He ignores my apology. “Are we checking his room first?”
“Might as well,” I reply as we set a brisk pace down the hall and to the stairs. Fortunately, we don’t run into many people on our short journey. It being the weekend and early evening is working in our favor for now, but it may also signify that Rand won’t be home, which means we’ll have to waste time finding him.
I pound on the door a little harder than intended once we reach room two-ten. Not a single sound emanates from inside, but the door next to it opens and a female pokes her head out. Her eyes pop wide when she sees Griffin and me, then the door clicks softly closed right after her head disappears back into her room as if she doesn’t want to draw any more attention to herself.
Griff reaches around me and tries the knob, but it resists, proving it’s locked. Before I open my mouth to tell him to break it, he does it without my prompting, then shoves the door so hard, it ricochets off the wall behind it.
We don’t waste any time stepping into the space. It’s dark and quiet. I was hoping he was just avoiding company, but it looks like he’s really not home. Griff’s chest expands as he inhales. “I smell blood.” His pupils are mere pinpricks. If I didn’t know him so well, I would say his beast is more in control at the moment than he is, but Griffin never loses control. Well, maybe his mouth does, but that’s not going to rip the throat out of anyone who crosses our path.
“Fresh? Bagged?” I step farther into the room and take a better look around.
“Mine.” Griff stalks over to the fridge and yanks the door open. There are several bags of blood, which isn’t all that unusual, considering Rand is a vampire. However, when Griff moves a few bags from the top of the pile, all the ones underneath are small, just like the type he said was filled with his blood at the bank.
Griff turns to look at me, a bag clutched in his hand so tightly, I’m worried it’s about to pop and cause a scene likeCarrie. “Now we know where all your donations went.” I’m so pissed, I want to rip the room apart to see what else we can find. I trusted Rand. Why the fuck would he jeopardize everything for something this stupid? It doesn’t make any sense.
“Is this guy a fucking moron? He just keeps the shit in his fridge.” Griff grabs all the bags of blood, his and the others, and tosses them in the sink. The smell of blood fills the room, telling me he’s draining them.
“Or he never thought he would get caught.” I leave Griff in the kitchen and head back to the bedroom. It’s neat as a pin, but the heady scent of wolfsbane isn’t enough to cover the musky dankness of marijuana.
There isn’t much furniture in here, just a bed and chest of drawers, so I head to the dresser and pull open the drawers, emptying the contents onto the bed so I don’t come into direct contact with the wolfsbane I’m scenting. It wouldn’t kill me unless I ingested a good amount of it, but the rash is worse than poison oak.
A small black duffle bag hits the mattress, falling from the bottom drawer with enough weight to tell me there’s got to be more than some herbs inside. “Griff!” I call. He doesn’t have to worry about an allergic reaction to the wolfsbane like I do.
His presence is behind me a heartbeat later. “This was concealed better than the blood.” I motion to the duffle. “There’s some aconitum and dope. Might be more in there, it’s hard to tell from the weight.” Griff pulls back the zipper slowly, revealing what’s inside.
“Holy hell,” I breathe. “Is that yours too?”
Quinn
I slam the book closed and toss it next to me on the bed. I’ve read so much information, I feel like I could go cross-eyed. I glance at the clock on my phone. It’s late, I expected them back by now. I contemplate calling or texting them, but they must be busy or they would already be here. I can’t help but wonder what’s happening and hope everything is okay.
Deciding to give them a little more time, I head into the bathroom and turn on the faucet for the tub. It’s low to the ground, sunken in, with only a single step leading up to it. After testing the water, I gather a towel and a new bar of soap from under the sink, setting them near the edge.
Impatient, I strip out of my clothes and step into the water before it’s close to being full. My teeth chatter at how chilled my exposed skin is, but the water is nice and hot, so I sink in even lower, hissing when the water hits my tender flesh.
My face is sweaty and my fingertips are wrinkled when I pull the plug on the tub. Steam rises off my body as I stand from the water. The half hour soak was just what I needed. I feel relaxed and sleepy.
Letting the cool air circulate against my skin, I turn on the sink and rinse my face with cool water. By the time I’m done, I’m chilled and ready to climb under the covers after drying off and throwing on a T-shirt to sleep in.
I leave the bathroom light on when I exit. Griffin’s room seems really dark, and without them here, I’m a bit of a chicken to sleep in the pitch black. I check my phone again once I have the covers pulled up to my chin, but there are no texts or calls.
Instead of stretching out like I’m rarely able to do while sharing a bed with two men, I curl up on my side and close my eyes, pretending they’re here so it will be easier to fall asleep.
Just as I’m about to be pulled under, my phone alerts with a text message.
Griffin
“It better not be mine.” I pull the bag open wider so we can see the stacks of cash covering a few tightly wrapped bricks which I’m assuming is marijuana by the smell. “Rand hit the lotto recently?” I turn my gaze to Evan.
“I don’t fucking think so. Where the hell would this have come from?” Evan reaches for a stack of cash but jerks his hand back quickly when he sees the aconitum bundle. Wolfsbane is mostly a nuisance, but one I’m sure most shifters would like to avoid. Even the scent can cause a reaction in some, which is why I’m thinking Rand used it to cover the smell of drugs.
“There’s no way this money came from selling drugs to these kids, it’s not possible.” Evan’s looking around the room like he might find a clue as to where it really did come from.
“It would seem unlikely,” I agree. “We need to find this vampire. I’m no longer willing to be subtle about our efforts.”
I grab the wolfsbane, toss it onto the bed, and zip the bag back up. “Call a meeting. Everyone not on shift is to be present. No exceptions.”
Evan tugs his phone from his belt and pokes the screen. “I need a message sent out to every member of staff and security. Meeting in the main floor ballroom in one hour. Mandatory for everyone unless they’re working in an area that can’t be left unattended. Lock the gates to anyone trying to leave. Nobody gets out, not even on foot.” He ends the call right after.
