“As you wish,” I murmured in a low voice that managed to cover the anger heating my blood.
From behind Thomas’s back, Connor leveled a look on me that had the words “see” written all over it.
Yes, brother dearest, I very much did see.
“I hope your visit meets with your expectations,” the djinn said, watching us with an enigmatic gaze that felt vaguely threatening.
Or maybe that was just my paranoia talking.
Thomas offered a partial smile. “I’m sure it will. I’d accept nothing less.”
The djinn inclined his head. “May fortune favor you.”
“You as well, Saul.”
Interesting name. Saul. Not what I’d expected from a djinn. Then again, most beings as old as the one in front of me underwent several identity changes throughout their long lives.
To my relief, the djinn seemed to have lost interest in me, not sparing me another glance before he vanished like a mirage in the desert. One moment he was there, a tangible presence to my senses. The next he was gone in a masterful stroke well suited to the big budget magic shows featured in Vegas.
“That’s one way to make an exit,” Anton observed, coming up to us.
Car doors slammed as Saul’s bodyguards climbed inside. A minute later, the majority of the SUVs drove away, leaving only a handful behind.
A man pushed away from the hood of one, a roguish smile on his face as he sauntered toward us. “As I live and breathe, our resident troublemaker has once again found her way into a sticky situation.”
“Nathan!” I said, my heart lifting with gladness at the unexpected sight of my friend. “What are you doing here?”
“What am I doing here? The better question is what are you doing here? Does Liam know?”
That had me clamming up.
A loud guffaw came from Nathan as he read the answer on my face. “Oh, this is priceless. You’re not supposed to be here.”
He looked at Thomas in question.
“She insisted,” Thomas said, eyeing me askance.
“I’m sure she did,” Nathan drawled with a lift of his eyebrow as he focused on me. “What are you doing here, bestie?”
His voice was soft and dangerous, reminding me that this wasn’t a vampire to take lightly. Nathan may have been my friend, but he was also Liam’s second for a reason. No matter how flirtatious and affable he seemed, he was a stone-cold killer at the end of the day. Just as unhinged—maybe even more so—as all the rest of them.
Nathan’s gaze locked on something behind me as Caroline and the rest of the wolves chose that moment to deplane.
“Girl’s trip,” I blurted in an effort to distract him.
It was the same excuse I’d given Thomas. Hopefully, it worked better on Nathan.
“A girl’s trip,” he repeated evenly.
I nodded, not trusting my voice since I got the sense that lying to Nathan right now would be a mistake.
“Without Dahlia or your sister?” he asked in that deceptively soft voice that warned me to tread carefully.
“Dahlia rarely leaves her bar, and Jenna had to attend a last minute business trip.”
Even to my ears my excuses sounded lame, but I was already committed. I couldn’t backtrack now.
It almost made me wish I’d stuck to the truth from the beginning.
