by Michele Hauf
Seth kissed her on the forehead. He was in entirely too good a mood after everything they’d just discussed.
Bella wondered if being bitten by a vampire released endorphins into the man’s bloodstream. He had been extremely happy of late, so much so that she had briefly wondered if he’d been doing drugs. Seth was so against drugs, she’d not dared ask him about her theory.
The truth was worse than drugs.
“Come up and bang on the glass when you get to the club,” he called as he strolled toward the door. “Love you, Bellybean!”
She waved him off and headed toward the shower.
What kind of scent had the wolf picked up from her? She’d been a sweaty mess last night.
And really, did she believe Seth’s guess? The man had been a man. He wasn’t a werewolf. Wouldn’t he have seemed wolflike to her? Although, he had a beard and lots of hair…
“No, he wasn’t. Couldn’t be,” she said as she turned on the shower.
But if she could buy the vampire bit, that meant she had to get on board with the werewolves, too.
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Chapter 3
T he music pummeling the innards of club Silver leaked through the open back doors. Graffiti scrawled across the brick walls had gotten a recent freshening up, and the bold colors glowed in the night.
A small group who couldn’t gain access danced in the lot behind the elite club. The bouncers kept watch but seemed to approve. It was this way every evening. The management was even considering serving drinks outside to the unchosen.
Severo paused at the front corner of the three-story brick building to watch the line out front as some were gifted admission and others slunk away, pouting, yet determined to return another day for another go at admittance. The back-lot dancers were too gauche for those who wished entry through the front.
Slipping a hand in the pocket of his brown leather jacket, he tried to catch a few words of the song, but the beat was about all he could discern. Didn’t matter. He wasn’t a fan of the erratic music the clubs played. Lynyrd Skynyrd was more his speed. But he did like the atmosphere. The noise and crush of bodies put him out of his thoughts and into a mindless place where nothing really mattered.
But until he entered the club, he was anything but mindless.
He strolled down the front avenue and noted the black stretch limo parked across the street. Vamps, no doubt. They scoured the clubs, but in a subtle send-out-the-troops manner that brought potentials back to the horde. The higher-ranking vampires couldn’t be bothered to go inside and mingle with the lesser humans.
Nasty longtooths. Severo hated them all, save a select few with whom he had the opportunity to establish trusting relationships over the decades.
The August air stirred a frenzy of gasoline, heat-softened tarmac, spilled booze, cat piss and perfume. When so many odors combined, he could easily acclimate and move above them, so to speak. They faded into the background as murk, allowing distinctive scents to rise.
One scent in particular surfaced. It was familiar, rich and enticing. He’d gotten but a taste of it, and he wanted more.
The shivery little rabbit who had fled the vampires and run right into his arms. She had seeped into him on an intoxicating cocktail of fear, adrenaline and—though she would deny it—arousal. Sweet, she still lingered on his tongue and in the pores of his flesh.
Bowing his head and marching forward, Severo gained entrance to Silver with a mere nod to the bouncers.
Seth spun Jayne’s latest diatribe against the tabloids; she was the current “it” girl on the techno-funk scene. The crowd bounced, shimmied and jumped on the stainless-steel dance floor beneath epileptic-fit-inducing strobe lights.
Bella pushed her way down the entrance ramp, hung with thick black velvet curtains, and weighed the chances of getting up to the DJ’s box. The dance floor was body to body. Seth was in his groove, fists pumping and head bopping. But she did manage to catch his attention with a quick wave.
She needed this night to lose herself in the loud music and redirect her thoughts from other things. Things that had stabbed at her brain all afternoon. She was still shocked at Seth’s confession. But tonight it was all good.
As soon as she sipped her first cosmopolitan.
The shortest route to refreshment was straight across the dance floor. Finding the beat seductive, Bella slinked her way into the crowd. Ballroom and flamenco might be her preferences, but she could shake it with the best of them.
