Free Black Rook by Kelly Meade Page A

poisoned, and then we get word of a serious attack against another of our sanctuary towns. The timing is bad, and while I don’t want you to think of yourself as a prisoner, you are not free to leave, either.”
    “I don’t know anything about the attack in Connecticut.”
    “And that may very well be the truth. However, until I know who is responsible, I’m going to err on the side of caution.”
    “But—”
    “Do you have a cell phone?”
    “Yes.” She glanced between them, then produced the phone without being asked.
    His father took the phone and locked it inside of his desk. “Thank you, Miss Atwood.” To Rook, he said, “Joe Reynolds is informing the other Alphas of the trouble in Connecticut, and it will take Bishop several hours to get there. I’m returning to the floor for now. Once Dr. Mike has taken a look at both of you, you’re free to leave the office with her. Just stay close.”
    “Of course,” Rook said.
    After Father left, Brynn shifted in her chair to face him head-on. “Why does your doctor need to take a look at me?”
    “Just being cautious, I guess.” Rook wasn’t entirely certain, either, why his father was concerned—the smell. It hit him again, with Brynn sitting so close, and in the excitement of everything else, he’d forgotten. Brynn had loup garou blood, and she’d come into contact with her own poison. His heart pounded harder as he understood the purpose of Father’s earlier note. She’d said the seizures began within thirty minutes of exposure, and it been at least that long since Rook was dosed. Would it take longer to affect her because she was a half-breed? Would her Magi blood protect her?
    “What is it?” Brynn asked.
    “Nothing.”
    “No? Then why do you look so startled?”
    He didn’t want to lie, but he also couldn’t tell her the truth. “How certain are you that the poison will only affect loup garou physiology?”
    “I have no reason to doubt what I was told.”
    “Weren’t you also told you’d be killed if we discovered you’d entered our town with a deadly weapon?”
    “Yes.”
    “Has that happened?”
    She blushed. “No.”
    “So how can you say for sure that it won’t affect you in some way? You had it all over your hand, too.”
    She squirmed in her chair, fingers twisting together in her lap. “Why are you trying to scare me?”
    “I’m not trying to scare you, Brynn, I promise. I just think that letting Dr. Mike check you out might not be a bad idea.” He stared to reach for her hand, to give it a comforting squeeze, but stopped himself. She probably didn’t want his comfort or his touch, even though he wanted hers. Wanted to know if that connection he’d felt when he grabbed her hand was a fluke. He needed it to be a fluke, because any attraction to her was wrong and impossible. “I won’t let Dr. Mike hurt you.”
    Her silence worried him, and they sat that way for a while.
    Rook listened to the sounds of the auction as Butch called the next lot. They’d moved along from the table items, and the auction had split. The furniture in the back row was up now, while the boxed lots in the next room were being sold simultaneously. Doubling up kept the auction from taking too long, and the target buyers for the two were usually very different. The antique furniture dealers didn’t often want the miscellaneous items thrown together in the boxed lots. The entire auction should wrap up in about ninety minutes, and then they’d begin the process of cleaning up. Buyers had two hours from the end of the auction to get their purchases out of the building—no exceptions.
    The more minutes that passed, the clearer his head became. The ketamine dose hadn’t been large, but it had thrown him for a loop. Rook didn’t like the fuzzy-headed loss of control he’d felt. He had faked it well in the music scene for years, and he couldn’t imagine actually existing like that as his band mates had. He struggled every day to control his temper