"Lari can't use glamour the same way I can."
"She could if I helped her..." He let the words hang in the air between us before continuing. "Arianna cannot die. Especially not while under my protection. It would create an unbalance that this world might not recover from. Do you get what I am saying?" He growled fiercely.
"Got it," I growled right back.
The bouncers at the wide doors separated as Ryder held up some kind of badge. Both gave him a respectful look and nod and allowed us entrance much to the groans of the long line of humans that waited for a chance to get inside Nightshade.
Inside was exactly what you would think a Vampire club would look like. Red velvet seats covered a long wall while bottles partially filled with water dyed red lined the walls. A throne chair sat on a stage where a band was currently playing and doing their best to avoid the chair.
"How cliché."
Ryder turned around and looked down at me sharply in warning. "Showtime Synthia, kiss me."
My mouth went dry. All the fluid inside my body went shooting straight to my vagina. I licked my lips nervously. "Seriously? That is like the opposite of what I just said outside."
"Prove you can do this, now." His eyes search my face and with the single look I melt for him. I was pathetic, a pile of fucking mush from once single look!
I reached up running my fingers through his hair even as they shook from what I was doing. I was doing exactly what I had said I wouldn’t do just last night inside the cemetery. I had to do this, it was a job. I kept saying it like a mantra inside my head.
His eyes remained locked with mine until our lips met softly, his felt of the finest silk and yet I'd sampled their need last night and it had literally made my toes curl. He wasn’t making it easy on me. He didn’t deepen the kiss, so I did pushing my tongue past his lips searching for his.
When I found it, he growled low in his chest and held the small of my back as he caressed my tongue gently with his own matching the tempo perfectly. The room around us faded away and the only thing left inside of it was us and this kiss. He pressed me against his body and I didn’t fight him, instead, I melted against his much larger frame and moaned my need into his mouth.
When he pulled away, I was left breathless, my body hummed with unshackled need and by his playful smile, he knew the effect he had upon my hormones. I so needed to get laid—but not here. And not with him.
"The usual table?" A female vamp dressed in a dark sapphire blue evening gown asked.
"Yes Eve, please," Ryder purred as his eyes slid over her ample bosom.
I felt a slight twinge of regret in my chest but pushed it away. He was getting married for fuck's sake and here I was getting territorial and like that wasn’t bad enough he was Fae! I liked having my soul intact even if it was immersed in darkness from practicing the Dark Arts.
"Will your companion be joining you, or is she unmarked?" She continued eye-fucking Ryder right in front of me, as if I wasn’t even there.
"I'm not—"
"She is not fully marked, yet, I’d like to see how does on her own tonight." Ryder interjected stopping my next words before I could tell her I wasn’t his damn anything.
I smiled coldly at Ryder who ignored me completely.
"Shall I find someone with more attributes for your meal, or do you prefer to hunt for your own?" She said looking me over and finding me lacking.
I almost growled but decided it was time to split before I cursed her with some magical STD for shits and giggles. "Copy," I whispered testing the frequency for my team that was still outside monitoring us. I almost groaned when I realized they'd heard me kiss Ryder.
I approached the narrow bar and looked at the red liquid inside the bottles. Freaking Vampires. Rumor had it that they were a "made" branch of the Horde. No one knew how it happened, we had heard that it started with some Fae creating these beings that started out life as humans so they had much of the beauty, magic and deadliness of the Fae, but unlike the other castes of the Fae, they fed from blood while other Fae fed off essence and emotions. It was getting obvious to me after the vamp-signs at the last crime scene that the Horde needed to find their king. He was the only one who could possibly keep his people in check.
"Pick your poison baby," a deep voice said from the other side of the bar.
"Gin and tonic please," I replied back before remembering I didn’t have a wallet or my purse on me. "Crap, never mind," I said shaking my head.
"It's on the house, first time in here?" The bartender said friendly enough.
I turned taking in his dark features, his black hair was multicolored in the lights from the dance floor, his eyes a beautiful silver color that marked him Fae in origins. He had well defined features, which made him both beautiful and deadly.
I smiled, "Is it that obvious?"