Page 98 of Hunted

He looks at me properly then, with that almost-friendly expression that would fool a less paranoid woman. ‘And yet you understood it.’

‘You’re less charming than you think.’

‘I’ve never aspired to charm.’

‘Liar.’

His eyes narrow. ‘You know I cannot.’

Right.

Vampire rules. Can’t lie, can evade until the stars burn out.

Cute system.

We turn another corridor, the Tower doing its polished stone and controlled quiet routine. I hate how quickly my body remembers it. Hate more that another part of me, the traitorous recently kissed part, remembers this place as his and responds with a pulse low in my belly I absolutely do not have time for.

I ask the question that’s been chewing at me since dawn.

‘Do scents change with age? Like blood?’

Aaron’s brow lifts. ‘Excuse me?’

I flash a smile I don’t feel. ‘Humour me with a little Vampire 101. Do creatures smell different to you as they age?’

‘Not enough to alter who they truly are. Although…’ He glances ahead. ‘The same way different cuts of beef taste different depending on a sustained diet, some scents and blood can shift with sustained changes. Illness. Hormones. Certain medications. Long-term environmental exposure. Habitual use of herbs or compounds. But the emphasis is sustained. Surface alterations remain surface alterations.’

A cold little drop lands in my stomach.

Fuck.

‘And even then,’ he continues, ‘you cannot fool an older vampire if he knows your original scent. Not for long. Scent memory is not merely olfactory. It anchors to blood, chemistry, pattern, essence. Age refines it.’

Double fuck.

Also… ‘Did you just compare humans to beef?’

His eyes narrow. ‘I wasn’t aware we were discussing humans.’

I blink. ‘Who else would we be talking about? Vampires feed on human blood. Ergo…’ I gesture vaguely, because my brain is trying to process essence-pattern-anchor nightmare while also objecting to being placed in a butcher’s display. ‘But scents can change?’

‘What are you driving at, hunter?’

I’m pleased he didn’t say little hunter, which is absurd, because when his boss uses that stupid pet name it annoys the heck out of me.

Annoys.

And also… thrills?

Nope. I toss that directly into the trash fire.

‘Curiosity,’ I say lightly. ‘You all keep acting like scent is DNA, destiny and accounting software rolled into one, and I like to know the rules before I break them.’

Aaron gives me a look that says persistent nuisance and potentially unhinged.

Fair.

I open my mouth to push further, but he tenses mid-step.