
From the back seat, Giles leaned forward.“The blood bag seemed to help stabilize him.His pupils were already returning to normal when we left.”
“Lucky Orwell,” Bryn murmured with a smirk.
Gunnar shot him a look.“You’re incorrigible.”
“Just trying to spread joy and romance wherever I go.”
“I’m sure Orwell will appreciate your matchmaking efforts,” Giles said.
Bryn winced as they hit a pothole.“Can we stop somewhere?I need food and painkillers, not necessarily in that order.”
Gunnar nodded.“There’s a diner up ahead.We can grab something to go.”
Twenty minutes later, armed with hot chocolate, loaded hotdogs and fries, they were back on the road to GCR headquarters.Bryn had swallowed two pills from Gunnar’s ever-present supply and was now picking at his food, his appetite dulled by pain.He forced himself to eat anyway, knowing that his body needed it.
“You should rest when we get back,” Gunnar said, his tone leaving no room for argument.
“Yes, mom,” Bryn replied, though the prospect of his beanbag or bed was growing more appealing by the minute.
“Eat your dog.”
“I…never mind.”Bryn concentrated on his food.Gunnar’s care was kind of cool.
When they arrived at GCR HQ, Emmett met them in the hall, tablet in hand.“Warden wants a debrief,” he informed them.“Conference room in fifteen.”
Bryn groaned.“Can’t you tell him I’m dying?”
“I could,” Emmett replied with a slight smile, “but you know he’d tell you to walk it off and get back to work.”
