It’s the best I can ask for.
Nodding, I turn and leave, but outside I find myself hanging a right at the end of the building and walking down and around to the back. There are ten reserved parking spots, and seven are currently full. I can smell which car is Lucius’ and Selene’s. Five of the other cars—all of them ostentatiously expensive sports cars worth more than the average family home—are also owned by vampires.
The last vehicle looks like a pitiful interloper, the runt of the litter, sitting next to the others. An old, dark grey Toyota 4Runner SUV, with more than a few tiny door dings along both sides. It’s at least fifteen years old. The tires’ tread looks dangerously thin in places on all four tires. It’s dusty, and the paint’s shine has faded along the hood, more a matte finish than glossy. The front headlight housings are yellowed and hazy with time and wear.
Dammit.
The windows are tinted, but my eyes can easily see inside. It’s neat and tidy, with no visible detritus like humans are prone to collecting. I notice it’s a four-wheel drive and has a trailer hitch.
Before I can rethink, I snap a picture of the license plate, the VIN number plate visible on the dash, and a closeup of one of the tires, showing the wheel style and the tire size.
That done, I blur to my rental and climb in. Smiling to myself, I return to my hotel and securely lock myself in my suite, including placing the two wedge-shaped doorstops I always carry with me when traveling. One goes under the suite door and one under my bedroom door. Then I text instructions to my men and include the pictures. It might take a day or two to arrange the surprise for Eilidh.
I hope she takes it in the manner I mean it.
With that done, I retreat to my shower, close my eyes, and finally get to rub out a wholly satisfying orgasm while wishing my hand was Blue’s mouth.
I couldn’t even focus on watching the scenes going on around me downstairs without my mind returning to her violet eyes.
Violet.
A color that is not normally found in humans. Not like that.
They weren’t contacts, either.
Amazing.
She’samazing.
And if it takes me the rest of my life, Iwillwin her over and make hermine.
8
Eilidh
They don’t needme on the floor tonight. After I change out the hundreds I received for twenties from the cash drawer behind the bar, I retreat upstairs to the office to handle paperwork. I don’t want anyone seeing how rattled I feel right now.
Rattled because IlikeDex.
Ireeeallylike him.
I cannotlikeanyonelikehim inthatway. It’s dangerous for me. Because for starters, what’s he want with me, beyond being his fucktoy and perpetual Happy Meal?
Secondly, I’m a danger to him that he doesn’t even know about. In ways he doesn’t know about. Possibly not just him, but any like him. I won’t risk someone else’s life, immortal or not.
I know the shifters tend to call them “leeches,” but I’m not fond of that term. Sure, a few of them fit that stereotype, but they’re trying to survive. Just like humans, there are plenty of them who are ethical and, while maybe not cuddly foo-foo with humans, they at least aren’t murderous thugs. And look at the shifters—sometimes they’ll kill humans who learn their secret. At least the vampires usually leave humans alive.
While I wouldn’t think twice about staking a vicious asshole, vamps like Lucius, Selene, Dexter, and others are the good guys and should be protected.
I’m upstairs maybe fifteen minutes when I hear someone unlock the stairwell door. I know it’s Theophilus before he makes it to the top of the stairs. Even if I hadn’t heard the distinctive way the club manager always punches in his code, or the way he walks, his scent hits me before he makes it through the second door.
I haven’t told Lucius and the others I can scent and hear them as easily as I do. I figure there are things best left back in case I need a tactical advantage.
He opens the main office suite door, concern on his face when he appears around the end of the divider that gives me privacy at my desk. I hold no illusions that if I wasn’t under Lucius’ personal protection, Theophilus wouldn’t give an extra damn about me over the basic concern he shows any of the household humans for the extent they’re working here.
But I’m in the “inner circle,” so to speak. That elevates me to a higher level.
Thus, I matter.
