“No, I’m not… I mean… I don’t want…” I wrapped my arms around my waist, staring down at the ground. “I don’t want to see anyone else. Only you.”
“Yeah?”
I lifted my head at the hopefulness in his voice and smiled. “Yeah.”
Tate’s smile was blinding, as if I’d just told him he’d won the lottery. “Well, I’m here with Kyren. Do you want to join us?”
My hand slipped into his without bothering to answer, letting him lead me through the tables to a booth near the back whereKyren waited. The dark-haired vampire had a glass of red liquid in front of him, and one whiff told me it was blood. Likely from one of the donor businesses that supplied a lot of vampires in the area.
When I approached his gaze lifted, that intense stare seeing straight through me, making me feel more naked than I felt in this tiny dress.
“Hey, look who I found.” Tate let me slide into the curved booth first, putting me between both of them. “Cletus was hassling our girl, but I took care of it.”
There was some underlying meaning in his words as he exchanged a look with Kyren. Before I had a chance to ask about it, Tate turned to me.
“Want something to eat? It’s a bar, so everything is fried, but the food is still really good. And maybe…” he trailed off. “You should stick with water? Wouldn’t want you to collapse on us like before.” He offered me a grin and a wink.
I shrugged. “Probably a good idea.”
Tate waved down the waiter and placed an order for us before turning back to me. The whole time, Kyren bore a hole through my face with his gaze.
“So…” Tate began, tapping his thumb on the table. “Want to tell me the real reason you came here?”
My mouth fell open. “Pfft, I… you… I told you. I was meeting someone.”
“Who?” Kyren asked.
My brows furrowed at his threatening tone. “None of your business.”
“What he means to say,” Tate reached out to touch my hand, “is we’re concerned about you coming here alone, even if it was to meet someone.”
My eyes bounced between the two of them. “But it’s a school bar.”
“There are still some unsavory characters who frequent it, looking specifically for students of the academy.” Tate’s gaze slid over the crowd, his brows pinched. “It would kill me if something happened to you.”
“Oh.” I sank back against the booth. “I didn’t think of it that way.”
We were quiet for a moment as the waiter placed our order down on the table.
“Did you order the whole menu?” I laughed, watching as they laid out about a dozen different fried dishes before us.
Tate grinned, popping a fry into his mouth. “What? I’m a growing boy, and I didn’t know what you liked. This way, I can find out.”
I shook my head and smiled. “You could have just asked.”
Leaning toward me, Tate booped me on the nose. “Where’s the fun in that? Anyway…” He crunched on what looked like fried mushrooms. “If you weren’t meeting someone for a date,” Kyren made a sort of low growl that made Tate frown, “then who were you meeting?”
Shit.
Tate wasn’t going to let this go. I hadn’t prepared a cover beyond meeting a friend. Of course, I hadn’t expected to see Tate or Kyren here either. Tate knew I didn’t know anyone in the area, and Alora wasn’t even in the country right now, so I couldn’t use her as an excuse.
I blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “I was meeting someone about a... donor arrangement.”
Tate and Kyren stiffened next to me. The tension in the booth rose tenfold.
“What was that now?” Tate’s voice dropped low, predatory.
I fiddled with a fry in the basket, not meeting their eyes. “I was meeting someone to bite me.”
