“For fuck’s sake… Stop thinking with your dick! Dante, the only hope for Mallory is professional help, and you shouldn’t enable her to avoid it.”
Dante whirled on him. “You know what? I don’t think this living arrangement is working. We’re too close and can’t stay out of each other’s business. At least,youcan’t stay out ofmine.”
Noah recoiled as if he’d been slapped. He didn’t have a chance to do anything about it, since Dante stormed off, slamming the door. Hopefully, twenty-four hours on his own would help him calm down and see things logically.
Noah groaned. Who was he kidding? Dante was the emotional one—he saw with his heart. He admired the fact that his brother was in touch with that side of himself, but also found it frustrating as hell. When Dante didn’t want to see something, he was capable of ignoring reality.
Maybe he was right this time. Maybe they were getting a little too close for comfort, and it was time to find their own places. The thought saddened him.
As Noah put his leftovers in the fridge, he thought about that alchemy formula. He almost had it all worked out. He was about to substitute the more volatile ingredient with a benign one, but hadn’t replaced it before Dante touched something and set it off. Next time would be different.
The neighbors had just moved out. With his and Dante’s paranormal hearing, they’d discovered the people thought they might be cooking meth and that’s what led to the explosion. If Dante left, he wouldn’t have to worry about anyone messing with his process. Before someone else moved in, he should give that experiment another try—without Dante’s dubious help. But that would mean no safety backup either. His whole family was close. Anyone would stick out their necks for one of their own. It was the same with the fire service. Maybe that’s why he and Dante hadn’t recognized that getting mixed up in each other’s love lives was a problem.
Noah pushed those thoughts aside and focused instead on whatever Kizzy was going through.
He’d heard bits and pieces of her conversation with her father after Ruth left. Mostly work related. He didn’t hear any more about Kizzy’s feelings for him, but he didn’t expect her to discuss that in depth with her father. He would have liked more than a mere mention—or maybe not. The elder Dr. Samuels seemed to have his mind made up. Noah just wished he knew why.
The only thing he really got out of eavesdropping on the three of them was that their father was definitely in charge. He would have to win over her old man. If the guy knew Noah could take care of his little girl, that would go a long way.
And that meant he needed money. If that’s what wasreallymotivating her father’s disapproval, he could have an unlimited supply with alchemy gold. He’d try the procedure with iron next time. All that lead exposure made him nervous. He could get loads of shavings at the ironworks. He’d go right there after his shift. Chances were Dante would be spending every spare minute with Mallory, but he hoped they’d have a chance to talk at some point.
He didn’t dislike Mallory. Who could? She seemed like a nice enough girl, if you didn’t know she shape-shifted into a monkey at inopportune times and couldn’t tell the dead from the living…
