Who the fuck had drugged him?
My gaze flew to the bartender, fixating on the way he grinned and winked at me.
He.
He had done this, and he was going to pay. I was going to rip his hair out, pull every single tooth out of his fucking mouth, was going to…
Finn sagged against me, his head hitting my chest with a dull thud, his scent surrounding me like a cloud. “’M really… real… tired,” he mumbled, his hands trying to find a hold in my shirt, but his movements were unfocused, his muscles lacking any strength.
I wrapped my arm around him carefully, holding him up, keeping him squished against my chest.
Holding him felt so right. His scent surrounding me was heaven on earth, but it wasn’t supposed to be like this.
I had wanted to protect him, and now he was high out of his mind because I hadn’t been careful enough. Because I had givenhim the drink, not ever considering the fucking bartender would drug him.
And why?
For fucking funsies?
Oh, he was so going to pay for this, no matter how old he was.
“Calm down, man,” Bennie said, suddenly appearing at my side, carefully placing a hand over the one I was still clutching the bar stool with. “Let’s get the two of you out of here before something happens.”
“He drugged him.” I nodded to the bartender, who was back to fulfilling drink orders like nothing had happened. “He needs to pay. Why the fuck would he do that?”
The metal of the backrest gave with a squeaking sound, and I suddenly found myself holding a dented metal bar in my hand. Perfect. I could use it to poke his fucking eyes out.
“Oh. Oh, shit. Eric, do you not know about the special?”
Did I not know about the… “What?”
“The special,” Bennie whispered. “You know, ‘the special,’ a couple ofspecialcustomers can order if they feel like having a snack but don’t want to deal with the hassle that comes with it?”
I froze.
I had ordered the special, hadn’t I? The bartender had even been doing some ridiculous gestures and expressions to sell it to me.
He had drugged Finn atmycommand.
I swallowed, the rage inside me dying down with the horrible realization that I was the monster here.
“I didn’t know,” I mumbled, looking down at Finn, whose head was lolling against my chest, his eyes heavily lidded, his constant smirk gone as his mouth was lax, hanging open a little.
“That much is obvious,” Bennie said. “So, here’s what we’re going to do. First, you will let go of that metal pole in your left hand, and you willnotstab Aries in the gut using part of hisclub’s interior. Got it? This is a good place for all of us—you too—so you will not do anything to get us banned. Capisce?”
He waited for me to nod, which I did, albeit reluctantly.
“I didn’t want to stab him in the gut, okay?” I sounded a bit petulant, even to my own ears.
Bennie raised an eyebrow, and I sighed. “I wanted to gouge his eyes out,” I admitted before placing the metal bar on the bar top.
“I wouldn’t try that if I were you,” the bar owner—Aries, apparently—said from the other side of the bar. “Sorry, youngling, but you’re no match for me. I’ve been manning bars for three hundred years. Trust me, I know how to handle rambunctious crowds of every species. A single vampire youngling is no match for me.”
Baring my teeth at him, I felt a fresh wave of anger hit me. What business did he have running around and covertly offering to fucking drug people?
“Ah-ah-ah,” he said, shaking his head condescendingly, his eyes flashing a deep, dark red before turning back to pale blue. “Listen to your friend, youngling. You will not cause a scene lest I ban you and your sire from all my clubs for the next fifty years.”
“And I will fucking beat your ass if you get us banned,” Bennie added, his voice laced with steel. He rarely used that tone with me, hadn’t had to in months. My control was good; he didn’t need to use his bond with me to compel me into obeying.
