What exactly do you mean, you ‘met with a High Priestess’?”
Oh, boy. The dangerous quality to Warin’s voice and his narrowed eyes as he glared at me from across the sofa made me fidget in my seat. So far my “he’ll totally see this as the greatest idea since bagged blood” idea wasn’t in line with reality. He’d been in my apartment for a grand total of five minutes before I’d mentioned my meeting with Joana—leaving out the curse aspect as a fun surprise for later—and I was already starting to regret it.
“Calm down, okay? It was the logical thing to do. The witches—at least this coven—want to get rid of the skinwalkers too. We can work with them. They’ll have valuable insight we couldn’t get without them.”
“There are ways of getting information out of an enemy without aligning yourself with them! Have I not made myself clear, Liv? They are dangerous! You are not to be around them, let alone make deals with them!” Warin’s nostrils flared, and for a moment he looked more predator than human, eyes dark and upper lip curled in a snarl.
Unfortunately for him, even in the face of this much anger, I wasn’t afraid of him. I was, however, getting mightily pissed off at being bossed around.
“Stop talking to me like I’m your goddamn property!” I got up from the couch, rounding on him. “I see and speak to exactly who I want, and you need to stop treating me like I’m some idiot who needs to be protected from her own stupidity! We need the witches on our side, and if you weren’t so goddamn prejudiced, you’d see it too. You want to avoid a war? This is the way we do it.”
Warin stared at me. Then, slowly, like a stalking panther, he got to his feet and walked the two steps to stand in front of me. Power, the full extent of his presence, wrapped around me in a dark caress that should have been intimidating, but it just made the blood in my abdomen pulse harder.
Dammit. Down, girl, down!
“You will let me protect you. You will not question my will on matters concerning your safety, and you will stay away from these witches. Understood?”
Warin’s voice was a low growl, gravel wrapped in silk, and it sent a shiver down my spine as my nipples tightened to aching points underneath my shirt, and my mind hazed while uninvited images of what it’d be like if he spoke to me like that under different circumstances flashed through my brain.
Oh, holy wow, why was it so fucking hot when he went all bossy vampire on me!? I shook my head to clear it from the hormonal fog and crossed my arms over my chest, partly to close myself off and partly to hide my traitorous nipples.
“Nope, that’s not how this is going to go down. I don’t know how things are between vampire friends, but you don’t get to roll up into my apartment and boss me around, dude. Now, I appreciate that you’re just trying to protect me, and I am grateful for that. Truly. But I get a say in this too, and that say is that these witches will help us. So I need you—” I unwrapped one arm to poke him in the chest, “—to pull yourself together. Just because some witches are apparently murderous bastards, it doesn’t mean they’re all bad. Like not all vampires are bad. And this High Priestess is a really good person, I promise. So, you and I are going to calm down, and tomorrow we’re going to meet her and her coven so we can get to the bottom of who’s trying to murder me and poison the blood supply. Okay?”
Warin blinked, his eyes wider than before, as if he couldn’t quite believe I’d told him “no.” But then again, a fancy vampire Lord probably wasn’t used to having people disagree with his decrees.
“It’s for the best, Warin,” I continued, gentling my tone. “Deep down, you know it.”
He drew in a deep, unnecessary breath, and finally nodded. “Fine. For you, I will meet with this priestess. But I must warn you, Liv. I am doing this only out of respect for you. Any hint of deceit, and this will not end well for them. Are you prepared for that?”
I nodded, deciding against telling him about the curse. The way his eyes were still dark with anger, I didn’t think it’d make things go any smoother if he realized what kind of precaution Joana had put in place. “Just… no bloodshed. Please.”
Warin reached out and briefly touched his hand to my cheek. “I will strive to avoid it. I am so sorry that you have been pulled into this world.”
I smiled and patted his hand before I sat back down on the couch, curling my legs up under me. “Sometimes we don’t really get a choice in what life throws our way. And if I had to choose between this and never meeting you… I’d choose this every time. Now please, come. Sit down so I can draw you.”
I had to Google Isla, and when a hip-looking nightclub in downtown Chicago popped up on my screen, shoot a text to confirm the location with Raven.
I’d never really considered nightclubs to be the place supernatural beings went to discuss business, but according to Raven, it was the right place. And, according to her, the dress-code was black eyeliner, bare skin, and sweat.
So the next night, while I waited for Warin to pick me up, I spent hours in front of the mirror, attempting to get my very laid-back self back into the shape of a girl who was used to wearing makeup and doing her hair. Before Warin, I spent most evenings on the couch watching reality TV under a blanket, just living life to its fullest. These days, the TV had been swapped out for a handsome vampire, but still… I had to rummage in my closet for a good ten minutes before I managed to pull out a black spaghetti-strapped dress from behind the mountain of t-shirts, sweaters and jeans.
When Warin finally pressed the buzzer to my door phone shortly before nine, I’d managed to press myself into an old push-up bra that had my breasts threatening to spill out over the low neckline of my—as it turned out, once I’d screwed myself into it—rather skanky dress. My hair was up in a Dutch braid I’d spent forty solid minutes watching YouTube tutorials to get right, I had a liberal helping of black eyeliner smeared around my eyes, and I held onto my third glass of pre-meeting-witches-who-have-a-curse-on-me wine as I swung the door open and greeted the vampire with a wide smile.
“Hello, handsome!” I said—and immediately regretted it when his eyebrows crept up half an inch at the sight of me. “Er, I mean… c’mon in.”
Silently, he stepped over the threshold, not moving his gaze from me.
“I just need to finish up,” I said, making flapping motions toward the sofa. “Make yourself comfortable.”
