Being good backup was my base requirement for a serious relationship. Not that it mattered. I seriously needed friends, first. Case in point: Connor meant more to me than any prior dating relationship I’d had.
Connor squeezed both my hands—bringing me back to the moment—before he released them and casually strolled to his kitchen. “Do you require a refreshment, Snack?”
I scratched my side, thinking. “Do you have anything besides blood?”
“No.”
“Then no, I don’t.”
Connor rolled his eyes. “Such attitude. It’s not like you keep pouches of blood around for me.”
I pressed my lips together. “You know, that’s a good point…”
Connor swiped a chilled blood pack from his fridge, then strolled back to where I stood. “So, tell me—or perhaps warn me: What will be your next baking attempt?”
I almost clapped my hands in glee. “I haven’t decided yet—I need to look over my family recipes. Do you want to help me pick?”
“There have been…disagreements between wizard Houses here at the Curia Cloisters during a recent meeting of the Wizard Council.” Sarge rested his hands on the podium, his eyes sweeping across the meeting room. “Nothing has broken into a physical disagreement and I don’t expect trouble given all of the Curia Cloister’s defensive measures, but it’s best to be aware.” Sarge straightened his pile of papers, his silvery scales—which were normally barely noticeable—gleamed on his cheekbones under the overhead light.
I played with my smoothie travel mug as I studied the whiteboard at the front of the room, which was mostly empty except for a few scrawled notes of warring Packs/Families/Houses, and a photograph of the missing human woman the police had given us a month ago.
There haven’t been many disturbances since we captured Orrin. I’m not sure if that’s a sign I was wrong about Gisila, or if she’s just biding her time…
“Additionally,” Sarge continued. “The day squad interrupted a fight between two warring werewolf factions at four o’clock this afternoon. All the werewolves were warned—”
Which was polite speak for the day squad had beaten the fight out of them until the wolves actually listened and stopped snarling.
“But I want you to keep an eye out for werewolf violence tonight as it’s probable the Packs might try to finish what they started earlier this afternoon. With any luck, they’ll choose to do so outside city limits, away from humans.” Sarge concluded.
I glanced at Brody wondering if he’d be offended, but he was scowling and trying to wipe dusty paw prints off his black pants, curtesy of his Pack.
My gaze strayed to Clarence and Tetiana. Tetiana had taken possession of the deck of cards she, April, Binx, and Juggernaut used, and it sat neatly in its box in front of her. Clarence had joined them today, and he’d spent every moment of it sweating like crazy. Even now, he was still tugging on his cravat.
He was nervous, but it didn’t seem like Tetiana forced him to play…
I took one last swig of tonight’s smoothie—a strawberry red bell pepper concoction that tasted better than I’d expected—finishing it off.
I’d been playing with the idea of coming extra early some day and asking Tetiana and the wizards if I could join the game, but I wouldn’t do that if Clarence wanted to play—he was terrified of me.
“Tonight, I want Team Blood—which is Blood, April, and Binx—to follow up with the library fire. Talk to the librarians and check the premises—you’ll need to do it as soon as we break as the library will be closing soon. Once finished, return to your regular patrol pattern.”
CHAPTER
EIGHT
Jade
Iblinked in surprise. He wants us to check out the library? Why? It’s not on the whiteboard, so they can’t consider it a crime.
I’d left a notation in my report that I thought it was suspicious House Tellier swooped in, but while the supernatural community avoided flashing magic around in front of humans—we didn’t want them realizing just how powerful and dangerous supernaturals really were—helping put out the fire with magic wasn’t actually a crime.
Sarge turned to the last page in his packet, and it seemed like he was already moving on, so I raised my hand. “Sir?”
Sarge glanced up, his steely eyes settling on me. “Yes, Blood?”
I hesitated, and carefully chose my words. “May I ask why you want us to check in on the library?”