I flashed my teeth at him in my best I’d-like-to-eat-you smile. Something about him rubbed me the wrong way, and I refused to examine why that might be.
Talis grunted his thanks and then moved so we could get our own drinks.
“You okay?” I murmured, coming to stand next to him. Falon and Axel still leant against the bar, Axel asking Nick a few questions about Callum.
“Yeah.” Talis ran a hand through his hair. “It’s sensory overload in here. I’ve not been for a while and forgot what it was like.”
While that was true—it did take some getting used to for us—I suspected it wasn’t the whole reason he was acting off. “I may be your alpha, Talis, but I’m also your best friend. You can always talk to me as just Rys. I hope you know that.”
He turned to look at me, his smile genuine, green eyes crinkling at the corners. “I know. Thank you.” The sigh he let out seemed to come from his boots. “It’s complicated, but nothing you need to worry about.” He fiddled with the label on his beer, gaze darting to the bar and back. “I’ll talk about it soon, maybe. Just not here, and not now.”
That was all I could ask for. “Okay.”
Besides, he was right, we had other things to do tonight, and I wanted all of us focused on it. Somewhere out there was the person who’d given Callum a lethal drug that had almost got him killed, might still be the death of him.
Max was doing all he could to catch them, but I couldn’t sit back and do nothing. Neither could Falon.
I waited for him to join us. “Anything useful?” I asked, nodding in Nick’s direction.
Falon waved his hand in a seesaw motion. “Nick says he wasn’t here last weekend, but he’s seen Callum in here before, knows who he is. He never saw Callum with anyone other than Axel, but that’s because they came to his bar. It’s not got much of a vantage point for the rest of the club.”
I faced away from the bar. From here I could see the edge of the dance floor, a few tables along the back wall, and the bottom of the stairs, but not much more. It was a quieter area, probably used by people wanting a break from the rest of it. But there was a great view of the arch from here.
“Why don’t you and Talis stay here and watch who comes in. Axel and I will have a quick walk around the rest of the club.”
“Who exactly are we looking for?” Falon asked, walking backwards a little until he rested against the wall. “Neither me nor Talis know who Callum met up with.” He gestured at Axel with his beer. “Only Axel does, and you’ve got him.”
“We’ll be quick.”
Falon nodded and focused his gaze on the arch. Talis did the same, so I gestured to Axel. “Shall we?”
“Yeah, come on.” He waited until we were out of earshot, the music making it a shorter distance than normal, before leaning in to whisper, “I know you’re in a hurry to get back and watch the door.”
“I am.” I glared at him. “I already said that.”
Axel snorted. “You want to see Mase walk under that arch, don’t lie.”
He wasn’t wrong. I wanted to see who else came in, if Axel recognised them, but yeah. I really did want to be thereifGabriel walked under that arch. “I want to say I told you so when he walks in wearing one of the wristbands and the arch glows blue.”
For a human to enter a paranormal club, they needed someone to vouch for them and a wristband that allowed them to pass through the arch. It wasn’t there just to identify non-humans; it also identified any humans who were then escorted off the premises if they didn’t have the correct permissions. If Gabriel was getting in, he’d be wearing a wristband and Max would’ve had to vouch for him.
Axel stopped me with a hand on my arm. “What are you going to do if I’m right?” He cut me off when I went to protest. “You seem desperate to prove that he’s human, but what happens if he’s not?”
“I—” My breath caught, stuck in my throat. It was a moment before I could speak. “If Gabriel Mason isn’t human, then not only did I fail to recognise that he was a fucking hunter, but my instincts also failed in picking up that he was one of us.”
And it would be another fucking lie that he’d told me.
I wasn’t sure which was worse.
“Fuck,” Axel muttered. “Really hope I’m wrong about him.”
I did too.
We finished our walk around the club, not finding anyone Axel recognised either upstairs or down. That wasn’t strictly true; he recognised a lot of people but none that he’d noticed Callum talking to last Saturday night.
By the time we made it back to Falon and Talis, the club had started to fill up.
I fetched another round and joined them along the back wall. “Anything?”
