Minus almost kissing his charge on a bathroom counter.
“You didn’t shift, right?” Tobias asks.
“I didn’t,” Cody answers, then winces. “It was close.”
“Close is fine. Proud of you, bud.” A mug clinks on Tobias’s end. “You said Simon’s fine. Is anyone else hurt?”
“The attacker is fine, unfortunately. I got grazed by a bullet, but it wasn’t silver. It’s already healed.”
“I’m never getting used to that,” Tobias says.
Cody leans back in his chair, flicking through camera feeds. Everything’s quiet and dark in the surrounding tree line. “Are you making coffee? Aditi won’t like you staying up this early.”
“Never getting used to that either. How the fuck do you hear that?” Tobias chuckles. “Stop using my wife as a distraction, and tell me what’s bothering you.”
Tobias may not understand werewolves, but he understands people.
Cody’s unreasonable attraction isn’t the only problem. “This attack was a half-assed operation. A single woman with a gun? Plain lead bullets to kill a vampire? Even if they didn’t know Simon had protection, that’s understaffed for an ambush.”
A bag of coffee grounds crinkles. “You said he’s still affected by that blood poison. Would a regular gun hurt him in that case?”
“It could slow him down.” Cody frowns. “But the first guy is dead. Whoever’s responsible would have to know the poisoning part was successful.”
“Who would know that?” Tobias asks.
“You, me, the sire, the club owner, any of the club owner’s people…” Cody recalls the vampire Andrea’s blatant hostility. What if that was more than regular interspecies prejudice? “And anyone they told.”
“So, anyone.” Tobias sighs. “We’re not detectives, but send me the parking garage info and I’ll try to look into this woman. No promises.”
Cody pauses cycling through the feeds, landing on the well-lit view of the front gate. There’s something hesitant in Tobias’s voice. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” Tobias says—a clear sign of something wrong. “Is the vampire driving you crazy yet?”
“You could say that,” Cody hedges. It’s true, though not the way Tobias thinks. “He’s not as bad as I expected.”
“That’s good, because the client asked to extend the job another month.”
Surprise sparks Cody even more awake. This shouldn’t be a surprise, given that the attacks still aren’t explained. But Simon hasn’t said anything.
Does Simon even know about it? Probably not, given what a frigid asshole Dima seems like. If Simon was Cody’s, he wouldn’t leave him alone with someone who…
Cody realizes why Tobias was hesitating. “That includes the full moon.”
A sip of coffee punctuates Tobias’s concern. “I haven’t approved the extension yet. We finished clearing up your last job. If this doesn’t work for you…”
Cody rises from his desk chair. He needs to pace the room to think. Apparently, he’s out of the doghouse, and Tobias is offering a way out. Cody can leave if he can’t handle this job anymore. His control over his wolf. His attraction to Simon.
“Approve it,” Cody says, barely keeping the snarl from his voice. “I want to see this job through. I can figure out the full moon situation.”
There isn’t a choice. Cody can’t leave while Simon is still in danger.
“Good man,” Tobias says, suddenly cheerful. “Not to pressure you, but this Dima is loaded. You’re going to like your bonus. As for the full moon, I had a plan for that.”
Of course. Tobias has contingency plans for everything. He’s a strategic, sensible person.
Unlike Cody, who’s a fucking idiot. When he hangs up the phone, nothing’s changed. He still can’t erase Simon’s sharp disappointment from his mind.
Fuck professionalism. Ignoring his attraction won’t make it any less distracting. He should have kissed Simon. He should have danced with him. Maybe Simon won’t want any of that, after sleeping off the bloodlust and adrenaline. But Cody needs to find out.
