Gravy Boat hopped up onto the bed and walked in a circle on my legs, then arched his back, proudly showing me his asshole.
"That cat has already shit and pissed in here three times," Riggs said.
Gravy Boat walked over and head-butted Riggs, who petted him briefly. He seemed to realize what he was doing and yanked his hand back suddenly.
I looked to my side and saw Maisey had already fallen asleep sitting up in her chair. I smiled, then pulled one of my blankets off and set it on her as well as I could from my bed. She must've been struggling to stay awake until she saw me get up.
Guilt washed over me. There I went again, being a burden. Even when my sister was in so much danger, she was always putting my needs first.
The big man and Fang headed out of the room after a few more minutes. I wondered if they were going to go get food. But Riggs didn't seem like he planned to move.
He was just looming there in the corner of the room, arms crossed and looking like some sort of angry god.
I slowly worked on the soup, careful not to give my stomach more than it could handle.
"Why are you really helping us?" I asked.
Riggs studied the floor, then looked up to me. "Because I am a dumbass."
I laughed. I hadn't expected that. "In your truck you made it sound like this was about money."
He looked like he was having an internal debate between clamming up and telling me everything. Finally, with a sigh, he came to my bedside and pulled up a chair. "I'm a werewolf. The people after you are vampires. Vampires have spent literally thousands of years trying to hunt us down to the last wolf and exterminate us. It led to a little bad blood. So if those fuckers want something, it means I want to stop them from getting it."
"And they want us."
Riggs nodded. He picked up the remains of my soup and gave me a questioning look.
"Go ahead," I said with a small smile.
He happily downed it, then rubbed his flat stomach with satisfaction.
"Do werewolves have really fast metabolisms?" I ran my gaze across his lean, muscular body, wondering where he put all the food.
"Something like that," he said, suddenly sounding stiff.
I realized he was looking at Maisey, but there was hatred in his eyes that made my skin go cold.
"What?" I asked.
Riggs shook his head. "It's nothing. How are you feeling, anyway?"
"Like somebody took my world, turned it upside down, and shook it around. I'm still waiting for the part where I wake up and find out this was all just a dream."
"If you dreamed me up, I'd be worried about you."
I opened my mouth to respond but wasn't sure what to say to that. The truth was, if I dreamed Riggs up, I probably wouldn't have changed much on the outside. But I would've given him a less abrasive personality. Maybe I would've sprinkled in an obsession with giving hour-long foot rubs, too.
"Anyway," he said, standing and stretching his legs. "We can only stay here for a week. So make yourself comfortable, but not too comfortable. They won't come for you here. Once we're back outside, all bets are off, though."
"Should we be scared?" I asked.
Riggs didn't hesitate. "Yes. The guys after you are cleaners who work for the Coven. They've got pretty much unlimited resources. The rules are they have to let you go free if they don't catch you within a month, but they always catch their prey. It's part of their reputation, and it's not a reputation they take lightly."
"So you've never saved someone from these cleaners?"
"That's enough questions," Riggs said. His tone had changed. It went stiff and cold. He got up and moved back to his corner of the room, crossing his arms again like a statue of a guardsman.
I made a few more passing attempts at conversation, but only got grunts out of him after that point.
I finally gave up and rolled to my side on the bed, facing Maisey. She was asleep with her head rolled back and her mouth hanging open. Soft snores came from her, which made me smile.
But slight movement caught my eye from her teeth. I squinted, looking closer at what I thought must have been an optical illusion. Instead, I realized her canine teeth were slowly extending downward and narrowing to points.
As subtly as I could, I nudged her, which succeeded in getting her to roll her head forward and close her mouth with an indignant snore grunt.
I took a few shaky breaths, not daring to look back toward Riggs and see if he'd noticed. It felt like someone had taken a ball of ice and shoved it into my stomach. Creeping cold was spreading to every inch of my body until all my hairs stood on end.