His lips were tipped into a soft frown, and there was something so damn vulnerable shading his pretty eyes that the words died on my tongue. Blue knew I loved Mercer, knew my soul and heart belonged to him and him alone. I wasn’t sure what was wrong with my friend, but I didn’t want to hurt him.
“Okay, Blue. If you say so. I’ll trust you.”
He blinked, vibrant eyes almost seeming to glow as he gazed at me with what I was quite sure was longing in his eyes. But then he blinked, and that vulnerability was gone, replaced by the hubris of the cocky fae.
“Perfect,” he purred.
In seconds, Blue had my clothes off. I gasped, whirling and covering my bits, cheeks flaming as Carter twirled on his heels.
“If Bianca asks, I saw nothing,” he snapped with his back to us.
But Blue was a whirling dervish, moving so fast even I couldn’t track him. He was winking in and out like only the fae could do. I felt tugging on my hair. Brushstrokes on my face, then the black dress was on and my head was dizzy with all the twists and turns.
“Look,” he breathed against the shell of my ear, making me break out in a delicious wash of dark-fae-induced lust as he turned me toward the mirror.
I gasped, hands covering my mouth as I stared at a woman who looked nothing at all like me.
I had no idea when he’d done it, but he’d put makeup on me. And tons of it. But all of it skillfully done. My eyes were done in a smoky-black pearl eyeshadow, with dramatic cat eyes and dark, long lashes. My lips were the bloodiest red I’d ever seen. My cheeks were as chiseled as they’d only ever gotten to be when carved and transformed by my vampiric nature. I wasn’t even sure when he’d put me in heels, but in heels I stood, at least five inches taller than usual.
I looked gorgeous, haughty, and as unapproachable as Veiler royalty. My hair was a thick, wild tumble of sexy bedroom curls with an intricately braided rope of hair he’d used as a headband.
Resting on my chest was the golden cross, but there was another chain on my neck too. A delicate gold chain with a miniature flower pendant dipped in glittering gold. I picked up the pendant, looking down at it.
“It is my personal flower. The glittering heart, it is called. Only one has ever bloomed.” He placed his fingers over mine as he nodded.
Again, I felt that he wasn’t telling me everything. That he was acting bizarre even for him.
“Blue, I—”
He sniffed, giving me a gentle shove toward the door. “We’ll be late, flower. Come, let us not keep the dogs waiting any longer than necessary. I hear fleas like to jump.”
He didn’t give me a second to respond or even ask him why he wasn’t acting like himself. Next thing I knew, he’d opened the door, and I was being ushered out.
The furious-looking shifters suddenly stood at attention, staring at me as though they’d never seen me before.
I felt Blue smirk beside me.
“Hello, boys. Have you met my beloved?” He turned toward me and gestured with his arms as he made the introductions. “Scarlett. Dogs. Dogs. The woman who’ll change your lives forever.”
Then, taking my hand in his, he kissed my knuckles, smiling almost cruelly at the shifters. And for just a second, I wondered what Blue knew that I didn’t.
But then I was being bustled away, and the time for questions was over.
Chapter 6
Scarlett
The limo was headed out of town. Only one suited shifter sat with us in the back. He had silver hair and a very neatly trimmed silver beard, but his face was young, and his eyes a piercing, intelligent blue. He wore reading glasses and carried himself with an obvious air of refinement, glancing out the window with a hard, heavy frown as we moved through town, headed toward Georgia.
Smelling of peppery autumn leaves, he was definitely a shifter, but there was something far more cultured about him than that of the typical pack member. He was lean but muscularly built, reminding me a little of a silver fox GQ model. I frowned, trying to work out what it was about him that felt so different from the norm.
Beside me, Blue shifted forward and pointed toward the Pink Lady. “Get this carriage to stop now,” he said in his silky drawl.
The stranger and I glanced at Blue at the same time.
Silver Fox shook his head. “We are to drive to Georgia without deviation.”
Blue’s hands curled into fists. I knew he could trace out of here. All fae could travel the inter-dimensional pathways. If he’d really wanted to leave, he could have. So why didn’t he?
