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Michael tossed back his head and laughed. “You’re a fool. Duty is love. Love is duty. What you’re talking about is lust. And I’m not about to let my niece throw her family away because she’s going through some sort of rebellious sexual experimentation phase.”
Michael crossed his arms and looked Georgia right in the eye. “Whether you like it or not, Mac and Logan are already legally mated. I was going to wait until the Lupercalia rites to consecrate their union, but I see now that waiting would be a mistake. Their union will be made sacred on the full moon two nights from now.” Georgia gasped and opened her mouth to argue, but Michael held up a hand. “I’ve tolerated your pleas because I believe in giving a person their say. But you’ve had it and that’s that. If you try to contact Mac, I will consider it an aggressive act and have my men take action against you. Am I clear?”
Georgia’s mouth opened and closed in shock, but she managed to nod.
Dismissing her, Michael slapped Slade on the shoulder. “Thanks for the beer, Slade, but if you’ll excuse me I’ve had quite enough socializing for one evening.” He motioned to his Beta. “Let’s go.”
He brushed past Georgia and walked toward me. My eyes narrowed into slits and I braced to deliver my last word. Instead, Michael made a preemptive strike. “You’re one hell of a fighter, Sabina, but you suck at matchmaking. Stay the hell out of my pack’s business.”
Michael and Rex stormed out of the bar, leaving the rest of us behind to wallow in their wakes.
“That went well,” Slade observed in a droll tone. “All things considered.”
“How can you say that?” I demanded. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Giguhl and PW approaching. They looked like two bloodhounds hot on the trail of drama.
“Sabina, you publicly challenged an Alpha werewolf’s authority and ability to lead his pack. You’re lucky you’re not short a couple of limbs.”
I shot him a piss-off look and went to check on Georgia. Giguhl had an arm around her and PW rubbed her shoulder. Her head was down so I couldn’t see her expression.
“Georgia?” I said, finally reaching them. “How are you doing?”
She looked up then. Instead of shining with tears, her eyes glinted with rage. I pulled back a fraction, shocked. “Georgia?”
“You!” she spat. “This is all your fault!”
My head tilted in confusion. Granted, I probably didn’t help matters by calling Michael out, but the entire situation was hardly my doing. “Georgia—”
“Shut up!” she said. “If I hadn’t listened to you, I would already be back in New Orleans and on my way to getting over Mac instead of embarrassing myself in public!” She wilted then, tears spilling from her eyes like acid rain, destroying her eye makeup and leaving black trails down her face. PW took the vampire from Giguhl and led her away.
Giguhl had the same look most males get once things go emotional and the tears start falling. “I guess now’s not the best time to ask if you’ve talked to Adam?”
I glared at my minion with the ridiculously bad timing. “Bite me, demon.”
“What’s this?” Slade said, shit-eating grin locked firmly in place. “Trouble in paradise already?”
Oh, shit. The last thing I wanted was for Slade to find out he’d been the cause of my argument with the mancy. Luckily—or unluckily, depending on how you looked at it—Alexis Vega chose that moment to sashay into the bar.
“Sabina!” she called when she spotted me. Slade groaned. Good, I shouldn’t be the only one uncomfortable.
“Oh, look, it’s Vampira.” Giguhl’s tone was as dry as an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.
I swallowed the bitter taste that sprang on my tongue the minute she’d walked in. “Shouldn’t you be in L.A. with the Despina?” I asked, trying not to sound too disappointed to see her.
“She asked me to stay here to monitor things.” Her tone implied I was one of the “things” she was monitoring. “Slade, how about a drink?”
Slade tensed beside me. “I’m not the bartender.”
She grinned. “With that kind of attitude you’re likely to fail as a bar owner almost as spectacularly as you failed as the leader of the Black Light District.”
Slade tensed to strike. I grabbed his arm. “What do you want, Alexis?”
She shrugged and plopped on a stool. Her latex-covered ass squeaked against the vinyl seat. “Oh, nothing. Just wanted to gloat a little.”
“About what?” I asked. But I already knew. She’d come to deliver that I-told-you-so I’d been dreading.
“It’s been five nights without another murder. You know what that means, don’t you?”
“No, but I doubt you’re going to leave me in the dark for long.”
“It means we got the right guy,” she said.
“Oh, that’s right. Does that also mean the Despina’s already given you Slade’s old job?” I knew Tanith had done no such thing. But I couldn’t help digging at her massive ego.
Alexis’s face tightened. “Not yet. I’m sure she’s just planning on announcing it at the treaty signing. You know Tanith—she loves to make a big deal.”
I cocked a brow. Actually, of all three of the Dominae, Tanith was the least enthusiastic about… well, everything. She was far more likely to call a business meeting than to make a fuss. “Or maybe she’s decided you aren’t the best woman for the job after all.”
“Please,” Alexis said. “Who else would they choose?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know, but surely there are other beings who’d do a better job. Hell, even Giguhl would do a better job.”
“Thanks, I think,” Giguhl said.
Alexis shrugged. “Whatever. You’re just in a bad mood because your boyfriend’s sleeping at the Crossroads.”
I stilled as shock froze my bloodstream.
“I ran into him there earlier. He looked terrible,” she said with false casualness. “What happened, Sabina? He finally get tired of you?”
Giguhl grabbed my shoulder when I tensed. He stabbed the vampiress with an icy glare.
“If I were you I’d stop talking now.”
Her lips curled up into a feline smile. Luckily, she wasn’t as much of an idiot as I thought because she didn’t respond. Instead, she snapped her fingers in Earl’s direction. He was standing at the other end of the bar, reading the newspaper. “What’s a vampire gotta do to get some blood around here?” she called.
