Page 13 of Aberrant Monsters
“You got in just after midnight,” Nandi said, her voice tight.
She was pissed that I hadn’t shared this with her, because yeah, we didn’t really have any secrets.
“Do you mind if we confirm that with Lothos?”
“Be my guest.” I sighed. “Cat’s out of the bag now.”
Telarion killed Jamie at around eight p.m. The forensics would probably confirm that. As long as my text got to Lothos before Devyn spoke to him, I was golden.
Devyn’s smile was sympathetic. “We all have our demons, August.”
She had no idea.
“Thanks for your time. I’ll be in touch if I have any other questions.”
Or if my alibi didn’t pan out. “No problem, you know where to find us.”
She gave us all a final sweep with her baby blues and then walked out, closing the door firmly behind her.
“Shit.” Archie shook his head. “Can’t believe she wasted her time coming here. The guy was fucking eaten, it’s not like we could have…” His eyes popped wide as realization dawned. He turned to face me. “No…”
I closed my eyes. “Yeah…”
“Well, fuck me sideways.”
* * *
I should have knownI wasn’t going to escape getting grilled over my relationship with Lothos.
Nandi pulled me into the back office as soon as Devyn was gone, leaving Archie with instructions to research a house. We’d had a call about debunking a haunting. The client believed the owners of the house in question were scamming people by claiming it was haunted.
“What the hell, August?” She searched my face. “Lothos?”
I finished sending Lothos a text before answering her. “I need him.”
“Why?”
I’d avoided telling her this because maybe by not speaking about it I could keep it from being real. It made sense at the time, but seeing the betrayal on her face now shattered that illusion.
“August, what aren’t you telling me?” she asked.
Oh, God, this was embarrassing and scary, and I hadn’t expected to speak about it with Telarion present. I’d set things upspecificallyso he wouldn’t know.
Too late to hide it now. “I need sex.” I sensed Telarion tense. “Not the normal,hey I’m horny, let’s go out and pick up someone and bang themkind of sex, but theI want to consume your soulkinda sex.”
“Lothos kinda sex?”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Yeah. It started three weeks ago. It was bad, almost painful. This deep, inescapable…hunger…”
You didn’t tell me, Telarion said, his voice an abrasive caress that was too sensual for my liking.You didn’t tell me your needs.
The memory of Telarion feeding on my blood, his body pressed to mine, filled my head, forcing my pulse into a gallop.I don’t have to tell you everything.
“August?” Nandi peered at me. “You were saying?”
I swallowed the sudden lump in my throat. “I think my hunger is an effect of the binding.”
You blame me yet exact payment from someone else.
