~*~
At the entrance to my suite, Colby and Sonny were leaning against the wall on either side of the door, each scrolling through their phone.
“Everything okay?” I asked, somewhat concerned to find them in the hall.
“Fine,” Sonny assured me. “Just keeping watch until you got here.”
Colby nodded with a smirk. “Jolly invited us in, but the little Hunter was about to piss himself, so we opted to stay out here, instead.”
I cocked a brow. “Jolly? You mean Julian?”
Colby shrugged. “Probably. The kids called him Jolly in the theater group.”
Interesting.
“Well, I’m going to check in with them quickly and get a change of clothes and then we can reconvene with our meeting,” I advised, one hand on the doorknob.
“Sounds good,” Sonny agreed as he started down the hall with Colby at his side. “We’ll see you there.”
Once I was alone in the hall, I tapped lightly on the door and then called out to warn Jules that I was coming in before stepping into the abnormally quiet living room.
“Jules?” I set the Kindle he’d dropped in the hall on the entry table and strained my ears against the silence.
“Over here,” came the soft answer from the far corner of the room.
Before I could respond, there was a whimper from behind the overstuffed chair Jules stood beside. He shook his head and exhaled slowly, whispering something before walking my way.
“Is everything okay?” Jules asked, running gentle hands over the skin exposed by my ripped shirt. “You’re not hurt?”
I shook my head, my gaze caught on the sight of Jules’s strong fingers stroking over the bulging veins in my arms. I’d completely forgotten that I was still in full shift, but Jules didn’t seem even a little concerned.
“I’m fine,” I assured him, cupping his cheek with my palm to protect him from my sharp claws. “Give me a sec to shift and put on new clothes.” I gave the ripped shirt a rueful glance. “I only got to wear this once.”
Jules chuckled and patted my chest before shoving me toward the bedroom. “I’ll be right in,” he promised, shooting a concerned look at the chair Connery seemed to be hiding behind.
Nodding, I tried to smile but, honestly, it’s not a facial expression that melds well with werewolf bone structure.
By the time I’d shifted, cleaned the residual blood from my face and hands, and pulled on the clean clothes I’d taken to the bathroom with me, Jules was sitting on the edge of the bed, a bottle of water in his hand.
“You’re alright?” I asked, running my eyes over him as he stared up at me. “I should have checked earlier.”
“I’m fine,” Jules said with a smile, holding the water bottle out to me. “I was more mad than anything,” he said with a chuckle before a frown overtook his lips. “I’m not as sure about him,” he murmured, lowering his voice and casting a furtive look to the still hidden hunter. “He’s terrified.”
I frowned. “What were you doing together, anyway?”
Jules raised a brow at me, annoyance creeping over his face. “Really? We have a freaked out child hiding behind the furniture and your concern is why I was with him?” he huffed at me. “We weren’ttogether,”he snapped. “He was being chased down the hall by a fucking monster and knocked me down as he ran for his life.”
“Sorry,” I said softly. “I didn’t mean it how it sounded.”
Jules shook his head. “Look, why don’t you go back to whatever you’re supposed to be doing while I try to calm him down? If I need you, I’ll call.”
I would have argued but the set of Jules’s chin assured me that he wasn’t exactly feeling cooperative.
“Fine,” I agreed, bending down to kiss his cheek. “There will be a guard outside the door, just in case.”
The extreme roll of his eyes made it clear that Jules felt I was being ridiculous, but he still allowed me to kiss him again on my way out the door, so I decided to pencil it in as a win.
Julian
