How sweet.
"I didn't exactly say that," I said, but what I had texted her was you shouldn't be alone if you're sick. So, in a sense, I had basically admitted that I was going to let her stay here until we found a cure.
Or until I had to put a bullet in her brain, whichever came first.
"Where should I stash my shit?" she asked, glancing down the line of my friends. "A wolf, a faerie, and a vampire walk into a bar ..."
"Oh, you better work, bitch," Chris said, rising from his stool to give Revel a hug, like they'd known each other forever. That was just Fae-Bitch's way though; he loved everybody. "I have to go; I have a gig tonight at the Silver Stallion." Chris made some lewd motions with his hips and Revel chuckled, slapping him on the ass.
Apparently, they were going to be instant friends.
"Revel Jones, this is Shelbi Grange and Rebecca Michaels."
"Lovely to meet you, ladies," Revel said, giving them both these exaggerated winks, like she was a pin-up model or something, as she shook their hands. She certainly had the body for it. The false lashes, heavy makeup, and cherry red lipstick didn't hurt much either. "I'm Thea's predatory roommate."
"New friend," Shelbi said, giving me a very respectful sort of look. Uh-oh. I did not want to be treated like an alpha. No fucking way.
"Co-worker," Rebecca added, glancing out the front door as Chris opened it and let in far too much sunshine. I'd left the automatic shades down on the rest of the windows to keep the vampire's pale skin protected. "It's great to meet you, but I'm also going to head out before the sun gets any more obnoxious."
Rebecca stood up and folded herself into a coat and gloves, putting up an umbrella as she waved and stepped out into the gold morning rays. Still cold as fuck out there, but it wasn't actively snowing. That was good, right?
"I have to work at the restaurant today. Hope it doesn't feel like I'm running out?" Shelbi stood up and tilted her head toward me with respectful deference. "Do I have permission to leave, Alpha?"
"Alpha?" Revel asked as I nodded and groaned at the same time, staring at up at the ceiling while Ziff made a mess on the counter with his food. As soon as the door closed behind Shelbi, I dropped my head back down to look at Revel.
"To save me the other night, the alpha male of the Vail Valley Pack had to make me his mate in order to keep me alive. Doesn't mean anything. He's a psychopath, and for me, he was just a one-night stand."
"I see," Revel said, tickling her red nails on the top of Ziff's head. She wasn't showing any signs of the madness, but then, according to her it'd only been three days since she'd stopped being able to shift. "Is he going to show up here and try to kick my ass? I'll beat him up for you."
"I don't think he gives two shits about me," I said, not at all bothered by that, just trying to be honest.
"Do I have a lot of time left?" Revel asked after a moment, and I could feel this heaviness settling over the room like a cloud. "Before I go rogue and start murdering people? Or is it gonna be quick?"
She wasn't looking at me, her confidence draining out of her in an instant. She continued to stroke Ziff's ears, but she wasn't really looking at him.
"I know someone who's working on a cure," I said, but what I didn't mention was that he was also the piece of coyote trash who'd started spreading this disease in the first place.
Revel looked up at me.
"You said that before," she told me softly, pulling Ziff close to her chest so she could hug him.
"What I didn't say was that I'm actively working with him on it." I swished my tails as I tried to figure out how to phrase this. "I'm letting him study me—and my fucking tails—to see if he can find a cure."
"Research takes months, if not years," Revel said softly, and I knew right then and there that this was all my fault. If I hadn't invited her over here from Japan, she wouldn't be infected. Un-mated kitsune were so rare, lesbian and gay ones rarer still. I'd baited her over here and now she was going to die.
"This isn't science, it's magic," I said which could be better or worse. Magic was quicker to succeed ... but also quicker to fail, and failure could be catastrophic.
"If I tell HASR that I'm infected, they'll send one of their people to take me out; they won't wait for RADOPA to do it."
"What?" I asked, coming around the counter to sit on the stool beside her.
"That's my job here, to keep this infection contained and quiet. Humans, vamps, the fae, they all hate shifters. Imagine what would happen if it was widespread knowledge that we had our own form of rabies?" Revel sighed and raked her fingers through her hair, lifting her green gaze to mine. "How much time do I have?"
"A week before you start to lose control," I said, my heart pounding my chest. This wasn't happening; this couldn't be happening. My own selfish idiocy was going to cost a kitsune her life. And all because Fin and I couldn't just talk like grown ups. I tapped my fingers on the counter for a moment and then picked up the phone to call Nix.
Clearly, he needed test subjects and here, I had one in my kitchen. She was a fox; I was a fox. Perfect for experimentation, right?
As I started to call him though, he ended up calling me.
"Miss Hunt," he said, his voice like ice, even through our digital connection. "How are we this morning?"
"Like fucking shit," I said, because I was pissed off. Revel raised a brow, but didn't say anything. I knew she could hear both sides of our conversation, but I didn't mind since this involved her as much as it did me. "I have a kitsune friend sitting here that's infected with this bullshit virus. Infected dust, can you imagine that?"
Nix said nothing for a moment, and I could just imagine him pushing his glasses up and into his pale blonde hair.
"My employer's agreed to meet with you." A rush of both excitement and nerves went through me at the idea. In my head, I was imagining some massive corporation like HASR or Monsanto or Kaiser or some shit. After all, most corporations were headed by literal living trash with zero morals or compassion. I was of the opinion that RADOPA should offer free services to take out assholes like the CEO in charge of epipens, the one who raised the price from three hundred bucks to six hundred, despite the damn things costing twenty-five cents to make? Yeah, sorry, but people like that deserve to be killed. Greed doesn't look good on anyone.
"Have they now?" I asked, my nostrils flaring as I imagined how this meeting might go.
"Today," Nix continued, paused. "Well, tonight if you want to be technical about it."
"Tonight? Fuck off. They can wait until tomorrow," I said. I was not about to be bullied around by some corporate prick.
"I'm afraid you don't understand," Nix said, and I hated the way my skin broke out in goose bumps at the sound of his voice. I liked it, and by rights, I shouldn't, especially not with Revel Jones sitting in front of me. She was fucking afflicted by this man's mistakes. No, even if there was some animalistic attraction between me and Nix Locklear, I was never going to act on it. Never. He wasn't even worth a one-night stand. "When my employer says tonight, you damn well listen."
"And maybe you don't get it," I snapped back at him. "I agreed to work with you, but I'm not your fucking slave."
"No, but to my employer, you are," he said, as casual and cool as could be. I opened my mouth to tell him off again, but his next words stunned the shit out of me. "Ask your new friend where she was born, have her tell you about the shrine."
"The shrine?" I asked as the blood drained from Revel's face. Based on her expression, I could already tell she'd heard the question.