She inched her red spangled skirt up at her thigh and shimmied before a sexy dancer. He matched her move with a suggestive shake of his shoulders. It was all in fun. And man, did his teeth sparkle.
Spinning, Bella insinuated herself between two women. They bumped their hips to hers and that made Bella laugh. She raised her arms above her head and decided the drink could wait. Surrendering to the beat took her to a great place.
Masculine hands stretched down her arms, and she rotated her hips. Together she and Mr. White Teeth rocked in a wide circle. It was overtly sexual, but she didn’t feel the threat level she had last night. Even the flutter of fingertips tracing the swinging hem of her short skirt didn’t offend her.
She was in control here. No one was going to chase her or try to take advantage of her. Not unless she wished it. And she would never ask to be controlled. Control was hers. Her life didn’t function without it. And tonight she intended to take it back.
No wonder Seth was always so naturally high. Music did something to people. It moved them beyond the norm and opened their hearts and minds, even their souls. It was why Bella had navigated her way back to dancing after a five-year absence.
The smell of alcohol, something fruity like green apples, reminded her that she did have a goal. Dancing her way through the crowd, Bella spied an empty space at the bar and slid onto the slick silver plastic seat.
She knew the bartender and smiled at him. He shot her an acknowledging wink and set about making her “usual.”
This club served the best cosmopolitans, and no, Bella did not have Sex and the City dreams of landing Mr. Big and wearing designer shoes. She was happy with her job as a Web site designer. And while she liked sexy spike heels, she’d take a healthy relationship with a stable man over Manolos any day.
The bartender slid a shimmery pink drink into her grasp and shook his hand at the dollar bills she laid on the counter. “First one’s free for you, Bella.”
Cool. She’d take a free drink any day.
The cosmo was sweet with a bite of sour. Crossing her legs and twisting to watch the dancers, she shifted her shoulders to the rhythm.
Behind a Plexiglas barrier, Seth danced and pumped his fist to the tunes he delivered to the masses. He spiked his hair on the nights he DJ’d, and it went a long way in transforming his usual emo look.
Dating a vampire?
You’re not going to think about it, Bella. Have another drink.
She was about to signal the bartender when he placed another pink drink before her. Pleased he was keeping an eye on her needs, Bella tossed him a wink. But when she dug in her purse for cash, a thickly veined, dark-haired hand slid a five-dollar bill onto the bar.
Heat prickled the back of Bella’s neck.
A husky male voice whispered, “Told you I’d find you.”
Chapter 4
H e had found her. In seconds her heart reached Mach speed, and she choked on her drink. The bartender spun a look at her, and she gave him a silly smile and a shrug.
Though she didn’t dare turn to look at the man, she recognized his familiar scent. That deep, earthy odor that was also sweet. What kind of kook had she become that now she was scenting out people like some kind of…No, he can’t be.
The person next to her vacated her stool, much to Bella’s dread. The man didn’t slide onto it but inserted himself between the empty stool and her body. A strong, muscled thigh pulsed against her bare thigh. The spangles on her skirt pressed into her flesh.
“I followed you. From your home.”
“From my—” He knew where she lived? “Please leave, or I’ll get a bouncer and tell him you were threatening me.”
“You won’t do that.” He reached for her drink and sniffed it. “That’s how you smelled last night. Vodka and cranberries. You women and your pretty pink drinks. But your scent is different today. Lots of perfume.” He sniffed at the air before her. “Cloves. Did you think to hide your natural scent from me?”
“Yes. No.” Bella grasped her throat, so aware of her low-cut neckline. He’d noticed, as well. “I’m not comfortable talking to you.”
“Good. I like a woman who is honest. And I’d hate it if you were one of those who hung on any man who will give you the time of day.”
She pressed her hand on the cocktail napkin and inched up the wet edge. She was supposed to be safe here.
