“Did she just call himFluffers?” JP chimes in.
“You don’t have to be angry, Fluffers. I’m here now. Tell me what’s wrong, besides your paw. Did Ryker cut you?” I pick up his paw and take a look at the damage. It looks superficial but he’s bleeding all right. I gently put his paw back down and continue babying him. “I can bandage you up, but you’ll have to calm down and show me those beautiful green eyes first.” I pull back long enough to peek at his face, and those forest greens are shining at me and his tongue is lolling out of his mouth. He plops down on his back and shows me his belly. “Aww. There’s nothing scary about you at all, huh?” I mock, while I give his tummy a few rubs, secretly wondering what Knox is thinking of his wolf eating out of my hand.
Looking over my shoulder, I see that everyone is in the kitchen with various looks of shock displayed. Even Moni’s looks like a glitter bomb from Trolls. “What?” I ask, trying to keep the smile off my face.
“You know if you would just rub a little lower, I might forgive you for the baby talk you pulled.”
My eyes swing back down to see Knox wearing only tight black boxer briefs, black nipple rings, and a goofy smile. “Now isnotthe time or place, could you put on some clothes,” I tease, holding back my laughter while standing up and moving away from him.
“Sure,” Knox chuckles as he grabs a blanket off a chair and wraps it around his waist before sitting down at the far end of the sofa.
“What the hell did I walk into?” I ask, looking around at the aftermath of their chaos. JP and Levi are busy cleaning up the water in the living room while Ryker just gives Knox wary and distrustful looks.
Moni flies over to me and starts talking a mile a minute. “Fireweed armpits, Rez. You just threw yourself on a shifter in the throes of his rage-fueled blackout and LIVED. How? Why? Holy Baloney, you must be part man. Do you have brass balls? As your best friend, how do I not know about this?” She lets out a frustrated breath before squinting her eyes at me and proclaiming, “I just can’t with you,” and promptly faints in my arms. And this is why I love her.
Placing her on the sofa, I walk to the other end and sit down next to Knox. “Are you okay?” I ask, picking up his hand to look at the cuts across his knuckles. They don’t look bad and are already starting to heal, but I’m worried about what started the whole thing.
“Yeah,” he says in a clipped tone as his gaze travels over to Ryker. Wisely his eyes soften as he looks at me, and he gives me a slight smile.
“What happened?”
“Knox is keeping secrets,” Ryker helpfully adds in and Knox’s body tenses.
“I told you, they are not mine to tell,” Knox grinds out through clenched teeth.
Okay. Obviously some tension there.
Gently squeezing Knox’s hand, I bring his focus back to me. “Okay, clearly that’s a sore subject. You all know how I feel about secrets and I’m sure there’s a good reason for yours. But before we dig into that, can someone catch me up on what I’ve missed?” I snuggle up against Knox’s bare chest because I feel like he needs it most right now. It has nothing to do with the fact that his body looks so inviting and I’m craving to take a bite out of him. He wraps his arm around me and pulls me into his side where his body relaxes a little while I’m caught up on the fact that Zeke is missing and there’s a Necromancer loose from what Knox has told me. By the time he’s explained everything, my bottom lip is sore from chewing on it and thoughts keep running through my head.
Where’s Zeke? Is he okay? Yes, I was mad at him, but I’ve never wished any of the guys any harm. This is the last thing I wanted.
Fuck.
“You don’t look surprised about the death last night,” Levi accuses me, but I let it roll off my back. I know the dense emotionless neanderthal doesn’t mean that I killed the girl, he’s just curious as to why I’m not surprised.
“Before I was summoned by Moni to save the day, Knots was filling me in on what the latest gossip is. I have to admit, there’s something to be said for dating a Door Knight.” I give Levi an innocent smile with a wink, watching as he rears his head back as if I slapped him. He purses his kissable yet traitorous lips and straightens out his cufflinks, and that’s when I truly notice he looks a mess. Holy shit! Levi isn’t wearing a jacket or tie, and his hair looks like he, or someone else, has been running their fingers through it. My little green monster starts to poke her head out, and I mentally whip her back into place. I can’t help how I feel about the guys; if anything were to happen to them, deep down I would be worried about them. Though, I’m not sure that’s what I’m feeling here.
We’re mad at him. We don’t care what he’s doing or not doing with other people right now.
Yeah, I’ll believe that when I see a purple elephant wearing a tutu.
I shift my weight before turning my attention back to Knox, “Okay, I need to get this straight before we go further. First, you did your blind wolf rage blackout thing, did that hurt you?” Knox shakes his head and I look at the others in the room. “Does anyone want to tell me what’s so bad about Necromancers in the first place?” I ask. Everyone either gives me a blank look or just doesn’t meet my eyes. I purse my lips before narrowing my eyes and let out a huff. “Well someone needs to tell me, because it’s obvious to me that Zeke is the Necromancer we’re all freaking out about here if what I walked in on is anything to go on.” I turn to the man that wolfed out and ask, “Right?”
The room goes silent once again and I swear, if they keep this up, I’m going to have yet another complex.
“How did you—”
“Wait—”
“Look,” I start, counting off my fingers, “You guys had a family meeting and Zeke is missing. A girl died by an extinct creature that only a Necromancer can raise. Knox says it’s not his secret to share. He was so upset and protective about it, that he lost his ‘cool’ and wolfed out. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out he’s talking about Zeke.”
“Obviously,” Ryker mumbles under his breath, and I stick out my tongue at him. When he sees my tongue ring, his eyes turn molten, and I’m hit with a wave of lust causing my pussy to clench down on nothing.Fucking tease.
“It makes sense that Knox would know Zeke’s deepest secret since they are super close. Therefore, Zeke is the Necromancer and that’s why Knox flipped his lid,” I state matter of factly and lean back into the sofa.
“NO!” Knox ferociously says, standing up and daring us to go against him. I have to admit it takes great restraint not to ogle his body in just boxer briefs as the blanket drops from his waist, but it’s not the time nor place. “You don’t understand.” He drops his head and shoulders in defeat and my heart breaks for him. He starts yanking at his hair in agitation as I approach him and gently reach for his hands.
“Then tell us, so we can understand,” I plead, looking into his soulful green eyes.
