Free Love Is in the Air by Carolyn McCray Page A

baby’s blood. She knew he would honor his promise to leave and never return. These fleeting seconds trapped in the office might be her last chance to gain some measure of closure around Maria’s death.
    “Please. I need to know. What killed my friend?”
    Tyr kept a vigilant gaze toward Richard and the nurse. “Many call such a Venificus, but it is no more than a beast.” Shifting his gaze to her, he frowned. “Does such knowing make your loss any the less?”
    Once the words were out of his mouth, she found that Tyr was right. No knowledge could diminish her loss. Her mind might accept that, but her heart felt the need to cast about for a reason to stop blaming herself.
    “No… I just… If I hadn’t sent her for the blood. Or if I’d just gone down to find her earlier…”
    Tyr turned back toward the window. “If anyone is to blame for her death, it is I.”

CHAPTER 24
    “You?” Sal asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.
    “In tracking the beast, I tracked a scent which covered your friend. I thought her his next victim.”
    “So it was you in the ER, during the lightning flash?”
    Tyr nodded slowly, then hung his head, taking several breaths before elaborating. “But the scent was not hers. It was another’s—with whom she had lain.”
    Oh, God. Jeremy. The blood bank attendant. Maria must have worked her way around to bedding the buff college student. While Sal loved her friend greatly, it was no secret that the head nurse was considered the hospital’s very own welcoming committee.
    “Here’s your employee orientation booklet and a quick lay. Once you’re done, return them both to Human Resources and enjoy your tenure here.”
    No wonder Maria had been so eager to go on such a meager errand.
    Knowing the head nurse, she probably thought she could squeeze in a quickie before she was missed. While this information should have relieved Sal, the knowledge that she was in no way responsible for Maria’s death gave her no solace.
    Tyr clenched his jaw. “By the time I double-backed on the trail and found the true source…”
    They both knew what happened. There was no point in speaking it.

CHAPTER 25
    The intimacy created by their shared grief became unbearable. She wanted to comfort him in the same instant that she wished to be comforted by him. There was something powerful and binding about skulking in the shadows together, doing forbidden acts.
    Breaking the tension, Sal looked out the window. Richard didn’t look like he was going to budge anytime soon. Damn it. For such a pacifist, he could be a pit bull when he wanted.
    “He is familiar to you?” Tyr asked.
    His raspy voice brought up goose bumps along her neck. She didn’t even know you could get them there. “Yes, he’s… he’s my fiancé.”
    She knew Tyr well enough to know that tilt of his head meant he didn’t understand her phrasing. “We’re promised to be married,” she explained, while showing him her engagement ring. It felt like an odd conversation to be having, given the pheromones permeating the small room.
    “You are bound to him?”
    “Well, I wouldn’t exactly…” Oh, what did it the syntax matter? She knew what Tyr meant. “Yes.”
    Sal watched Tyr as he surveyed Richard through the blinds. She tried to read the effect that the news had on him. The slight squint to his eyes that deepened his tan crow’s-feet. The rippling of his jaw muscles as they clenched and unclenched. Or how his stubble swirled as it coursed up his cheek.
    Tyr turned to her. “You love him?”
    Startled, Sal stumbled for an answer. “Yes. Of course.”
    “Is it ‘ yes ,’ or ‘ of course ?’ “
    She flushed red as he stared at her. Even without his demanding tone, he could still unnerve her. Sal cleared her throat. “Yes.”
    “Truly? With no reservations?”
    Cheeks burning, she rushed to answer—not so much out of passion, but to end his appraising look. “I said, ‘yes.’ “
    His expression was inscrutable as he