“That most of the people here are vampires?” Ari finished.“Why didn’t you tell us that earlier? You should’ve warned us. Then maybe…” Her voice faltered at the familiar sound of chains.
“Dennis!” I beamed as he walked in.“Thanks for saving us.”
“What are masters for?” His fangs flashed in a boyish grin.
“Yeah. Thanks, Dennis,” Ari said.
“Also, you’re not my master.”
“Keep telling yourself that, sweetheart.” He sat and ran a hand through the dark part of his hair.
“How’re you so calm right now? You looked like you were gonna kill that guy.” I tried to catch my switchblade when he tossed it, but it fell to my feet. I scooped it up and slid it back in my pocket.
“Oh, I did. He’s dead.”
“You really murdered him?” Ari asked, then averted her eyes when he looked at her.
“Where’d you put the body?” Sean was leaning against a wall with his arms crossed.
“Left it. I’ll take care of it later.”
Ari’s face twisted in disgust—they were talking like this happened everyday.“I think I’m bleeding,” she murmured, trying to see the back of her elbow.
“You’re not. I would know,” Sean said.
She dropped the arm to look at him.“You said they won’t mess with another vampire’s blood bound. Why was he attacking Emy, then?”
“Bind,” he corrected. “I didn’t think anyone would. We told you, our rules are kind of in limbo at the moment. Some vampires are more eager for change than others.”
“You’re bruising.” Dennis pushed off the couch and came to me. He brushed my hair aside, causing me to shiver.“And you’re getting excited, for some reason,” he added, running his fingers across my neck.
I couldn’t lie: as freaked out as I was, his calm-but-deadly demeanor was enticing, to put it mildly.
“Stop,” I whispered.
“Touching you or reading your thoughts?”
“Both.”
“Whatever you want, Vixen.” His hazel eyes danced with amusement as he stepped back.
“What are we supposed to do now?” Ari’s shaky voice cut into my inappropriate thoughts.
“I dunno what you guys want, but I plan on binding you.” Sean was more serious than usual. “If you’re okay with it, that is.”
I glanced atDennis, wondering why he didn’t seem to care about Ari’s safety nearly as much as Sean did. He was back on the couch, barely paying attention to the lighter’s fire flickering across his thumb. His gaze was solely on me.
“I don’t know,” Ari said.
“I think it’s a good idea,” I said. “I believe them now that you’d be safer. The guy said he could smell I’m bound—whatever that means—so he was gonna leave me and kidnap you. Which means they,” I pointed to the guys, “weren’t lying. At least not about that part. Being bound is annoying, but it’s also convenient sometimes.”
“You didn’t think it was annoying a few minutes ago.”
“Exactly!” I agreed withDennis’ comment and gave Ari an enticing smile.“See? Being bound literally saved our lives. Plus, you’d get to be by Sean all the time. You can’t say that’s a downside.”
“Shut up.” She shoved me away as I started laughing.“I’m not here to flirt. This is serious.” She bit her lip, watching Sean. “If you bind me, I’ll be more protected?”
“A lot more.”
