Lover Arisen (Black Dagger Brotherhood #20)(54)

Those exhausted eyes met his own. “Are you going to take my memories like he did? Because he has. I know he has.”

“What did you say your name is?”

“I didn’t. But that doesn’t matter, does it. Who are you?” She moved her hand around. “What is this? Where am I.”

“Caldwell, New York,” Vishous murmured. “Where do you think.”

That stare of hers moved to Manny. Then to Xcor. Finally, it settled on Balz as he lay on the table. Slowly, she shook her head.

“This is not my Caldwell.” Her face became a mask of composure, like she was trying to accept some really bad news. “It’s yours, isn’t it.”





CHAPTER EIGHTEEN




Inside the club named after a weed with a cheerful sunny thatch roof upon its stem, Rahvyn ducked her eyes as another round of pink lights spun around the open area of the meadow-themed establishment. When she had first arrived, she had been a bit taken by the decor. Flowers were everywhere, hanging from the ceiling, arranged in vases mounted on the walls—depicted in framed photographs and amateur art down a serving area that was so long, she could not see the terminus of it. But then she realized the blooms were silk, the leaves plastic, and in spite of the large footprint of the building, things were very, very crowded.

Another problem for her was the noise level. Music with a fast beat and a thumping lower percussion sent shock waves through the hot air. The scents were equally overwhelming. So many humans, their colognes and perfumes not the least of it. The sexual pheromones were choking her, and it was no mystery why there was so much arousal.

The dancing was body-to-body.

So it was hard to know where to train one’s eyes.

Dearest Virgin Scribe, she was getting to the point where she couldn’t breathe— “Weca nlea veanyt imey ouwa nt.”

“I’m sorry?” She turned to Nate. “What did you—”

“We can leave anytime you want,” he said more loudly.

The only saving grace to this whole experiment in exploration was that Nate seemed just as awkward as she was. His friend, Shuli, on the other hand, was fitting right in. From the moment they’d arrived nearly an hour ago, the male had been buying drinks that smelled as pungent as the mead had back in the Old Country. He purchased them for himself as well as for others, not that he appeared to know the humans. There were many introductions.

Verily, he was very interested in meeting new friends.

Particularly of the female variety—

“How we doing, kids!”

Shuli came up from behind in a rush of two-handed fruity drinks. As he threw his arms around her and Nate, frothy yellow liquid splashed out onto the floor.

“Isn’t this fucking great!” He curled his arm around Nate’s neck and took a drink from one of the glasses. “I love it!”

The male was speaking with great volume, but she had the sense it was not to be heard over the music, but rather his vibrating excitement. His eyes were not even upon her or Nate. They were trained on the dance floor, on the human women whose stares sought his own.

“Berightback!”

Extricating his draping holds, he bounded into the crowd, holding the drinks up as prizes to capture—whilst she suspected he himself was also up for grabs.

Literally.

“I believe I would like to leave,” she said, mostly to herself.

“Then let’s go.”

Rahvyn looked over at Nate and thought perhaps she should pretend to have misspoken. Alas, she could not lie like that. “Thank you.”

He nodded, and then indicated the way forward—which to her seemed no way forward at all. There were so many humans, both static and moving, everyone bumping into each other. As an abrupt suffocation o’ertook her, she faltered, unable to follow him.

“Let me help you.”

As Nate’s words barely registered, she felt a warm, firm hand envelop her own, and then he was drawing her through the humans, leading the way with his far larger body, people moving to accommodate him because of his size even as he was not being aggressive.

Breaking through the worst of the crowding, they approached the door they had come in through, and she paused to look over her shoulder.

“?’Tis a shame, really. I liked the flowers very much.”

With that pronouncement, she went to resume her departure— Nate was staring down at her with a fixation she recognized. It was that which Shuli had just shown the women before him.

It was also that which the aristocrat had demonstrated. Right before he— Memories of what had happened in that bedding chamber caused her heart to seize up and she gasped, releasing Nate’s palm and putting her hand to the base of her throat. Not that that relieved anything.

“We’ll be outside in a second,” he said tightly.

As Nate turned away from her, she had a sudden instinct to pull him back and apologize. Instead, she let him go through the door first. There would be a better time—and a quieter place—to explain later.

Well, tell him that her withdrawal was no fault of his own.

The instant she stepped out, the cold, clear air hit her flushed cheeks and the perspiration on her brow. Whilst her pores tightened, the tingling was a refreshing relief.

“Oh, no,” she said, glancing back. “What about Shuli?”