Soul Moon

Permission

The heaviness of the room instantly evaporates. A humorous look of disbelief blossoms on the bartender's face as he cocks his head towards Caden. Silver eyes spark with mischievousness as the realization of what Rook implied fully sinks in. A devilish smirk takes hold of Erick's lips as he accepts the challenge unknowingly put before him.

Caden's heart stumbles inside his chest. His stomach flips as if he's been lifted high into the air and then suddenly dropped. He's not used to feeling like the prey but the cunning look in Erick's eyes has him squirming in his seat. And he never squirms.

To counteract his discomfort, Caden gives Rook a reprimanding scowl which his associate casually waves away. Rev nearly chokes on her laughter. She's forced to hide her face behind her curtain of dark hair that hangs down as she searches for some elusive object in her medical bag.

Ignoring Caden's blatant warning, Rook continues to stare at the bartender, unwilling to back down. Normally, Caden would let him get away with his defiance. His accomplice has interrogated endless numbers of people over the centuries. Rook knows exactly how much pressure to use and what kinds of threats to make to get the answers he needs. Caden trusts him implicitly in matters like this. And right now, Rook is all bark and no bite.

Nevertheless, his wolf is on edge. He can sense its agitation in the tenseness of his muscles. Its compulsion to protect the bartender even from his friends has Caden fighting to hold himself back. There should be no reason for his wolf to be reacting this way. Yet his animal instinct is on overdrive and he's finding it extremely difficult not to order Rook to back off.

That is, until Rook leans in closer to get the bartender's attention and asks him, "Come on. What's your secret? Tell us. He's such a grumpy grump all the time. I can't remember the last time he..."

"Rook," Caden warns again with a low growl.

Erick's expression darkens, his smile weighed down by Rook's unspoken words. His once playful gray eyes turn hauntingly sad and Caden is struck with wonder as to why a complete stranger who just found out his hero is also a murderer would hold such compassion for him. They don't know each other. But for some reason, he has been irrevocably drawn to the bartender by a force he's helpless to resist. It is both frightening and freeing. It's something he's acutely wary of while at the same time trusts with every fiber of his being.

"What? It's a simple question," Rook explains looking at Caden with determination set in his dark eyes. "Would you rather I ask him the hard ones first?"

Rev pulls out a stethoscope from her bag and throws an equally determined look back at Caden. "He has a point, you know."

"Thank you!" Rook crows and turns back to Erick. "Now, tell me, have you cast a spell on Caden? Did you put something in his drink? I mean, you're a bartender. You would have had the perfect opportunity to roofie him."

Erick flinches at the accusation. Anger rises in his eyes as his fingers curl into his palms.

"Calm down," Rev says to the two men having a standoff.

Unlike her partner, Rev always tries the friendly approach first. As a physician, she never wants her patients to feel uncomfortable or scared. She needs to earn their trust in order to examine them properly and have them answer her questions honestly. In a way, she is also interrogating Erick. It's just that her way is kinder but often slower.

She warms the chest piece of the stethoscope between her hands. The bartender's extremely see-through shirt offers no protection from the cold metal so she takes care to make sure he won't react negatively when she places it on his skin. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees the way Caden watches her every movement as if he's stalking prey.