Midnight was a paranormal club in town. One of the better ones. I wasn’t surprised that Callum had gone there, but I was surprised I’d never seen him myself.
Though it’d been a while since I’d been there.
Too fucking long if Gabriel was already getting to me.
“You know how I sometimes work the bar there?”
Tend bar, dance. Axel did a bit of everything.
“Yeah, go on.”
“I was working when he first came in. So young and innocent in that sea of sharks.”
“It’s not that bad in there.”
“Not for you and me, but for someone as green as Callum? Some of the people in there would’ve eaten him alive, cute little shifter like him.”
“And you definitely didn’t fuck him?”
“No!” He glared at me and I raised my hands.
“Sorry, I’ll stop asking.”
“What I did do was sit him down on a stool at the end of the bar and had him people-watch for a bit while I gave him a few pointers.”
I could only imagine what they had been.
Axel huffed. “As in who to avoid, what to look out for, et cetera. Things to keep him out of trouble.”
“And did you? Keep him out of trouble?”
“I’d thought so, but obviously fucking not if he ended up getting shot by hunters.” He drew his bottom lip between his teeth, watching me. “You said that something in his system was preventing him from healing. Did he take something to turn him feral?”
I hesitated. Max hadn’t said I couldn’t repeat what he’d told us, but I still felt like it’d be betraying a confidence. But if people had seen Callum and Axel together, they’d turn up at his door soon enough.
The lingering protectiveness I’d felt in wolf form swayed me.
“Max said in some of the other cases, the victims—I refused to call them fugitives—ingested a hallucinogen. That’s what they think made them lose control.”
Axel shifted in his seat. “Did they say what kind of hallucinogen?”
“How many kinds are there?”
“Plenty.” Axel clasped his hands and rested them on the table. “Was it a potion? A herb or a flower? Some sort of fungus?”
“I have no idea. But you seem to know an awful lot about them.”
“What are you implying?” He sounded defensive, and he had a point. What was I implying?
“Nothing.” I blew out a breath, frustrated at not knowing what the hell was going on. “I didn’t mean to suggest anything, but I’m fucking clueless here. Did Callum seem like the type to take something like that?”
Axel scoffed. “No way. He only ever had beer whenever I served him. Wouldn’t even let me add the good stuff to it to get him drunk.”
“But you didn’t always serve him, though, right?”
“This is starting to feel like an interrogation rather than a friendly chat.” He cocked his head slightly. “Should I be worried?”
“I don’t know. Did anyone see you talking to Callum?”
