Page 1 of Fangs and Fudge

CHAPTER ONE

I drove through the gate of Blur’s employee parking lot and glanced at the back entrance. Despite barricading myself in the upstairs office less than twenty-four hours ago, I wasn’t nervous about returning to work. Work was normal, and normal was good. Necessary even. Just like the party tray of gourmet cupcakes buckled into the seat beside me.

Doc, Blur’s manager, exited the building as I was removing my precious cargo. With his typical meticulously brushed-back hair and trimmed beard, I could almost believe Blur hadn’t been attacked last night and it was business as usual. Only the smudge of dirt on his sleeve gave away the fact that he was pitching in to help repair the damage caused by the vampire-thralled people.

“Need a hand, Everly?” he asked.

The box wasn’t heavy, and I could easily manage on my own, but I knew Doc liked to help. Plus, the cupcakes were for my coworkers. I’d already eaten mine earlier while with Cross.

“Sure,” I said, straightening.

Doc’s light blue gaze swept over my face, and I thought I saw a hint of a frown when I handed off the box. I didn’t question it. After all, I’d just spent the morning chatting with a vampire and was now walking into a den of werewolves. Both had good noses and didn’t like smelling one another.

“How’s everything going inside?” I asked as I locked my aging compact car.

“Good. Almost cleaned. Shepard was thinking of opening tonight to see how many patrons show up.”

I held the employee door open for Doc. “I can’t imagine people not showing up. How many times have you had to tell the people in line we weren’t taking any more patrons because it got too late?”

“That was before the attack,” he said, pausing so I could stow my purse in my locker.

“The attack” had been approximately thirty minutes of heart-pounding terror when humans under vampire compulsion had stormed Blur and attacked anyone in sight. Vena and I had escaped unscathed, thanks to Shepard’s sturdy office desk and Vena’s quick thinking.

“Word spreads fast when it involves vampires,” Doc continued. “Shepard thinks the humans will stay clear of this place for a while.”

Had we not found Miles, Vena’s brother, tied to a chair several hours ago and learned that vampires were the reason for his kidnapping, I could have told myself that vampires weren’t a problem, too. Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option anymore. Unlike the rest of humanity, I now knew the truth.

“I’m betting my fellow humans line up even faster. Right now, Blur is like a daytime drama. People will want to gawk and talk about what happened. It doesn’t matter if coming here is dangerous or not.”

“Humans lack common sense,” Doc said, not unkindly.

Since I lived with Vena and had to deal with her common sense glitches daily, I grinned at his comment and followed him through the door to the main bar.

“Oh, I think we have common sense. We just choose not to listen to it too often,” I said as I looked around.

What had been a complete disaster the night before wasn’t so horrible now.

The floor that Pam, one of the waitstaff, had coated with soda spray the night before looked recently mopped. The tables were already cleared and cleaned, and Gunner, one of Shepard’s youngest crew members who did whatever was needed, was sweeping up broken glass from the top right section while Shepard mopped the lower section.

“Wow, you made fast progress,” I said. “And I think I brought too many cupcakes. Where’s everyone else?”

“Out patrolling,” Doc said as he set the box on the bar. “And you can never have too many sweets.”

I held a hand over my heart. “You’re speaking my love language, Doc.”

He grinned. The silver streaking his temples didn’t detract from his muscled build or good looks; it added to them.

“Stop flirting with Everly and clean up the glass behind the bar,” Shepard said. I glanced at him and saw he’d abandoned his mop and was headed our way.

“On it,” Doc said with a knowing smirk.

I felt him leave my side, but I didn’t look. I was too focused on Shepard. He moved with a grace that didn’t quite match his muscled size. That was only part of what made women stop and stare, though. The other part was the gorgeous mane of dark blonde hair that framed his face and accentuated his intense light grey gaze. His stubborn, chiseled chin was currently dipped low as he studied me.

“You were downtown for a while. Problem with your phone?” he asked.

I shook my head as he reached me.

“Just a problem with my sweet tooth. There was a bakery nearby.” I arched a brow at him. “Which you know from watching on that tracking app, right?”

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