The brat sucked her lips between her teeth instead.
Gods, that stubborn shit made him hard. He loved it when she looked at him like that — scared but scrappy. Determined to be a pain in his ass at every turn. He’d seen it in her that night in The Lush. Just a spark. Just one look.
That was all it took for him to know she was perfect.
But this was serious business. They only had a handful of minutes before Bowan men came down on their heads like a hurricane, and he wasn’t eager to start another war just as he finished one.
Well, hewas,but not with Dahlia around. She needed to be safely tucked away in the Amauri house before he started shooting.
“Dahlia, I’m already mad at you. You really want to make things worse? Open.”
He half expected her to keep fighting him, but she didn’t. She let out a shaky sigh and closed her eyes. Reluctantly pulling herlips out from between her teeth, she flashed just a hint of fang before attempting to hide them away again.
Felix’s pulse jumped as he pressed his thumbs into her upper lip, forcing her to reveal the full length of her dainty little fangs. They were pearly white and smaller than he was used to, but fit her perfectly.
A rush of blood made him light-headed as he stared at them. He hadn’t had time to secondguess the news that his girl had been turned. They’d taken an m-gate — a magical tear in space-time — to get to her before anyone else could. There hadn’t been a moment to really think about any of it.
Of course he smelled the change in her scent and he saw the synth on her counter, but until that moment, it hadn’t really sunk in that it wasreal.
Dahlia was a vampire.
Dahlia washis.
An elation unlike anything he’d ever felt popped in his chest like Charter Day fireworks. He’d been so focused on making sure she was okay and that he got to her first that he hadn’t allowed himself to truly consider the fact that he’d been given everything he’d ever wanted.
The war was over. The family belonged to him. Dahlia McKnight would be his until the day they died.
And after, too, if he had anything to say about it.
Easing her full lip down over those beautiful new fangs, he breathed, “This is the best night of my fucking life.”
Dahlia’s eyes popped open. Rearing her head back, she looked at him like he’d pissed in her synth.
“What are youtalkingabout?” Before he could explain, she started slapping at his chest and arms. “Why are you here? How did you even— What is goingon?How does everyone know that I’m— I’m— And you killed Devon! In my apartment! Felix, what the fuck?—”
His girl wasn’t a crier. She was a stiff upper lip, lick her wounds in private sort of woman. So it really alarmed him when she stopped slapping him and started crying the big gulping and shaking kind of tears.
“Wh— what is goingon?”she repeated, batting at him weakly. “Go away, go away, go away!”
Very aware of his men standing guard nearby, Felix reached back to close the bathroom door. No one needed to see Dahlia like this. She’d be mortified if she knew they were there, and selfishly, he wanted to keep every bit of her vulnerability to himself.
Hoisting her up onto the edge of the sink, Felix stepped between her legs and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. He rested his chin on top of her head and let out a pleased sigh when her breath puffed over his exposed throat. It wasn’t the time to be turned on, but he couldn’t exactly blame his cock for being excited. It’d waited three long years, after all.
She was nearly enveloped by his coat, which was a necessity in San Francisco’s bullshit excuse for a summer. She didn’t exactly relax, but she didn’t push him away, either.
“Shh,” he soothed, petting her silky blonde hair covetously. She was so damn pretty. Dolled up or bare-faced. Dressed in her favorite outfit or wearing her pajamas. Grinning or ugly crying. It didn’t matter.
Dahlia McKnight was amcknockout.
Her voice was adorably watery when she demanded, “What are you doing here, Felix?”
He glanced at their reflection in the mirror and smiled. They looked damn good together. “I’m rescuing you, of course.”
“How did you even know?—”
Just like that, his smile turned into a scowl. “That you’d been turned? Not because you told me, that’s for sure.”
Dahlia pushed his chest until he reluctantly dropped his arms. Clutching fistfuls of her hair, she stared at the floor in wide-eyed disbelief as she croaked, “How does everyoneknowthat? I just found out today and— and Cece is the only person who knows. She wouldn’t tell anyone. So how did Devon and you find out?”
