“Any one will do,” Kane announced as he walked over to a yellow clapboard house with bright white trim.
The guy walked up onto the porch and peered in a pane of glass. A second later, he disappeared inside.
As Apex waited, he scanned the environs… and pictured Callum moving among the humans in the village, buying groceries after dark, filling a car up with gas across the road, maybe opening a bank account with falsified documents. Clearly, the humans had no idea there were wolven in their mix—
What was the story with his lover who’d killed himself?
If he’d kept the belt, it hadn’t just been a one-night stand. No, it had been someone he’d cared about. Somebody he’d maybe even loved.
So what had happened?
“I’ve got an ambulance coming—”
Apex spun around. “What?”
Kane put his hands out, all relax-buddy. “Sorry. I had one of the humans call what they referred to as an ambulance for us. We’ll get the medics to go to the garage and bring Lucan to them. Whatever has to happen, happens there. We can’t take him to a human hospital, not with all those prying eyes and daylight coming. It’s just not an option. This is the best we can do.”
“You scrubbed them?”
“Yes, and we’ll take over the medics as soon as they pull up. They’re coming to this address.”
“What’s the ETA?” Apex asked.
“They said fifteen minutes.”
Apex made a show of looking left and right, but his mind was on other things. “When they get here, you can go back and be with your female, and start bringing Lucan down. I know you’re itching. I would be.”
Kane glanced over. “Yes, I am.”
After a moment, Apex took a deep breath. “You can say it, you know.”
“Say what?” But then the male dropped the feigned ignorance. “I, ah, I was really grateful for your company, back when I was burned and in the clinic. I’m not sure I ever understood why you sat there so much… but it helped me for certain.”
“Yeah. I probably should have left you alone more.”
“No, it really mattered to me and my recovery.”
With a flush, Apex thought about the hours he had spent by the male’s side, as Kane had lain there, on the verge of death.
The truth was, he’d fancied himself in love with the former aristocrat for years beforehand. There had just been something attractive about the fact that Kane had always retained a humanity in that god-awful place. In spite of the dirt, disease, death, and hopelessness, he had been a cut above.
Which was why, when the male had taken off his tracking collar and the explosion had happened back at the Hive, Apex’s one and only thought had been saving him. He had gotten Kane out and then made sure that Nadya, who had been a source of healing, had attended to him as soon as possible.
It had been such rough going in the beginning, those wounds so raw and pervasive, it was as if there had been no skin left on the male’s bones.
“Thank you,” Kane said. “For helping me find my way to Nadya.”
“You would have done the same for me. For anybody.” He cleared his throat. “And I’m not in love with you anymore.”
He sensed that head whip around, and had to smile. “Does that make you uncomfortable? Sorry.”
“Ah, no. I had wondered. I mean, you were kinder to me than you were to anybody.”
Apex thought of Callum, of his visceral attraction, the urge he had to fuck the guy so hard, for so long, that neither one of them could walk right.
“I wasn’t really in love with you,” he said. “I just thought I was.”
“Well, I’m flattered.”