Bella looked aside. Seth was so close. Was he keeping an eye on her? A trio of scantily clad women danced before the DJ’s box. Seth’s mind was probably not on his best friend.
“Look at me,” prompted the man who was sort of her rescuer. “Let me look at you. I could only imagine how gorgeous you were last night in the darkness.”
She glanced at him and found his warm brown eyes. They were dark yet softer than they’d been in the moonlight. Not threatening. Even attractive.
“Your eyes are bright,” he said.
Bella shifted her glance away.
To look into the man’s eyes felt like complying with a request. And she didn’t want to give him that boon.
You’re in control of your own life, remember?
“You’re not shy.” Even amid the din she heard his low voice perfectly, as if they stood in a column of air set apart from the crowd. “Talk to me.”
Hold conversation with a man who frightened her? Never. But she had to know…
“So are you really a—”
“A what?”
Still unwilling to meet his gaze, she toyed with the stem of her goblet. “My friend told me about vampires and how they really exist. And then he guessed you might be a werewolf.” She whispered the word, as if she were swearing in church.
“Very clever, your friend. Is he the one in the box that you waved to when you first came in?”
“Have you been watching me?”
“Yes.” The bartender stopped before the man. “Budweiser,” he ordered. “So, you’ve recovered from your jogging adventure, I see. Wearing sexy sequins and flirting with men out on the dance floor? One would think you weren’t so much traumatized by being chased as perhaps aroused.”
“Bug off, creep.”
She slid off the stool to find an escape, and as luck would have it, a path parted on the dance floor. The beat picked up and the entire crowd bounced, raising their hands over their heads.
Bella turned. Through the sea of waving arms, she saw no sign of the man. Or werewolf. Or whatever he was. Had she imagined speaking to him?
No, she could still feel the intrusion of his thigh against hers. Hot, solid, powerful. He’d marked her with his heat.
“Don’t be stupid, Bella,” she told herself.
She shuffled her way through the dance floor, intent on reaching the hallway that led to the back door and her escape.
She reached the ladies’ room door just as a tall man in a leather jacket stepped before her and clutched her forearm. She hadn’t noticed his clothing before. Just his presence. How did she shake this guy?
“You’re in danger if you remain here,” he said.
“No kidding? I’m in danger from you. Let me go.”
He released her arm and put up his hands as if to say “I’ll back off.”
But he didn’t back off. And though Bella could not see over his shoulder, she knew escape was but a dash away.
A couple of dark-haired men brushed roughly by her, and she had to lunge closer to the man to not get her feet stepped on.
“Vampires,” he said close by her ear. “They’re tracking you again.”
“You don’t know that.”
“What? That they’re vamps? Or that they’re following you? They’ve had their eyes on you since you sashayed through the front doorway. What did you do to piss off the vamps?”
“Nothing. I didn’t know they existed until last night. Now would you back off?”
“If I leave now, you’re vampire prey. You want that? Fine.”
He stepped around her. He favored one leg with a slight hitch. Within a few strides, he blended into the darkness.
His menacing presence gone, Bella could breathe now. The air in her personal space cooled.
She eyed the back door. The two alleged vampires loomed before the doorway. Their eyes didn’t glow. They didn’t flash fangs. Besides the matching black business suits and slicked hair, they passed for average human men.
Over her shoulder and ten feet away, her self-assigned protector held his hand out to her.
Pressing a hand to her chest, Bella realized her heart was pounding. Yet it wasn’t music pummeling her insides; it was fear. So much excitement in two days would surely put her over the edge. Could a person OD on adrenaline?
The men at the door crossed their arms before them, their gazes fixed on her.
What kind of horror movie had she stumbled into?
Now she had two choices: take her chances walking by two vampires or put her trust in a man she couldn’t be sure wasn’t as bad as the other two.
She remembered what Seth had said. Vampires bite. Werewolves are sex freaks.
