“Kyren, right?” The woman was a vampire, blonde with a layer of black underneath. She looked me over with such a keen interest, it told me she wanted me for more than just a quick chat.
“I’m busy,” my tone dry, leaving no room for argument.
I tried to move past the female without causing a scene. Humans were notoriously nosy, and any chance to record drama on their phones to share on their socials was quickly found and posted.
The vampire didn’t get the message and stepped into my path once more. “Gavin told me he talked to you?” She lowered her voice, her eyes sliding from side to side. “About joining our movement?”
I resisted the urge to hiss and physically remove her from my path, eager to see Jack and Tate rather than deal with ridiculously naïve baby vampires. Instead, I let my size towerover her, my voice going cool. “I will tell you as I told thatpendejo,I am not interested.”
Unfortunately, this one was not so easily dissuaded. Even as I brushed past, her voice chased after me.
“Don’t you want to kill that Durand bitch for what she did to your sire?”
I froze.
Several humans glanced our way with growing curiosity before returning to their shopping.
Damn it. I just knew we were going to end up on the internet if I didn’t get this woman away from me and fast.
Apparently, my pause gave the woman an open invitation to harass me further. Her hand touched my shoulder, trailing around my back before stopping in front of me once more, a smug smile tinging her lips.
“See? I told them you would act all high and mighty above revenge, but you’re just like the rest of us.” She leaned in slightly, so sure of herself. “In fact, we can guarantee you will be the first to taste her blood before we make an example of her to the other Durands.”
Suppressed rage pushed under my skin. It took everything in me to keep my shadows in check and not rip the woman apart right then and there on the sidewalk.
“Was your group one of the ones who attacked her recently?” I asked more to distract myself than any care about the actual answer. The woman would die tonight regardless, simply for insultingla mia.How much she would suffer depended on how much longer she planned to keep touching my person and how she answered my question.
Her brows furrowed, lips turned down. “No, that wasn’t us.” Then she huffed a laugh. “But thankfully they weren’t up to snuff for the little human bitch, or they’d have gone and ruined all our plans.”
Twice now. Twice she had insulted Jack.
Movement over her shoulder caught my attention, and I saw the familiar bundle of black braids with gold hoops laced through them on top of Tate’s head as he moved through the crowd leaving the store. I dropped my attention back to the woman in front of me.
“What’s your name?”
Fluttering her eyelashes, she pressed herself against my front as she purred, “Marianne.”
I took hold of one of the hands around my neck and tried my best to sound interested and not bloodthirsty. “Well, Marianne, let’s find somewhere a bit more private to discuss these plans of yours.”
Marianne must have taken the low growl in my voice as attraction and not the barely restrained violence that it was, because she giggled and let me lead her off the busy sidewalk and into the shadows of the nearby shops.
I bypassed the entrance of a quaint-looking cafe that would have been perfect for a meeting of the minds, except I had no such plans with Marianne. When she realized I was leading her into a small, dirty alley between the two buildings, she dug her heels into the ground beneath her.
If I were a younger vampire, she might have been able to overpower me, but I could smell the stink of youth on her, the bright light in her eyes that spoke of someone who had not been in this world for long.
When she realized she couldn’t physically force me to release her, she opened her mouth. “Let go. Or I’ll scream.”
I snorted.
“I mean it, human cops might not be able to hurt you, but it will cause a scene, and you know how the council feels about us drawing attention to ourselves.” She kept her voice low even as she threatened to out me.
Pausing, I let my shadows gather behind me at the entrance of the alley as I turned to face her. “And what would the council say when they hear about a group of younglings targeting the child of their leader?”
Her eyes widened. Her pulse raced underneath my fingers, telling me she’d fed recently. Marianne seemed to contemplate her options. Come with me into the alley where she didn’t know if I was going to hurt her or simply talk to her. Or make a scene and risk exposure to the vampire council.
I knew the moment she’d made her decision. Her mouth opened, and she sucked in a breath to scream.
I didn’t give her the chance. My shadows shoved down her throat as I pulled her the rest of the way into the alley with me.
