Nox pretended not to notice Luca staring, but the change in his scent was impossible to ignore. A flavor emanating from a darker place. If Luca had contained the Anubis, Nox would have associated it with the energy that had made Koda an Alpha, but Luca was just a man dying of leukemia.
And probably one of the bravest people Nox had ever known.
They reached the sidewalk. The toe of Luca’s shoe caught the edge, and he stumbled forward. Nox caught him by the elbow in time to keep him from hitting the ground, but the bottles of soap escaped Luca’s towel and scattered.
He slowly pulled away and collected the runaway containers. Nox picked up the one that landed near his foot and held it out. Luca took it.
His cheeks went from pink to red. “Thanks. I guess I wasn’t paying attention.” Luca stuffed the soap bottles back into his towel. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
Luca’s expression tensed, and he cleared his throat. “So, uh, showers?”
Right, showers.
The main building sat off to the left, tucked back into a manicured lawn edged with wide concrete paths. Large glass windows faced the empty flowerbeds and nonfunctioning fountain.
A directory was posted at each walkway corner facing the parking lot. Nox scanned the map. “Says the showers are around the back of this building in a secondary structure.”
They followed the sidewalk to a dirty brown building. Stucco peeled from the walls in spots. A pair of holly bushes flanked the dented-up door at the rear.
“Hope the inside looks better than the out.” Luca pulled the handle. It didn’t move. “Damn, it’s locked.”
“Hang on.” Nox handed Luca his towel. He lifted his hand, then stopped. “I’m going to…”
“Change?”
“Not all of me, just my hand.”
“You can do that?”
“Yeah.”
Luca made some room.
“You don’t have to watch.”
“Is it any scarier than anything else I’ve seen?”
Nox opened and closed his fingers. Brave, he was definitely brave. “No, I suppose it isn’t.”
“Then—” Luca shrugged a shoulder. “Go ahead.”
With the same conscious effort of flexing a muscle, the black threads poured from Nox’s skin, covering his hand and forming long, toe-like appendages tipped with wicked claws.
“The door’s metal.” Luca stared at Nox’s hand. Or what had been his hand and was now a part of the Anubis.
“Won’t matter.” He scraped the area around the lock, dragging his hand down and across the bolt seated in the frame. The metal parted with so little resistance it might as well have not been there.
“Wow. What else can you cut through?”
The Anubis returned, leaving behind a human hand. “Anything.”
“Anything?”
“Yeah. Only thing I can’t cut is the smoked glass.” Nox opened the door.
Luca felt around on the wall. “Smoked glass?” Florescent lights flickered to life, bleaching out patches of the mustard-colored walls.