Page 82 of Moody as a Minotaur

Had anyone really figured out why all those supes were being trafficked to begin with? Maybe they had, and I just didn’t know about it. It wasn’t any of my business. Honestly, I wished the hunters were someone else’sbusiness too, but somehow, I’d landed right in the middle of it.

At least with Kyle and the professor in custody, the rest of the hunters might disappear for a few years. I looked forward to life going back to normal.

But what did normal look like now?

Parker had slept in my bed one night, but we hadn’t kissed since I’d hauled him into my arms outside the café. I didn’t count the little peck he’d given me Sunday morning. I’d wanted to have him in my bed again every night since, but once the hunters had left town, it no longer made sense to insist on that.

The nights in my empty bed had been disastrous. How was I supposed to forget what it had felt like to have his arms around me and go back to living my life like last weekend hadn’t happened?

“Okay, Levi,” Parker said, as he bounded down the stairs. His hair was wet, so I’d been right about him taking a shower. “Let’s get out of here.”

I lifted my eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

“It’s time to skedaddle.” Parker walked to the door without looking back, like he expected me to follow.

Which I did.

What was even happening right now?

29

CONFESSIONS BY FIRELIGHT

LEVI

Ever since Parker had stayed over that one night, I’d dreamed about getting him back in my apartment. And now he was here.

We were standing in the kitchen. We had the same type of beer in our hands. It all felt so familiar. Even the noises the gas fireplace was making in the living room as it warmed up seemed the same.

But paradoxically, everything felt entirely different, too.

I couldn’t make small talk. Not tonight. I couldn’t pretend I hadn’t wondered whether we would walk away from those hunters. I couldn’t pretend everything was normal.

“I’m not sure what to say,” I confessed.

Parker rubbed his thumb over the smooth top of his beer cap. He hadn’t taken it off yet, but neither had I. “Should I not have come? I thought it’d be okay. Thereweren’t any other rooms available at Jake’s, and I’m not sure I can go back home yet. I don’t know why.” His cheeks darkened as his gaze flitted up to meet mine before dancing away. He set his unopened beer on the counter. “It isn’t like the hunters know I was involved in anything…”

His hand shook when he lifted it to comb through his hair.

“Hey, yeah, of course…” Words tumbled over one another as I tried to figure out what to say. I set my untouched beer beside his, feeling like I needed both of my hands. To do what, I didn’t know. Reach for him? Hold him?Something. Why hadn’t I noticed he was more disturbed by what’d happened tonight than I’d first thought? Now that I’d seen it, it was obvious. “It’ll be okay, you know that, right?”

“I shot someone,” he whispered. “He didn’t even have a gun. At the time, I thought he did, but I was wrong.”

“Kyle will live,” I said. Then I realized how harsh that sounded. “Listen. If he’d used that pepper spray, he would have incapacitated all the shifters. Just like that.” I snapped my fingers. “Faster than if he had a gun. Pepper spray is hard on humans, but it is worse for shifters. If you hadn’t done anything, the hunters would have had the upper hand. They’d have hurt those kids… or us.”

“I know, it’s just…” He wiped his shaky hand over his mouth. “Jesus… Tonight went off the rails so fast, and I don’t… I can’t see how I could have done anything differently. But I…” He squeezed his eyes shut. “I could have killed that guy. He’s not much older than Fin.”

“If you’d wanted to kill him,” I said softly, “I think he would be dead right now.”

Parker blew out a shaky breath. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I was never much of a marksman. And it’s been years since I’ve gone to a range.”

“It’s okay to be scared. I was scared tonight too,” I rasped. I could see emotions flicker over his face under my bright kitchen lights.

He stepped forward, right into my arms. “God, Levi… I’ve never been so terrified. If the lights hadn’t been knocked out when we were down in that room, we never would have escaped. If we’d been stuck in there, I know you would have shifted too. Then all those hunters would have seen you. As it is, are you sure that the professor and Kyle won’t get out and blab? They saw you…”

“The SC won’t let them tell anyone,” I said.

“Does that mean the SC messes with people’s minds? Or does it mean they’ll never be released? No, you know what? Don’t tell me. I’m not sure I want to know the answer to those questions.”