Page 149 of Shadowblood Souls
Zian nods. “That’s what I’m sensing too. Can you look into their memories, Drey?”
Andreas turns the glass he hasn’t actually drunk from between his hands, considering his potential targets. “I’m a little concerned that they’ll notice if I use my power on them. We don’t want to put them on the defensive right away.”
“It’s not their memories we need anyway,” Jacob puts in. “We want to know their basic supernatural tactics. But once we have one of them ready for interrogation, you might as well take a peek then. It could be useful to know what they’re up to in general.”
I study the two men as subtly as I can manage. “How do we get them ‘ready’? We wouldn’t want to get aggressive up front when we’re not sure what they’re capable of.”
Zian follows my gaze and frowns. “The loner seems like he’d be easier. We’d want to get him outside where no one else is going to interfere, right?”
Jacob hums thoughtfully and brings his drink to his lips, but I can tell he doesn’t actually sip the amber liquid. “Let’s do a bit of a test run. Zee, you’re the most intimidating out of the four of us. Take a walk around the tables, going past both of them, and we’ll see if there are any interesting reactions. Could be the loner is way more dangerous.”
If Zian minds being put forward as bait, he doesn’t show it. He picks up his own drink and immediately sets off to navigate the room.
He keeps a casual pace and doesn’t linger anywhere for too long, but it’s impossible for him to be completely unnoticeable. He’s got to be the tallest and brawniest guy in the lounge, and gorgeous on top of that.
He brushes past the loner’s table without looking at the guy. The slim man’s gaze only rests on Zian for a moment before it returns to the other patrons. I don’t catch any hint of supernatural talent.
The popular man glances over his shoulder before Zian has even reached him, as if sensing some kind of approaching threat. I think I glimpse a brief yellowish sheen passing over his eyes before he returns his attention to his fan club.
Jacob tenses at the same moment. He saw the reaction too.
As Zian circles back toward us, a woman who’s been giggling with a few friends spins away from her table. The wobble of her legs suggests she’s had a few too many of those martinis.
But I don’t think her stumble is entirely accidental. She falls right into Zian, grabbing the front of his shirt and already aiming a sly smile up at him.
I yank my hands below the level of the table just in time to hide the instinctive spring of my claws before I can will them back into my fingertips. At the same moment, eyelashes fluttering, the woman parts her lips as if to make some coy remark.
But Zian shoves away from her.
His mouth clamps tight as if he’s bitten back a yell. His eyes have gone wild and his muscles rigid, as if she attacked him rather than making a pass—albeit a forceful one.
“No,” he says with a tremor in his voice that he masters a second later. His arms had come up as if to ward her off and now sink to his sides.
“Are you okay?” he adds gruffly, his stance still tensed.
The woman blinks at him, looking totally bewildered, and then sways back to her friends, who are all giving Zian the stink-eye. He hustles back to us with his head low.
My stomach has knotted. I’ve seen women fawn over Zian before, but not quite so aggressively.
It isn’t just me he doesn’t want touching him. The flash of emotion that contorted his face in that first instant—it looked likepanic.
I’m obviously not the only one who noticed. Andreas has knit his brow.
“Zee,” he starts when the other guy reaches us.
Zian shakes his head brusquely. “I’m fine. Who are we going for?”
Jacob waits for a beat as if checking to confirm Zian really is fine and then tilts his head toward the loner. “The guy in the corner didn’t show any sign of powers or seem to notice anything unusual about you. I think your first instinct was right—we go for him.”
Well, if we’re all going to pretend nothing weird just happened, it’s easiest to play along.
I raise my eyebrows. “So now we just have to convince the monster-dude to leave the lounge without looking like we’re harassing him. So simple.”
A small smile crosses Andreas’s lips. “Maybe it’s time I took a little risk and peeked inside his head, then.”
His eyes flare briefly with a ruddy light. Then he motions to us. “I’ve got something I can use. Come on.”
Jacob lets Andreas take the lead this once. We weave our way over to the loner’s table as a group.
