Page 12 of Devil May Hunt
“What?” No way. He twisted his wrist and clicked on the calendar app on his multi-slate, mouth dropping open when he saw Sila was telling the truth. “What the hell!”
“I’d heard an alpha rut could last that long, but I figured since you’re a Vital, the two of you would finish rather quickly. Interesting.” There was a pause, and then, “Actually, wait. That’s not entirely true, is it?”
“What’s not true?” Admittedly, he was struggling to keep up. He still felt like roadkill, and the shock from learning he’d lost three whole days wasn’t helping. The doors to the elevator dinged and he got out, forcing himself to concentrate on putting one foot in front of the other so he didn’t topple over and make a fool of himself.
He recognized the Cardinal Hotel now that he was in the lobby, the bright pops of red and polished gold accents giving it away before he passed the check-in counters with the hotel name scrawled on the wall. While he’d never stayed there before, he’d attended a few events over the years. As the Cree’s only son, he was called to step in when his parents were otherwise engaged.
The hotel was one of the most popular for visiting dignitaries, and since it was around noon, the place was packed with people coming and going.
It would be so embarrassing if he fell here, in front of all of these people.
“Your great-grandmother was an alpha, wasn’t she?” Sila replied.
Brennon had completely forgotten. He’d never met that set of grandparents, since they’d died in an accident before his birth. His mom never talked about them, had once told him it was too depressing, and the past was better forgotten.
“That wouldn’t make a difference, though,” Sila continued, and it was hard to tell if he was talking to himself or messing with him. “Even if you have a distant relative fromSynastry, your genetics are too diluted to matter in this instance. It’s not like you could present with a second sex or anything.”
There’d never been a fear of that because Sila was correct. It was impossible. His grandmother had married a Vital man and they’d had his mother, who’d been born without a proclivity. That meant there’d been less than one percent chance they’d give birth to a child who developed a second sex.
“They had me tested as a baby.” Brennon made it outside and hailed the first cab he saw, trying not to notice the stares he got. He’d been so worried about falling, he’d forgotten he was half naked and barefoot. “I’m completely Vital. I lack the organs needed to present.”
Things like scent glands, and—
He gave the cab driver the Academy’s address and then pursed his lips.
There was another fuzzy memory, something about slick and omegas and how he wasn’t getting wet down there.
“Hold on. You passed me off to an alpha stranger?!” Brennon bowed his head when the driver jumped at his sudden anger.
“Did you just register that?” Sila snorted at him. “You agreed to giving it a try, and considering how long you’ve been with him, clearly things went well. How do you feel?”
“Like I’ve been hit by a truck.”
“No, I mean about my brother. Are you still tortured over thoughts of him?”
Brennon scowled. “That’s not how it works, Sila.”
“Sure it does.”
No, it really didn’t, but then again… “It didn’t hurt any,” he confessed. “But now the rest of me is in serious pain.”
“Everything comes with a price.”
“Why’d you do that anyway? How do you know that alpha?”
“I don’t,” Sila said.
“Wait, so he really was a stranger? Dude! What if something bad had happened to me?”
“You’re an Academy Cadet. You can take care of yourself.”
“Not when I’m that drunk!”
“You’re fine, aren’t you? And he wasn’t completely a stranger. I’d met him before.”
“When?”
“When he hit on Bay Delmar.”
