Still, before she could set her heart on Zack, Roger took her hand again and folded her arm into his. “It’s been decades. We should take a moment for ourselves.”
“We do have lots to catch up on. I assume Takashi is able to watch over your pets?” Candide said.
“Naturally,” Roger replied.
Candide held out her whip. Without looking over her shoulder, she said, “Darling.”
A young black woman who wore a black leather collar with Candide’s tag stepped forward from beside the archway and took the whip from her.
“I may be a while. Please see to my toy.” Candide raised her voice. “My glorious audience is allowed to lick him clean. If you refuse to take turns and share, my darling has permission to use the whip on you and have security toss you in my dungeon, from which you will face judgment from Seamus.” She brought hervoice back down, oozing with charm and warmth. “You will do that for me, won’t you, darling?”
“Yes, mistress,” the woman replied.
Candide kissed her cheek and then led Roger out of the room. “Come along, mon cher. Allow me to show you my favorite place upstairs.”
“I’ll see you soon,” Roger said to Takashi, but he made quick eye contact with Zack on his way. There was an edge in Zack’s gray eyes, a wariness. But he couldn’t pull free of Candide’s enthusiastic grasp to check on him.
We can make it through this. He’ll be fine.
Please. Be fine.
CHAPTER 14
Getting left in the middle of a donor house was a possibility that Zack had prepared for, but he didn’t think Roger was going to ditch them within an hour of stepping into the largest donor house in North America. He stamped down on the building annoyance in his heart. Technically, he wasn’t even in charge of their little group. Takashi was. Somehow, that irritated himmore.
Matters weren’t helped by Kit, who was staring at the mix of vampires and supernaturals and open displays of wealth like they’d just walked onto a movie set and seen an A-list celebrity smile at them, and Carver, who was starting to look queasy. Zack clenched his jaw.He was supposed to be okay with this. He had to know what he was getting into. And this bothered him, but not the stuff last night?
And worse, Candide had inspected Zack. Not like he was a piece of fruit on the verge of being too ripe—she’d had a calculating look in her eye. She’d been sizing him up. The question about how “tame” he was clearly aimed at his hunter heritage.
Had she bought the act? Was anyone going to believe Zack was a pet?
“We should go downstairs,” Takashi said quietly.
“Yes, master,” Zack said. He grabbed Kit’s arm and started to pull them away from the archway.
“Come on,” Kit whispered. They reluctantly tagged along with Zack while Carver brought up the rear of the group. “Can’t we watch a little?”
“Try porn,” Zack replied.
“Porn doesn’t smell.”
“Gross,” Carver muttered.
“How can you say that?” Kit asked.
“Because to us, it smells like blood and lube up here,” Zack whispered.
“Being human has got to suck,” Kit replied.
They reached the first floor. Zack was hoping they’d walk past the library, but Takashi headed toward the front of the building. Every room felt full of people, but the one Takashi picked was fullest of all.
Before Takashi took a step inside, Zack said, “Master, wait.”
Takashi whirled and caught Zack around the waist. He pulled him over to the side of the archway, which turned out to be useful to the group leaving the crowded room.
Still, Zack’s hunter instincts screamed for him to knock Takashi aside and free himself from the unexpected touch. He managed to counter the desire to push, but that left his hands on Takashi’s pecs. His very firm, very nice-feeling pecs.Don’t get horny. Don’t get horny. Being pushed up against a wall isn’t that hot. Then he risked a glance up and saw the mild amusement in Takashi’s blue eyes. He puffed up, ready to tell him off, only he shouldn’t since Takashi was supposed to be Roger’s boyfriend, and pets weren’t supposed to get pissed at vampires in general.
So he held the breath in.