It’s a testament to Warin’s patience that I didn’t hear him so much as clear his throat while I applied the last of my mascara, fussed with my hair, and spent five full minutes bouncing in the bathroom to ensure my boobs wouldn’t escape.
When I returned to the living room, now with an empty wine glass, I found him by my bookshelf, leafing through one of my spiritual books.
“Well look who’s being all open minded,” I teased as I set the empty glass down on the kitchen counter and grabbed my black clutch. “Looking for tips for the meeting?”
He didn’t answer—just put the book down and stared intently at me.
“What? Is my foundation caked?” I rubbed self-consciously at my cheek.
“I asked a few of my Guard to join us, just in case the witches are plotting a trap.”
I blinked, confused at the subject change. “I mean, as long as they don’t start snacking on anyone, I’m sure that’s fine. They can hardly expect you to show up with just a tipsy human as backup.”
He hummed, full lips flattening to a tight line.
“What?”
“You need to stay close,” he said, giving me one lingering look before he moved toward the door. He waited for me there, one hand resting on the handle.
I shot him a confused look as I joined him. “Why?”
“You look like vampire bait, little one,” he said as he opened the door for me, a ghost of a smile easing the stern look on his pale face. “And I won’t be the only nightwalker present.”
“Oooh!” I laughed, delighted that he was feeling playful despite the meeting awaiting us both. As much as I was a homebody, the wine and skanky dress had gotten me in the mood for a night out, and if things went well, I was so planning on having a dance or two with my vampire buddy. Which would be much easier if he was in a good mood. “Well, thanks… I think?”
“Oh, it was a compliment,” he said, giving me a good once-over that made heat rise from the tips of my toes all the way to the roots of my hair.
I slapped his arm for good measure. “Be careful with those—I’m a very friendly drunk!”
I recognized Carina the second we entered Isla. The beautiful blonde was casually leaning against the bar, eyes scanning the many drunk and dancing humans. She was in a tight black dress that displayed her long legs, but despite the wispy material, hers didn’t make her look even the slightest bit skanky. She was all cool elegance and impeccable beauty, and I did my best not to hate her as I waved hello.
She nodded at me, all grace and manners, eyes flicking from my neck to my cleavage, down to Warin’s hand resting lightly against my lower back as he led me through the throng of people. When she looked back up at me, a small smile pulled her painted lips up at the corners.
I flushed at what she was obviously thinking. Vampire bait, indeed. I wasn’t entirely sure why she was so convinced her boss and I were getting it on, but it was somewhat harder to ignore when I wasn’t wrapped up in thick sweaters and old t-shirts so unattractive they might as well have “closed for business” printed across the front. I hadn’t really thought much about my appearance when I hung out with Warin—it was just him and me, after all, and I wasn’t trying to get into his pants. However, Carina’s knowing smirk made his teasing compliment flash through my brain again.
He liked how I looked tonight.
And I liked that he liked it.
“I’m going to need a drink,” I mumbled, banking on Warin’s vampire hearing picking it up over the throb of music as I shimmied toward the bar. Since I was mostly here as sacrificial lamb anyway, there was no reason not to drown in alcohol my blooming realization that I was eventually going to fuck up our friendship with ridiculous feelings.
“Jack Daniels & Coke,” I told the bartender as I fished through my purse for cash. “Double.”
A cool touch against my fingers made me still and look up. Warin appeared by my side, sliding a black Amex across the bar. “Keep a tab open for the young lady,” he said to the man behind the bar.
“No, it’s all right—” Another touch, this time to my bare shoulder, made me quiet down. Despite his chilly body temperature, heat bloomed from where he’d brushed his fingertips against me. Damn.
“You’re here because of me. Anything you need is on me. If the initial proceedings go well, I expect I will be tied up with details for some time. Carina has been instructed to watch over you, so once an initial understanding is reached, you can feel free to enjoy the facilities.”
I only hesitated for a moment, because manners, but modesty be damned—Isla was an expensive club. “Thank you.” And before I could stop myself, I continued, “S’long as you know it takes more than a couple drinks before I offer up a vein!”
It was meant as a joke, but Warin’s gaze flickered to my throat for just the briefest of seconds, and instead of feeling the appropriate horror at what he was clearly picturing… my abdomen kind of melted in response.
“Oh, goddess.” I groaned at the unmistakable sensation of my panties soaking through as a blush to rival the bright neon sign above the bar swept up to cover my chest, neck and face. Without looking back at Warin, I grabbed my Jack and Coke and downed a hearty gulp.
The knowledge that my otherwise tame vampire buddy, who swore he never ate from anything but donor bags, clearly wasn’t a complete stranger to imagining his fangs in my throat should have filled me with either indignation and/or terror. I mean, it was one thing having him lick me down after my skinwalker attack stirred all sorts of inappropriate thoughts in my depraved mind—after all, he was very handsome, and he had been licking me from head to toe. But needing a panty change at the thought of having him bite me? Puncturing my skin and sucking blood from my veins?
Clearly, it’d been too long since I last got laid, because no sane woman should say anything but “fuck no” with an extra helping of “nope!” to that.
I glanced at Warin out the corner of my eye, but thankfully, he was too busy staring across the crowd to pay attention to my quiet meltdown.
“We’ve been summoned,” he murmured next to me, his mouth close enough to my ear that I could hear him over the music.
I looked up and spotted Raven, wearing a black leather corset and matching mini-skirt. She stood next to a door half-ajar by the side of the bar, staring at us.
I sighed and downed the rest of my drink in two long gulps. The bartender slid another across the bar for me before I could even ask. I nodded at him and turned to Warin, fresh drink in hand. “Let’s go stop a war.”