“She’s been drugged, Jules.” The blue-haired woman half-guided me, half-dragged me towards a room.
Jules’s voice carried panic I’d never heard from her before. “There’s no way. Nobody woulddaredo something that stupid. Certainly not while he’s actuallyhere, in the building.”
“Well, for someone who claims to be omniscient within his domain, I think he could benefit from a little humility.” The other woman’s voice dripped sarcasm.
“Don’t you fucking start, Celine.” Jules hissed, and I couldn’t stop the laughter that bubbled out of me. It had been a long time since I heard Jules swear.
You sound just like when I failed to transition from a sneaky-v to a cradle spin.
“What did she just say?” The woman named Celine asked.
Jules said, “She’s delirious. Poor girl. On her first night, no less.”
“It’s one hell of a welcome,” Celine said as she lowered me onto a reclining chair, the soft and supple leather cool against my burning skin. “Does she have someone here with her? She keeps whispering a name.”
Celine is a pretty name too, I wanted to say, but I couldn’t form the words with my mouth. My eyelids were too heavy to keep open. Myhearing suddenly felt muffled, like I was underwater, but I caught the sound of Jules rustling through something.
“Yeah, her friend or boyfriend is at the bar. Here, let me apply a cool compress. She’s burning up.”
There was a blessedly cold pressure on my forehead, and I reached up to caress Jules’s arm.Oh my god, that feels so,sogood. Don’t stop.
“Well,thatis interesting,” Celine said. “You don’t suppose somebody slipped her. . . you know?” Her voice trailed off, but her tone held a terrible implication.
“No, don’t be ridiculous. Nobody would—"
“Yeah,” Celine interrupted, “You said that already. ‘Nobody would dare.’ But Jules, just look at her.” She gestured to me before she continued. “The kid’s exhibiting all the early symptoms. Disoriented, uncoordinated, flushed, feverish, elevated heart rate, heightened physical sensitivity.”
There was silence before Jules said, “Maybe she was just roofied?”
A hand ran down my arm, causing me to shudder, moan, and hiss. It felt like ice against my molten flesh, like a million kisses tickling across my skin.No. Stop, I thought even as I leaned into the touch.Rowan. Please come, Rowan.
I wanted onlyhimto touch me right then. Ineededhis hands on me. I wanted choice in whatever was happening to me, and it was him.
“Convinced?” Celine asked.
As I curled into myself—trying in vain to contain the inferno that raged within me—Jules’s voice sounded distant. “What should we do?”
Celine laughed. “Well,Iam certainly not fucking her. She’s not my type. So. . .”
“Right.” There was a long pause before I heard Jules’s voice. “I’d better go get Rowan.”
Chapter 20
Rowan
Iknew something was wrong when Violet did not immediately come to me after her final set.
Thekompotsat in my glass, crimson liquid reduced to little more than dregs and dissolved fruit at the bottom. My fingers drummed against the bartop in a restless rhythm that betrayed my impatience. Even Andy seemed to notice, his dark eyes flicking towards me with something approaching concern as he polished glasses that already gleamed.
“I’m sure she'll be along any minute,” he said, his usually melodic voice careful. Measured. As if he sensed the predator coiling tighter in my chest with each passing second.
His commentary did nothing to ease the anxiety gathering like storm clouds in my thoughts. I twirled the glass on its base, the motion sharp and precise, then downed the remainder of my drink. The sweetness coated my tongue—strawberry, blackberry, sugar syrup cut with vodka—but I tasted none of it.
I’d already restrained myself earlier in the night when the piece of shit vampyre had forced his hand on Violet. Before I could even take a single step, she’d already handled the situation—like the spitfire I knew her to be. It made my cock hard seeing her shoot down another man.
But this was different.
“If she is not here by the time I finish this drink, I may pay a visit to the proprietor myself. . .” The words hung between us, a promise and a threat. Andy paused mid-polish, his hands going still.
