“If you mean they want to assess your aptitude for leading by my side, then yes. However, you have nothing to fear, Masie. They will see, just as I have, that there is little in this world you will not face head-on. You are a born leader.”
I was just a girl who lived a simple life in a manner she felt proud of. Or, at least, tried to. I believed in loving my neighbor, helping the community, and being there for family and friends, even if I didn’t see eye-to-eye with them on everything. I also loved making Mamma proud, though I still couldn’t stop with the swearing, and I’d also had premarital sex with Stark. But the fact that I felt bad about it only proved I was a good person.
“I don’t want to be a leader,” I said. “I just wantto be a good daughter, sister, friend, and someday, wife.” His wife. I loved the man, and as fate would have it, my wagon was hitched to his. Not in a dirty way, though.Never gonna happen.“All I want is to love those who deserve my love.”
“And that is why I love you, Masie Kicklighter. You want all the right things, for all the right reasons.” He raised his glass to me and polished off the contents.
I took another sip of my champagne, the bubbles tickling my throat and the tartness sticking to my tongue.
Strange.According to Stark, vampires could get drunk but couldn’t exactly taste alcohol. Not like a human.
I was about to comment on it, but then I caught sight of a man coming from the kitchen. He wore a black dress shirt and had long greasy hair.
Wait. I recognize him.
The man exited out the front of the restaurant.
“I know him,” I said.
“Him who?” Stark turned his head, following my gaze.
“That man in the black shirt. He just went outside.” I pointed.
“Staff member. You probably saw him earlier while we were out walking.”
“No.” My eyes lit up as my brain spit out the answer. “He’s one of those mean vampire bikers whocame to the Rooster.”
Back when I was human, the guy and his two buddies came into our establishment, looking for Stark and acting like they wanted to start something. By some miracle, I ran them out, but then I learned they were wanderers—a kind of nomadic vampire who went from place to place, searching for snacks. I’d asked Stark (whom I’d been trying to steer clear of at the time) to run them out of town before they killed someone, and he’d agreed.
For a price.
I’d have to spend the night with him.
After I’d made it clear that sex was off the table, we had a deal, but before Stark could get rid of the vampire bikers, things went south. And not in a “may I offer you some sweet tea” kind of way. The three vampires attacked my uncle Jimmie, nearly ripping out his throat. If Stark hadn’t given Jimmie his blood, he would’ve died.
To this day, the thought of holding Jimmie in my blood-covered arms, wondering if he would heal, turn, or die, still sent shivers up my spine. But luckily, Jimmie came back human since his heart had still been beating strong when he’d ingested Stark’s blood. It was when the heart was weak and on its last few beats that you had to worry about becoming a vampire. That was what had happened to me. Stark got to me too late. In any case, he’d promised to take care of Jimmie’s three attackers, so why was one of them here on the island?
I could handle Stark’s little lies and sneakyvampire habits, because it would take time for him to learn another way. But this? He knew family was everything to me, and no one got a free pass when it came to hurting the people I loved.
No one.
The anger formed a fiery ball inside my chest and climbed up my throat, launching from my mouth. “You said you made dirt out of those men,” I hissed.
Stark’s mouth slammed shut, his lips forming a straight line.
I slapped my hand on the table, wishing it were Stark’s nut sack. “Why’d you lie?”
With his jaw muscles flexing, Stark slowly met my furious gaze. I knew his friends could hear us because they were watching and smirking—something he likely didn’t appreciate.
Well, suck it up, buttercup.
“Because, Masie, you do not yet understand our rules, and I knew you would not be pleased to learn I had let him live.”
Oh, hell no.Maybe Stark could use the “you just don’t get us” card when I was a human, but he’d had ample opportunities to come clean.
Suddenly, the seeds of doubt I’d been suppressing sprouted into a big, glorious field of basketball-sized doubt-nuggets. Those nuggets blossomed into a hot mess of pissed off.
“He and his friends almost killed my uncle Jimmie.” I stood, refraining fromyelling, but not by much.
