Dammit.Lucas was so not getting into his domestic issues, but Nikolai had seen too much when he took off that collar. Lucas refused to meet the Liberi’s eyes. “I won’t be gone long. You guys need to stay here until I get back.”
Nikolai continued to stare.
Lucas gritted his teeth. “Please,” he added.
A muscle jumped in Nikolai’s cheek, but then he nodded. “Very well.”
Aria had picked up on the undercurrents, and her twitching brows revealed her confusion. “Maybe we should come with you.”
“No. Nikolai hasn’t slept in—?” He raised his brows at the big Liberi.
Nikolai frowned. “A while.”
“I think I speak for all of us when I say he’d be better off well rested? And this won’t take long.”
Nikolai shot him a look, but he sat down on the other bed. “I will know if you need help,” he said.
A chill ran down Lucas’s spine. In the middle of the city, Nikolai thought he could track Lucas’s individual energy? Or was it more than that? Lucas kept getting the mystifying moments of connection with the Liberi. Was the big guy getting glimpses through Lucas’s eyes, too?
Before that could completely spook him, he blurted, “I won’t need help. Just stay here.”
He basically bolted from the room. On the way past the kitchen, he leaned in to offer Betsy a couple of coins. “Can you make them sandwiches or something? I’ll be back in an hour.”
She turned from the sink to take the coins. Her lips pursed, but she nodded. “Sure.” Then she looked down at his legs. “Nice boots, Lucas. Are you wearing anything other than those and a cloak?”
Oh, crap. Betsy was a weak telepath; she likely had snatched her answer from his mind the moment she’d asked the question. His shorts had diminished to bikini briefs, and Lucas’s body had developed the tremble that told him he was at the end of his reserves. “Don’t suppose you have sweat pants I could borrow? And shoes?”
She raised a brow. “It’ll cost you.”
He sighed. “Okay.”
Betsy disappeared for a few moments, returning with a pair of sweat pants with holes in the knees, and runners in not much better shape.
It surprised him that she owned anything with holes, but judging by the size, they weren’t hers. Leftovers from a visitor? He narrowed his eyes at her. “You want me to pay for those?”
She shrugged. “You want them, or not?”
He offered her a single coin. She refused to hand them over until he doubled it. He grimaced, but it was impossible to bluff a telepath.
Turning his back, he pulled the pants on. They were baggy around his hips, and too short, but they worked. The runners pinched a bit, but if he didn’t lace them too tight, they’d be fine, too.
“Nice look.”
He turned around to find she’d been staring at his butt. “Hey.”
She merely shrugged again and turned back to the sink.
After a moment, he brandished another couple of coins. “We’ll book for the next few nights, if that’s okay.”
She cracked a smile as she pocketed them too. She turned to pluck an apple out of a basket. “Here. You look knackered.”
“Add the banana?”
She tilted her head. “Only because I like you.”
Double-fisting the two pieces of fruit, Lucas left the house with a mingled sense of relief and dread. Neither Nikolai nor Aria blended here in the human realm. There were bound to be questions, and he was under no illusions that Betsy would sell what she knew to the highest bidder.
Fortunately, she was only a weak telepath, but he’d have to watch himself around her. Dragon shifters were notoriously difficult to read, and he’d bet the Liberi was even more resistant to it.
