He was a good-looking man. His hair a deep brown, longer on the top. It was styled away from his face, highlighting the sharp blades of his features and the strong jut of his jaw.
Like Deborah, he was an unclaimed companion. One of the humans Thomas employed as a blood source for those vampires who didn’t have the time or resources to keep a human of their own.
He was new to this lifestyle, which might have explained his apparent death wish. Only someone who was over confident in his abilities or ignorant of the ways of the world would have stepped forward to draw another vampire’s ire.
It made me wonder which of those two descriptions could be applied to me since I’d done the exact same thing.
The vampire’s grip on Deborah’s arm loosened, his expression tempted.
I darted a glance at the human. This wasn’t a gentle bunny he was courting. This vampire would eat him alive and wouldn’t think twice if he killed him by accident.
I hoped he knew what he was doing. I could barely save one human. Let alone one I didn’t even know.
“It’s bad manners to snatch prey from another. Did Thomas not teach you that?” an amused voice said from behind us, wiping out the vampire’s interest in the male.
I closed my eyes in resignation.
There was no need to turn to see who had spoken. Dominick. The very person I was hoping to avoid.
Beside me, Connor had gone rigid. The muscles in his arms were strained, the contours standing out in sharp relief.
I could see the effort it took for him to remain still.
“The humans here are quite arrogant as well,” Dominick said with a look in Drake’s direction that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up with primal dread.
The fragile hope on Deborah’s face faded. She made herself smaller, like an animal faced with a large carnivore.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Anton send a quick text as I shifted to bring Dominick into view.
Dominick threw a teasing look at the crowd our confrontation had drawn. “The way Thomas runs his territory is quite fascinating. Allowing yearlings to gainsay higher members of the territory. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
He made a tsking sound before shifting his gaze to Connor.
I quelled the instinct to step in front of my vampire brother and block him from Dominick. It wouldn’t do much good. Connor was taller than me.
Not to mention what an action like that would say about us. Give the enemy no more information than you needed to. It was a lesson that had stuck with me since my time in the Army.
“Hello, lover, I see you got that reunion you were hoping for,” Dominick purred, not seeming to care that Connor was acting like a big old ice cube as he sauntered closer.
Dominick stopped in front of Connor to trace the lines of his body with a gaze that made me want to slap a protective covering over my brother and hide him somewhere Dominick would never find.
He had no business looking at Connor that way. It was entitled and possessive and utterly creepy.
“I was surprised to hear you returned to the fold,” Dominick murmured, tweaking the lapel of Connor’s jacket. “You always hated him.”
Connor’s face was carefully blank.
“Come back to us,” Dominick pouted. “You know how pleasurable our interludes always were.”
I was beginning to believe Dominick was a sociopath, capable of mimicking human emotions but unable to actually feel them.
Connor grabbed Dominick. His knuckles whitened with the force of his grip as he threw the other man’s hand off him. “No.”
The rapid shift from longing to boredom felt like whiplash as Dominick redirected his attention back to me. He didn’t like that his toy had denied him.
Connor made an abortive movement that I waved away.
I was the one Dominick wanted to pay. Not him. Might as well let this play out to see what we could learn.
