Page 15 of Only Fangs

Fuck.

What the hell was he supposed to do? He was caught between a rock and a hard place, unable to speak without being found out, yet unable to remain silent and risk further offending the fae lady either.

Maybe if he lowered his pitch and faked an accent? Except that the fae had already heard him speak without an accent.

He cleared his throat, stalling as everyone looked at him, waiting for his response. Finally, he opened his mouth and forced out an apology in the deepest voice he could manage, trying to sound like a stranger.

“I’m sorry for causing offense, ma’am. I truly didn’t mean to. Please forgive me for being ignorant.”

It must have worked, since the woman’s face smoothed out. She nodded once, looking satisfied with herself. “Fine. We can forget about this if you take the hood off and put that silly scythe away.”

Next to Collin, Zelos laughed, reminding everyone of his presence. “Don’t you worry about that,” he told the fae. “I was about to take his entire costume off for him.”

Collin stiffened, his cheeks heating up. Fuck. This whole situation had gone completely off the rails.

The fae rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Make sure you never wear that again.” She gave Collin another disdainful look, and then she turned on her heel and stalked off, heading back to her friends, leaving Collin to deal with his own problems.

Of which he still had plenty because Mikael was right there in front of him, and he didn’t know if his disguise was convincing enough for him to get away with it.

He held absolutely still, barely daring to breathe.

Mikael tilted his head.

He knew. Collin was sure of it, even though he couldn’t explain it. He just had a sense of it.

The vampire shot Zelos a look. “Some of your fans are gathered over there.” He pointed at the far end of the room. “Maybe you want to go over and chat with them.”

Zelos raised an eyebrow and looked at the spot that Mikael had indicated. A group of young men and women were standing together, and Collin thought they all looked rather excited. “Ah, yes. I should probably go greet those lovely people. Excuse me.”

With a wave at Collin, Zaelos disappeared, walking over to join his fans.

And then, Collin and Mikael were alone.

Mikael’s attention shifted back to Collin.

Collin’s heart hammered so hard there was no way the vampire couldn’t hear it, even over the noise of the club. Fuck.Why was Mikael still looking at him like he was a puzzle to be solved? Did he recognize him? Did he not?

Damn it all.

“Thank you for your help,” Collin croaked in his fake deep voice, sounding ridiculous even to himself.

Mikael hummed thoughtfully. He looked like he was contemplating saying something. Or maybe like he was considering taking a closer look and figuring out who Collin was. “Let me get you a drink,” he said after a moment. “You sound like you have a sore throat.”

“That’s not…” Collin began but trailed off because, well, what was he supposed to say?

Mikael smiled and offered him an arm. “Come with me.”

Collin hesitated, but he could hardly run away now. He was stuck, and Mikael seemed to know it.

Biting his lower lip, he took the vampire’s arm and let himself be led toward the bar.

“Blood or regular?” Mikael asked. “What’s your poison?”

Collin hesitated because Mikael was asking if he was a vampire or not–in the most casual way possible. Did that mean Mikael hadn’t figured him out yet, or that he wanted Collin to give himself away?

Should he just drink blood?

The thought made him shudder.

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