I choked on my beer, only barely managing not to spill it all over the table.
“Haha.”
“I’m not joking,” she said.
When I looked up, I saw fangs somehow growing out of her mouth, white and gleaming even in the dim light of the restaurant.
“Vampires are real?” I asked, blinking in shock.
She had to be fucking with me, right? But there was no mistaking those long fangs that weren’t there a few seconds ago, or the way her lips had darkened into a blood red color. Her eyes were glowing too.
“Oh my God, I’m sharing a room with a vampire?”
Marilee
Iwasn’t totally sure how to tell a human about the supernatural world, but I was pretty sure I was going about it all wrong. Inhaling sharply, I pushed my vamp back deep inside of me. I didn’t want to scare my mate, and neither my vamp nor my newly discovered wolf was happy about the freaked out look on Hazel’s face right now.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to freak you out. I thought with you working for the diplomatic corps you’d be in the know about the supernatural community.”
Vampires weren’t in hiding. Neither were shifters or any of the other supes. It was more like a ‘don’t ask don’t tell’ situation. Most humans pretended we didn’t exist, and we didn’t rub it in their faces that we did. We all knew better than to shift in front of people or do anything to freak the humans out. No one wanteda species war, and we all knew if the humans got worried about our existence there’d be a lot of drama.
Some of the color returned to Hazel’s face. “I’ve heard things, of course, but honestly I thought those were just stories my parents told me to keep me in line.”
That was a weird way to phrase things. My mind went back to Hazel’s almost empty file.
“Do your parents live in Ottawa too?” I asked casually.
She shrugged. “No clue. I don’t have a relationship with them.”
There was definitely more to that story, but I could tell by the stubborn set to her jaw that now wasn’t the time to ask about it. Besides, unless it affected her safety, I didn’t need to know her story. My curiosity was strictly personal, and I needed to stay focused on my job.
Our food arrived and we both turned our focus to our meal. As I ate I pondered the day’s events. Finding my mate. Hearing from my wolf for the first time. Getting my first solo job. It had been an eventful few hours.
Then I groaned. I found my mate. Even though I was ecstatic about it, Lois was going to have an aneurysm. Maybe I’d hold off telling her for now. I knew she wouldn’t pull me off the job – she hadn’t done it any of the other times this had happened. Then again, as a wolf my boss knew better than to keep a supe from their mate. It was impossible to enforce.
The funny part was that Lois herself had found her mate while on a job. Monique was as opposite from Lois as someone could get, but somehow the two of them were perfect for each other. The only time I saw even a touch of softness from Lois was when her mate was involved.
After dinner we headed back to the hotel. As we walked up the street, Hazel had her head on a swivel. She was subtle about it, but I could tell she was watching everyone around us. It made my inner demons twitchy.
Speaking of which, I really needed to talk to my father about my newly discovered wolf. So far, other than periodically screamingMine!while watching Hazel she hadn’t done much. Since it’d been me and my vamp all my life, I was perfectly comfortable with that part of me. The wolf side was a mystery, but hopefully my father could help me figure things out.
My mate only relaxed when we returned to our room. She was good at hiding her tension, but I was already tuned in enough to her emotions to know something was going on.
“Is everything okay?” I asked. “You seemed… tense on the way home.”
Her eyes widened just a fraction, the only sign that she was surprised. Whoever this woman really was, she’d clearly been trained at deception. For some reason, that didn’t set well with me. Not only because it affected my ability to protect her, but also because I wanted her to trust me with all her secrets.
Give her some time,my inner vampire said. I had the sensation of my newly awakened wolf shaking her head. It was disconcerting.
“I’m just tired,” she lied. “I think I’m going to take a shower and go to bed. We have a long day tomorrow, lots of schmoozing to do.”
“Okay.”
It wasn’t like I could drag it out of her. Besides, I had a feeling I’d figure out what was going on sooner or later.
While Hazel took a shower, I stepped out onto the balcony to call my father. I kept the sliding door open a few inches, my eyes trained on the room just in case.
“Hiya kid, how’re you doing?”
