Steal the Sun (Thieves #4)(65)

I pulled the cold iron knife from its sheath and knelt down so we were eye to eye. It was time to use those faery stories to my advantage. “That was a deal I was willing to make should you have aided me. You know how these tests go, vampire. If you had aided your queen, I would have showered you with gifts. You chose to show me no hospitality. I’m well within my rights to take your life.”

She believed me. She began crying bloody tears, another way she was different from her Earth plane brethren. “I am sorry, Your Highness. I will aid my sisters from now on. I was just eager to get back to my prey.”

“And that’s why you failed,” I said, standing up. “I leave you with your life, baobhan sith. Remember the lesson. Now go. We will need this cottage for an hour to prepare for our return to the palace.”

Her eyes were downcast as she rose. “I’ll go and sleep in the caves. The house is yours until tomorrow.” She gave one last long look at the men in the room and then she was gone, disappearing in the night.

“Wow, Z,” Neil said with a look of approval. “That was an Oscar-worthy performance.”

I cocked my eyebrow. “Why? I technically am her queen. She’s a vampire and I have it from the bean si that I’m the Queen of all Vampire. I didn’t lie. I did all those things. And bitch really did fail the sisterhood test.” I looked at the boys, who were kind of in a fugue state. “Do you think she broke them?”

Neil waved a hand over Lee’s impassive face. “I hope not. I can probably drag one of them, but we’d have to leave the Hunter dude behind.”

Lee suddenly took a deep breath and intelligence came back into his eyes. He glanced around the room, shocked at finding himself in a completely different place from the last one he remembered. He frowned when his eyes settled on me.

“Zoey, what the hell is going on?” He put his hands on his hips like he was going to launch into a lecture, but the minute he felt bare skin he blushed all over and I mean everywhere. His hands left his hips and cupped his privates. He should be happy he had big hands.

“Nice to have you back, Lee.” I located his jeans and tossed them over.

“What happened? Where the hell am I? Why am I here? Why aren’t you back at the palace?” Lee barked questions as he tugged the jeans on. I turned away to give him as much privacy as possible because he was still trying to cover up with one hand. I heard his zipper go up and turned around. “And why the hell was I naked?” He practically yelled the question and naked came out sounding like nekkid. I loved it when he sounded backwoods. It meant he was way passed pissed off.

“Are you done yelling at me?” I asked. “If you are, I’ll answer your questions. You met a hottie in the woods and decided to come back to her place for a little action. This is your new girl’s pad. You’re here for some loving and a nice blood exchange, since you suddenly have the hots for a vampire. It’s okay. I understand. They can be persuasive. I’m not at the palace because the * next to you decided to make me ogre bait before he joined in on your threesome. As to why you were naked, well, I think that’s the state you’re usually in when having hot sex with a vampire. Daniel insists on it.”

“So does Chad,” Neil added helpfully.

“I did not have sex,” Lee stated, offended.

Neil shrugged. “He can lie to himself but not to his nose.”

Lee took a deep whiff and blushed again. “I can’t believe I had sex with a vampire.”

“Welcome to the club, buddy,” I said with a grin.

The Hunter was starting to come out of his stupor. “Why am I…”

I rolled my eyes. “Hush and I’ll give you the Cliff Notes version since you slept through the lecture. You, baobhan sith.” I made an O with my left hand and shoved my right index finger in and out in a junior high gesture, accompanied by a creaking mattress sound.

Lee groaned and sat down on the bed with his head in his hands, but the Hunter eyed me curiously. “I was with you in the woods and the ogre was close. I could feel it in my bones. Then I woke up here. You’re saying it was a vampire that lured me here?”

“And you loooved her,” I said with a smile that made Lee moan again.

“I certainly did not,” the Hunter said seriously. “I was enchanted by her. Did I kill the creature? Is that how I escaped?”

“You didn’t escape,” Neil pointed out. “Zoey saved you.”

Lee’s head came up and there was a horrified look on his face. “Why didn’t you just leave me to die, Neil? How could you let Zoey save me?”

“Well, it’s not exactly a fate worse than death.” He could be more grateful.

“Oh, yes, it kind of is,” Neil replied. “Zack is never going to let him live it down. He can give his brother hell.”

I wasn’t sure what the problem was. “Well, it’s not like Lee is the first. I’ve saved everyone. I saved Daniel and Devinshea many times. I saved you from your asswipe brother when he tried to kill you. I saved Sarah from Hell. Why should Lee be any different?”

“You haven’t saved Zack,” Lee said sourly.

Now that I thought about, it was true. While Zack had saved me from a demon last year, I’d never had a chance to return the favor. “Huh, I guess it never came up.”