Page 52 of A Velvet Kiss After Dark

"I know. He told me as much," she said, chewing at her fingertip as hunger gnawed in her belly. "Do they serve food here? I'm starving."

"You won't want to eat too much, or your body will want to sleep it off to digest, but I saw some bread earlier. Stay here." Graham stood up and teetered before sucking in a long breath and making his way toward the bar. The innkeeper and him shared some more hand gestures of eating food and trading, before Graham handed him a single bullet. The innkeeper eyed it like a prize, weighing the single bullet in his palm like a diamond assessor trying to figure out its prize. Eventually, he shook his head and put the bullet back down.

"Great," Graham muttered, and then reached into the satchel strapped at his waist and pulled out three packs of fruit-flavored gummy snacks. He opened a bag and showed the innkeeper ate one before offering it. The innkeeper's eyes lit up, and then with a wink he was gone. He returned through the rear door shortly after and held a hank of what looked like soda bread out. Exchange made, Graham returned and tossed her the bread. "There. Now you owe me a favor."

Tabitha almost had her mouth around the bread before she pulled it away. "A favor?"

He eyed her pensively. "Nothing in this life is free."

"Ugh." With disgust, she shoved the bread toward him. "Then I don't want it."

He shrugged and scarfed down half before pushing the uneaten half back toward. "There, now you only owe me half a favor."

Grumbling beneath her breath and not liking this idea at all, she ate the bread as her hunger was growing. What kind of favor? She mulled over this as she chewed the tough bread. It tasted bitter but worked to assuage the ache in her stomach. Patting herself full, she thanked the big werewolf and asked him what was in his tankard.

"Some sort of demon brew. I don't recommend it." He belched. "It's definitely alcoholic." He pushed it toward her anyway.

Tabitha eyed the drink suspiciously and deigned to sniff it. It smelled like piss-flavored beer. She was tempted to try it, though. Instead, she asked, "Why are you healing so slowly?"

Graham snorted a laugh. "Babe, I'd need to remain shapeshifted and get a good long sleep in a cave to heal this wound. You do realize that was an ogre, right?"

She shrugged. "Yes, I just thought you were all immortal."

"I practically am," he said. "But I can still be killed or even mortally wounded, and that beast was a big son of a gun. Look, here comes your man now." He nodded at the staircase where Kane was jogging down taking them two at a time.

He held a pile of her clothes in his hands, wet from washing. A blush stole over her, and she held a self-conscious hand over her neck. He'd washed her things, including her bra and underwear were in there. Just…yuck and very embarrassing.

Kane didn't look at her, his mood was just as grim as before. He did eye the tankard near her, then let his gaze slide over her to her for a moment before lying the clothes out in front of them. Without a word, he went to the innkeeper and made another trade for some food. He returned to sit across from her, his heavy chair scraping against the floor in his agitated state. He plowed into some sort of an onion stew and eschewed the alcoholic beverage.

"When your clothes are dry, we'll leave," Kane said shortly.

She shrugged and looked away, rather despising this newfound temper he was tossing her away.

You know, you're being a big dick, right now, is what she wanted to say. Instead, she rubbed the table idly with her fingernail and let her thoughts drift back to what Graham had said.

Did Kane have a girlfriend?

The thought burned her belly with jealousy. Oh well, she's had plenty of boyfriends herself, never one she wanted to keep, but she was still young, only twenty-seven, and she had plenty of time to meet someone special and fall in love. It certainly wouldn't be with a player for hire with more brawn than brains. A frown creased her mouth as her brow furrowed. That was unfair to Kane. He was quite intelligent actually, she just was being finicky.

"I think I'll try that drink after all, Graham," Tabitha said and drank a mouthful down at Kane's discerning expression. His dark brown eyes flickered with animal luminosity as if his werewolf side was contending with his human side. Oh well, she thought, and slurped another gulp down. "Not bad," she pronounced and smacked the tankard down soundly.

Meanwhile, Kane glared at her and she glared right back. "Don't get drunk, Tabitha Burke. We have a long trek ahead of us."

"Do I look drunk?" she asked loudly, her elbows digging into the table as she glared back at him.

"Not yet, so let's keep it that way." His sharp retort stung, and so she looked away, fuming.

Kane turned to the vampires. "What news have you learned?"

Seth unfolded a roll of parchment. "I stole this from a shop. It was hanging on a wall. It is a map of the country. I believe this object here with the crest of the golden dragon is where we need to go. It lies south of here and judging by the distance markers, I'd broker to guess it's a decent day's travel to get there."

"I saw some camels in a stall, we can trade for some," Tabitha said. "That'll get us there quicker than we can move."

"We haven't much to trade with is the problem," Kane said in disagreement. "We'll steal them instead."

She sucked in a sharp breath and peered behind him but the innkeeper appeared out of hearing range. "That's crazy," she hissed. "You said it in the last village, if we steal, we'll have this whole world up in arms against us."

"As opposed to what? Trading off our weapons? That's all that's remaining, Tabitha. So leave it alone and let us trained mercenaries do our job." He hefted the bowl of onion soup to his face and finished it off, before wiping his mouth on his sleeve.

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