I was sure Vegas had seen worse. Hell, I’d done worse on my last trip here as a human.
“And whose fault is that?” I asked.
“No one twisted your arm to go out for drinks. That was all you.”
“I like how I’m getting the blame when it was Nathan and Anton’s idea to visit the Playground in the first place.”
Thomas pretended not to hear. “Since that boat has already left the dock, so to speak, you can just keep playing the obedient yearling.”
“I notice you’re not adding Connor to this.”
Thomas smoothed nonexistent wrinkles from the expensive fabric of his pants. “My son has a bit of a reputation. No one will think twice about his absence.”
I narrowed my eyes at Thomas, getting the sense that he was hiding something from me. Always before, Connor and I were something of a package deal. If I attended an event as Thomas’s yearling, he came too. He was overprotective in that way. Though a part of me wondered if this wasn’t Thomas and Connor’s way of using me as a bridge between them, allowing them to interact without either having to take a step back from the positions they’d taken.
“No need to worry, my dear. The most you’ll have to do is show your face a few times. It’ll be easy,” Ahrun assured me.
Nothing was ever that easy when it came to vampires. Particularly not those at the highest echelons of our society.
“One other thing, my darling.” Ahrun waited until I looked at him. “Do you know where your father is?”
My lips parted, words escaping me.
“In Columbus,” I somehow managed, clamping down on my emotions. “At this time of night, he and my mom are probably preparing dinner.”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
What did they know?
Liam’s emotionless façade cracked, the look in his eyes suddenly penetrating as if he sensed my turmoil.
“Don’t play stupid,” Ahrun warned. “What would I care about your mortal family? I meant the man whose seed from which yousprung. What do they call it in this era? Oh yes, your biological father.”
Oh, thank God. Brin. He was talking about Brin.
My lungs started working again. Dad was safe. They didn’t know.
Yet,an unhelpful part of me whispered.
Liam had realized something though.
“Why the sudden interest in Brin’s whereabouts? This wouldn’t have anything to do with what you told me earlier, would it?” I asked, speaking to Liam.
“You already discussed this with her?” Thomas asked, giving him a sidelong look. “How strange you’d brief my youngest before me.”
The charged feeling in the air made me extremely conscious of the fact that I was in a room full of apex predators. Each deadlier than the last.
Liam flicked Thomas an unamused look.
I sank further into the couch, uncomfortable with the knowledge that I was the reason behind their fight.
When I looked at Ahrun, it was to find him staring at me, one eyebrow quirked.
This is what comes of insisting on remaining on the outside looking in. If you were to fully embrace your status as Thomas’s yearling and a member of his clan, Liam’s loyalty to the both of you would not be so strained. Things will only get worse the longer you waffle.
My eyes narrowed, the conversation sounding suspiciously like one we’d had before.
They should call you Lucifer, I thought at Ahrun.
