She repulsed him, but Cole leaned closer and crooked his index finger. When he beckoned to her with it, she leaned so close he could feel her breath against his lips.
“I had enough of doing you months ago,” he told her.
She didn’t react for a second, and then she released a bark of laughter and sat back. “Oh my, someone is feisty tonight.”
Cole didn’t reply as he glanced over at Brokk, who had his tongue shoved down the throat of the fae who stood behind him. The other straddled his lap and ran her fingers down his chest as she undid the buttons on his shirt.
“Brokk!” Cole snapped.
When his younger brother didn’t respond, Cole stretched his leg across the way and kicked his chair back. They broke apart when the chair skidded back a couple of feet.
“What the fuck?” Brokk protested.
Cole glowered at him, and Brokk glared back as the women pouted, and Becca laughed.
“In case you missed it, Becca said Orin was here,” Cole said.
Brokk blinked at him before shifting his attention to Becca. He slapped the ass of the woman straddling him before pushing her away. “Later.”
Both the women moaned a complaint, but they moved away as Brokk focused his attention on Becca. “When was he here?” he demanded.
“Not so fast there, little brother,” Becca said as she waved a finger at him before giving Cole a pointed look. “I don’t give favors without receiving them.”
Brokk glanced at Cole. His brother was aware of Cole’s antipathy toward Becca and of Becca’s determination to claw her way into the role of a dark fae princess.
During their brief time together, Cole learned she was after far more than a fling, and Cole was not looking for a wife. That was something she didn’t want to hear, and she had not taken it well.
To Becca, he was the key to her wearing a crown; because, with him, she could become a queen if something happened to his father. It didn’t matter that Tove wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon; Becca craved the power of the royalty.
She would not get it.
For some reason, she believed he considered her something more than a good fuck. Unfortunately, though he’d walked away, she wasn’t ready to give up. When her fingers brushed his arm again, an image of Lexi rose into his mind. He moved away from her touch.
She was the reason he didn’t want to be here or anywhere near Becca. He already knew who he wanted, and it was not anyone from this place.
“Don’t,” he warned her, and Brokk scooted his chair closer to kick him under the table.
Cole shot him a fulminating look, and Brokk waggled his eyebrows as he nodded toward Becca. “Take one for the team,” Brokk mouthed.
Cole’s hands flexed, and the ciphers on the back of them shifted. Brokk didn’t understand—hell, he didn’t understand, but there was no way he was screwing Becca again.
Last week, despite his abhorrence of Becca, he still would have taken her to bed if it meant discovering what she knew. It had never mattered to him before whether he liked his bed partners or not, and Becca was an expert. She owned this place, she knew what men and women wanted, and she excelled at pleasing her partner.
However, her expertise in bed didn’t make up for her conniving personality, which she didn’t hide well.
“I’m not playing your games, Becca. When was Orin here?” he demanded.
She leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs. She kicked one back and forth as she studied him.
“I don’t want you to play a game, Cole. I want you to play with me.”
“That’s not going to happen.” Cole pushed his chair back and rose. “We’ll find Orin on our own.”
He didn’t wait for her reply before he turned and strode through the crowd. Immortal creatures scrambled to get out of his way as he stalked toward the stairs and descended to the packed dance floor.
He shoved his way through the dancers, many of whom were having sex on the floor, pushed open the door, and stepped into the cool night air.
Unlike in the Gloaming, where the air was thick with the scent of crops this time of year, the air on earth was heavy with the smell of burnt wood and scorched earth. The aroma of the war and the destruction and death of this planet hung heavily on the air.
The stench had become all too familiar to him recently. So much so that it no longer repulsed him.
“What was that about?” Brokk demanded as he emerged from the club to stand beside Cole. “We have to discover what she knows about Orin.”
“I don’t care; I’m not fucking her to get the answers.”
“It’s not like you haven’t fucked her for less.”
“Things change.”
Brokk’s aqua eyes studied him. “What is going on with you?”
He wasn’t in the mood to discuss this with Brokk, especially since he didn’t have the answer. “Let’s go.”
