Kayden locked the door and walked to his truck that he’d left parked outside last night. Mika and Lance were already waiting on him. He waved at everybody, then unlocked his truck for them to get in. Lance hopped in the front and Mika got in the back.
“Good morning,” Kayden said.
“It feels weird saying good morning when the sun will set shortly,” Lance joked.
“Right?” Mika said. “I slept terribly.”
“Well, I slept like a log,” Kayden quipped as he drove down his driveway, his crew falling in behind him. “I highly recommend getting a hot tub. Seriously, I feel like a wet noodle when I get out of that thing.”
Lance snickered.
“I swear, your mind stays in the gutter,” Mika complained from the back seat.
“Says the person who knew immediately where my gutter mind went,” Lance retorted.
Kayden drove with a knee while he opened his thermos. Coffee. He needed more coffee if he was going to deal with these two. While he loved them both like brothers, they sometimes got on his nerves.
He listened to them pick on each other as they drove toward the gargoyle’s territory. Traffic was even worse than usual since it was Friday evening.
“So, since I needed to stay up last night, I headed out to Club Nomadic,” Lance said.
A chorus of groans echoed through the cab from both Kayden and Mika. Club Nomadic was well-known in San DeLain, especially among the paranormal set. Raven St. Clair, Master of the City, was the vampire who ran it. It was a pretty cool place with its creepy vampire vibe.
In fact, several of the vampires who worked there walked around in their true form. The humans thought it was all for show—that it was nothing more than a theme in a popular club. Little did they know just what lurked in there.
“I know shifters can’t get drunk on human alcohol, but I’ve heard the vamps serve stuff there thatcanget shifters drunk. Please tell me you are not hungover,” Kayden said, clutching the steering wheel. “Seriously, Lance.”
“Of course I’m not. I had one drink geared toward my kind and that was it. The rest of the night, I had beer. Come on, man.”
“Okay, okay. My apologies.” Kayden’s tone softened, carrying a hint of sheepishness. “I should’ve known better than to think you’d do something like that.”
“Feeling a little tense, are we?” Mika asked.
“I just don’t want there to be problems, you know?” Kayden’s brow furrowed in concern. “But that was out of line. Just because I had one shifter show up on the job hungover doesn’t mean—”
“To be fair, Glen didn’t know what he was drinking wasn’t human alcohol. So he didn’t intend to get drunk. But, you’re right, he should’ve called out,” Lance said. “But I’m no kid, Kayden. And the last thing I want is a pissed off gargoyle breathing down my neck.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” Mika said. “That wholeturning you to stonething freaks me the fuck out.”
“Yeah, well, the daemon use shadows as portals, and that’s just as freaky.” Lance shivered. “I don’t know if I could date one—don’t know if I could get past the fact that they could pop out of a shadow at any time.”
“That is scary,” Kayden admitted. “But don’t forget, the dragons can breathe fire in their human form. They’re literally a walking flamethrower.”
Lance snickered. “Vampires are pretty cool, though.”
“They drink blood,” Kayden pointed out.
“So? I’m a shifter. I don’t have a problem with blood. What do you think I have all over me when I eat a kill?”
“Unless we want to see my breakfast make a reappearance, we’re changing the subject,” Kayden said.
He honestly didn’t have a problem with the vampires either, but he’d never dated one. After all, vampires were creatures of the night, only active when darkness consumed the sky.
It was a lifestyle incompatible with his own, and he couldn’t imagine altering his entire routine just to match theirs. He knew people did, but he couldn’t fully comprehend why.
The daemons terrified him, hands down. However, he found the dragons fascinating. He was grateful for how they’d treated him and his team during their time working for Hudson.
“So, did you score last night?” Mika asked, leaning forward.