Blood's Fury (Deadly Beauties 1)

"Under the sink in the kitchen. Thank you for doing this, by the way," I murmur as he heads into the kitchen.

"What are neighbors for? The way I see it, small town people tend to band together and shut out outsiders. We'll have to start our own little gang."

I laugh lightly, amused by his positive outlook, and he smiles warmly as he walks back in while carrying an armload of supplies.

"Well, I owe you for this. My feet are not exactly very pretty right now."

He places a small bowl of water at my feet, and then he walks out again.

"I'll take care of it."

Suddenly my door swings open, and my head whips around to see Kane towering over me.

"Shit, Alyssa. You scared the hell out of me. How did you leave this morning?" He takes a steadying breath as he tries to calm down, surprising me with his worry.

I hadn't thought about my disappearance scaring him.

"You guys must have been in the kitchen or something," I lie.

"Why the hell did you just leave? And what's wrong with your feet?"

He slides around to be in front of me as he inspects my disgusting feet covered in dirt and matted blood. I didn't like Thad seeing them, but I sure as hell don't want Kane to see them.

I start curling them away from his view just as Thad walks back in with an awkward smile.

"I'm about to clean them up," he says, making Kane's head whip around, his eyes narrowing.

"And you are?" he prompts.

"I'm her neighbor. She sort of ran into me this morning - very literally - on her way in."

Kane relaxes slightly, returning his gaze to my dreadfully embarrassing feet.

"Ah, well, I'm here now. I'll take care of it," Kane says dismissively, picking up my foot.

"Stop, please. This is so embarrassing," I grumble while trying to pull my foot back.

"Did this happen last night or this morning?" he sighs.

I try cling to what shred of dignity I have left by refusing him an answer, but he stares at me expectantly, his eyes telling me he's more stubborn than I am.

"This morning," I mumble reluctantly.

Kane swears under his breath, scolding me with his eyes just before he resumes his examination.

"Alyssa? You okay with that?" Thad asks, putting me in an even more awkward position as he stares down Kane.

Kane snorts derisively, and I shrug while tightening my lips.

"Yeah, I guess so. I'll see you later, Thad. Thank you."

He doesn't seem too happy, but he puts the stuff on the floor beside Kane and walks around behind me.

"If you need me, you know I'm not far away. I'll see you after while."

Kane makes sure to shoot him a threatening glare, which confuses me, and Thad glowers back before walking out very reluctantly.

"I leave you alone for five seconds and the wolves are at the door," Kane grumbles as soon as the door shuts.