“You good?” he asked.
“Fan-freaking-tastic,” I muttered, cheeks burning.
Savannah snorted from outside the door, clearly having heard me with her wolf’s hearing. “Excellent. In that case, I’ll be heading to my room.” Savannah stomped inside, slamming the door a lot harder than necessary, in case we were unsure of her displeasure.
I sighed. “She really doesn’t like me.”
Valens turned, already shaking his head. “She doesn’t know you yet. When she does, she’ll love you. Because I?—”
I was on my feet in a heartbeat, backing away. “No. Uh-uh, don’t do that. Don’t… just don’t. Please.”
He froze, eyes wide as if only just realizing himself what he almost said.
“I should go.” I dodged around him, head bowed with embarrassment at the whole situation.
And this is the man I am going to fuck senseless any day now, when my heat renders me otherwise useless. That wouldn’t complicate things at all.
“Wait. Don’t leave. I’m sorry. I know it’s too soon. I won’t say a thing, I promise. But we do need to discuss pack business.”
Damn it. It was a raging double standard that just minutes ago he’d been telling me how I could say anything to him, andhere I was telling him to censor himself. I was a real bitch, but I couldn’t bear to be any other way.
This was why this relationship was such a bad idea. It was a piping-hot stove, and I was the kid who couldn’t stop touching it.
Because he was pack second, and I was a maiden. We had jobs to do, and we were practically coworkers at this point. So I couldn’t make a hasty escape, because he was right. Wedidneed to talk about pack business.
“Of course.” I straightened, suddenly awkward when moments ago, everything had been as easy as breathing.
“Let’s… go have that coffee. It’s done now.” He raked a hand through his hair, not at all hiding the evidence of the hookup we’d been speeding toward.
“Coffee’s good. Can’t maul each other with coffee cups in our hands.”
He laughed, and just like that, the tension broke. We were okay.
“Challenge accepted.” He shot me a wink that I felt all the way down to my core, but then he was gone, striding into the kitchen with renewed purpose. This time, I kept my hands to myself as he poured two cups of coffee, then passed one across the kitchen island to me.
“So, the IGC.”
“Right bastards, the whole lot of them,” I quipped, sipping my coffee.
“I think Lucien might be offended by that.” He grinned over his own mug.
“Okay, Lucien excepted, therestof them are bastards.”
“I agree, but I still think us going to talk to them is the best option. We were the ones who investigated two of the disappearances, and we were here for Alajos’s confession. And with your extra senses developing… Maybe you’ll notice something at the council building that could be helpful.”
I took an extra-long draft from my mug, stalling. We hadn’t talked about thatextra senseyet, but he was being remarkably cool about it. Almost too cool.
“Speaking of extra senses… Doesn’t that bother you?”
He set the cup down, eyebrows crinkling together in an adorable frown. “No, why would it bother me?”
“Because it’s bad enough I’m a maiden. Now there’s something else weird going on too.”
“I think the word you were looking for is incredible, actually. You’ve obviously been Goddess touched, like the rest of your crew.” He paused. “Also, it wouldn’t freak me out because it’s part of the legends.”
It was my turn to frown. “What legends?”
“Don’t you remember the tree? The guardian’s sigil that my grandfather carved into it?”
