Page 69 of Fanged Embrace
“What I don’t get,” Arlon continued, and he leveled his gaze at Laurie, “is why you never mentioned any of this before. If you knew the organization involved the—thesupernatural,” his lips puckered around the word like it tasted bad in his mouth, “then why didn’t you say anything?”
Laurie hung her head low, knuckles tightening on the edge of her chair. “I was trying to protect you—and myself, I guess. I thought you’d think I was losing it and refuse to help me. But I was also worried you might take it seriously and put yourself in danger.” She let out a bitter half-laugh and shook her head. “The plan kinda backfired though, because you went ahead and got into trouble anyway.”
Arlon’s expression softened (and I ground my teeth at the look in his eyes). “You were protecting me.”
Laurie peeked up at him and offered a paper thin smile. “Yeah, well, you’re my friend. I didn’t want to see you hurt.” She gestured weakly at the gauze on his head, expression morphinginto a grimace as she muttered, “I’m sorry it happened anyway. It’s all technically my fault you ended up in some mad scientist’s basement in the first place.”
My lips twitched into a small, smug, upward curve.Friend.She made her feelings pretty clear with that word. Arlon may have been into Laurie, but Laurie was… not into Arlon. Good. Great. I tried not to feel too satisfied with that conclusion, and tried not to think too much about why it was satisfying in the first place.
Arlon was still watching Laurie with stars in his eyes, but his brow cinched ever so slightly at the title of ‘friend’. He didn’t comment on it though, so at least he wasn’t the pushy kind of human dude. That didn’t stop the flicker of irritation creeping under my skin, and I dug my nails into my forearms before I made some unwarranted, snippy remark.
“Don’t blame yourself for this.” Arlon flicked his eyes up to his head injury with a wry smile. “I was the one who went snooping without a warrant. And besides,” he shrugged, though his twitching fingers betrayed his nerves, “from what I’ve heard, you were the one who saved me.”
“Yeah, she saved all of us,” I cut in, probably a little too brightly. “Killed the Doctor all by herself. It was awesome.”
“All right, thank you, River.” Laurie shot me a muted glare over her shoulder. I shrugged off her silent chiding and inspected my nails.
“But you did.” Arlon leaned forward, awe in his every word. “You saved all of us from an insane vampire surgeon. Give yourself a little credit.”
I peeked up from my fake nail inspection. Arlon was still staring into her eyes—long enough for me to identify three separate stages of pining. I felt something unpleasantly territorial twist in my gut and cleared my throat, louder than was probably necessary, but it got the job done.
They both glanced my way and I scrambled for somethingto say now that I had their attention. “Uh… yeah—so, under normal circumstances, we’d have to wipe your mind clean of all your memories of our kind.” Arlon’s eyes went wide and Laurie opened her mouth to argue with me, but I hushed her with a hand raised in the air. “But these aren’t normal circumstances, so, Arlon, you’re safe for now.”
“But,” I continued, pausing for emphasis and offering Arlon an unnecessary sneer in the process, “that doesn’t mean you’re off the hook. If you’re going to stay clued up on the supernatural, we’ll expect your assistance in taking down the organization. You’re a cop, you have access to information we don’t—potential leads that can help us track these guys down.”
The bitterness in my statement seemed to go right over Arlon’s head. He laced his fingers together and nodded, grim determination etched into his features. “Yeah, I thought as much. Your partner, Dylan, I think was her name? She filled me in on what you’ve found so far. If I can put together what we have on the case and what your coven knows, we might get one step closer to catching these guys.”
I bristled for no particular reason. He was so goddamn helpful, so ready to accept the supernatural world if it meant helping Laurie get her revenge on the people who hurt her. He was so infuriatinglynice, I couldn’t find anything about him to dislike—and that only irritated me further.
“Well… good.” I turned my nose up, folding my arms tighter across my chest and the bubbling anger building there. “Maybe you’ll prove useful after all.”
“What is up with you today?” Laurie twisted in her seat to glare at me again. “Why are you being such a dick?”
That stung more than the territory jitters and sudden heat seared my cheeks. My mouth fell open, but I had no words to defend myself with. She was right, I was being unreasonably hostile, and I still couldn’t understand why. Maybe it was the lack of sleep making me cranky?
Or maybe you’re jealous, some traitorous voice in my head whispered in response. The rational part of my brain kicked that theory to the curb. What could I possibly be jealous of?
I didn’t have a clue, but Laurie was still looking at me like she expected an answer, so I cleared my throat again and backed up through the doorway. “I–uh, excuse me one second.” I stepped out before she could call me back and slammed the door shut, leaning my forehead against the wood grain while my head spun.
Breathing exercises did nothing. I spiraled through a mini meltdown right there in the hallway, vaguely aware of Laurie and Arlon still speaking softly behind the door. I was jumpy, tingling all over, desperate to throw the door open again and tell Arlon to back the fuck off. Butwhy?He wasn’t even doing anything wrong.
Why then, was every instinctual bone in my body hellbent on putting myself between Laurie and Arlon and declaring, very loudly, that she wasmine?
“Jesus Christ, pull it together,” I mumbled, pushing off the door and pacing circles in the cramped hallway instead. I ran my fingers through my hair, tugging loose curls down over my eyes.
Deep down, I wondered if something had changed after last night. When I curled up beside her in bed and held her hand, cupped her face. Something between us was certainly different. Laurie was more comfortable around me, and she no longer flinched away from my touch. But it was more than that. It went deeper. Just how deep, I didn’t dare contemplate.
For the first time in my very long life, I was a little afraid to look within myself. I was afraid of the answers I’d find there.
Before I could fumble any further, another door creaked open down the hall and Dylan sauntered into view, wispy shadows swirling around her head. She clocked my franticpacing immediately and arched one perfect brow as she approached. “River, why are you freaking?—”
“I’m not freaking out!” I blurted, urgent voice rising an octave too high.
Dylan’s second brow joined the first, suspended up there at her hairline. Her gaze slid from my flushed face to the closed office door behind me and back again. Her narrowed eyes widened. “Oh… Oh my god.”
“Shut up!” I lurched toward her, ready to swat the burgeoning smile off her face, but Dylan sidestepped me, dancing out of reach.
She pointed at the door, pure unadulterated delight spreading across her features. “Oh my god!You—her?—”
