Page 34 of Newly Undead in Dark River

Walker whipped his furious gaze to Brody. Apparently, it wasn’t so silent. “What do you think about this, Shifter? As you sit there with Judge’sgirlfriendon your lap and your dick pressed between her ass cheeks?”

I stood this time and got all up in Walker’s space. “What are you implying right now, Walker? I know you are worried, and when you’re worried it seems to make you a little bit of an asshole, but if you are insinuating I’m some kind of…” my brain scrambled around for a word that didn’t taste bitter on my tongue, “…tramp, you can just take your sexy ass and your misogynistic views right out of my apartment and never return.”

Walker had the good grace to look ashamed. “That’s not what I’m saying at all, Raine. You know…”

“I know what, Sheriff?”

“That the idea of anything happening to you makes me physically ill. Because I care about you,” he huffed out on a sigh. “Just as much as these two dickwads.” He indicated Judge, who was still scowling at the Sheriff, and Brody, who was grinning like an idiot. “I don’t care who you, uh, take to your bed, as long as they treat you well and make you happy.”

I wasn’t sure if that was an apology, or as close as I was going to get to an apology, but I’d take it. I slid my eyes toward Judge, but he was pointedly, not looking at me. I wasn’t sure I could let it rest. I shifted off Brody’s lap, giving an imperceptible wiggle, but it was enough to make the shifter give a groan.

A mature person may have let it rest. A mature person would let Judge get away with his little slip and not pushed him about it. But I never said I was mature. “Am I your girlfriend, Judge?” I purred, sashaying toward him. Well, what I assumed was a sashay; hopefully it didn’t look like I’d fallen in the shower and dislocated my hip.

Apparently, Judge wasn’t one to let things go either, because he stared back at me defiantly. I wanted to know it was just a Freudian slip, a way to verbally mark his territory, or if he actually meant it.

His gaze burned into my own, a test of wills, a battle to see who would look away first. I decided I now had a distinct competitive streak in my second life because instead of shifting my eyes from those piercing dark eyes, I leaned forward and kissed his full lips.

One point to Raine.

He leaned into the kiss, his tongue a searing brand against my mouth, and he got my bottom lip between his teeth and bit down hard enough to break the skin. The taste of my blood flooded my mouth, and I moaned as he sucked at it gently.

He pulled back and looked completely smug.

Okay, maybe one point all.

“Now you can update your relationship status to ‘It’s complicated’ can we go back to what we were talking about?” Brody said, sounding amused. “I can set up a meeting with Miranda. I’m with the Sheriff on this one. I don’t care how uncomfortable some little old lady makes you vamps, Raine’s safety comes first. Besides, if you guys are all locked out of her apartment, more Rainey Time for me.” He waggled his eyebrows, and I grinned back, shaking my head.

Judge gave him a mock snarl. “Watch it, Pup, or I’ll put you in the doghouse myself.” He let out a long sigh. “Fine, but make sure there's a way for us to get in too. I don’t want Raine to trip and break her neck, and every person in town is locked out because we’re all vamps.”

I snorted but didn’t comment. Mostly because he wasn’t wrong. I’d like to say that now I was an immortal badass, I’d left behind my dumbass ways. But if anyone could break their neck and starve to death on their bathroom floor, it would probably be me.

Walker nodded, his own lips twisted in a smile. “Make the call, Brody. I’ll meet her at the edge of town and escort her in.”

Brody gave him a jaunty little salute and pulled his phone from his too-tight jeans. They cupped his ass in a way that made my hands ache to do the same. He left the room, though it was a little redundant with all the supernatural hearing in the room.

“Hey Miranda,” Brody said from the other room. Whatever was said on the other end made him give a deep, sexy laugh. He dropped his voice lower, and I couldn’t quite pick up his words anymore.

Why wouldn’t he want us to hear? Was I jealous of some old witch? I shook my head and looked at the other two occupants in my living room. “Have you both met this Miranda?” I worked hard to keep my tone nonchalant.

Walker nodded. “Yes, she fixed the wards around Brody’s pack meeting place so I could attend. To do that, she needed a touch of my blood.” He visibly shuddered, and I couldn’t work out if it was because she was horrendous, or because she was a witch.

I looked at Judge, but he wasn’t meeting my eyes again. “How about you, Judge?”

He lifted a single shoulder and looked bored. “I’ve met her once or twice.”

My brows lowered. “Oh, when?”

“A few decades ago.”

I gritted my teeth. “Are you purposefully making this as painful as possible?”

He just stared back at me, his jaw tight and his face expressionless. I turned away before I gave in to the urge to strangle him.

“We’ve worked together,” he said, and the way he said it implied I’d extracted the information through some kind of mental torture. But it wasn’t his tone that made me pause. It was the fact he’d given me even that tiny little window of his past. Judge would talk to me about his future plans, or the town and its inhabitants, sometimes about all the ways he’d like to taste my body, but he never talked about his time prior to coming to Dark River.

“What kind of work was that? Door-to-door vacuum salesman?” I said it lightly, not wanting to scare him off.

Brody laughed. “Well, one of them definitely sucked like a hoover. Knowing Miranda, maybe both.”

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