Interesting.“I’m Maddi,” I said conversationally. I had hit fun drunk stage.
Rayge grunted.
“Okay, cool. Well, nice talk,” I added.
Another grunt, but there was also a half smile, and I took that to mean I was growing on the prickly supe. Another hour passed in silence, and at this stage I was definitely in love with this alcohol. It was different to fey wine. Not as potent, but when it set in, it stayed, and I was happily drunk and spilling my guts to Rayge, who watched me with interest.
“So you’re saying he’s been ignoring you for weeks after you thought he was dead and mourned his ass?”
I nodded, sloshing some alcohol over my glass. “Right? And then he just starts up at the dance like nothing happened between us.” I slammed another shot and handed the glass to Rayge so he could do the same. We were on our second bottle, sharing it back and forth.
“Did you kill him?” he asked in that low, rumbly voice.
I shook my head right as someone slammed into my back, jostling me forward. The bar was packed now, every chair and spare space taken up. I was about to swing around and shout at the fuck who hit me, when Rayge stood, a low rumbling rocking his chest.
I gulped as my eyes traced up his long body. He was so much taller than I’d thought from sitting next to him, built like a linebacker, with thickly roped muscles visible under his tight black shirt.
He growled again, and there was that smoky fire scent filling the air. “Apologize!” Rayge said, his eyes locked on whoever was behind me.
I turned slowly to find a tall, dark-haired vampire who kinda looked like he was shitting himself. “Uh, s-sorry, Rayge,” he stuttered. “It was an accident.”
“Not to me … apologize to Maddi.”
The vampire turned his terrified gaze on me. “Really sorry. Let me buy you a drink to make it up to you.”
Despite his nerves and fear, he was still a dude, and his eyes still ran across my tight white shirt. I swung back around,accidentallyclipping him with my elbow. “No thanks. Just fuck off.”
There was a moment of silence, and then his icy energy left. Rayge folded his huge body back into the chair and we shared the bottle for a few more minutes. “You’re kinda scary,” I told him, not really scared at all but knowing that I should be. Instinct was enough for me to understand there was something about Rayge, somethingotherthat I should concern myself with, but in reality, I enjoyed his company enough to overlook it.
He gave me his infamous grunt, but he was smiling, and I relaxed into the next shot. After some time, the music changed, and a section of the floor was cleared for dancing. There was a heady feeling in the air, all the alcohol and supe hormones turning the room into one hot mess of desire and sensuality.
I loved to dance. I always had, and with over a bottle of alcohol flooding through my veins, I was ready to work off the rest of the tension inside of me. Asher was still on my mind, no amount of alcohol could drown him out, and I needed to not think about him. Not fucking crave him.
“Wanna dance?” I asked, shooting to my feet.
Rayge just lifted one eyebrow in my direction before shaking his head. “Keep my seat for me,” I said as I took a step back.
Weirdly, he met my gaze full-on for what I thought was the first time. His eyes were an intense, blazing green. “No one takes the seats next to me, Maddi,” he said softly. That was when I noticed the one on the other side of him—despite the absolutely packed bar—remained empty. I’d made a huge fuckup by sitting right at his side, but he hadn’t seemed to mind.
I looked at my seat. “Uh, sorry,” I said with a shrug. “I’m new in town, I didn’t know the etiquette.”
Those green eyes regarded me, and a darkness slithered across them. Not a darkness that I needed to fear, but one that was part of this shifter’s aura … his soul. “You’re always welcome to get shitfaced with me, Atlantean.”
One last look, and he turned back to his drink.
38
Pushing my way out onto the dance floor, I relished the heavy feeling in my limbs and numbness of my brain. This was what I had been searching for all night, and finally, finally, whatever swill I was drinking had given it to me.
The music was unfamiliar, and most of it not in English, but it didn’t matter. It had a danceable beat, and that was all I needed. Closing my eyes, I swayed my hips, hands sliding down my shirt and across my jeans as I lost myself. The soft touch reminded me of Asher running his hands across me … his face buried between my legs, and I was … fuck. I was horny.
Bad news in a room filled with shifters and vamps. They could smell arousal, and I really didn’t need to deal with that. A hand landed on my ass, followed by another on my stomach, pushing the shirt up. My eyes flew open, my power knocking him to the ground before I could even catch sight of who had touched me. Supes scattered, and I looked around the dark room. A vampire on the ground bared his fangs at me.
“Don’t touch me again,” I told him, voice low, but he heard me.
He was up in a heartbeat, reaching for me, only this time in anger. My power slapped him down again with no visible movement from me. I didn’t say a word. Or twitch a finger. Or even fucking blink an eye. It used to scare me when my power acted independently of me like this, but tonight … I loved it.
The vampire tried to scramble away, but I held on to him with my energy, letting it wind around him, pressing him harder to the dirty floor. His face was drawn, eyes wide, and I was just wondering if I really wanted to hurt him when a large shadow caught my attention.
