War of Hearts(28)

Shocked to her core, Thea pulled against the young woman’s grip, but she was strong.

Too strong.

Foreboding and incredulity ran cold through her. “Who the hell are you? How do you know me? How are you doing this?”

Concern brightened the woman’s eyes. Her voice filled Thea’s head again. You should leave. Night children run this place and they’re waiting for you.

Suddenly a tall, dark-haired man jerked the woman away from Thea. He seemed to berate the girl in a language she couldn’t pinpoint. Irish, maybe?

What the hell?

Thea’s heart pounded hard in her chest as the woman peered past the man. A connection unlike anything she’d ever felt before soared through Thea. What was this woman? Who was she?

Was this a trick and Ashforth had found her?

But then how did the woman speak into her mind like that? What kind of supernatural could do that?

Thea bulldozed the man out of the way and grabbed the young woman’s arm. “Who the hell are you? How do you know me?”

She pressed a reassuring hand to Thea’s face and a sense of calm flooded her. “I’m not your enemy.” Her voice was low, yet Thea could hear every word. “And neither is the wolf.”

“What?”

The man pushed Thea away, towering over her. “You leave her alone.”

“Hey, dipshit, she grabbed me.” She looked past him at the woman who was already disappearing through the crowd. “How does she know me?”

The man glared at her, but she saw the flicker of something like worry in his eyes and she realized they were the same eyes as the woman. Brother, perhaps? “She knows things she should not know. She means no harm. You leave her alone.”

Before Thea could argue, he turned and pushed through the heaving bodies of dancing clubbers.

“What the goddamn hell was that?” she muttered, stunned.

And a little freaked out.

Determined to find out more, Thea moved to pursue the woman and her protector when the warning tingle burned the back of her neck, her stomach filling with dread.

Oh shit.

She turned, searching the crowds, feeling the humans out.

Which one of these is not like the other? she thought, exhausted by the mere idea of fighting.

There.

A good-looking guy stood in the middle of the dancing bodies staring at her.

Thea felt the surrounding air just as he turned his head. The light caught the mercury of his eyes and she froze.

Night children run this place and they’re waiting for you.

Double oh shit.

Thea waited as the smirking vampire strolled casually toward her.

Vamps had been a growing problem for Thea over the years. She preferred to stick to cities, but so did they. She preferred Europe, but so did they, it seemed. When she first escaped, it was months before she had an encounter with a vamp but as time wore on, Thea seemed to bump into one every other month. Mostly she escaped a skirmish because she was fast and good at avoiding them. But sometimes she had to fight because whatever she was made them curious about her.

And all blood-lusty for her too.

Maybe it was time to move. Perhaps northern Alaska where there was constant daylight and a hundred percent chance of no vamps.

Pretending not to know what he was, Thea gave the vampire a flirty smirk as he circled her, dragging his eyes all over her in curiosity. He was feeling her out. Wondering what she was. Or, if the girl was right, he already knew she was something different. He’d been expecting her.

But how?

Taking hold of her hand, he leaned in to whisper in her ear, his words musical with a European lilt, “Dance with me.”

Contrary to popular belief, vampires weren’t dead. They were immortal. Their hearts beat and they had a breath. Although from what she’d gathered, humans could sense they were different, and there was no way of knowing just how deadly they were. That “different” meant they were a predator and humans were their prey.

Thea let the vampire pull her into a dance, her mind racing. If she’d refused, his curiosity would only compel him to hunt. She needed to lull him into a false sense of security so she could escape.

Discomfort flooded her as he rested his hands on her hips and rocked his against hers. She forced herself to gyrate with him, when all the while it felt like little ants crawling all over her skin. It had been a while since anyone had held her this close but when she let the deepest, darkest parts of her mind imagine how it would feel again, it was nothing like this.

Her stalwart control meant she relaxed into the vampire’s embrace and met his penetrating stare. He bent his head toward her neck, and it took everything within her not to tense. The bastard nuzzled her, sniffing. “You smell amazing.” His words were guttural.

Hungry.

Fuck.

If she kneed him in the balls and ran for it, she could probably get out of there, but then she would leave behind her bag and it had all her worldly possessions in it.

And there was the matter of the strange young woman.

Thea huffed to herself. The girl had made no sense. And yet, Thea still fought the urge to go after her. There was something familiar about her. As though they’d met before. More than that … her presence was comforting. When she’d cupped Thea’s face in motherly reassurance, it was the first time in years Thea had felt safe.

Horrified to realize there were tears burning in her eyes, Thea blinked and looked down at the clasp of the vampire’s body against hers. She was being ridiculous about the woman. Childish even.