“But I do urge you to talk to the other guys about it. Especially Sebastian. He’s making a lot of noise about being exclusive, and I can see how it’s wearing on you.”
“I will,” she says. “I promise. But right now? I want to sleep.”
“Do you want me to leave you alone to sleep?”
“No,” she says. “I want you to stay.”
So that’s what I did.
Chapter 20
Theo
The conversation we all overheard Clarissa having with Toshi is still on my mind. Sebastian is furious, and Vlad looks something akin to hurt, but I don’t have time to decipher it. I’ve gotten word from the villager that took Kyle in that he’s settled, nourished, and no longer dehydrated. I know I’m
the only one that can handle him physically, so I slip from the tense confines of the cottage and make my way to the back of the village.
I find Kyle sitting on the porch tearing into a bloodied animal carcass.
“Feeling better?” I ask.
His eyes whip up to me, and I hold my hands up.
“I come in peace.”
“Just don’t take my scent back,” Kyle growls.
“I want to talk with you about your conversation with Lord Wesley,” I say.
“What about it?”
“Everything you say confirms what we’ve been working off of for the past couple of weeks except for the mentioning of a dispersal method. What were you talking about?”
Kyle takes another hunk of meat off the bone and begins to chew.
“Lord Wesley told me that one side wants to use Clarissa as a weapon of destruction before killing her and one of them wants to use her as a dispersal method. That was all he said.”
“And you didn’t think to clarify?”
“I was a little busy running for my life,” he grumbles.
“What about you?” I ask.
“What about me?”
“Do you know how badly they’ve changed you?”
“No clue.”
“Why don’t you stop eating then and rattle off to me the things you can do?”
“Look, I get mauled to death by Primals who I can’t take revenge on because apparently they’ve already been killed. I’m somehow brought back to life with scarred patches of skin adhered to me like a patchwork quilt. My wife can’t stand the presence of me because she is physically sickened by me, and you want to get angry at me for being pissed?”
“Pheromones,” I say.
“What?” he growls.
“That’s why. Primal pheromones are chemical compositions—”