Choosing the lesser of two evils, Bella stepped quickly and slapped her hand into her self-assigned protector’s palm. He tugged her down the hallway. When they reached the main room, he pressed her against the stainless-steel wall.
“I am what your friend guesses. Does that frighten you?”
“Listen, buddy, the only thing that frightens me about you is your need to shove your hard-on against my thigh. Give it a break, will you? I just took your hand to get away from those vampires. Now I’ll be on my way.”
“You need me to walk you out of here. There are vamps outside, parked across the street. Do you want to take a chance they are interested in you?”
“What is going on? What did I do? Twenty-four hours ago, you…you people didn’t exist. And then my best friend tells me he’s dating some vampire chick, and isn’t at all surprised when I tell him I’ve seen three of them. And you’re a freaking wolf?”
“I am a man. I only wolf out during the full moon, and I’ll thank you to call it correctly.”
Again he did that strange sniffing thing before her face.
Now Bella was getting angry. “Stop it. You’re acting like a wolf, so I’m going to call you one. I’ll have you know I don’t like dogs.”
He flinched, as if attempting to hold off a snarl. What? He didn’t like being called a dog? Then take a hike, buddy.
Softening his expression, he shook his head, admonishing. “Just know that between me and those longtooths eyeing you up and down, I’m the one who won’t feast on your blood.”
“Yeah? What do you do? Shake me around like a chew toy? Oh, mercy, I can’t do this anymore. I have to leave.”
“Let me escort you. This way.”
Again he held out his hand for her to accept. Bella stared at the offering. This was so wrong. Much as she liked horror movies, she preferred romance and comedy and happily-ever-after. And she never left noisy bars with strangers.
“I’ll hail a cab,” she said but took the man’s hand.
He led her toward the front door. “If you want to wait for a cab, that’s your choice. But I beg your trust to allow me to escort you home. It’s not as though I don’t know where you live.”
At the reminder Bella’s world began to swirl.
He squeezed her hand. “Don’t faint on me, sweet. Come.”
The rush of air as the door opened smacked her to reality. He tu
gged on her hand, and she merely followed, moving around the waiting line of hopefuls.
The street was busy with passing headlights. The werewolf tugged Bella close to the wall and they walked along it. He walked with a slight limp, as if he favored one leg. When they had reached the end of the block, not far from the end of the line of waiting hopefuls, the man slowed.
“So your friend is dating a vamp? Did he mention her name?”
“No,” she answered. “I don’t know anything. And for that matter, I don’t have your name. If you’re going to stalk me, it would be good to have a name to give the cops.”
He smirked and drew her close, more as a means to allow others to pass by as they headed for the line. “Severo,” he said. “And you are Bella.”
“What? Are you psychic, too?”
“I heard the bartender use it. See the limo?”
A shiny black stretch was parked five car lengths down from the club entrance. Dark windows did not reveal passengers.
“Vamps,” he said. “And if my guess is correct, it’s Elvira.”
“You are so kidding me. Not the mistress of the dark?”
His smirk didn’t touch mirth. “Her name is Evie, but I call her Elvira because she fits the cliché to a T. If she’s the one your friend is dating, you may as well write his eulogy now. I wonder…”
“His eulogy?”
Again he shoved her against the wall.
“I’m getting so sick of you pushing me around.” But as before, she was unable to wriggle free from his powerful grip.
Their noses touched when he leaned in. “How close are you and your friend?”
“Me and Seth?” Talk about intense eyes. They were deep brown but alive with wonder as he held her gaze. Not so much menacing as…attractive. “We’ve been friends for a long time. We’re best buds.”
“Any reason for Elvira to believe you two have been getting it on?”
“No! Seth is like a brother to me.”
“Do you two hug and hold hands?”
“Why?”
“I think you may have pissed off the wrong vampiress. My wager says those vamps after you last night were sent by Elvira. And she’s seeing you now. Give her a glance over my shoulder. Let her know you see her.”
