Be careful,she finally texted back.And don’t even think of putting yourself in a bad situation without calling me first for backup.
Putting her phone away, Karissa grabbed her bag and moved it into the bedroom, setting it on the floor beside the door and taking a moment to look around. Hale’s was a typical bachelor’s room, complete with sand-colored walls and a dark-blue comforter on the bed. There wasn’t a duvet or throw pillow in sight, but there was an expensive treadmill against one wall, along with a bunch of work-related pictures he’d put up with thumbtacks.
With a jolt she realized that, with the exception of the treadmill and pictures, the bedroom looked similar to Hale’s when he was in high school. Onlyback then he had posters of bands and muscle cars. At least his current bed looked more comfortable than the rock-hard twin-size thing he had then. Not that she’d ever had a chance to do more than sit on it for a few minutes at a time. His parents hadn’t liked her hanging around their apartment, especially not if she was anywhere they couldn’t keep an eye on her. They’d probably been worried she was going to plant a bug or something.
With one more glance at the big, comfy-looking bed, Karissa turned and headed back into the living room, finding Hale already sitting on the couch, a bottle of beer in his hand and the bowl of popcorn on the table in front of him. She sat down beside him, her mind absently recognizing once again how much bigger he was than her. Even after spending nearly a week with him, it was still difficult to get used to how much he’d changed.
Hale reached for the other bottle on the table and offered it to her, then grabbed the bowl of popcorn, resting it in his lap as he scooped up a handful. It was then that she got a good look at his palm and the four crescent-shaped scars located there.
Unbidden, her mind immediately turned to their earlier conversation with Davina, the one when the witch had mentionedclawsand then later Hale had clenched his fist so tightly that his knuckles had turned white. Karissa thought she’d seensome blood but told herself that was silly. Maybe that thought hadn’t been so silly after all?
Karissa opened her mouth to ask, afraid that if she didn’t, the question would pop out on its own anyway, as was her habit. But then she hesitated, not sure she had the right to even ask him something like that.
Sure, she’d told Hale about being a Paladin. But truthfully, other than the whole pulling-a-sword-out-of-thin-air thing, her supernatural nature was rather tame. She realized that his might not be. What if he didn’t want her to know about hisclaws?
Maybe she should put a pin in the subject of his supernatural secrets for now and revisit it at a better time.
“Were you going to tell me about the claws?” Karissa asked, the words slipping out regardless of what she’d just decided.
Hale froze, his hand halfway to his mouth, a few pieces of popcorn falling back into the bowl as he stared at her, his eyes wide.
“How did you…?” he asked, panic on his face.
“Davina let it slip earlier when she was telling us about the Balauri.” Karissa tried to keep her voice casual, hoping it would calm him down. Though she wasn’t quite sure what had made him so upset about her knowing he had claws. “I didn’t know for sure until I saw the palm of your hand just now.”
Hale looked down, the rest of the popcorn falling out of his hand and back into the bowl as he stared at the tiny scars there. They were so faint it was difficult to believe they weren’t weeks old.
“Um…it’s…complicated,” he finally said, watching in a daze as she slipped a hand past his to snag some of the popcorn.
“Yeah, I would imagine having claws would complicate any situation,” she said in agreement, nibbling on a piece of popcorn. It was perfectly buttery with just the right amount of salt. “Do the claws have anything to do with you surviving that knife through the chest and being able to run down a speeding van?”
Hale didn’t say anything, simply went back to eating his popcorn. He was silent for so long that she thought he might not answer her, but then he spoke.
“I’m a werewolf,” Hale said softly, hesitantly.
As if he thought he was delivering a death sentence.
Or maybe he thought she’d freak out. Which was silly. Wolves were gorgeous animals. She should probably keep that to herself. Hopefully, she hadn’t said it out loud. Since Hale didn’t react one way or another, she felt it was safe to believe she hadn’t.
“I can’t really say I saw that one coming,” she admitted, drawing up one leg and resting her forearm on the back of the couch as she half turnedtoward him. “Did you get bitten by another werewolf? Was it someone else on the SWAT team?”
That earned her another frown of confusion.
She waved her hand. “I saw you, Trey, and Carter all running after the van at the police station, so I assume they must be like you. I also heard you guys talking about supernaturals in a way that implied you’re used to the subject. If you’re a werewolf, it’s not much of a leap to assume at least some of your teammates are as well.”
Hale shook his head in amazement. “That’s actually shockingly reasonable.” He regarded her thoughtfully. “You’re taking this way better than I thought you would.”
She gave him a small smile. “I guess it’s been that kind of day. After learning about Romanian gladiators with impervious dragon skin and a Greek god of dread who wants me dead, werewolves seem almost chill.”
“When you put it that way,” he said.
Karissa sipped her beer. “So…did you get bitten by another werewolf or not?”
“Not,” Hale said, taking a sip of his own beer. “That isn’t how werewolves are created. That’s only a fairy tale.”
“Don’t hold it against me,” Karissa said with a laugh. “Up until a few minutes ago, I thought werewolves were a fairy tale, too. So if it isn’t from a bite, how did you turn into one?”
His brows drew together as he regarded the bowl of popcorn in his lap. After a moment, he lifted his gaze to meet hers.
