As everyone turned to go, Arys told me, “Be careful.”
He surprised me when he kissed my hand in a way that made my blood run hot. A slip of his tongue on that soft stretch of skin between my pinky and ring finger made me shiver.
I was painfully aware of the wide-eyed horror etched on Shaz’s face before he successfully forced neutral expression. I forcefully pulled my hand from Arys’s and gave him an absolute death glare for his trouble.
“You, too.” I did my best not to scream when he smiled in satisfaction and turned on his heel towards Kylarai’s Cadillac.
Shaz quickly turned to the Jeep where Kale sat fiddling with the radio knobs. I grabbed Shaz’s elbow and forced him to face me.
“Please, don’t let him get to you. It’s just in his nature. He’s used to getting what he wants.”
Shaz ducked his head so that his white blond hair hid his eyes. “I know. It just makes me crazy knowing he’s bound to you.”
“I know. But it’s metaphysical, not emotional.” I raised his chin up so that he met my eyes. “As good as all of that power feels, it isn’t like what you and I have. You need to believe that.”
“Don’t worry about me, Alexa.” He glanced at Kale, waiting in Jez’s Jeep. “I’m not as fragile as you seem to think I am.”
“This isn’t about being fragile. This is about me needing you to know that, no matter what happens with Arys, he’s not the one.” My voice caught.
Did he know what I was trying to say? I couldn’t possibly guess how deep this thing went with Arys, but I searched Shaz’s eyes for some kind of confirmation that he loved me regardless.
As he pulled me to him in a soft yet strong embrace, I basked in the wolf scent of him, reluctant to let go.
“I’m not walking away from this, Alexa.” He breathed into my hair. “Not now.”
The emotion in his voice tugged at my heart, and I pulled back to look into his youthful face. His smile warmed me in places the vampire’s cool touch just couldn’t reach. It was all Shaz.
“Alright,” he leaned in for a fast press of his lips to mine before turning to the Jeep where Kale feigned interest in a family parking their motor home across the lot. “We better go find Raoul’s offspring and tidy up another one of his messes.”
I had to laugh. He knew Raoul almost as well as I did. The back of my neck was stiff, and I just wanted this all to be over. Both Zoey and Raoul needed a supernatural psych ward. Did such a thing even exist? From what I knew of Veryl, he liked to take out the trash, not put it in a care facility.
The sun had set a while ago, yet the faintest pink glow remained in the western sky. Heavy metal music pumped out of the Charger, and I frowned. She was so bad for that. Jez had slid the sunroof all the way open, and I glanced nervously at the circling seagulls overhead. My footsteps quickened, my boot heels clicking loudly as I hurried to the car. I was not at all surprised to find her chatting up some ginger haired girl in the truck next to us.
Shaking my head, I used my hair to hide my smile as I climbed into the driver’s seat and turned down the speaker volume. As Jez fished in her purse for her card, the girl’s boyfriend, or so I assumed, returned with two coffees and a bag of muffins.
“Just in case.” I heard her say as she handed the card through the open window.
“You’re unbelievable.” I tucked a gold chunk of hair behind one ear and started the engine.
“Why, thank you, Alexa. To what do I owe such a fine compliment?” A few stray strands of wavy hair had come loose to frame her heart shaped face.
“You put guys like Arys to shame.” I tsked and looked over both shoulders before backing out of the narrow parking space.
“Good,” she quipped.
I directed her hand away from the volume knob and signaled into traffic. She gave my hand a light slap, exactly the way a cat would, not quite enough to hurt but enough to exhibit her displeasure. Since she gave up on the volume, I didn’t slap her back like I wanted.
“How can I not put them to shame? Most of them really don’t know the first thing about women: How to understand them, or what to do with them.” She pulled out a box of nicotine patches from her purse.
“So you always say.” I glanced at the box in her hands while waiting for a red light to change. “Finally trying to quit?”
She strained against the confines of her seatbelt in an attempt to turn partially around. Fumbling with the waistband of her leggings, she peeled them down enough for me to see the milky white of her left butt cheek. I didn’t notice the clear patch until she hooked a long nail under the edge and removed it. I did notice that Jez enjoyed going commando.