I couldn't seem to stop myself from flirting back. It had to have been leftover juju from whatever Mik had done to me. Surely.
"Am I right, Miss Hunt?" Nix gave me a smug, self-satisfied smile, and I couldn't resist cutting him back down.
"Actually, I just turned thirty last month. But gosh, you were really close." I snickered at the dismayed look on Nix's handsome face. It was quickly followed by a flash of triumph that scared the bejesus out of me. "This was fun. I'll think about your offer and get back to you." Slipping Ziff's bag over my arm, I tucked my little friend inside, stood, and slid out from the bench seat. "In the meantime, try not to kill any more shifters."
"Likewise," he murmured, and I chuckled as I sauntered out of the restaurant with just a little more sway to my hips than was strictly necessary. He could pick up the tab for my lunch, seeing as he had invited me.
For now, I had a huge decision to make. To tell Mikhail … or not.
"Ugh, Ziff. When did my life get so damn complicated?" I groaned to my foxy friend as I waited for my car from the valet. Ziff just chirped and trilled what sounded a bit like a laugh. Little shit.
"You've got to be freaking kidding me," I muttered, stabbing my gate opener for about the fiftieth time and getting no luck. Furious, I redialed Mik's number again. I'd gotten his voicemail the last ten or fifteen times I'd called, but was too pissed off to leave a message.
"Mik!" I snapped when he actually answered this time. "You changed my foxing gates? I can't get into my own damn house! You are in so much trouble—"
My rant cut short as he hung up on me.
He hung up on me!
Boiling with fury, I stabbed redial again, and put the phone to my ear.
"Mikhail fucking Ravena, you—" He hung up again, but this time my front gates opened so I threw my phone onto the passenger seat and accelerated up the driveway to my front door.
After screeching to a halt, I slammed my darling Lola into park then stomped up my front steps without bothering to even close my car door. I was way too pissed off.
How dare he? He changed my locks and then didn't give me access?!
"Mik!" I bellowed, stomping into my foyer and hearing my voice echo through the enormous house. "Mikhail, where the hell are you?"
"Thea, please, there’s no reason to yell," he said in a quiet, but no less forceful tone as he stepped out of my sitting room holding a damn brandy snifter. His short, dark hair was styled to perfection, a heavy navy coat hanging off his broad shoulders as he took a sip of his drink. Once again, I had that strange feeling that he looked sad, but I just couldn’t reconcile that with his personality.
"Fuck you," I hissed, my anger boiling over. "You come into my house uninvited, you change my freaking locks?! You've way overstepped the bounds of being my boss, Mik. Not to mention this bond you've started forming with me. When were you planning on telling me about that, huh?"
For the first time in all the years since I'd met Mikhail Ravena, he looked uncertain. "Who the fuck—" He cut off and his face darkened like a thunderstorm. "Nix. When the fuck did you speak to Nix?"
The fury in his tone made me falter, and I sucked in a breath, searching for an excuse. While initially I had planned on telling Mik about my lunch with Nix, or at least about the offer Nix had made, I hadn't really thought any further than that. I sure as shit didn't consider the fact that Mik might be angry enough to hurt me.
"Uh ..." My eyes darted around my foyer, looking for a distraction. "Why don't you tell me what gave you the right to change the locks on my house and then make yourself right at home after?"
Mik’s intense blue gaze narrowed on me, but I wasn't stupid enough to glare back. Did I want him reading my thoughts? Hell freaking no!
"Your house wasn't secure. Any psychopath could have waltzed in here and killed you while you slept." His jaw tightened, like he was ready to defend his actions despite knowing he was in the wrong.
"So?" I challenged. Yeah, I could be just as stubborn as this asshole when I wanted to be. "What if I liked it like that? You're not my freaking father, nor are you my lover, so you have no right to come into my home without my permission!" I paused. "Hell, even if you were my dad or my lover, you still can't come in without my permission. It's my house!"
"Stop changing the subject, Thea," he snapped, slamming his drink down on my hall table so hard it cracked. Fucker. Those were Waterford crystal glasses! "You saw Nix. Want to tell me why that is?"
Not ready to back down from the fight, I slung my jacket over the coat rack and folded my arms under my boobs. "Why? You jealous? Nix told me you two used to be friends until you fell out over a girl."
"It sounds like you two had quite the chat," Mik growled, and I could see the points of his fangs poking out from between his lips as he advanced into my personal space. "Did you go looking for him this morning when you lied to me and said you were going with Chris?"
"Actually, he came looking for me," I replied with a sassy smirk. "He invited me to lunch at Rioja. We had a lovely time, and he even offered to stop creating tainted dust."
Mik's glare was so intense it felt like it was stripping a layer off of my skin, making it hard as hell to keep dodging his gaze. He stepped closer to me and my back bumped into the closed door. Just when I thought I might lose the battle and meet his eyes, he slammed his fist into the door beside my head so hard the heavy wood cracked.
I flinched. It was a natural reaction, but one I immediately regretted. Flinching made me weak, made me prey. I was no one’s prey.
"No." He spoke the word with such wrath it sent a shiver through me.
"No, what?" I pushed, fighting to regain some of my courage.
"No to whatever bullshit deal he tried to cut with you. Nix Locklear doesn't do anything for the good of the world, and he sure as shit doesn't do it for some sexy piece of tail. If he's offering you something big like that, then the price is too high. So you will tell him no." There was absolutely no room for movement with his tone, and it made me want to do the complete opposite. It also made me want to rip his shirt off and run my tongue all over his hard, chiseled abs … but that was the weird, vampire bite after-effects thing talking. Right?
"You don't get to tell me what I can and can't do in my personal life, Mik," I whispered. There was no need to speak any louder when our faces were mere inches apart. Mik still towered over me—that dreaded word again—but my heels gave me a little extra height and he was bending down to my level somewhat. However it happened, our mouths were close enough to kiss.
"I disagree," he murmured back, and I could feel his eyes trailing over my lips.
What happened next, I wish I could explain. But the plain and simple fact of the matter was that I had no idea how we went from irate, arguing … to passionately kissing. One second I was about ready to tell him where to shove his possessive male-ness, and the next …
"Thea," he groaned, coming up for air after what felt like a century of mauling one another's mouths. "We shouldn't …"
His words trailed off without conviction as he hitched my legs around his waist and pinned me to the door with his rock-hard center. I was a woman possessed as his lips worked their way down the line of my throat, and I tipped my head to the side, giving him a clear invitation to my jugular.
"Bite me, Mik," I panted, grinding my denim clad core against his hardened length, feeling desperate for more.
He was clearly just as far gone as I was, because his fingers wrapped around my braids, holding them in an iron grip as he sank his fangs into my flesh without a second’s hesitation. There was a brief sting of pain on entry, but he soothed it much faster than the last time he'd fed from me, and within moments, I was writhing with pleasure.