Chapter 19
ROOMMATES FOR A NIGHT
LEVI
By the time the hunters finally returned to their motel room, with Nelson literally shadowing their steps, I was exhausted, but I couldn’t return home yet. Unfortunately.
Instead, some of the top supes in town, which somehow seemed to include me, were having an impromptu meeting in the inn attached to the pub. It was a safe location, since we were certain none of the hunters had been inside it to plant more listening devices.
Or I guess it wasn’t an inn any longer. It’d taken me a long time to quit referring to this place as the pack house and it’d probably take just as long to stop calling it an inn.
But back in the summer, Jake and Gage had announced they wanted to convert the place into a sanctuary, and we were putting that idea to the test tonight.
Still, I wished we were down the corridor in the pub right now. I could really use a strong drink. Something enhanced with magic for a bit more kick would be perfect, because I doubted any human-strength drink would ease my tension tonight.
“I’m not some shrinking violet,” Edith grumbled as she marched up the stairs to her temporary room. “I don’t know why I have to move in here for the night.”
“No one is staying alone tonight. Everyone’s doubling up. Just in case,” Parker said, reminding her again what our alpha had decided half an hour earlier. I’m sure they’d had the same argument all the way to his apartment and back.
He was climbing the steps behind her, hauling all her bags. I’d offered to help him, but he’d refused. So now I was watching him while wishing that the bags didn’t cover so much of his ass.
I sounded like a creep. Even to myself. But he filled out his jeans so beautifully, it was a wonder more people weren’t staring.
Davina jogged up the steps behind them. “Come on, old lady,” she said in a teasing lilt when she reached Edith. “You’re with me tonight.”
Edith stopped abruptly and spun toward the other woman. “What?”
“You didn’t think I’d let this opportunity slip by, did you?”
Good grief. Was Edith, the woman who her grandkids called the Nana-nator, actually blushing? Would wonders never cease?
“Well, why didn’t you say so earlier?” Edith’s face crinkled into a lascivious grin as she slipped her hand into Davina’s and lifted it to her lips. “That’s different, isn’t it?”
“Good God,” Parker muttered. “Can you hold off flirting until we aren’t all teetering on the stairs?”
They ignored him, but after a long—and, for all us witnesses, uncomfortable—moment, the two women continued up to the second floor. Parker grunted and followed the unlikely lovebirds.
When they disappeared up the stairs, leaving only us Willow Lakers in the foyer, I scuffed the floor with my heel.
It was something I did a lot in my shifted form, but it didn’t usually carry over into my human one.
Tonight was different, though. The tension in the room was making me wish I was shifted.
The supes who’d been involved with all the goings on this past summer were here.
Van, Gage, Jake, and several members of Gage’s old team, including Teague, Nelson, and Isaac.
Jeremy and Adrian had been left in charge of the pub, and if I knew Jeremy at all, I bet he was pouting about being left out.
Carter was here too, and although he was the fire chief, he didn’t usually get involved in all the troubles our town faced any more than I did. I figured Carter was the only one who was here to specifically support Parker and me. The others were here because of the situation.
“You sure you’re okay with this?” I asked the demon. “I know you guys talked about making this a sanctuary for supes, but you’re still in the middle of renovating.”
Gage nodded, and his horns dipped toward me. I clenched my fists to keep control of my emotions. The stress from the night was still a living thing inside me and seeing him lower his horns in my direction had my minotaur instincts wanting to take over and ram him.
“If things go the way we think they will,” Gage said, glancing at his mate, “we’ll need to use more rooms soon.”
I swallowed hard. The hair on the back of my neck quivered.
“You’ve had a vision?” Van asked Jake.
Jake grimaced but nodded. He grabbed Gage’s hand.
“So, something’s coming…” Van heaved out a sigh.
“We’ve let the SC know what’s happening, but until we have proof that they’re hunters, there isn’t much support they can offer that we can’t do ourselves,” Gage said.
He didn’t sound bothered by that. Sure, the SC were supposed to be the good guys, but investigators were usually powerful and connected.
People like that could be dangerous. If Gage didn’t get to personally vet them before they came, I doubted he’d want them here. “We’ll provide backup to your mission.”
Mission. The word alone sent a new trickle of sweat rolling down my spine.
“Seeing those two together is enough to scar me for life,” Parker muttered as he trudged down the stairs, distracting me from my rising panic.
“People always talk about trauma from having walked in on their parents having sex, but they’ve obviously never experienced their grandmother pressing a younger woman against the wall and pulling at her shirt buttons with her teeth.
” He rubbed his eyes. “Why couldn’t they have waited until I dropped her damn bags and left the room? ”
As Parker approached, Teague, who was standing beside me, tensed.
“What?” I asked him. I scanned the room for threats. The world beyond the windows was dark, but I didn’t see any movement. No one else was reacting to a threat, and surely they would if someone was spying on us.
But the death mage merely shook his head as his gaze bounced between Parker and me. He covered his mouth with his hand, but I swore he was smiling. What the hell was that all about?
Some long-ago memory niggled at the back of my mind. Death mages could see mate bonds, couldn’t they? But that couldn’t be what Teague was smiling about now. Parker and I weren’t mates.
“You ready to leave, Levi?” Parker asked around a yawn. “Today’s about done me in.”
“Leave? What do you mean? You’re staying here, aren’t you? Shit. We forgot to bring your overnight bag, didn’t we? Do you want me to go with you to grab one? I can accompany you back.”
“Nope.” Parker shook his head. “We’re bunking together tonight.”
I froze. “Uh… what?”
“We’re together tonight.”
“When did this get decided?” I glanced at the others, all of whom were struggling to keep their faces straight.
“Jake and I talked it over earlier. Nana and Davina agreed,” Parker said, like that was what would sway me. “Besides, the risk to us should be low. The hunters think we’re both human.”
“But…” My gaze darted wildly around the room. “But we brought your grandmother here because we all agreed it wasn’t safe at your place.”
“No one is staying alone tonight. Van is with Doc Roberts. Isaac is with Carter. Hell, not even Old Thom is staying alone. He’s crashing with Sally and the Jennings, which is fantastically weird to me.
And for the record, I can’t believe he’s a troll.
” Parker shook his head a little and smiled at me.
“And I’m at your place. Hey, don’t look so worried.
I can take the couch.” Then he narrowed his eyes. “You do have a couch, right?”
“Of course I have a couch,” I muttered. “But…”
“It makes sense,” Van said. “When the hunters were in there before, they didn’t get into your apartment.
Your house is safer than most places in Willow Lake.
At least you’ll have plenty of warning if they do come and try to break in.
I have extra patrols running, so we should be there quickly if you do need help. ”
“Come on, Levi,” Parker said, walking to the exit without waiting for me to agree. “I need to get back to my apartment, feed the fishy gang, and grab a change of clothes. Then I want to put my feet up. It’s been one hell of a day.”
It had been, and it wasn’t over yet.
Parker was spending the night. With me. In my inner sanctuary. Alone.
To the tune of my fellow Willow Lakers’ snickering, I swallowed down my panic with an audible gulp and followed him out the door.