Brokk glanced back at the Black Hole Club before falling into step beside Cole. “I was having a good time.”
“Then go back.”
But Cole wasn’t returning. There was somewhere else he’d far prefer to be.
He recalled Lexi, standing in the doorway of her manor, and something inside him twisted. He wanted to return to her, to see her again, and make sure she was safe.
When she’d invited them in earlier, he’d almost accepted, but they’d been so close to Orin, and there was a chance he might still find his trail. He hadn’t, and they’d gone to Becca’s in the hopes of learning more, but he’d turned his back on their one possible lead.
He loved his brother and wanted to find him, but he didn’t regret his decision to leave Becca behind.
“Where are you going?” Brokk demanded as he followed Cole toward the trees.
“I have somewhere to be,” he muttered.
“Care to let me in on this secret destination where you have to be?”
“Del’s manor.”
“Delano Harper’s manor?”
“How many Dels do you know?”
Brokk stopped walking, but Cole didn’t hesitate. He shouldn’t have left her alone earlier, not after the confrontation with Malakai, and now a desperate urge to get back to her compelled him faster.
“Have you lost your mind?” Brokk demanded as he jogged to catch up with him.
Cole wasn’t sure how to respond because he believed he might have lost it a little.
“Is this about his daughter?” Brokk asked.
Cole didn’t answer.
“She’s gorgeous, but Del was our friend,” Brokk said.
Something rippled inside Cole; he didn’t like Brokk talking about her like that. “I know.”
“Then leave his daughter alone.”
“I’m going to make sure she stays safe.”
Brokk grasped his arm and pulled him to a stop. Cole’s hands fisted as he kept his gaze focused on the woods, but his frustration wasn’t for his brother; it was for him.
“She’s young, Cole.”
“I know.”
“Then what are you doing?”
Cole’s head twisted toward him, and whatever Brokk saw there caused him to release Cole’s arm and take a step back.
“Malakai will go back for her,” Cole growled.
“And what do you plan to do about that?”
“I don’t know.”
Cole didn’t look back at Brokk as he continued toward the woods and the broken road on the other side of them. That road would lead to the market where he encountered Lexi earlier, and beyond it was her home.
What was he going to do when he got there? Stand guard outside her manor until Malakai returned?
That wasn’t possible, but the idea of leaving her vulnerable to that asshole caused the wolf inside him to stir. A wolf that only ever stirred around her. When he flexed his hands, claws scraped his palm.
He jerked his hands up and stared at the claws. They weren’t as long as they could be, but he couldn’t recall a time when he’d lost control of himself enough that they’d extended without him doing it on purpose.
The crunch of Brokk’s step caused him to close his hands to hide those claws, but the look on his brother’s face said he wasn’t fast enough.
“What’s going on?” Brokk inquired.
Before Cole could reply, the crunch of an approaching footstep silenced him. He caught the scent of others and turned as five rebel immortals emerged from a copse of burnt-out trees. Their tattered clothing and bruised bodies gave them away before Cole recognized them as traitors.
The two in the lead were lycans, a dark fae followed them, and two vampires were at the back of the pack. The rebels stopped when they spotted Brokk and Cole standing there.
The dark fae took an abrupt step back. Unlike the others, the fae recognized who he’d run across. The vampires and lycans didn’t; large grins spread across their faces, and one of the lycans cracked his knuckles.
Cole’s natural inclination was to draw on his fae powers, but the wolf was itching for a fight. He’d disembowel these fuckers for fun if it meant releasing some of the hostility inside him.
“I’d keep walking, boys,” Brokk warned.
“Good thing we’re not a pussy like you,” one of the lycans spat.
“You’re going to get one chance to walk away,” Brokk said.
“We should go,” the dark fae muttered.
“Fuck you,” one of the vamps retorted.
The dark fae slipped into the shadows and disappeared.
“At least that one’s smart,” Brokk said.
Cole didn’t speak as he studied the lycans and vamps. Like all male lycans, they stood over six feet tall and were broad through the shoulders and chest. A hint of gold shone in their eyes as the possibility of a fight excited them. Cole felt his excitement rising in response.
And then they attacked.