She loved the sound of his Boston accent. It wasn’t thick like some people she’d encountered, but more subtle and flowing. “Only when he’s stepping over the line. And I don’t threaten; I’ve done it before.” Cassidy laughed when Dante’s eyebrows shot into his hairline. “My siblings and I like torturing each other; it’s part of the fun.”
Dante chuckled and pushed his glass toward the edge of the bar. He’d only planned to have one, but he’d keep drinking if she kept talking. “That it is.”
Cassidy tilted her head to study him. “You and your siblings tortured each other too?”
“On occasion.”
“I’m sure it was only on occasion. I know how brothers work.” She held her hand out to him. “I never got the chance to tell you my name last time. I’m Cassidy Byrne.”
Dante studied her fine-boned hand for a second before taking it. The contact with her skin sent a jolt of electricity through him, and his hand closed around hers. Lifting his head, he met her gaze as her lips parted on a small breath.
Judging by her reaction, he wasn’t the only one who felt it. He resisted pulling her closer as the wild flutter of her heart pounded in his ears. And then, he realized his heart matched the beat of hers.
He only introduced himself as Dante to her last time. Usually, he wouldn’t have given someone his real name while working a case, but he hadn’t been able to lie to her. “Dante Alvarez,” he said. “It’s nice to meet you.”
Chapter Six
A small smile tugged at the corners of her red, rosebud mouth. “You too, Dante. Are you going to tell me why you’re searching for these women?”
Knowing he’d look foolish if he continued to stand there, holding her hand, he reluctantly released it. “It’s what I do. It’s what I’ve always done.”
“You’re a police officer?”
“In another life. But weren’t we all something else in another life?”
“Not me; I was born this way.”
Dante did a double take as his jaw almost dropped. Somehow, he managed to stop himself from gawking at her like an idiot, but he wouldn’t have been any more shocked if she told him she was the reincarnation of Cleopatra.
“Wait… what?” he asked.
Cassidy chuckled and, before she could think about the action, rested her fingers on his arm. She never would have touched anyone else she’d just met, but the gesture felt so right it frightened her little.
She wasn’t an idiot; she grew up around mated vampires and had been around plenty of men who did nothing for her, so she knew her reaction to Dante was far from normal. She wasn’t ready for this.
Or, at least, that’s what she believed before he walked into Adler’s, or Addy’s as the employees and regulars called it, two weeks ago. Then all she experienced was panic and confusion. Now she was glad he’d returned, and she would deal with everything else later.
Besides, she was getting way ahead of herself. Just because she found him attractive, wanted to learn more about him, thought about kissing him far too often throughout the day, and dreamt about him every night, didn’t mean she was staring at her mate.
Cassidy glanced at the women sitting at the bar, but most of them were focused on Kyle as he flipped and spun bottles while pouring their drinks. Even though the customers were distracted, she leaned closer to Dante. Cassidy told herself she got closer so no one overheard them, but as she inhaled his scent and basked in his warmth, she knew she did it to get closer.
“I take it someone turned you,” she said as she pulled her hand away from his arm.
“You weren’t?”
“Nope. Like I said, I was born this way. My parents are both vampires, and I’m a purebred.”
Dante couldn’t find the words to respond. He believed he knew everything about vamps, but apparently, he was wrong. After Clora turned him, she told him the rules for survival. If you kill humans, you become a monster. You can still walk around in the daytime if you don’t kill; don’t let humans know you exist, or they’ll kill you, and if they don’t kill you, the vamps will. But she’d never revealed that vampires could have children.
The idea was utterly insane, yet it gave him a measure of hope. He’d given up on the idea of having kids, not only because he believed it was impossible, but also because of what the loss of a child did to his parents.
But now… now… well, he didn’t know. The idea of having a child and losing it still scared him, but if it wasn’t impossible to have a child, then maybe one day, in the far distant future, it wouldn’t be such a terrifying prospect.
He’d sensed Kyle and Cassidy were strong, but he assumed it was because they were older vamps. Now, he wasn’t so sure.
“How old are you?” he asked as Kyle returned.
“How old are you?” Kyle demanded.
Dante turned to face him. He’d prefer not to piss off Cassidy’s brother, and he completely understood the protective thing. He was younger than Maya, but he’d chased more than a few losers away. Unfortunately, losers were Maya’s type, and some of them refused to go away, and she insisted on keeping them.
The only guy he’d ever liked was Lewis Guthrie, but because he seemed like a good guy, Maya kept turning him down. After she vanished, Lewis became the main suspect as he disappeared the same day. But then, the police finally hunted him down and cleared him.
When Kyle and Dante continued to stare at each other, Cassidy pushed her glass across the bar toward her brother. Kyle ignored her until she lifted the glass and tapped him on the arm with it; he finally shifted his attention to her.
“I’d like some water, please,” she said.
Kyle took her glass but didn’t move.
Cassidy huffed out a breath and focused on Dante again. “We’re both twenty-one,
