Steal the Night (Thieves #5)(43)

“I’m supposed to be incognito.” It wasn’t any easier for me to look at him. At first I thought it might be kind of fun, but I didn’t like the way the glamour dulled Dev’s natural shine. I realized how much comfort we took from the familiar.

“I thought I would enjoy this,” Dev frowned. “I thought we could slip away and enjoy joining the mile high club, but it feels like cheating. Maybe we could take off the amulets while we’re….”

“No.” This wasn’t a thing we could just take off and put back on. There was a magical incantation to make the amulet work, and while Dev might be able to get his back on, I would never get it right. I’m crap when it comes to magic. “We’re almost there, baby. Once we get to Hugo’s place in London, we can just be ourselves again. You know Danny is worried that Marini will have men watching for us at the airports now that he knows his little plan to kidnap me failed. Even the private ones.”

Chad had sent Neil a text letting us know that Marini was aware I’d slipped out of his grasp and he wasn’t happy about the situation. There was no going back now. Our only sanctuary was with Daniel’s supporters.

Hugo Wells was a vampire who lived in London. He’d been deeply involved in the rebellion plans Daniel’s rising had crushed. He was now a strong supporter of Daniel’s bid to take over the Council. He’d offered us safe haven while we were in England.

Neil turned in his seat. “I’m with Dev on this one, Z. You look weird.”

“I look weird?” I asked my BFF. “You’re a ginger. You look like Conan O’Brien.”

Neil, or rather ginger Neil, huffed a little. “Hey, I rock this glamour. Lee is the one who looks really freaky. He looks like he’s twelve, and who decided Zack should be an old man?”

“I lost at Rock, Paper, Scissors,” Zack explained as the plane began its descent.

“He always picks rock,” Lee grumbled.

“Next time, I’ll pick paper,” Zack vowed.

Neil was shaking his head as he frowned. “He won’t. He’ll think that we’ll think he’s picking paper and go with scissors, so he’ll go with rock. He does it every time. It’s kind of sad.”

“Well, I don’t get the difference.” Lee never actually opened his eyes. He’d slept almost the entire time we’d been in the air. The only time my wolf managed to rouse himself was for the excellent lunch we’d been served. “You all still smell the same to me.”

I took a deep breath because while I didn’t mind the flight, I wasn’t real fond of the taking off and landing process. I just wanted to get to the ground. Dev reached over to take my hand. Even though he stared at me from brown eyes, I knew that smile.

“I’ll be glad to get back to being me,” I said.

“I’ll be glad to get back to doing you,” Dev whispered, but it didn’t matter because both Neil and Zack laughed. Dev didn’t care. “I can’t believe you made me go without for days. How did you and Daniel go without sex for entire summers at a time?”

“We didn’t,” I replied with a self-deprecating grimace. “We were a lot younger, Dev. We were much less discriminating.”

Dev’s eyes lit with amusement. “Ah, you made do with quickies under a convenient bush.”

I laughed at the memory. “It wasn’t comfortable. I was often stuck between a rock and a hard place. I mean that literally. There were rocks and Danny was a hard place.”

Dev brought my hand to his lips. “Well, I promise, my lovely wife, that I will provide you with a nice comfy bed. I gave Hugo a list of the things we’ll need. Your every comfort will be seen to. I’m back in charge now.”

The sad thing was I bet Danny was happy about it, too. Dev had spoiled us both. We were used to living in his world. I sighed at that thought because we weren’t going to be in Dev’s world anymore. The minute we entered Hugo Wells’s home, we would be in Vampire society and have to deal with everything that went with it.

“What’s wrong, lover?” Dev asked.

“I suppose this Hugo Wells is an older vampire.”

Dev’s smile was weak. He knew where I was going. “Yes, my love. He is old, but he’s also an academic. I will have to be circumspect, but he will likely prove tolerant. He knows we sleep together but we can’t rub his face in the fact that we’re together even when Daniel isn’t around. He won’t understand. But, Zoey, in the privacy of our bedroom, there will be nothing to stop us. Daniel will join us this evening, and I’m sure after his long flight he’ll need some comforting.”

I nodded, not mentioning how much I hated playing these games. Dev knew. The plane was in steep descent and I could see the city. London was huge and I got excited for the first time.

“Cool,” Neil said, looking out his window.

“I see Big Ben, Lee.” Zack tried to point out the enormous clock to his brother.

Lee shifted in his seat but resumed his light snoring as we passed over the city proper and into the suburbs where the small private airport was located. We would be driven back into the city where Hugo’s home was.

Neil’s strange eyes were excited as he grinned back at me. “We have to do that thing where we try to get the guards with the fuzzy hats to smile.”