“Milo, you owe me fifty bucks,” Luis crowed, clapping his hands together with delight. “She jumped out of the window and onto the pergola!”
Milo, who was somehow more upset than Felix at the breach in their security, scowled at his jubilant older brother. He then leveled that look at Dahlia. If he thought it would intimidate her, he was sadly mistaken. That look had made hardened soldiers shrink in their boots, but Dahlia was made of stronger stuff.
She glared back at him, arms crossing in front of her chest, and tapped her foot.
Cutting right to the heart of Felix’s second in command with deadly precision, she sniffed, “Your security could use some work. The window wasn’t even locked.”
Luis found that hilarious, but the man in charge of said security markedly less so. Milo sucked in a deep, calming breath. In his usual tightly controlled voice, he said, “I’m glad you made it home safely.”
Still not looking at Felix, she scoffed. “Barely. Your brother drives like a maniac. Do they not have speed restrictions on the grid here?”
Luis rolled his eyes. Like they were best buddies all of a sudden, he wagged a finger in Dahlia’s face and explained, “Vampires built this city, sugar. No way any of us were going to let some m-grid tell our cars how fast they should go.”
“Then what is the point of having one in the first place?”
“Well, everyone else?—”
Felix’s voice cut through the air in one clean, vicious stroke. “All of you —out.”
There was no argument, though Luis did give Dahlia a sympathetic pat on the shoulder before sauntering away. From over her shoulder, he raised his eyebrows at Felix and wentbzzt bzztwhile miming pressing a button with his thumb.When Felix scowled, he shrugged and walked out of the foyer.
After gesturing sharply for the men to follow him, Milo went in another direction. It would be his job to see everyone who’d fucked up punished appropriately and retrained.
That left Felix and Dahlia alone.
She eyed him warily, clearly bracing herself for his wrath. “Look, Felix, I know you’re?—”
He didn’t let her finish. In two long strides he had her face between his hands and their lips crushed together in a hungry, devouring kiss. The tension that had seized his muscles the moment he discovered she was missing finally dissipated, leaving all of his nerve endings buzzing with a sudden influx of energy.
He kissed her again and again and again, until his lips were sore and the urgency gradually bled out of him. “Awindow?”he growled, tangling his claws into her hair. “You could’ve broken your fucking neck.”
“Honestly, getting over the dock’s gate was more dangerous,” she muttered.
“Do you have any idea what could’ve happened to you out there? Alastair could’ve snatched you out of that train station as easily as we did.” His heart squeezed at just the thought. Getting Dahlia back would’ve been much harder than keeping her under his roof. A siege on the Bowan house reallywouldstart a war.
He’d do it, though. In a heartbeat.
“Yeah, well, your annoying cousin got there first.”
“Most people find him charming.”
Dahlia pinched his side. “When have I ever beenmost people?”
“You’re right. Most people wouldn’t have jumped out of a third story window.” Pulling back to really look at her face, he snapped, “What the fuck, Dahlia?”
“You tell me I’m a prisoner and I’mgoingto try to escape, Felix. What is so hard to understand about that?”
Speaking through gritted teeth, he demanded, “Tell me you didn’t hurt yourself.”
She made a face. “Jumping from the window or over the gate?”
“Dahlia.”
“I’m fine,” she sighed. “A little bruised. Some scrapes here and there. Definitely tired and hungry. Butfine.”
His pulse jumped at the mention of her hunger. Even pissed at her, the instinct to provide for her melded with the erotic pleasure of her bite to make him crave it.
Clasping the back of her neck, he steered her around and up the stairs. He marched them through the labyrinthine hallways until they reached their wing. “You need to drink more than other vampires,” he grated. “You need more care now, Dahlia. And to run so close to sunrise— Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”
