Chapter 6
The walk back to Ryon’s apartment was cold. Thin drizzle fell on the pavement, making it look greasy, and in the red street lights my brain started to fool me into thinking it was blood, not water, raining down. No one was hanging out in this weather. The only people outside were hurrying to places where it wasn’t wet. I went inside the dark apartment building and found Ryon’s door. It was locked. Since I didn’t have a key, I banged on the metal. There was a time and a place for picking a lock and this wasn’t it. Unless he was out, in which case I’d crack on.
Ryon opened the door and growled when he saw me, but he stood aside, anyway.
I went in. The electricity still wasn’t working, and the only light was from that torch, again.
“Another powercut?” I asked.
“A disagreement with the power company.”
“What kind of disagreement?”
“They seem to think I owe them money. I don’t.” He stepped closer, his face ethereal in the torchlight, and he sniffed me. “You’re wet.”
I nodded. “The rain does that to people.”
“Your scent is too strong. The things you’re disguising it with have faded too much. You should avoid the rain. This whole room smells of omega.”
I shrugged. “What am I supposed to do? Hide in a doorway until it stops raining? It could be days. Weeks. Months, even.”
“You need to cover yourself when it rains.” He didn’t elaborate. He was leaning close and inhaling my scent. Weirdo.
“What’re you doing, you wee daftie? All those special smellies they gave me on the ship might work better if I could have a wash, here, but that poky bathroom hasn’t got any running water and I’m not washing in the kitchen under that tiny tap.”
“You need to find a way. If any alpha was outside, now, he’d instantly know what you are. No amount of talking could avoid what he would do to you.”
“I’ve met alphas before.”
“The ones on the ship are under strict orders, and some of them were using shots to control themselves.”
The more I learned about alphas, the more they seemed like big excitable puppies who needed training. The sort that could knock you onto the floor when they jumped up.
“And you?”
“You’re fucking killing me, here. There are towels in the hot press. Dry yourself off. Especially your head.”
I found a towel and rubbed it over my hair, which was quite wet. When I was done, I wrapped my head in the towel and went back to Ryon, in the living room.
“Ah, that’s better. Hungry?” he asked.
I nodded, then realized that wasn’t the best response in the dark.
“I thought you were going to get the power sorted.” I didn’t fancy being fanny-by-torchlight.
“It’s the whole building. I’m a cleaner, not an electrician. Food?”
“Aye. I’m starving.”
“I brought back a whole cooked pterbivan.”
I frowned. “What’s a turb-a-von?”
“A pterbivan is a type of bird. Here.” He pulled something out of a papery-looking bag, ripped a big strip off it, and held the meat out for me. Not wanting to get grease on my hands, I leaned forward and bit the meat from his fingers, taking it from him with my mouth. For some reason I didn’t understand, my body decided being fed like this was sexy.
“Holy shit.” From Ryon’s gasp of shock, I guessed he thought it was sexy, too. I’d just been trying to eat the food. Now his scent became more apparent. It swirled around my mind, stunning me a bit.
He bit into the bird. In the torchlight, I saw the juices running down his chin. My clit throbbed.