Page 32 of Protecting His Vampire Mate

I didn’t like it one bit.

“You don’t know who we are,” Leather Jacket shot back, clearly unfazed. “If you did, you’d leave, just because we asked you so nicely.”

Cowboy boots grinned at us, his granite eyes dancing dangerously. “If you were smart, that is.”

“Can’t do that,” Tobias gritted out. “It’s important to someone I care about that we stay. And that’s exactly what we’re going to do. And since you gentlemen were kind enough to make us an offer, let me make you a counteroffer. You two are the ones who can get the hell out of town. If you ever come back, there will be hell to pay. You know what I am. You know what I’m capable of. But I promise you, you don’t know the half of it.”

This was accompanied by the window beside us icing up so completely and abruptly that it completely obscured the view out into the parking lot. The door to the diner blew open to unleash a howling wind that caused several patrons to let out startled yelps. The lights in the entire restaurant began flickering.

“Cool parlor tricks,” Cowboy Boots sneered before turning to his friend. “What do you think, Danny? Should we be worried?”

Danny grinned at Tobias. “Cast some magic on us, warlock. Hit us with your best shot. It’ll be funny to see what happens.”

Cowboy boots added, “We’re hunters, jackass. We’re warded against witchcraft. We’re protected from anything and everything.”

My blood froze to ice in my veins.

Veronika, my maker, was a hunter too. But she worked alone. And for good reason. Most hunters killed vampires on sight. She had warned me that most of the human hunters out there were to be avoided. As a rule, they’re merciless, they hate anything remotely related to the supernatural, and they’re absolutely lethal.

Before I could stop him, Tobias gave them a thin, terrifying smile. “Figured. The problem is… you guys seem to suffer from a lack of imagination.”

With that, all the silverware on the table spun in the direction of the two men. Every piece of cutlery quivered in place, as if eagerly awaiting Tobias’s command before launching themselves at the hunters.

“I might not be able to do magic on you,” Tobias whispered dangerously. “But please don’t think that makes you safe from me. I’m a creative sort of guy. And you have no idea what I’m willing to do if you threaten me or anyone I love ever again.”

Danny eyed the silverware on the table, gave us a dark look, and took his friend by the arm. “Let’s go, Michael. It’s not worth making even more of a scene. You remember what happened in Phoenix?”

Michael scowled at Danny but then sighed. He nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. It took us weeks to shake the police.” He added, glancing back over at us, “But I’m betting these two warlocks will clean up after us this time. They don’t want any of these Podunk assholes knowing about all the things that go bump in the night any more than we do.”

Danny gave a long-suffering sigh, shooting Michael an exasperated look. Then he turned back to us and most of the heat was gone from his expression. “Look, just get out of town and we don’t have to duke it out. But this is our case. If we see you again, we’re going to have a problem.”

Tobias gave him an icy glare in reply. The cutlery began to shake more violently on the table.

Michael let himself be towed away by Danny, but he turned back and glared at us. “You’ve been warned, asshole. That’s all I’m saying. Do the smart thing. Hit the road and don’t come back.”

After they left, there was absolute silence all around us.

One long, horrible moment later, I realized that every single person in the diner was staring at Tobias and I with wide, disbelieving eyes.

And even worse than that, I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that we had just made enemies of two potentially very dangerous, very lethal men.

And that this wouldn’t be the last time we crossed paths with them.

CHAPTER TEN || TOBIAS

Iended up having to do a major casting, right there in the middle of the diner, to cause everyone in the establishment to forget that the last ten minutes had ever happened.

Magic like that has a cost. And, even more well-rested than I had been in recent memory, the spell took far more out of me than I cared to admit, even to myself.

Rather than calm me down, it just left me even more pissed off. And shaky as well, because in addition to taxing my powers first thing in the morning, we had never even ordered food.

I left money on the table to cover the cost of our coffees and towed Bryan—who was watching me in silence with wide eyes—out of the diner. The patrons were starting to lose the glazed expressions of the recently compelled and I didn’t want us to be there when they fully snapped out of it.

I half-expected the hunters to jump us in the parking lot. I wanted them to. I would have turned them both into a smoking pile of ashes for threatening us.

For threatening Bryan.

Earlier, when we’d left the hotel, we’d decided it was easier to just take one vehicle, and it was safer for me to drive us, in case the weather report was wrong and it ended up being a sunny day instead of a cloudy one. Bryan was still a very young vampire and he didn’t do well in direct sunlight.

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