“I suggested a tiny leash; she turned me down.” My brother walked up to Adalyn and slung his ripped and sweaty arms around her, squeezing her against his damp muscle tee.
“Eww, Nash. You’re all sweaty.”
“You usually don’t mind when I’m all sweaty.”
“That’s because I’m sweaty too.” Adalyn tipped her head back to kiss him while I rolled my eyes and muttered, “TMI, people.”
Once she broke their never-ending kiss, she shooed him away. “It’s girl-time, Nash. No boys allowed.”
“If you get bored of girl-time, join me and the guys for boy-time.” He waggled his brows as he tipped his head toward one of the tables.
I looked. Probably shouldn’t have, because now I was fully aware Liam was mere feet away, along with Lucas, Niall, and a handful of other guys, all of whom were dressed in athleticwear and sported varying degrees of sweat.
I returned my gaze to my brother, proud of myself for not lingering on any particular shifter. “Did you just have a buddy date at the gym?”
“Sort of. We were discussing the case, and Liam wanted to blow off some steam, so yeah, we sort of all ended up upstairs.” He rolled his eyes toward the state-of-the-art gym that spanned the entire second floor and was enclosed by walls of glass that overlooked the half-moon pond. Like the eatery, it had been built under Alaric. His last project. One he never got to see come to fruition.
“Mom told me Nate’s idea,” I said. “About having Lori bite Bea again.”
Adalyn frowned. “Why would he suggest that?”
Nash’s mouth thinned. “He’s hoping it’ll transform her fully.”
“Oh.” Adalyn scooped up a handful of Dad’s special cashews—made with love and a BBQ spice blend he wouldn’t even reveal the ingredients of tome. “Don’t see how that could help her.”
“More venom, more pressure on her genes?” I shrugged. “Honestly, it’s one of the better ideas I’ve heard. One of the only ones, too.”
“A shot in the dark if you ask me,” Adalyn said.
I folded my legs. “Better a shot in the dark than a shot in the head.”
Both my brother and Adalyn startled from my emotionlessly-delivered statement.
I hadn’t straight-out asked them about their stance on the subject of Lori and the vampwolves, but I didn’t doubt their thoughts aligned with the majority. We may not have been dogs, but give some of us a bone, and good luck getting it away from us.
“Are you guys still looking for proof that Lori has bitten humans before or have you at least dropped that?”
They exchanged a look, and probably a couple words telepathically.
“We’ve stopped actively searching, but others haven’t,” Ads volunteered. “David Hollis is convinced he can find proof. He sent Grant out of state to follow up on some leads.”
I wrinkled my nose. Even when I’d dated Grant, I hadn’t been a big fan of his domineering father. Especially considering how he cowed his wife. The woman was more passive than the bear rug they had in their living room. Not to mention forever intoxicated, be it on weed or wine.
Although nothing precluded Grant from becoming like his father down the line, he’d always been rather gentle. Hopefully, he’d stay that way. His sister Camilla, though . . . I suspected she’d becomeexactlylike her father.
A loud, “Fuck,” had all our heads swinging toward where Liam sat with his dripping crew. He shot to his feet, along with a bunch of the others and, scraping a hand through his damp hair, stalked toward the door.
“What happened?” Nash called out.
Our Alpha turned, fur thickening along his corded forearms, fingers balling into fists at his side before snapping open as his nails curved into claws. His eyes, amber-yellow from his oncoming shift, locked on mine. Not long, but long enough for me to witness a riot of emotions—fury being the more potent one.
The coroner’s dead. Used his own claws to rip one of the arteries in his neck.
Ads and I gasped while my brother muttered and went after Liam, who’d already pushed out the eatery’s door. The silence that fell over the vast room was deafening. Even the music seemed to have faded. Perhaps it was because my ears were ringing from the news.
My heart hurt. Not for the coroner, whom I’d never gotten to know, but for Bea, who’d already felt guilt-ridden. What would this do to her? Even if we found her a cure, could she ever recover from all the deaths her desire to become like us had brought about?
Chapter 40
