Priceless (15 page)

“
Ow! Damn it.
”
I
tried
to keep myself from jerking away from him. Alex bounded over to me, bunting his head into my good hand
,
which
hung off the bar.
“
Hey
,
buddy.
”
His tongue lolled and his eyes were wide with worry.
“
Rylee hurt.
”

“
Only for a minute. Were the brownies good?
”
I
made
a real attempt to not give into the pain starting to burn up my arm.

Alex bobbed his head.
“
More brownies?
”

“
Maybe later.
”

Dox stuck me again and I hissed in a breath past my teeth.
“
Unnecessary
roughness.
”

“
Where
’
s Milly?
”
The ogre asked.

“
The
Coven
finally accepted her. It meant she had to cut ties with me and Giselle
.
”
A
new pain flar
ed
up, right around my heart.

He paused
in his
of
torturing me
.
“
And she did it? Are you kidding me
?
”

Again
,
I attempted a shrug.
“
It
’
s what she
’
s wanted as long as I
’
ve known her. I
’
m not going to take it away from her.
Though I still want to kick her ass.
”

The stitching resumed and I kept my other hand busy petting Alex
’
s head, scratching his ears, reminding myself this was the pric
e to pay for India. That helped.

“
I have to drive home as soon as possible
,
”
I said as Dox put in the last stitch. I looked over at his needlework.
“
Those are good, better than any doctor I
’
ve seen do stitches.
”

He snorted out a laugh.
“
You don
’
t get to the top of the food chain without being able to stitch yourself up from time to time.
”

I
t took me a minute to realize what he meant.
“
You
’
ve had to stitch yourself up?
”

“
More than once.
”
He held his hand out to me and helped me to sit up on the bar, just as the door binged and the first real patron of the day came in.

Just my luck, it was someone I knew, far too well.

O
’
Shea.

“
Adamson, what the hell are you . . .
are you bleeding?
”
His voice shifted, as he covered the distance between us. I
’
ll be buggered
;
he was worried about me.

“
Yes, thank you very much
.
N
ow if you wouldn
’
t mind
,
I
’
m half naked and would like to get some clothes on without you staring at all that God gave me.
”
I glanced sideways at him and batted my eyelashes for good measure.

Even in the dim light, I watched in fascination as the colour crept up his neck and into his face.
“
Are you blushing, O
’
Shea?
”
Milly, Milly, why didn
’
t
I believe
you about this power women have over men long ago?

“
Don
’
t tease him, Rylee. Any man would stare at what you
’
ve got.
”
Dox gave me a long wink
;
I knew he didn
’
t mean anything by it. I stretched my arms over my head, feeling O
’
Shea
’
s gaze linger on my skin, like a touch. If this was all it took to keep him quiet, then I
needed to
modify my regular wardrobe
to be more like Milly
, with
skin
-
tight, revealing clothes. Anything to keep O
’
Shea off balance
.

“
I
’
m not staring at you
.
I
’
m looking to see where all the blood came from. Or is it not yours?
”
His voice
prickled with malice
.

I froze with my hands above my head.
“
You want
me to
leave them up here while you read me my rights
?
”
Shimmying off the bar, I hop
p
ed to the floor, not lowering my hands. The world swayed and all thoughts of bravado left me as I concentrated on not falling flat on my face.

Hands steadied me.
“
I guess that answers my question.
”
O
’
Shea
’
s voice rumbled too close for comfort. With a jerk
,
I slid out of his hands and backed up to the closest bar stool.

“
What do you want?
”
I snapped, no longer interested in playing games.

“
You mean to tell me that you don
’
t know? Adamson, I
’
d have thought after all these years you
’
d know I frequent the dives of New Mexico on my off days.
”
He pulled out a bar stool next to me and sat down.

“
Beer
,
”
w
as all he said when Dox lifted his eyebrows. Of course, O
’
Shea couldn
’
t see what Dox really was, anymore than he could see a werewolf and not a large dog slinking toward him with his teeth bared.

“
Alex, here
,
”
I said, my tone brooking no argument.
Alex grumbled under his breath, something that could easily be written off by human ears as a growl.

Pressing up against my leg, he glared at O
’
Shea, who turned to look at the
“
dog
”
at my side.
“
What is he?
”

“
A mutt
,
”
was
my only answer. Dox put
a coaster
down in front of O
’
Shea
,
followed by an
ice-
cold
beer
that soaked through the paper coaster within seconds.

O
’
Shea nodded his thanks and took a long drag off the bottle.
“
Best beer I
’
ve tasted in a long while, almost a hint of something in it. Can
’
t quite put my finger on it.
”

What the hell was this small chat shit? What was his game? As he and Dox discussed the different local brews, I slipped from my stool and headed to the back room where I knew Dox kept some spare clothes.

A black t-shirt that was a little on the tight side and said
“
Suck it!
”
on the front was not my first choice, but the other option was an extra large that stated it was a tool shed. Nope,
“
Suck it!
”
didn
’
t look too bad, especially not with O
’
Shea waiting out front.

Alex stayed at my side, his presence a steady comfort. I
f I wasn
’
t careful, I
’
d
come to rely on him to be there, like a large teddy bear. I washed the blood off my arm and body then tugged the
too-
tight shirt on over my head.

Stepping into the bar again, I was shocked to see O
’
Shea passed out on the bar.

“
What happened? I was only gone like five minutes
.
”
I pluck
ed
open one of O
’
Shea
’
s eyelids.

Dox laughed.
“
Well, after he dissed my place
—
again
—
I offered him some of the local juice.
”

I let out a groan.
“
Ogre beer?
”

He just smiled, didn
’
t even bother to nod.
“
Well, how long will he be out?
”
The stuff was potent
. What
moonshine was to water, Ogre Beer was to human alcohol. I
’
d never tried it myself, though apparently it was sweet and tangy. It was the after kick that worried me.

“
Oh, he
’
ll be out for about
an
hour, then have a hangover for at least another
four
,
”
Dox said, wiping down the bar around the FBI agent. And just where was his partner exactly? Nope, didn
’
t matter, wasn
’
t my issue.

“
I
’
ve gotta go then. If I can get a head start
,
maybe I can keep him out of the way this time.
”

Dox walked me to the door.
“
He
’
s the one who went after you, isn
’
t he?
”

Blinking away sudden tears, I cleared my throat and hid the moisture in my eyes with a hand through the hair.
“
Yeah, but he never could prove anything
;
not a motive, nothing. He just wanted to be right, to break the big case.
”

“
Well, I
’
ll stall him much as I can.
”
He pulled me into a big hug, being careful of my arm, letting me go just as carefully.

A cold nose bumped into my hand.
“
Alex too.
”

Laughing, Dox lifted Alex into a hug, which the werewolf did his best to reciprocate
—not
an easy task when your limbs
are
stuck between human and wolf.

“
Can
’
t say I
’
ve ever hugged a werewolf before
,
”
Dox said, patting Alex on the head. The werewolf
’
s tongue lolled out as he stared up at Dox. A sudden thought hit me
—
hard.

“
If something ever happens to me, Dox, will you take Alex? His pack
’
ll kill him.
”

The ogre frowned, his piercings clinking together.
“
I don
’
t know, Rylee. Just don
’
t get yourself into trouble, how about that
?
”

I nodded and pushed through the door into the brilliant white sunlight that was New Mexico. If only it were as easy as Dox made it out to be. The thing was, when it came to me and trouble, we went together like ice cream and pie.

The drive back to North Dakota took about the same
amount of time
as heading south, only now I was counting down in my head the time we had until O
’
Shea would be up and at
‘
em. Or more accurate, up and at me.