“Are you hurt?” Daniel asked.
I scowled at him. “Do you care?”
“Woman—”
Garrett snarled, interrupting whatever Daniel was about to say. The sound was scary as hell. We both went perfectly still.
“Are you injured?” the chief asked me.
I flopped back into my chair. “Just my feet. I have a blister. Or two. Maybe three.”
I didn’t say anything about my knee or the fact that I was pretty sure my elbow was skinned beneath my sweater. Now that I was no longer running on terror and adrenaline, my entire body was beginning to ache.
“Let me see,” Daniel said, getting to his feet.
“No.”
I lifted a hand in his direction, palm out, like a traffic cop. To my surprise, he stopped. Huh.
“It’s a couple of blisters and some scrapes. I can clean them and bandage them myself. I don’t need youhelping me.”
Daniel opened his mouth to say something, but Garrett interrupted again.
“Get the first aid kit, Ayres. Put it in Cari’s room. I think it’s best if you two avoid each other the rest of the night.”
Daniel turned and stared at him, the muscles in his jaw working as he clenched his teeth.
Garrett returned the stare with a bland one of his own.
“Don’t act the alpha in my house, Kent,” Daniel said. “It’s not your territory.”
“I’m the police chief. Everyone in Devil Springs is my territory.”
Daniel stared at him for one more moment and finally left the kitchen.
Since I intended to barricade myself in whatever room he gave me for the night as soon as he returned, I began shoveling the last of my sandwich down.
In between bites, I asked Garrett, “So, alpha as in werewolf, huh?”
His pale blue gaze pinned me for a second, but I shook it off. It was clear they didn’t intend to harm me. At least for tonight.
The thought dried up the last of my appetite and the bread suddenly felt like sawdust in my mouth.
“Yes. I’m a wolf. But it’s probably for the best if you keep these little observations to yourself while you’re in town. The less you know about us, the better. And some of my people are touchy. You don’t want to piss them off.”
I nodded and washed the dry bite of food in my mouth down with my now-cold cocoa.
“Understood,” I murmured.
Daniel appeared in the doorway, and I got to my feet. I picked up my plate and cup, thinking I’d take them to the sink, but the first step rubbed my boot on the back of my heel, right over a raw blister.
“Leave them and follow me.”
I shrugged and set my dishes down on the table. Without a word, I toed off my booties and leaned down to pick them up. Walking would hurt less without them.
Daniel and Garrett watched me in silence.
“It’s rude to stare,” I stated.
