“Lee.”
He’d never believed his name could sound like a protest until now, but he held on to Dillon’s gaze. “Get Rei.”
The bear grinned. “Yes, tell Rei we’ll be contacting him soon.” The claws melted away, and he stepped closer to the van. “Let’s get going.”
Fuck, he didn’t smell of Rei. Once they got in the van, they’d realize he smelled of Dillon. Their cover would be blown.
Lee allowed the vampire to haul him to his feet, but as soon as he had found his balance, Dillon pushed at him.
“Dillon.” Lee caught him, using his superior strength to hold him. “Don’t. I’ll go with them.” The scent of blood was thick, and Lee’s teeth dropped. Blood. If he could smell of Dillon’s blood, they might not think about his lack of jaguar scent.
And he wanted the blood.
Dillon glared at him, but he didn’t smell of fear which Lee had expected him to. Then he sighed and rolled his eyes.
“Okay.”
Okay? Okay what?
Dillon fisted a hand in Lee’s hair much like the night before and guided his face to his throat. Lee had a feeling he’d gone back to glaring and was aiming it at the vampire, which was fine by him.
Dillon’s posture was stiff, his hold bruising, but when Lee ran his tongue over the bleeding wounds on his throat, he quivered. For a second everything melted away and all Lee could focus on was the taste. A needy sound escaped, and he tried to press closer to Dillon. Then he realized what he was doing and tried to scent him over the blood. He smelled nervous more than panicked, and Lee gently swiped his tongue again. There would be no teeth.
“Let’s go!” The vampire grabbed his wrist, but Lee slid his tongue over the torn skin one more time and moaned as the taste exploded on his tongue anew. He ran his free hand over where blood had already spilled. He tugged to get free of the vampire’s hold. He wanted more, wanted to lick every drop off Dillon. Fucking hell, it was the best blood he’d ever had. The taste was rich, and it filled him with heat.
Another sound of pleasure escaped him.
“Enough!” The vampire hauled him into the van, and Lee stared at Dillon. He looked a little lost, but not too bad. And right before the vampire, who hopped in after Lee, closed the door, Dillon gave him a nod.
Chapter 16
Devin and Mars hurried out of the garden center and looked around the parking lot right as the van drove off.
“Dillon!” Devin ran toward him, paling a little with each step. “You’re bleeding.”
“Not too bad. Lee licked it before they took him.”
Mars snarled, then pulled in a deep breath. “We should’ve brought Hanna. I think it’s the same scents as those in Lee’s apartment, but I’m not—” He tapped his nose.
“We need to get out of here before someone notices the blood.” Devin tugged at Dillon’s arm, and he allowed himself to be guided toward Mars’s car. Once they were inside, Mars looked at him in the rearview mirror. “Don’t get blood on the seat.”
Devin smacked him on the head. “No one cares about your car, asshole.”
Mars grumbled something Dillon couldn’t make out. A shudder was growing in his body, and it didn’t appear to want to stop. He clasped his hands in an attempt to keep them from trembling too badly.
“What did they say?” Mars met his gaze in the mirror.
“It was a shifter and a vampire. Long claws.”
“Yeah, bear.”
“Oh, yeah, makes sense, I guess. They’ll contact Rei.”
Mars cursed but got the car rolling. “Devin, call Murrie. Say we’re on our way home and to get Rei ready.”
Ready? How did you get ready? Dillon pushed all thoughts aside and allowed himself a minor meltdown. He’d recognized the vampire. He shouldn’t have dismissed it. The monsters were everywhere, lurking in every corner, and he did his best to ignore them, but when one of them appeared in the garden center, he shouldn’t have written it off as a hallucination.
The drive back to the manor house went a lot quicker than it had taken to get to the garden center. Or maybe Dillon was spacing out. It was possible.