“What?”
Devan shrugged. “I killed someone with them once. It’s a thing.”
“Did you kill them on purpose?”
“No.”
“Wasn’t your fault then.” Zio dropped the box on the backseat. “Don’t be a weirdo about shit you can’t change.”
“That a life lesson, Zio?”
“Who the fuck knows.”
Certainly not Zio. He restarted the car and resumed their journey as the food worked its way into his system, soothing the scratchy sensation in his gut. His muscles relaxed, and his grip on the steering wheel loosened. He forgot himself and took a deep breath, but far from agitating him, Devan’s scent calmed him even further, and for the first time in weeks, he felt as though he could finally sleep.
Shame he was driving.
“Feel better?” Devan’s voice was soft, barely a murmur.
Zio wanted to be irritated, but it wouldn’t come. He nodded and took the turning that would lead them away from suburbia and into the countryside. “Yeah.”
Devan didn’t answer, and a silence settled over them as Varian’s powerful car ate up the miles. Zio leaned back in his seat and tried to keep his eyes to himself. Failed, naturally, but much like the squad meeting, Devan seemed oblivious to his attention. It was as though he’d drawn a line in the sand, and Zio couldn’t reach him until he crossed it.
The desire for something Zio couldn’t decipher hit him in slow, rolling waves, strong enough to shake the peace he’d found just moments ago but gentle enough to keep him upright. He bit his lip, drawing blood, as always.
Devan sighed and laid a hand on Zio’s thigh. “Don’t think so hard.”
His touch was electric. Warmth spread through Zio like a smouldering wildfire and the cut on his lip closed over, the blood he’d tasted on his tongue gone. “The fuck? Did you just... heal me?”
“Not on purpose.” Devan kept his gaze on the increasingly green landscape. “Sometimes my gift escapes me before I can catch it, not that I’d imagine I did much your body wouldn’t have done for itself. Wolves have unique healing powers, the fastest and most comprehensive of all supernatural beings.”
“Even vampires?”
“Vampires are harder to hurt in the first place.”
“I don’t like vampires.”
Devan grinned, and in the soft sunlight, his face seemed to glow. “They probably don’t like you much either.”
Zio laughed. Couldn’t help it. “Nah, probably not. Oh hey, we’re almost there. See that railway bridge at the top of the hill?”
“Yeah?”
“There’s a nature park on the other side. It’s protected, so humans don’t go there with their kids and dogs, churning up all the plants. We run there as a pack sometimes. At least, we used to when there were more of us.”
“You’ve lost many?”
Zio pulled into a lay-by and turned the engine off. “Too many to count.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Why? You didn’t kill them.”
“No, but I can feel how much it hurts you that someone else did. You feel responsible.”
“Fucking mind reader, are you? Like Varian?”
Devan shook his head. “It’s not like that. If I’ve healed someone, I’m often connected to them for a while after. It’s a kind of empathy, I guess.”