Chapter 84: Lyre: Irritating Company

LYRE

I drum my fingers against the steering wheel, counting each breath the oversized wolf takes from the passenger seat.

Inhale. Exhale. Each one sounds like someone slowly deflating a balloon made of sandpaper. If I weren’t tracking the faint magical signature pulsing at the edge of my awareness, I might conjure a plastic bag just to get some peace.

"So where exactly are we headed?" Jack-Eye asks, his voice carrying the forced politeness people use when they think you’re being unreasonable.

The pulsing grows stronger, moving toward the eastern edge of the city. They’re still on the move.

"I told you," I snap, taking a hard left as my tires squeal, "I don’t know yet."

"Not to be difficult, but that’s hard to believe." He braces one hand against the dashboard. "You’re obviously driving somewhere."

I narrow my eyes at the road ahead, the thread of magic pulling me forward. Tracking magic is a constant annoyance, like a fish hook caught under my ribs. "If you don’t shut your face in the next five seconds, I’m pulling over and kicking you to the curb."

The threat buys me approximately twenty seconds of blessed silence before he opens his mouth again.

"You’re a strange woman, you know that?"

My lips curl into something too sharp to be called a smile. "Is the big, handsome wolf upset because he found a woman who doesn’t fall for his charms at first sight?" I take another turn without signaling, just to watch him grab for the handle above the window.

His mouth quirks into an insufferable grin; I can see it out of the corner of my eye. "At least I know you think I’m handsome."

Blech.

Not only is he way too young for me, his conceit is nauseating. Playboys have never been my thing.

ego is showing. Might want to tuck it back

"That’s the best comeback

how his eyebrows shoot up. "Right now I’m busy

my suspicions are

changes direction slightly, and I make a sharp right

asks, his knuckles white where he grips the seat. Good

don’t. But he

when I’m stuck with backseat drivers." I tap the brakes just to make him lurch forward. "If my driving bothers

miss this stimulating

trying to yank an entire rib out.

down, eyes scanning the street ahead. The strip mall on our left houses a pizza joint with gaudy neon signs, a laundromat, and what appears to be

ever have to worry about cancer, and the flavored

I murmur, pulling

forward. "Are

just wanted a smoke break,"

like he’s considering actually believing my words. How

just a little, enough to let the air in. The taste of mixed energies washes over me—human mostly, stale and ordinary.

tongue slides over my teeth, a little sharper than usual as the urge to hunt rises. The tugging has ceased, leaving only the faintest vibration. "Whoever

feel the predator rising to the surface of his skin. His hand drops to his waistband, where I

on his arm. He’s warm and surprisingly solid. Lycans have always been

In muscle, not brain.

both

If you go charging in teeth bared, we might spook him

he nods. "What’s

it. You stay in the

a laugh.

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