Page 6 of Monster Mistake

Not entirely a far-fetched theory, seeing as there were currently at least ten vampires who may or may not be Dracula sitting here, speed dating human women with matrimony on the brain.

They weren’t talking to her, though. No, she was stuck with a werewolf who wouldnotshut up about his new sports car. Honestly, it was making Justine question every decision she’d made all night. Again.

She glanced over at Gloria, who shot her a very enthusiastic thumb up from the table next to hers. Apparently, her date with the basilisk was going better than Justine’s. Looked like she was on her own.

The wolf—what the hell was his name? Derek? Damon? It was something with a “d”, right?—ran a hand through his longish blond hair (which, even Justine was willing to admit was glorious) and said, “So, I told the salesman there was nowayI would ever own a 4-cylinder, even if it was turbo charged, and I needed him to find me a?—”

Justine shot to her feet, only wobbling slightly on the four-inch heels Gloria had arm-twisted her into wearing and snatched her phone off the table. “I’m so sorry, but I have to take this call. It’s my mom. Probably an emergency.”

Derek or Damon or whatever raised a brow at her. “But your phone didn’t ring.”

D’oh!That’s what she got for making up excuses while half-lit on tequila. “Um…I meant she texted. I, uh, have the sound off, but I saw the message. Anyhoo, Derek?—”

He frowned. “It’s David.”

Mentally, she face-palmed. But at least she’d been partially right. His name had, in fact, been something with a “d”. “I’m sorry,David,” she said with as much sincerity as she could muster, considering he hadn’t asked her a single question about herself and had spent the entirety of their speed date spouting lame carfacts. “But I’ve had one hell of a night, and the truth is…I just need to leave. Coming here was a mistake.”

He might’ve said something or objected to her leaving, but Justine had no way of hearing it. She was already more than halfway to the door.

It wasn’t until she’d stumbled out onto the mansion’s front lawn that she realized she’d left her jacket—the one that contained her valet parking ticket—inside on the back of her chair. So now, after everything she’d been through that night, she’d have to sheepishly go back in, face David, the car-obsessed werewolf, and get her valet ticket for the truck she wouldn’t be able to drive because she was drunk.

The scream of pure frustration she let out felt like it had been ripped from her very soul. It went on until every breath of air in her lungs was gone and her cells were screaming for oxygen. And when she couldn’t scream anymore, when she was fighting off tears out of sheer spite becauseno onedeserved her fucking tears, she felt…

Well, she felt better, honestly.

“Who do I need to kill?”

Justine swallowed a startled shriek as Khill stepped in front of her. She’d momentarily forgotten he lived on the property. She blamed the tequila. “You scared me.”

He crossed his arms over his chest and frowned at her. “You screamed and you’re almost crying. Who do I need to kill?”

That was really sweet. Psychotic, maybe. But sweet, nonetheless. It was nice to have someone on her side who was ready tocommit a felony on her behalf. “I caught Jake with another woman tonight. And when I say ‘with’, I mean inside of.”

He gave her a stiff nod and said, “OK.”

And with that, he spun on his heel, ostensibly to go kill Jake. She had to grab his forearm and dig her heels into the dirt to stop him. Jake was an ass, but he wasn’t worth jail time. “It’s fine. I’m fine. Truly.”

His stony gaze moved over her face for a moment. “You don’t look fine.”

She sighed. “I’m mad at myself more than anything. He was a weasel-dicked little chucklefuck, and on some level, I always knew that. I shouldn’t have been surprised he was a cheater. Truth is, there were red flags all over the place, and I overlooked them.”

“Why?”

“I was lonely, I guess? Or maybe it was temporary insanity. I don’t know. But it’s not important now.”

A muscle in his jaw jumped, but at least he seemed to give up on his plans to kill Jake. That’s when his gaze shifted off her face and trailed down slowly—oh, so slowly—over her dress.

It occurred to her in that moment that Khill had never seen her outside of scrubs or casual wear. The leap from those outfits to her current one was shockingly huge.

On a woman of average height, the dress would probably hit about knee level. But on Justine? Mid-thigh. The deep V-neck wouldn’t have been scandalous on a small-breasted woman. On Justine, it was toeing the line of decency. And the lace-over-silk fabric was ridiculously sexy.

Maybe it was the tequila talking, but she would swear in a court of law under oath that she could actuallyfeelthe weight of his gaze as it traced her curves.

Everywhere. It. Touched.

After what felt like a breathless eternity, he asked in that low, gravelly voice of his, “Why are youhere, inthatdress?”

The truth spilled out before she could stop it. Fucking tequila. “I came to get laid.”

---