Page 64 of Moody as a Minotaur

He was teasing me? At a time like this? But I did as he suggested anyway.

Slowly the dizziness ebbed away, but that didn’t mean I was okay. Goosebumps covered my arms. My fingertips were ice cold. My ears strained for any little sound from downstairs. I couldn’t hear a blasted thing.

What were they doing?

The hinges on the door squealed again. I held my breath for any indication of what that meant. Had more people come in? Had the hunters left? I didn’t know.

The squeal of tires on asphalt outside my house shattered the quiet. The cavalry had arrived. Thank fuck.

Van’s loud voice boomed through the house. “Police. We’re coming in.”

The hinges squealed again, followed by the thunder of footsteps moving quickly through my maze. How many people were down there? It couldn’t be more than two or three, but it sounded like twenty. My skin itched at the thought of so many people in my space. I clenched my teeth and fisted my hands.

Parker reached over and cupped the side of my face. His other hand still held the gun. He pressed his forehead to mine. “Hey. We’ve got this.”

As much as I still hated having so many people in my space, Parker’s warm touch was surprisingly soothing. And he was so close. Close enough to kiss. Again. His scent teased me, and I breathed in deeply to pull more of it inside me.

“There you go,” Parker said.

At first, I didn’t know what he meant, but then I realized I’d stopped grinding my teeth, and my fists hadloosened. He pulled back a little and peered into my eyes. His lips twitched in the hint of a smile, drawing my eyes to his mouth. I wanted to taste him again. I leaned forward, closing the scant distance between us.

My phone rang.

We jolted apart. Parker raised his gun. His gaze darted to the pantry and then to the stairs.

I fumbled to answer the call. “What?”

Parker pushed in close to me again so he could listen to the conversation.

“No one is here,” Van said.

“Are you sure?” I whispered. I wasn’t sure if I was happy they weren’t in my space any longer or disappointed we hadn’t caught them. Maybe a bit of both.

“Any sign of why they were here?” Parker asked as he slipped his hand in mine and squeezed it gently.

“Hayden just got here. Hold on. Give me a minute.”

I should go downstairs and talk to them. But I wasn’t ready to leave the sanctuary of my apartment yet. Through the phone, I could hear the shuffle of footsteps and the murmur of quiet conversations.

“Okay,” Van said, as if to announce his return. “He retraced the path the hunters took through your house. Looks like they retrieved their listening devices.”

“Huh. What does that mean?” I asked, not really expecting an answer.

“I suspect it’s one of two things,” Van said. “It could be they decided they didn’t need to listen anymore. That they got what they needed. Or it might just be that they’re leaving tomorrow and decided to retrieve their equipment before they left.”

“That was risky,” I muttered.

Van shrugged. “Could mean they trust you and don’t see you as a threat.”

“Yeah. I like that. Let’s hope they decided we aren’t supes and are moving on,” Parker said. His use of the wordwestuck out.

“Yeah,” Van agreed. “Okay. We’re going to head out. Looks like the team has picked up the hunters back at the hotel, so hopefully that’s them done for the night.”

I nodded, but of course he couldn’t see me. “Yeah. Thanks, Van.”

“We’ll lock up on our way out.”

He wouldn’t be able to secure the deadbolt, but he could engage the doorknob lock. I didn’t usually bother with it, but it’d work for tonight. It wasn’t like the deadbolt had kept the hunters out anyway.