Wicked Soul (Ancient Blood #1)(45)

“Okay. I’ll go with you to the meeting,” I said, clearing my throat at the tremor in my voice. “If it means we can keep being friends, I’ll go.”

Warin nodded, and his shoulders dropped a fraction of an inch. “Thank you.” His voice was soft.





14





I woke up the next morning with the unmistakable woolly sensation of having gone to bed without brushing my teeth. I rolled over with a groan and realized I was still wearing my clothes from last night, apart from socks—and that I didn’t have any memory of going to bed. The last thing I remembered was sitting in silence while drawing Warin, neither of us being in much mood for talking… and then my eyelids feeling very heavy.

Had he carried me to bed?

I grabbed my phone to check the time—half past nine, but luckily I had a late shift—and saw one unread text. When I swiped my thumb over it, Warin’s name flashed up.

Roy is in front of your building. He will stay with you until I return tonight.

Yup. He’d put me to bed and gotten me a babysitter. I probably should have been annoyed—or at the very least embarrassed, because judging from the way my hair stuck to my cheek, I’d been drooling in my sleep—but I couldn’t help a smile from hiking up one corner of my mouth. For something as serious-sounding as a vampire Lord, he still bothered with as small a thing as removing his zonked-out human buddy’s socks before tucking her in. It was kind of adorable.



* * *



An hour later, I walked out the door with two coffee mugs in hand.

Roy accepted my offering with a short nod of gratitude. “Going out?”

“Yup, back to work. You my ride again?”

He nodded again and held out an arm toward where his truck was parked. “Your car is currently at the mechanic’s, but as long as Mr. Waldlitch has me watching you, I’ll drive you anywhere you need to go.”

I blinked. I’d been too out of it to remember my broken-down car, what with the skinwalker attack and everything that’d come with it, and I most certainly hadn’t had the presence of mind to call a mechanic. “Did Warin call a mechanic for me?”

“Yes, ma’am. He asked me to take care of it.”

“Huh, that was really nice of him. And of you. How much was it? We might have to go to the bank on the way.” I looked over my shoulder at the big guy as he shepherded me to his truck, trying not to cringe at the thought of how barren my bank account was. I didn’t really have a choice on whether or not I should get my car fixed.

Roy gave me a weird look as he waited for me to climb in so he could shut the door. “It’s been taken care of. Mr. Waldlitch paid in full.”

I frowned at him as he walked around the front of the truck to get into the driver’s seat. “Yeah, but I still have to pay him back.”

He blinked, opened his mouth as if he was gonna say something, but then thought better of it.

“What?” I asked as he turned his focus to the car, twisting the key and undoing the handbrake.

“It kinda defeats the point, doesn’t it?” he said, voice gruff and eyes never leaving the road. “Paying for your own shit.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, not following at all.

“Nothing. Forget it,” he said, and from the tense set of his jaw, I could tell he was regretting this entire conversation.

“Nuh-uh,” I said, arching an eyebrow. “You clearly wanted to say something, so go on. Unless of course you want to play my bodyguard while I discuss every gross biological detail of being a woman with my coworkers today. Your choice, buddy.”

Roy nearly managed to hide his grimace. “Fine. Girls who aren’t mindfucked out of their skull usually hang around rich vampers for the perks. Such as having their master pick up the bill for cars, rent, shiny shit.” He waved the hand not currently on the steering wheel in a dismissive gesture. “You seem to still have some willpower left—“

“So you assumed I was, what? A deadwhore banging the first vampire she meets in return for car service?” I interrupted him, outrage heating my cheeks. “For your information, Warin isn’t my freakin’ master. We’re are friends. He doesn’t pay for me, and I don’t offer him a vein when he’s hungry. Or anything else, for that matter.”

A flash of Roy’s message from Warin when I asked him to prove who he was made me cringe. He’d said my blood tasted like life, and clearly Roy knew about that.

“Except that one time,” I muttered, some of the wind fizzing out of my indignation.

“It’s not my place to judge,” he said. “I was just surprised. Sorry.”

I sighed, slumping back in the passenger seat. “It’s fine. I guess it’s not every day you’re called in to guard your boss’ friend from crazy witch-wolves.”

Roy snorted. “No, ma’am.”

I glanced at him out the corner of my eye. “What do you normally do? For Warin?”

He shrugged, not taking his eyes off the road. “Daytime errands. Anything he needs taken care of while the sun’s up. Most vamps got someone like me.”

“How does one fall into a job like that?” I asked, curious how other humans stumbled into the supernatural world. Besides as a snack.