Page 92 of Fangs and Fudge

She snatched the shirt back from Shepard and said, “If you’re smart, drop it and get Sierra out of here.”

He quietly obeyed Vena’s order, and she slipped the shirt back over my head.

By the time Sierra had been passed off to another wolf, I was covered and seated in the car with Vena blocking Shepard from getting close.

“You both need to back off right now,” she said to Shepard. “You are being bullheaded, and Ev is clearly hangry.”

Shepard ran a hand through his dark blonde hair, tugging at the ends before sighing. “I’m sorry. Let me take you both to lunch to apologize.”

Vena glanced at me. “How about it, Ev?”

I looked away, hating myself for being the unreasonable one at the moment. Because that was the truth of it.

If I suspected Vena of being secretly thralled, I would have stripped searched her already with zero guilt. Yet, Shepard was holding back from forcing the issue because he wanted to respect me. Because he liked me. I knew that. Yet, for all that I was calling him stubborn, I was being just as bad.

“I could eat,” I said softly.

Shepard got into the backseat, and Vena hopped behind the wheel.

There was little conversation as Vena drove to a restaurant. I felt Shepard’s pensive stare nearly the entire time. So when Shepard opened the door for me at the restaurant, I thanked him. Then I saw where we were.

I shot Vena a look, knowing she’d taken us to one of the most expensive restaurants in the city. She grinned at me and looped her arm through mine.

“Shepard insisted on lunch,” she said. “Didn’t you, Shepard?”

He gave a nod and followed us inside.

As soon as we were seated and I scanned the menu, all my anger vanished.

“They have bacon-wrapped dates stuffed with blue cheese.” I groaned and barely stopped myself from drooling.

“Do you like those?” Shepard asked.

He’d taken the chair immediately to my right and Vena to my left, leaving the spot across from me open.

Before I could answer Shepard, Cross appeared out of nowhere and sat in the vacant seat. He smiled at Shepard’s low, threatening growl.

“Now is not the time to misbehave, my friend,” Cross said softly. “The humans are watching. Imagine the fear you’d spread if they became aware of a vampire who could walk in the sun.”

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Shepard’s gaze darted around the restaurant. I could imagine him silently counting the number of witnesses and debating the risk. After a moment, he sat back in his chair and folded his arms in a relaxed pose.

“What do you want?”

“We need to have a frank talk about these two,” Cross said.

“Not sure I like you talking like we’re not here,” Vena said.

The waiter interrupted to take our drink order. Cross asked for the appetizer I’d mentioned, proving that he’d been listening. As soon as the waiter left, he faced Shepard again.

“The vampires are up to something,” Cross said. “For decades, they’d been supplying fae with humans but suddenly stopped a few weeks ago, cutting ties instead. Before they kidnapped Gunther.

“Why would they alienate themselves from their only allies and then kick the hornet's nest, so to speak, when they had no safe home to fall back to? It doesn’t make sense. So I’ve been asking around while I look for your other missing wolf.

“Rather than focusing on you and your men, who have been hunting them at night, do you know what the vampires chose to do? They sent a message to these two to meet up at a club with the promise of information about Anchor in exchange for information about me.”

Cross shifted in his chair, interlacing his fingers as he leaned his elbows on the armrests to give the server room to set down our drinks. Shepard’s gaze flicked to Cross’ hands then to his face. Something about Cross’ pose didn’t make Shepard happy. And whatever had his dander up caused Cross to frown in return.

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