His jaw was clenched tight, causing the vein on the side of his pale neck to throb almost violently. “Stop the damn limo, wolf. I will not ask you again.” The threat of violence was evident in Blue’s low rumble.
Which, for just about any other shifter, would have been enough to ignite World War III. It didn’t take much to set off one of the hot-heads. But again, this shifter didn’t act as a typical wolf would.
Glancing at the two of us, then toward Blanca D’Oro’s Veiler club, he narrowed his eyes at Blue.
A lengthy, but silent conversation seemed to pass between the two of them. Blue visibly quivered beside me. The lines of his body radiated restless energy, and his hands continued to furl and unfurl on his lap.
I placed my hand over his to still his anxiety, wondering all over again what was wrong with my friend.
Blue wasn’t acting like himself at all. I didn’t like it, and I was worried about him and about what part he played in Death’s schemes.
He didn’t look at me, but he did squeeze my fingers tight.
“Please,” he said so softly that I almost thought I’d imagined it. Blue didn’t beg to anyone.
Silver Fox’s nostrils flared, as though he were scenting for a deception.
After a tense stand-off between them, the shifter turned and tapped twice on the window panel separating us from the driver. Smooth as silk, the limo rolled to a stop, without a question passed between him and the driver.
“You have five minutes, dark prince. And if you aren’t back, I will fetch you. And you do not want that.”
The way he said it, with such grit and authority, I knew he absolutely meant it. Normally, I’d have shrugged his words off with a laugh. No one could make Blue do anything.
And yet, Blue shuddered as if given a priceless gift. Again, totally weird for my peacock of a friend. Why was he submitting to this shifter so easily?
What the hell was going on here?
“Thank you, Gareth.”
Silver Fox—who I supposed was Gareth—dipped his head and scooted over, opening the door with a flourishing gesture.
“Go.”
Blue scooted out, moving quickly, not toward the front of the club, where Bruce stood ever-vigilant, but behind the club, into the shadows, where a lady of glittering white light stood, awaiting him.
I gasped, recognizing the starlit woman instantly as the radiant Helen. Normally, she appeared as a severed head inside of a glass jar, resting on a bundle of her own long nerves. But she was in her true form now, her goddess form.
I tried to listen, tried to hear what Blue was saying, but he spoke in the ancient tongue of the fae, speaking too rapidly for me to make out even a word here or there.
Helen couldn’t speak, in the conventional sense, in this form, but she touched his upper arm, and I knew they were communicating. Beside her stood her ever-present royal guard, Talix.
I frowned, sensing after a second or two that Gareth was looking at me.
Concerned for my friend, but also deeply curious about who and what Gareth was, I reluctantly turned away from Blue and toward the handsome silver shifter.
He raised a brow, making no apologies for studying me.
At least a minute of silence passed between us, and already, a suspicion had begun to form in my head. Feeling anxious as hell and wanting to take my mind off the weird tension brewing all night long, I just blurted it out.
“How long have you and Blue been lovers?�
�
A corner of his wide lips twitched, as though amused despite himself.
“And who said we are?”
I snorted and leaned back against the seat, crossing my arms. “I’m not stupid, okay. Blue’s many things, but one thing he’s not is subservient. The fact that he didn’t give you any sass, after your little threat, pretty much says it all.”
He grinned and shook his head softly but didn’t deny it.
“I see the rumors of you are true,” he said, voice silky smooth.
This man, for all his refined and quiet manners, exuded a deadly grace about him. I was halfway positive that whoever Gareth really was, he was the kind you’d rather have on your side than not.
I crossed my legs, waiting to see if he’d notice, to see if his pupils would dilate with lust.
But there was nothing other than amused indifference. I was Et Prochrae, one of the beautiful ones. It wasn’t hard for me to attract the attention of the opposite sex, not if I set my mind to the task. But generally, I didn’t have to do much to get a red-blooded male’s attention other than bat my lashes and crook a finger.
