“I kinda lost the Reaper,” he muttered. “We got caught in a flash flood and sucked down into a tunnel. Kynan was not happy.” He glanced up the stairs to the second floor and their private living quarters. “Have you seen Crux yet?”
“Nah, like I said, I just got here. You might want to go check on him. He’s probably in his room.”
“I hope he’s been eating,” Blade said. “He needs to pound the calories before the transition starts, or it’s gonna wreck him.”
“Masumi will make sure he eats during it,” Mace assured him, but they both knew the reality. A Sem’s transition was a dangerous time, full of pain, dehydration, starvation, and, potentially, death. Crux needed to be as nourished and strong as possible before it began.
A few heartbeats passed. Then a few more. Then things got awkward. Whichneverhappened. And was it his imagination, or did Scotty and Blade exchange a few more furtive glances? Nah. He was probably still suffering the effects of his injury and its subsequent, painful cure.
But he had to be sure. “Okay, guys. What’s going on?”
This time, their looks lingered. Hewasn’tseeing things. Something definitely wasn’t right.
“Stop fucking around. Talon says I can’t let my heart rate get above sixty heartbeats per minute, or I’ll die. And you’re starting to stress me out.”
Blade fumbled his water, spilling some onto the floor. “What’d you say?”
“You’re kidding, right?” Scotty gaped at him. “Tell me you’re kidding.”
“Nope.” Now that he had their attention, he folded his hands across his abs and soaked it in. Side of drama and all that. If he hadn’t joined DART, he’d have been an actor. In school, drama class had been his favorite. Screw math. And science. And pretty much everything else. “He’s making me sit around, because if my heart rate gets too high, it will stop. It’s a side effect of the injury. Or of the cure. I’m not sure. They both sucked. But the cool thing? It’s a prescription to play video games until I’m healed.”
“What the fuck, Mace?” Scotty practically yelled. “Why didn’t you say something sooner? We could have killed you with—”
“With what?” He scoffed. “Your wendigo hunt story? Come on.”
“No, it’s just…” Scotty’s cheeks flared pink, and she averted her gaze.
Mace glanced down at his heartbeat monitor. Forty-three. “Just what?” Mace pressed.
Blade swore. “It’s nothing.” He shot Scotty a look that dared her to argue. Which made Mace even more curious. It also made his pulse pick up. Forty-seven. The alarm would sound at fifty. He could die at sixty.
Chill. Breathe.
“It’s obviously something.”
“It’s about Skoll,” Scotty said quickly. “I made a date with him.”
Her words made his heart skip a beat. Which was probably betterthan the alternative.
Skoll? Mace knew something like that would happen, but he didn’t want to have to think about it. Now, he had to pretend everything was totally cool when his only consolation was that at least it wasn’t Jon.
“That’s great,” he said, all cheery and full of lies. “Why did you think that would upset me?”
“See,” Blade said, giving Scotty the side-eye. “Told you it was nothing.”
“Yeah. Totally cool.” Mace fidgeted with his water bottle. “Skoll’s a decent guy.”
Fuck that. No one was good enough for Scotty. But he couldn’t say that, and he had to stay calm, so he just took a gulp of his water and kept his mouth shut.
“Okay, then.” Scotty hefted her bag to her shoulder. “I’m taking off. I’ll see you guys later.” She jabbed her finger at Mace. “You. Take it easy.” She rounded on Blade. “You. Get some rest. We pushed some limits this week.”
“Limits? You?” Mace asked, teasing. He knew how hard she pushed herself. “Never.”
Usually, when he teased her, she fired back at him, even if it was just to shoot him the finger. But this time, her face turned red, and she stammered.
“I—I mean, not too bad. We just…we took a fall, and I was kind of out of juice when we fought the wendigo…and I’m going to go. See ya.”
She rushed out of the house, and Mace looked over at Blade. “That was weird. What was that about?”
