Was she really trying to escape from the bunker as Leandro had originally thought, or was she just out for a drunken stroll?
Then, Leandro remembered a customer who went to The Old Dog who got drunk on water. Massimo called him “Tightwad” because he never bought any liquor but got drunk anyway. At first, Massimo had thought the man was sneaking liquor into his glass when no one was looking, but one day, Massimo drank from Tightwad’s glass to find out. It was just water, like Tightwad had said.
Massimo thought it had something to do with nanocytes, but that was his Pops’ answer for everything that wasn’t normal. Leandro didn’t have any other way to explain how he was a werewolf or Massimo was a vampire, and the idea of nanocytes did kind of make sense, so it wasn’t too much of a stretch to believe that Tightwad could get drunk on water.
Leandro thought the same thing was happening to the woman.
She stumbled forward and grabbed a tree to stop herself from falling. The branch broke under her weight, and she crashed into the water. Leandro wanted to help her up, but he changed his mind. She might think he was trying to hurt her. It was better to wait and see if she needed his help first.
The girl came up gasping. Long strands of water-weed clung to her head, making her look as if she had green hair. She brushed them off with disgust. Her body was completely wet, and her garments clung to her fine figure. There was no doubt now that she was female. A warm, excited feeling buzzed through Leandro at the sight.
“Fucking muppet,” she said aloud, before laughing at herself.
She went to take another drink, and Leandro cringed. He thought she’d already drunk enough. She tilted the canteen all the way up and trickled the last drops into her mouth. Leandro was happy that she was out of water, but she wasn’t. She flung her flask as hard as she could.
Her shoulders slumped after she did it, though. She wasn’t too far gone to realize that she’d have to go fetch it, which would increase her time in the swamp. She had a good arm but didn’t seem too bright. Maybe that was because of the alcohol, or possibly water in her case.
He really hoped brains would match her beauty. In Pinewood, most of the women weren’t pretty or smart. He didn’t bother getting involved with them. It wasn’t like Leandro thought he was too good for them. He just figured, why would he waste their time if he had no intention of spending more than a night with them?
He’d heard Massimo’s stories of nightmare women, and Leandro didn’t want any of that. He wanted a nice girl he could spend his life with. With any luck, this mystery woman was someone like that.
The girl scooped up a handful of swamp water and drank it. Then she spat it out. Leandro shook his shaggy head in confusion. Was she really so thirsty that she’d drink bacteria-infected swamp water? Maybe she was dumb or crazy, after all. He really hoped she had the same problem as Tightwad and was just drunk out of her mind.
Leandro watched as she retrieved her flask and tried to drink from it again. It was like she’d forgotten that she’d already done that. She’s hammered.
The woman glared at her flask like it had killed her parents. “You useless fucking gobshite. You’ve got one job in your life, and you can’t even do that right. All you have to do is hold water.”
Okay, this girl is clearly not a happy drunk. Maybe I’ve got the same taste in women as my father, after all. Crazy girls.
Finally, she made it to the edge of the swamp. She would have gotten there a lot quicker if she’d been able to walk straight.
She slumped on the stony shore near the mountains’ foothills, and loud snores came from her before her head even hit the ground. She was out cold.
Leandro waited a moment and then trotted over to her. He stepped closer to smell her breath, but there was no trace of alcohol. Leandro was certain of that. She had gotten drunk on water.
He looked around. She really couldn’t have found a worse place to pass out. She was right out in the open. If he pulled her closer to the rocks, she’d wake up. Against his better judgment Leandro nudged her, but all she did was roll over and snore louder.
He wasn’t sure how someone so tiny could be so noisy. If he were to sleep next to her, he would get very little rest. Although even if she were quiet, he probably wouldn’t get much sleep if he was curled up next to her lithe body.
Get your head out of the gutter, Leandro told himself.
He decided camouflage was the best option. He dragged branches over, creating a ring around her so she looked like a shrub. A snoring shrub. He hoped the gurgling of the water would cover up her noisy breathing.
Leandro was quite pleased with the end result. He couldn’t see her, no matter how hard he tried. He’d laid thorny branches around her to discourage any humans or animals from getting too close. Leandro had thought about changing into a human and lighting a fire, which would keep animals away from her, but it would draw the attention of other humans.
Leandro settled down to watch over the mysterious girl, thinking about what he might say to her when they first spoke.
Nestor and the rest of the hunters weren’t far behind Terrier, but they didn’t know it. They were too busy arguing about the fact that only Pavel had been by Sergei’s side when Tank and Knuckles appropriated Ivan’s head. Sergei was pissed, and he loudly detailed all the ways he’d repay their betrayal. It was