If I turned up my charms, Gareth would be no different than all the rest. But he wasn’t the least bit interested in me. Which only meant one of two things: either he was mated—which hadn’t been much of an impediment to making a man at least want to fuck me before, regardless of species—or—and this was the only other reason my sassy Southern charm didn’t drive men wild—he was gay. Even so, it wasn’t impossible for me to get their attention. Just far harder to manage. I had to really work at it, then.
I smirked.
He snorted, bright blue eyes sparkling with amusement.
“I wondered why you were so quick to offer to ride in this limo with us. None of the others seemed that keen on sharing the same air as a filthy fanger. How long?”
He glanced out the window, and I did too.
Blue had his hands on Helen’s shoulders, gripping them tight and wearing a look of pleading hopefulness.
I clenched my jaw, wanting to go out there and comfort him. Wanting so badly to ask him to trust me and tell me what was wrong, but knowing I couldn’t intrude on what was clearly a deeply personal issue for him.
Gareth glanced at his watch. “One minute, old man,” he muttered low.
Blue gave an almost imperceptible nod. Helen framed his face in her hands and smiled softly. Blue shuddered.
I looked over at Gareth, who was watching me again. “We are not lovers,” he said softly.
But I heard what he didn’t say. Lovers or no, there was a definite bond between the two and a shared history I found myself intensely curious about.
So much about Blue was a mystery to me.
I’d always wondered why Blue spent so much more time around shifters than his own kind. Was there an unrequited love in his past that kept him bound? Was he in Silver Creek because of me? Just who was Blue anyway?
The second I asked myself that question was the second I realized I didn’t know him near as well as I’d once imagined. There were parts of his life I was completely in the dark about.
Helen leaned forward, planting a kiss on Blue’s lips, which caused her radiance to sink into him, making him glow as bright as white flame for half a second before fading away in a shower of glittering sparks.
When the light was gone, Helen was back in her jar, held in the arms of Talix Rose Thorn, her most loyal Unseelie guardsman. Blue put his hand on Helen’s jar.
“Thank you, my queen,” I heard him murmur in his dark, silky voice.
“Fare thee well, dark prince,” she whispered, wearing a serene expression on her gorgeous face.
Then her eyes turned toward us, and I jerked, pretty sure she couldn’t see me inside the limo, but her blood red lips stretched into a grin.
“Be seeing you around, sexy vampire.”
Her laughter rolled over my skin like the sensual glide of a lover’s hands. I shivered.
Blue returned a moment later, jaw clamped down tight, but looking less tense than he had before. He slid in beside me, threw his arm over my shoulder, and squeezed me tight once.
“Well, dog, you may proceed,” he said to Gareth, who only grinned and gave his head a soft shake.
He tapped the partition glass again twice, and in no time, we were back on the road.
None of us spoke again after that, which made for a long, taxing, and anxiety-inducing ride to Four Devils. When we finally got there, the sun was just starting to peek over the horizon.
By the time we got out of the car, I was in a lethargic sort of haze, ready to sink into the oblivion of a vampire’s sleep and not sure where I was at all.
Two sets of hands guided me gently out the door and into a hazy, dark room full of shadows. There were low, intimate murmurings between them, and I remembered little else after that.
I CAME TO SUDDENLY, rising up and taking a deep, unsteady breath as memories from the previous night rushed like a smoke screen through my mind.
“Shhh. Relax, Scarlett. You’re perfectly safe. Gareth gave us use of his manor while you were in stupor. Here, drink. It’ll make you feel better.”
Blue’s words were gentle and coaxing as he shoved a warm goblet into my hands. Still kind of foggy from sleep and confused from waking up in a strange room, I took it without question and chugged it back, expecting blood.
Instead, it was sharp, spicy, and burned like hell fire going down.
“Ayeee!” I screeched and tossed the goblet away. Tears burned my eyes. “What the actual hell was that?” I wheezed and coughed, causing Blue to toss his head back and laugh.
“It’s called Devil’s Fire. Puts hair on your chest, no?” he asked, taking a delicate sip from his own pewter goblet.
I growled, rubbing the back of my head as I studied the place I’d not been able to study this morning.
