“How far away is it?” Cody asks. “Did he live alone?”
“Forty minutes without traffic, and there’s never any traffic when I’m driving. Nocturnal perks.” Simon grins, showing off pointed teeth. “Per Lawrence’s socials, he had a roommate.”
Cody’s gaze lingers on Simon’s fangs. “Were you going to knock on the door, or creep in through the window?”
Idiot. “I have to be invited in.”
“Right, vampire.” Cody sighs. “Give me the address, and we can go tomorrow.”
Simon’s grin closes off. “Tonight.”
Cody does that patient counting-to-ten thing again. “I need a few hours to research the area, the building, and the roommate. Assuming Lawrence’s roommate is human, we can’t knock on the door at midnight. That’s fucking weird.”
Acquiescing to a werewolf feels wrong. Worse still is the fact that Cody is right.
“Tomorrow is acceptable.” Simon dangles the keys. “See you at the house.”
Cody moves to the edge of the driveway as Simon gets back in the car. The temptation to run him over flits past once again. Simon resists it and drives slowly back to the garage.
The brief journey proves one unfortunate fact. By the time Simon pulls the key from the ignition, he’s tired. Nights of rest and bottled blood haven’t fixed the poison yet. His body is still sluggish, even as his mind rails against every restriction.
He needs fresh blood to restore his strength and magic.
Chapter 8
Cody
Cody is relieved to see Simon bright and early—sorry, dark and early?—the next night. He’d half expected another escape attempt. A failure Cody would have to report to Tobias. But Simon emerges from his underground lair as Cody is eating breakfast. Cody tenses, fighting back an instinctive growl, as Simon sits across the table.
Then silence. No disarming banter this time. Simon just stares creepily at the wall as Cody finishes his omelet. Utterly still, and if he’s lost in thought, those thoughts don’t show on his porcelain face.
Staring at the wall might be the best available option. Simon could be watching Cody eat instead. Or sipping a bottle of blood for his own breakfast, the thought of which turns Cody’s stomach. Call him a prude, but werewolves only feed on humanswhen something has gone very wrong. Vampires do it as a matter of course.
“Ready to go?” Cody asks, putting the dishes in the sink.
Simon rises, dangling keys from his finger. “What’s the approved bodyguard protocol—me driving or you driving?”
“I’ll drive,” Cody answers, and easily catches the keys when Simon flings them.
“Just as well.” Simon heads towards the garage. “My license is a little out of date.”
Cody snorts. “Did they make drivers licenses in the sixteenth century? Wait, or was it the fifteenth?” It always takes him a minute to remember how that goes.
“Sixteenth.” Simon pauses to enter the security code at the garage door. “The treaty council provides sufficient identification. I’ve just neglected to request a new license this decade.”
Reflexively, Cody holds the door closed before Simon can open it. “Sorry,” he says when Simon jerks back. “Let me enter rooms first when we’re outside the house, okay?”
“If it makes you feel useful,” Simon says drily.
Simon’s brief nervousness is only visible because Cody is watching him so closely. “How old are you in your current license?” Cody asks as a distraction, while he scans the freakishly clean garage. “All clear.”
“Forty-five,” Simon answers, following him towards the car. “It’s awkward when I get pulled over.”
Cody pauses at the driver’s door. “Does that happen often?”
Giving one of those little smiles that makes him look alive, Simon pets the sleek black hood. “It’s not my fault these newfangled automobiles go so fast.”
Cody is extremely grateful to be the driver as he settles behind the wheel.
