In my defense, my senses insisted that I was alone. My hearing. My sense of smell. Everything except my vision said there was no one standing there. Particularly not a cousin who was as dangerous as any vampire I’d ever met.
Drake’s brown hair was the same shade as my dad’s. It was long on top and slicked back from his face in an effortless style that probably took almost an hour to achieve. If I looked closely enough, I could see the resemblance to my family. Faint but there.
Seeing my frown, Drake reached beneath the collar of his shirt to pull out a charm I’d seen on other hunters. Its purpose was to conceal the user’s presence. Particularly from those with superior senses like me.
“Checking up on me, cuz?” Drake tucked the charm back under his shirt. “You didn’t need to go to such dramatic lengths.If you wanted to know what I was up to, all you needed to do was ask.”
My answer was interrupted by a cool voice from the opposite side of the parking lot.
“Cousin?” A vampire glided out of the shadows. The silvery color of his hair almost glowing under the moonlight as he fixed calm eyes on me. “That is an interesting tidbit of information that you neglected to mention to me.”
“Connor.” I wiped my hands on the legs of my jeans, wetting my lips nervously. “What are you doing here?”
My vampire brother’s expression was calm as he fixed his attention on Drake. “I’d wondered why I sensed his presence that night at your parent’s house.”
Connor’s features held a beauty that didn’t belong entirely to the mundane world. His skin pale with an ethereal glow that made it easy to believe he was a child of the moon and stars come down to see how us mere mortals lived.
Drake stiffened, looking up in stunned realization. “You were never really interested in me, were you? You asked me out so you could figure out the connection between me and Aileen.”
Connor’s smile allowed the tips of his fangs to peek out of his mouth. A sign of aggression among vampires. Or flirting.
With vampires, it was sometimes hard to tell the difference.
“Aileen showed an obvious reluctance to discuss the events behind that night. As a good brother who respects his sister’s privacy, I had to find other avenues through which to obtain that information.”
I stared at my brother. “That’s not how privacy works.”
Sometimes I really wished I could open up his head to peer inside.
Drake rubbed his jaw. “I’m hurt. I thought you were really interested in me.”
Connor’s chin lowered as he gave the other man a seductive look. “The two are not necessarily mutually exclusive.”
Tension crackled between the pair before Drake looked away. Acting casual, he ran a hand through his hair, almost preening as he smoothed the already immaculate locks into place. “Stop—you’re making me blush.”
I kept my face blank, determined not to show disapproval in any way. Repeat after me—
Connor’s romantic relationships are his business. Just because his last boyfriend betrayed him didn’t give me the right to comment or object.
So my brother preferred love with a side of danger—who didn’t?
Look at me—I was getting frisky on a regular basis with a vampire many referred to as Death due to the high body count he’d accrued over his thousand or so years of existence. A vampire I’d also once feared.
On second thought, Connor and I shared a type.
“You knew this whole time that Drake was there that night?” I asked, ignoring their flirting.
“Gunpowder and cedar.” Connor gave Drake a look that bordered on seductive. “It’s a very distinctive scent.”
Why did that sound almost admiring?
I shook myself before I could fall any further down that rabbit hole and sent Drake a frown. “So much for the charm hiding your scent.”
“To work, I’d have to be wearing it. If you remember, I was hunting humans that night. There was no need for such extreme measures. Especially since it’s a limited time use.”
Still, it seemed pretty careless to me. Particularly since Drake struck me as the cautious sort.
Everyone in the city knew who my sire was. Just as they knew who I’d call if I needed help. It stood to reason he’d want his identity to remain secret.
