"07 - Burnt Offerings 4.0" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hamilton Laurell K)

up on my buttocks and lower back, faint, almost dainty, but I would always have
a little reminder of Gabriel. A reminder that his fantasy had been to rape me,
to make me cry out his name, then kill me. Though knowing Gabriel, he probably
hadn't been so picky on when I died, after, or duringЧeither would have worked
for him. As long as I was still warm. Most lycanthropes aren't into carrion.
I sounded casual about it, even in my own head. But my fingers traced along my
back as if I could feel the scars through my skirt. Had to be casual about it.
Had to be. Or you start screaming, and you don't stop.
"The hospital doesn't know Nathaniel's a shapeshifter, do they?" I said.
He lowered his voice. "They know. He's healing too fast for them not to know."
"So why whisper?"
"Because I'm out in the waiting room on a pay phone." There was a sound on the
other end like he'd had to take the receiver away from his mouth. He muttered,
"I'll be off in just a minute." He came back on. "I need you to come down,
Anita."
"Why?"
"Please."
"You're a werewolf, Stephen. What are you doing babysitting one of the
kitty-cats?"
"I'm one of the names in his wallet in case of emergencies. Nathaniel works at
Guilty Pleasures."
"He's a stripper?" I made it a question because he could have been a waiter, but
it wasn't likely. Jean-Claude owned Guilty Pleasures, and he would never have
wasted a shapeshifter off-stage. They were too damned exotic.
"Yes."
"The two of you need a ride?" It was my day for it, I guess.
"Yes, and no."
There was something in his voice that I didn't like. An unease, a tension. It
wasn't like Stephen to be cagey. He didn't play games. He just talked. "How did
Nathaniel get hurt?" Maybe if I asked better questions, I'd get better answers.
"A customer got too rough."
"At the club?"
"No. Anita, please, there's no time. Come down and make sure he doesn't go home
with Zane."
"Who the hell is Zane?"
"Another of Gabriel's people. He's been pimping them out since Gabriel died. But
he's not protecting them like Gabriel did. He isn't alpha."
"Pimping them out? What are you talking about?"
Stephen's voice rose high and far too cheerful. "Hello, Zane. Have you seen
Nathaniel yet?"
I couldn't really hear the answer, just the buzz of all the people in the
waiting room. "I don't think they want him to go just yet. He's hurt," Stephen
said.
Zane must have stepped very close to the phone, very close to Stephen. A low,
growling voice came through the wire. "He'll go home when I say he goes home."
Stephen's voice held an edge of panic. "I don't think the doctors will like
that."
"I don't give a shit. Who are you talking to?"
For his voice to be that clear he had to have Stephen pinned against the wall.
Threatening him, without saying anything specific.