Page 55 of Stalked By Seduction and Shadows

I caught a glimpse of ice blonde hair and bangs, and I quickly gave Snow and her wide green eyes a nod that I was okay. She gave me a subtle nod back, quickly moving to a group of vampire women and shirtless shifter men tangled up on the carpet together. The bouncers looked about two minutes away from harshly encouraging them to pay for downstairs entry.

Up here, teasing and feeding were allowed, but orgies were not. Rune was tough, but fair.

“But there’s a secret inside of you that’s bigger than the rest,” Liza purred. “I can sense it.”

I faltered, suddenly unsure if this was a line or a genuine observation.

The way she was staring at me was scary enough, but when I felt a charge of magick leave her fingertips, I shot up from the couch.

She was faster, suddenly towering over me, her plump red lips spreading into a predatory grin. “Who taught you how to sense magick?”

I tried to slow my heartbeat, to turn my shallow breaths into long, soothing inhales. “No one. I’ve always been able to sense it.”

“Fascinating,” she whispered. “Sit back down. I won’t do it again.” Her voice was deceptively sweet, but her eyes were sharp and focused, glancing at my neck shamelessly between each word.

Before I could move, a familiar voice spoke behind me, and both born vampires’ demeanors froze into ice.

“Is there a problem here, Eliza?”

The way Rune called her by the wrong name was so delightfully petty that I had to cough over my surprised giggle.

All eyes shot to me, and I quickly made my face as cold as the born vampires’. Rune would not ruin my quest to get information that might help me with Isabella.

“There’s no problem,” I said, making my voice as smooth as silk as I leveled a stare on Rune that bordered on spiteful.

He stepped closer to me, a muscle in his jaw twitching as his gaze roamed my body angrily, possessively.

In return, I took a step closer to Liza, much to both her and Frederick’s satisfaction. Time slowed down, and I wondered how Rune was going to play this.

If this much fury was leaking into his irises right now, I could only imagine the true depths of his rage that swam beneath the surface. Instinctive terror seized my body, a primal reaction to his raw power that I had to work hard to soothe.

His lips formed a tight smile, and his features turned bored as his tattoos vibrated with magick and his shadows gathered around him.

“Very well. Tell Durian hello for me, would you, Fred?” he said coolly, the hint of a smirk still lingering. “And that I’ve enjoyed all of his recent gifts. He’s exceedingly generous to have shared them with me.”

The air went cold, and for a moment, no one spoke. I locked eyes with Maize, exchanging a look that translated best to oh, shiiit.

It was clear whatever Rune had truly said to them lived in between his spoken words. Judging by the look on Frederick’s face, I nearly thought he was about to take the bait and get himself killed.

Frederick wanted violence, his desire for it much stronger than his drive for blood and sex. It sent off an energetic charge of its own, flooding my body with churning, molten thirst. A familiar call had my head turning toward the winding staircase to our right.

When I turned back, all eyes were on me. Liza’s were red-hot embers, the curve of her lips a promise.

In the next breath, Rune was gone.

I knew I was in trouble when Liza and Frederick released Maize, recognizing that taking any more blood would be a risk to her health. They didn’t seem to be sparing her out of benevolence more than still being unwilling to provoke Rune.

I’d learned that as long as vampires didn’t allow themselves to get too hungry or too lost in strong emotions, they could, for the most part, control themselves. That didn’t mean they always chose to act with care and restraint. It was when a vampire had entered bloodlust that they turned into single-minded apex predators on the hunt. So far, I’d only seen it happen once, and the bouncers were quick to pull the vampire in question off the human hemorrhaging in the middle of the floor. Healers had patched her up, and she was working again the very next night. I wouldn’t soon forget that wild craze in the vampire’s eyes, the way he’d moved with unearthly speed and ripped into the girl’s flesh like a beast gone rabid.

“Everyone is jealous,” Liza said, low to my ear. “It’s delicious the way they all keep looking over at us, begging with their eyes to release our little human so they might have a turn.”

Frederick flashed his fangs, moving closer. I was sandwiched between them, and I knew that the countdown to catastrophe had begun. Soon, they’d want to collect, and I needed a solid exit strategy that didn’t burn any bridges.

I was playing with fire, and I feared that this time, I might’ve been dancing just a touch too close to the flames.

“Are they?” I asked coyly as my gaze became hooded, my flirtatious smile undercutting my innocence. “I hadn’t noticed.”

“She loves the attention,” Frederick said to Liza before looking back at me. “Don’t you, pet?”

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