“Do you think he knows?” Ray didn’t indicate the house or Cal inside it, but Penn understood.
“He lives off sugar and he barely sleeps. I’d say it’s at least occurred to him, even if he hasn’t worked it out in detail yet.”
Theyetloomed.
But Penn flashed Ray a reassuring smile, told him to take it easy for once, then drove off.
Ray tried not to worry about her, and to acknowledge that it really was best that he lay low and stick close to Cal in case of danger.
But he did second-guess his decision the moment he saw Benny’s tiny, energy-efficient car, and he swore, not quietly, as he tried to fold himself into the backseat while also holding a dripping ice pack to the back of his neck.
A household of beings didn’t have pain medication on hand, and none of it would have worked on Ray enough to matter. Benny had been the one to suggest the ice, which helped some humans with headache problems. Ray would have thanked him, but then Benny had also held out a handful of protection charms and Ray had sneezed six times in a row.
Sneezing, incidentally, made headaches worse.
“The bond between a were and his macaroon is serious,” Cal told his friend, his seat scooted all the way up as if that made any difference to Ray at this point. Cal wasn’t actually telling Benny anything new. Benny was driving and sipping from some frozen green tea concoction. Ray suspected Cal was repeating this forhisbenefit. “So right now, Ray might feel better if I’m around. And someone has to keep an eye on him for a while anyway.”
Ray didn’t snap his teeth. His glare after his bout of sneezing had gotten his point across. The one charm he had agreed to was in his pocket, not near his skin. He doubted it would do anything to help him, magic being strange about weres, but they’d both been staring at him with wide, expectant eyes, so he’d allowed the one charm and barked for them to wear the rest.
Now his head hurt, his nose itched, icy water was soaking into his shirt collar, and his knees were nearly up to his chin.
Cal turned to look at him while Benny drove them out of Ray’s neighborhood. Cal was wearing one of the charms as a necklace, a little disc with the image of a man with a dog’s head on it resting against his collarbone. He’d chosen that one specifically. It smelled of rosemary and human magic. Ray wrinkled his nose.
“Now, Ray,” Cal began, placatingly, “Benny’s much better at these now. After a while, you won’t even notice them, and you’ll have made us so happy.”
His eyes were mesmerizing. His mouth remained wicked.
Ray moved his gaze over, met Benny’s in the rearview mirror. “How do you deal with him?”
Benny understood perfectly. “You learn to pick your battles.”
“Slander.” Cal hissed. “Actionable slander!”
“No, it isn’t.” Benny was unrepentant and probably correct, legally speaking. He glanced to Ray again. “You let him have his way most of the time but put your foot down when it really matters to you. That way he knows you mean it. I don’t think he means to run over people, but it still happens.” Cal gasped in mock, or real, outrage. Benny took a sip of his drink before adding, “I think you learned to do that on your own, probably early on, but you used to argue with him on purpose anyway because you two get off on that stuff sometimes.”
No gasp of outrage from Cal. Ray arched an eyebrow. Cal turned back around to face front.
“Where are we going?” Ray finally asked, as the small, older houses of Ray’s neighborhood began to turn into small, older apartment buildings, and the freeway became visible in the distance.
“Since we are waiting on information, either from Penn or from the rest of the department,” Cal paused, somehow the pause was sarcastic, “Benny and I have some work errands to do. Also, we’re going to stop by Cassandra’s to drop off your clothes in case she wants to look at them before we burn them.” He paused again, this time to let Ray sigh. “Then we are going to possibly, maybe, probably go look at your crime scene again if the coast is clear.”
That told Ray nothing about their destination or how long he would be bent in half in this car. Los Cerros was not a large, sprawling city although it had swallowed up Ray’s neighborhood decades before he had ever lived there. His house, small though it was, had a yard and a driveway, and he was lucky to have it. Despite the extra time required to drive into work, he wouldn’t have been able to afford it now, or probably even one of the older apartments far from the city center. Not that he’d ever heard of a werewolf lasting long in a tiny city apartment.
If there weren’t traffic, Ray could have driven from his house to the mansions up on the bluffs overlooking the ocean, or to the village not far from them, in no more than a quarter of an hour, but there was always traffic. The prison, where Penn might go, was outside of the city. She would be gone for a while.
Benny didn’t take them on the freeway. He stuck to side streets, patiently working his way deeper into the city while Ray rubbed his nose and Cal tapped out messages on his phone.
“We have to stop to talk to someone,” he announced after a while, to Ray since Benny seemed to know already. “I want you near, preferably where I can see you, but… if you don’t mind, could you stay back here?”
“I’m not staying in the car.” Ray was pleased it wasn’t a snarl.
“Outside of the car is fine.” Cal twisted to give Ray an overly bright smile. “Is the ice working?”
“I could have gone with Penn,” Ray pointed out, “and stayed in that car.”
The smile vanished. “Absolutely not. First, as we argued before, no judge would like any case whereyougo anywhere near any of the suspects inyourattack. And secondly, Ross does not get to see you ever again. And ifsomehowitwereto happen, I would have to be there.”
Ray allowed himself a hintof the snarl. “Even in a prison?”
