Page 53 of How to Flirt with a Hellhound
“I’m going with dragon shifter,” he said, taking a bite of his own burger and staring at me.
“I… What? No… Dragon shifters don’t exist,” I mumbled, chuckling a little, even though it sounded odd even to me. “I’m just a perfectly normal human. Nothing to see but… you know, humanness. One hundred percent human.”
“Uh huh,” Toby said. I swear his eyes were twinkling like he was about to laugh. “You do know that insisting you’re ‘human’ is exactly what a non-human would do. Because we don’t usually have to defend our ‘humanness.’”
“Uh…” I said, then I took a large bite of burger, because then I couldn’t say anything else stupid.
“So there’s the glowing eyes. I thought I was imagining them, but I really wasn’t, and this wasn’t the first time. Then there were the flames, which I also didn’t imagine, and which definitely burned my sheets,” he said, staring intently at me.
“I’ll buy you new sheets,” I muttered between bites.
Toby waved a hand. “It’s fine. I’ve got lots of sheets. The point is there was fire. And glowing eyes. And then… I think you’re really strong. There are dents in my kitchen island. I noticed them the other day. They’re a hand space apart, and you were standing there. I think you gripped my kitchen island so tight that you dented the stone.”
Fuck. “I’ll replace your kitchen island,” I added.
“Dex, that isn’t the point,” he insisted. He continued, “Then there was the… well, I think there wasyououtside. The glowing eyes were familiar, the growl, the size… I mean, I thought werewolf at first…”
I snorted in reply. A werewolf. As if I werejusta werewolf.
“...but then that wouldn’t explain the flames. That size didn’t seem big enough for a dragon, but maybe dragons aren’t house size after all, because how would they hide if they were, right?” he asked.
Then he was staring at me all expectantly and shit.
I took another huge bite of burger and made a mumbling sound with the food in my mouth.
“Oh,” he said, looking disappointed, although he didn’tsmelldisappointed. Then he added, “I guess you are just a werewolf then.”
“I am most certainlynota werewolf,” I insisted. “Werewolves don’t even exist. I don’t think,” I added, because I’d never run across one, but then that didn’t mean everything. Theremightbe some things I didn’t know. Maybe.
As I was about to open my mouth again to say I didn’t even know what, the front door opened.
I should have heard the steps coming over to the house, but admittedly, I’d been distracted. Plus, the fuckers had been quiet.
“Hey, guys!” Jude says as he waltzed into the kitchen. Corbin followed behind, and of course he had a raven on his shoulder. Because that’s not at all suspicious.
I gave them both the stink eye and a growl. “I’ve got this,” I muttered.
“Clearly not, wolfman,” Jude joked, grabbing a chair at the table and sitting. Corbin leaned against the wall.
“So I can add excellent hearing to the list,” Toby mused. Then he suddenly seemed to realize something, because he turned bright red and looked mortified, staring at me in horror.
Fuck.
I guessed I was about to get the freak out I was hoping to avoid, and somehow I thought I could blame Jude and Corbin.
Chapter 21
Toby
Oh my dear god in heaven, if Dex had great hearing and could hear conversationsin my housefromhis house, then what the fuck had he heard me say?
It was like a slow motion reel in my head of me talking on the phone about him, of Josh and Sebbie and I staring out the window at him… I mean, ok, fine, I’d called him hot and had probably objectified him quite a bit, but I’d also said he was a serial killer, for fuck’s sake.
“You’re not a serial killer!” I burst out, only… it did not have the expected result. Because rather than everyone looking all reassured and calm, they looked…
Well, Corbin was staring at the ceiling, but yeah—there was nothing up there. Jude had this kid-with-his-hand-caught-in-the-cookie-jar look, and Dex was glaring at Jude and looking all disgruntled. And vaguely guilty.
“Youarea serial killer?” I asked, feeling unsure for the first time.
