“Why the surprise?” Peter couldn’t stop the hurt in his voice. People always underestimated him because he preferred to work on cars. Somehow, he hadn’t expected his mate to react the sameway.
“With the garage, I just figured you’d gone to a trade school instead of an academicone.”
“I did, but I also got a degree in business so I could run my shop properly. A lot of companies go under because of poor management. Just because I like cars doesn’t mean I can’t doschoolwork.”
“Sorry.” Quain blushed. “I didn’t mean to go all stereotypical on you. I guess I wasn’tthinking.”
“That’s all right. I can’t blame you for assuming what you did. It just took me bysurprise.”
“Yeah, learning your mate is an elitist idiot would surpriseanyone.”
Laughter burst from Peter. “Don’t be so hard on yourself.” He nudged Quain’s shoulder withhis.
Quain’s stomachrumbled.
“I guess I don’t have to ask if you’re hungry. We should’ve grabbed something from Henry on the way out. The few times I’ve eaten at the pack house, I’ve been impressed with his talents. I’ll take you to the club sometime to try out their food, and maybe somedancing.”
From Quain’s beaming smile, Peter could tell he liked theidea.
“I’d like to dance with you.” Quain’s stomach growled again. “And as you heard from my rude stomach, I’m hungry. Did you want me to fixsomething?”
“You can cook?” With how he wasn’t allowed to drive, Peter was surprised at Quain’s unexpected ability to preparefood.
Quain scowled. “Not very well. I usually do things in the microwave so it will turn itself off after cooking. I use the stove when I have someone watchingme.”
For the first time, Peter realized how much Quain’s visions controlled hislife.
“Do you ever resent your psychicpowers?”
Quain slid a hank of hair behind his ear as he fell silent. It took him a minute to respond. “I used to. When I was little, before they came up with a tracking chip, I hated not being able to be anywhere on myown.”
“What tracking chip?” This was the first he had heard of some way to locateQuain.
Quain lifted his pant leg to reveal a small paw tattoo on his ankle. “There’s one embedded beneath myskin.”
“Then why didn’t your parents send someone to rescue you?” If they had known Quain’s location and didn’t save him, Peter would be having words with his in-laws.
“I think their magic fried it. When I talked to my parents, they said my last-known location was where they found thecar.”
“Hmm. We could ask Oliver. He knows about computers, magic, andshit.”
Quain smiled. “Who’sOliver?”
“A wizard who works for Anthony. He’s the reason we were there in the first place. They were trying to use him as a spy and threatened him. Anthony and Silver wanted to make sure the wizards knew what a bad idea that was. I swear if we had known you were there, we would’ve rescuedyou.”
“I believe you. The pack seems reallyprotective.”
“You have no idea.” Peter smirked. “Now let’s get you somefood.”
He headed for the phone mounted on thewall.
“What are you doing?” Quain tilted his head as he watchedPeter.
“Calling the chef.” The food wouldn’t be as good as Henry’s, but it would be far better than anything Peter could produce. Cooking wasn’t a skill he had ever acquired, and he preferred his mate poisonfree.
“You have achef?”
“Well, the building does. It’s a special feature for the top floors. My grandfather paid a huge amount in his will to make sure I never lacked for food or housing. Don’t get me wrong. He left my dad tons, but he knew it would be gone quickly and wanted to find a way to protect my future. My dad couldn’t sell my condo without my consent, and there was no way to get money from me because it was tied up into prepaid things and a trust fund directly linked to me. This kept the money safe and gave me food and housing.” Memories of his clever, protective grandfather always warmed him. Unfortunately, his grandfather’s protective nature hadn’t been strong enough to stop his son’s self-destructive behavior. Peter had always found his grandparents’ deaths suspicious, but no one had taken his concerns seriously. The cops brushed him off as grieving and not wanting to believe they had died from natural causes within days of each other. Peter spotting his father pass a wad of cash to the cops sealed his conviction that nothing else would be investigated. His father had screamed bloody murder when he learned how much money had been tied up into Peter’scare.
