Aidan smiled that oily smile of his. “Oh, she does. Now come this way.” He gestured toward the living room. “Afteryou.”
“You go on ahead, Aidan,” Liam said. It was the first time I’d heard him address the old man by his first name. “We’llfollowyou.”
The hunter’s lips curled higher. “I’ve no rifle on me,Kolane.”
“Unless you want me to snap your dogs’ necks, you’ll walk in front of us,” Liamsaid.
Aidan tapped the flank of the bigger of the two Bloodhounds affectionately. “These two boys could be yourcousins.”
“We aren’t related to dogs,” Liam grittedout.
Liam’s rising anger was fueling Aidan Michaels’s pervertedglee.
The old man yanked on the leashes and then turned, leading the way into the living room. Liam turned toward me as though about to say something. His eyes glowed amber with bloodlust, the color intensifying when he caught August’s hands onme.
I’d been so absorbed by the sight of Aidan that I’d forgotten August was even holding on to me. I eased out of his grip. No one spoke, making the already uncomfortable moment all the moreawkward.
“I can’t believe the bastards are out running,” Matt finallysaid.
“It’s nothing more than a negotiating technique,” Liam muttered. His eyes were slowly shifting back to their normal human hue. Only the rings around his irises remained lit likeflames.
I crossed my arms, rubbing my pebbled skin. They’d turned the AC units to their fullpower.
“Is turning this place into an icebox also a negotiating technique?” Iasked.
“Anything that creates discomfort is a technique.” He unbuttoned his jacket, as though to offer it tome.
Before he could, I walked off, heels clicking on the hardwood floors. “We’ll wait for them on the terracethen.”
Matt caught up to me, matching my brusque pace. “Don’t separate yourself from the group,Ness.”
A new chill swept up my spine at his warning, and then another locked my knees when I stepped into the two-storied living room. Standing right beside the entrance was Lucy, flaming hair coiffed in neat waves, pert smile slicked with red lipstick. She was dressed in a black shift that accentuated all of her curves and the milky paleness of her freckled skin. She proffered a silver platter topped with shotglasses.
“Welcome,” she said, the ashen stink of her breath grating me almost as much as herpresence.
“Mrs. Clark,” Mattsaid.
“Oh. Just Lucy now. Haven’t you heard? As of this afternoon, I am no longer a Clark. The dirt over my son’s grave has barely settled, and already, I’m cast out of the family I gave twenty years of my life to.” She turned the full power of her icy smile on me. “The Clarks are a ficklebunch.”
“Why are you serving at this party, Lucy?” Liam’s question shifted my aunt’s attention onhim.
“Aidan Michaels has just made me director of theinn.”
“You accepted a job from your son’s killer?” Lucas said. “That’ssick.”
Aidan, who’d stepped onto the terrace, came back inside, dog-free. Had he set them loose or tied them to thebalustrade?
“Now now, Lucas,Ididn’t kill Everest. But you know that since the killer’s in your custody, is henot?”
Aidan Michaels’s knowledge of us was trulychilling.
“Just because you didn’t get your hands dirty, old man, doesn’t mean they aren’t filthy as fuck,” Lucas shotback.
“It’s a real shame you were raised by a pack of wolves, Lucas. An education would’ve done your speechwonders.”
Lucas reeled his arm back, but Cole caught it before Lucas could let his fist fly into Aidan’sjaw.
“Jumpy tonight, aren’t we?” Aidan nodded to the platter before lifting one of the diminutive glasses. “Why don’t you try our welcome drink? It’s lovely. Lucy made it herself with rose water distilled from her prizedroses.”
