Heart's Price (MxM)

Chapter 14

"It's not your fault," Julian says, for what must be the dozenth time. "Honestly, Noah—I'm not hurt, and I'm just as much to blame."

"Hardly," I laugh. "I'm a wolf, Julian. I should know better. You're..."

I trail off as I realize he's glaring purple fire at me, and swallow my words.

"I'm what?" he demands. "Go on—say it. What am I, Noah?"

I feel my breath catch as I realize the shine in his eyes isn't Fae Fire, after all. It's only tears.

"J-Julian, I didn't m-mean—"

"Come now, enough of this," Ambrose breaks in. "We'll all have time to blame ourselves—or one another—later, I imagine. For now, let's make sure you're alright, Mr. Hart."

He's kneeling beside Julian's chair, the fingers of one hand pressed to Julian's wrist and his eyes fixed on his own watch, which appears to be an antique. Between the setting and our outfits, he looks like a nineteenth-century physician attending his patient.

"Your pulse is fine, at least," Ambrose says, releasing Julian's wrist and standing to lean over him, taking his face between his hands and turning it towards the light, then gently lifting either lid with his thumb to examine his eyes. "Pupils reacting normally as well. How do you feel? Any pain, nausea?"

Julian shakes his head and wipes his eyes on his sleeve as Ambrose steps back. "No. Just a little dizziness."

"Hmm. And what do you remember? Anything?"

Sitting forward to rest his elbows on his knees, Julian runs both hands over his silky dark hair and shakes his head. "You both ran out, then everything was quiet. I took a sip of my drink, and then... That's it."

"The drink—where'd you get it?"

Julian squints up at him. "At the bar, like everyone else. It was just tonic water with lemon and ice."

"Did you see the bartender make it?"

"I—no," Julian admits. "She was pretty busy, so I just asked for two waters and then went to get the food. When I came back, the drinks were on the bar."

"Wonderful," Ambrose sighs. "So anyone might 've slipped a little something extra in while no one looked. Has no one ever told you not to drink something you've left unattended?"

Julian glowers, then sniffs and slumps forward once more. "Dane is going to kill me," he groans with his hands over his face.

"Get in line," I mutter.

"Well, at least we have this," Ambrose says, holding up a little green plastic baggie with a knot tied in the top.

It's a dog-poop bag—something Ambrose apparently carries in his pockets at all times—and it contains the disgusting tooth we'd found in the upstairs room. As soon as we'd established that Julian was alive and unharmed, Ambrose had gone to retrieve it.

"We don't have anything," Julian snaps. "What are you even doing here, anyway, Dr. Thorne, and what exactly do you know about this case?"

Ambrose frowns at him, seeming to make some sort of assessment as he does. "I've already promised Noah an explanation," he says, "and I suppose you might as well hear it too, but I'd rather we didn't speak here. The walls, as you may have noticed, are not as solid as I'd like."

"Fine. We need to find Barker anyway."

Julian gets to his feet, takes a few steps and then stops, swaying where he stands. Ambrose moves quickly to his side and puts a steadying arm around his waist, and I feel a little needle of jealousy sting my heart. I turn aside, pretending to inspect the other glass of soda water, which remained untouched, and doing my best to hide whatever expression of self-loathing might be on my face.