There was dark wood paneling everywhere. I was lying on a massive, dark leather sofa that could have easily held four of me, it was so large. I moved my legs off the couch and sank my toes into a plush and obviously very expensive, quality rug. Shelves upon shelves of leather-bound books sat against the wall, with an ornate-looking mahogany desk before them. Paperweights and a really fancy but really old-looking globe rested on it.
The metrical ticking of a wall clock sounded off to my left.
The place screamed money. And not just any kind of money, but old, old money going back hundreds of years.
I cleared my throat, shoving curls of hair out of my eyes. “What is your friend, exactly?”
Blue smirked. “Who said he was my fri—”
I glared at him, in no mood to be toyed with. It was clear to me that I was firmly ensconced behind enemy lines. Yes, I’d lived my undead life among the pack, but Silver Creek wasn’t the Alpha Council’s territory.
I may not have been shifter, but I knew enough about this world to know that, from here on out, I’d be navigating a tightrope of extreme danger, courtly intrigue, and politics.
The Alpha Council, whose territory extended not just through Europe and North America, but into parts of Central and Latin America, Africa, and even Asia, was from the old world, with the mentality and belief systems that entailed.
I thought living in Silver Creek had been hard, but that had been a walk in the park compared to what would have happened if I’d been forced to live with the ancient packs. No doubt I would have been a plaything for the nobility at best, or at worst, a servant they could abuse and denigrate at their whim whenever and wherever they’d felt like it.
Blue held up his hands, smile slipping off. “Yeah, wrong time. I get it. Gareth is an ally, nothing more.”
But again, he was lying. Except this time, I wouldn’t call him out on it. If he wanted to keep Gareth a dirty little secret, that was none of my concern.
I blinked. “I need a shower. And how the hell do you look so good anyway? I swear I’d hate you if I didn’t already love you. You suck. Do you not realize we’ve bee
n traveling for hours? How do you look so good?” I pointed at him.
Blue was dressed in sleek black trousers, a white button-up shirt, a silk vest, and an eye-catching, patterned magenta tie. His black hair was straight, falling well past his shoulders, but part of it was pinned up, showcasing his graceful yet masculine cheekbones and his chiseled jaw line.
He wore zero makeup, which was shocking, but I didn’t altogether hate it. Somehow, he looked... more. I wasn’t sure what kind of more, just more.
I cleared my throat and looked away. “Why the change?” I fluttered my fingers at him.
He patted his chest, staring down at himself with a frown as he smoothed his long fingers down his immaculately Windsor-knotted tie. “Let’s just say our host isn’t nearly as adventurous as I am, and I may have forgotten to pack.”
I raised my brows. “Are you telling me you’re wearing Gareth’s clothes?”
Blue pursed his lips, but not before I saw a blush bloom on his elegant cheekbones. “Scarlett, behave.”
I snorted, smothering a giggle. “Not lovers, my bubbly round ass.”
He rolled his eyes. “Gods above, I could stab you sometimes. You’re really annoying, you know that?”
“So I’ve been told.” I chuckled. “Now, dish.”
Scoffing, he walked toward me, held out his hand, and helped me to stand, moving in so close that our bodies felt like they were crackling, snapping, and popping against one another. Blue was wound tight and leaking sexual magnetism tonight.
Which so wasn’t like him. If he oozed his charms around me, he was only ever doing it to get a rise out of Mercer. Blue had never tried to charm his way into my pants, not really. His attempts had always been halfhearted at best. Just as I was Et Prochrae and able to make men and women of whatever species want me desperately, his powers were at their most potent when sex was involved. He was basically the fae equivalent of an incubus, which was why I knew he’d never really tried to get into my pants. If he had, I’d have been a goner long ago. I frowned, heart hurting for him.
I was worried about Mercer, but our bond meant that I could feel his emotions, regardless of the distance between us. He was full of nervous energy but relatively calm. He wasn’t in any current danger, which meant I had time to be there for my friend.
The Vampire Went Down to Georgia (Southern Vampire Detective Book 3) Page 9