her mood just thinking about it.
“Not all women want to be rescued, petite. Besides, I didn’ know but what you weren’t some militant feminist. I don’ like bein’ chewed on,” he paused, grinning, then continued, “not like that....”
She couldn’t help smiling at his innuendo. She definitely had a craving for big meat right now. And she couldn’t blame his reasoning for holding back when he’d come. Where she was from, men had been blasted for one thing or another until they’d lost all shred of their manhood. They’d been bitched at so much you couldn’t even expect to have a guy come up to you anymore and ask for a dance or buy you a drink. It was hell being a woman these days.
“You forgive me, petite? I’ll be your shinin’ knight next time you’re attacked.”
“Sure.” She shrugged. She could take care of herself--she was used to it.
As snippety as she’d been, he still offered to see her into the club.
Once they passed through the blackened glass doors at the entrance and the music blasted their eardrums, he left her to go to his friend.
It was a shame really. She’d always liked those charming bad boys.
He was almost enough to make her forget how the night started. After going to the bar and phoning in a tip and leaving the kid’s wallet, she ordered a white russian and set out to find her friends. She spotted them almost immediately, getting off the dance floor.
Shawnda and Mina waved, and she followed them back to their table.
It was a little quieter in the corner away from the dance floor. Only minimal yelling was needed to communicate.
“Girl, what took you so long?” Shawnda asked after hugging Kaeli and sitting down.
“Ya, I’d done give up on you coming. Called the hotel five times and got no answer,” Mina said, settling into her chair.
“Sorry. I got mugged just outside the club.” Kaeli took a sip of her drink and grimaced at the alcohol stealing her breath.
“Omigod!” they screamed in unison and passed hugs all around.
“What happened? Are you okay?”
Kaeli smiled at them. “I’m all right. Just some damn kid looking for kicks. That ain’t the half of it though. Some guy came up right after.”
Mina perked up, instantly recognizing Kaeli’s interest. “Oh?”
“Spill it, Kaeli. Was he hot?”
“Take a look for yourself, Shawnda. He’s right over there.” Kaeli hooked a thumb over her shoulder toward the opposite corner of the bar where she’d seen him sit down.
They both stood and gaped. “Jesus! Kaeli, which one is it? They’re both gorgeous,” Shawnda said.
“The blond one. His name’s Navarre.”
“On a first name basis now?” Mina asked as she sat. “Why didn’t you jump him when you had the chance? We came here tonight for dick, and girl, you need it worst of all.”
Kaeli nodded. They’d all been single so long, she was sure she was growing cobwebs.
“I’d eat him up. You don’t pass up a good thing like that when it comes along.” Shawnda finished off her fuzzy navel and leaned back in her chair, narrowing her dark eyes at Kaeli in mock severity.
Kaeli shrugged. “He’s not my type.” At their guffaws, she grinned.
“All right. Lies, all lies. I want him so bad I can practically taste it.”
Glancing over her shoulder through the smoky interior, she saw him stand up and walk toward the exit.
“Damn. He’s leaving.”
“Well, go after him,” Shawnda prodded.
Torn, Kaeli sat there. She talked big, but when it came down to doing the deed with a virtual stranger--no matter how hot--she was all talk and no action.
Shawnda and Mina both stood and grabbed her arms, hauling her up.
“Get the lead out of your ass and go after him before he gets away,” Mina said.
They were right. You only live once. “Just bitch slap me for the coward I am if I come home early tonight.” She pulled free. “You sure y’all will be all right?”
“Hell, we were having a great time until that guy bit Mina.”
“Huh?” What the hell kind of city was this? Muggings, guys biting girls in clubs--wait, that sounded like home. Mental forehead smack.
“On the dance floor. We were grinding and then he just up and bit me. I smacked him good. You know I don’t allow that without dinner first.” Mina grinned. “Now, quit stalling and go.”
Kaeli nodded and hugged her friends, then headed to the front entrance. She knew he’d come through the alley. There was a good chance he’d leave that way too. Liquid courage surging through her veins and ears ringing, she walked as fast as she dared. It was as she neared the corner of the building that the sounds of a fight finally registered in her brain.
Someone was getting the shit kicked out of them. She rounded the edge and froze, heart suddenly pounding. “Jesus H. Christ!”
CHAPTER TWO
Navarre thought Raoul was a fool for risking his heart and his life for a human mate, be they ever so tempting. A fling perhaps, but he would not chain himself to a woman who could never be his equal. As arrogant as that made him sound, he couldn’t help the thought. They were too fragile. And to risk war for a woman not their kind was suicide ... and worse. Not that the shaky truce between vamps and Lycans held when pressed. Each stayed on their own ground. Crossing over almost always meant a fight once the vamps had risen from their slumber.
He’d risked attack coming here to talk his friend out of this foolishness, but Raoul would not be swayed. He’d chosen the course of his life and Navarre could not stop him.
Of course, he would not have met the brazen Kaeli had he not come....
Navarre put the tempting vixen out of his mind. He could not chance embroiling more humans in their affairs--it always ended in their death.
To think of her caramel skin bleached and lifeless, the sassy glint of her hazel eyes snuffed, fouled his mood.
Navarre took a deep, cleansing breath as he exited the club. His ears rang with residual beat, and he shook his head as though that would clear it.
The stench of sweat, smoke, and liquor clung to his nostrils, near overpowering him but lessening in potency as he walked past the club’s facade. Rounding the block, he strode into the alley, ears perked for danger.
He’d parked his car on the other end of the building as a precaution from thieves and alerting vamps of his presence. Not that it mattered this early.
He slowed his steps as a hush settled. The wind whistling through the confines halted in anticipation, as though sucked into greedy lungs.
He wasn’t alone.
Navarre crouched, muscles tensing, scanning the edges of the roof for attack. The trace scent of blood drifted to him--a scent of vampire--
permeating the air just as the vampires struck.
A dark shape whipped past him, seemingly from nowhere, though he knew it a trick of the mind--
Navarre whirled with the hit, striking flesh, felt the stinging rain of blood shower upon him--his own and that stolen from an innocent victim.
The vamps stopped in the alley, and his gaze shifted back and forth, keeping them in sight, his muscles
