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But the humans…they hadn’t cared in the least—exactly as he’d predicted.
Rafe was so tired of this hiding bullshit. He wanted to embrace his true nature, and he wanted the world to celebrate with him. But according to the damn Ministry, the humans weren’t ready yet.
Of course, Rafe wasn’t the only one who skirted the Ministry’s rules. And he made a habit of finding those people as soon as he could whenever he moved to a new area.
“He says fifty,” Lola said.
“But…”
Lola held the door open leading to the private garage parking connected to the nightclub. The harsh light caught her dark eyes and caressed the hint of fang he could make out when she smiled. “Oh, I think he’s been here for at least a hundred years.”
That was a delicious tidbit of information. The Ministry required all vampires to change homes once every twenty years to reduce the chances of a human noticing someone wasn’t aging. Most vamps pushed a year or two here and there. Marcus never allowed them to simply because Rafe reveled in being visible.
But it hadn’t taken long for Rafe to discover a secret group of clanless vampires that existed in every town who almost never moved. They were hands down the best source of information.
The hard part was locating one of the vampires. The next hardest part was convincing them that it was in their best interest to speak to Rafe. Lola had gotten quite good at locating them, and Rafe knew how to be charming.
“What’s our new friend’s name?” Rafe pushed the button on the key fob in his pocket, unlocking the doors to his BMW.
“Edgar.” Lola dropped into the passenger seat and stretched out her legs with a happy sigh.
Rafe was just starting the engine when he noticed Lola sit up and loudly sniff. He rolled his eyes heavenward as he shifted the car into drive. He’d cleaned up the blood and then hired a cleaning service to go back over it, but that wasn’t enough. Lola knew the scent of his blood. They’d supplied each other on more than one occasion—sometimes for fun and sometimes when the need was dire.
“What the fuck happened that you were bleeding in here?” Lola snapped.
Lovely. Straight to mother bear mode.
“Philippe and I ran into a small bit of trouble last night. Nothing too vexing.” He carefully maneuvered the car out of the parking spot and through the garage.
Did you allow Arsenault to feed from you?” Lola asked, the tone of her voice rising with her horror. To allow another vampire—a virtual stranger—to feed was unheard of. And yet a flood of warmth rushed through Rafe’s veins at the idea of Philippe’s fangs piercing his throat. If Rafe’s cock had a vote, he’d be all for Philippe biting Rafe. Though the preference was during sex and not when either of them was injured.
“No, Philippe didn’t feed from me.” He tried using his frostiest voice to ward against more questions, but Lola wasn’t deterred.
“You were hurt!” She twisted in her seat so that she was facing him as he pulled out into evening traffic. “Why the hell didn’t you contact me?”
“Because what you and Bel fail to realize is, I can take care of myself. I am quite capable and skilled,” Rafe griped.
“My job is to protect your ass.”
“Your job is to watch over my club.”
“Fuck that!”
Rafe growled. “That includes keeping an eye on Ryder and Gideon.”
Lola flopped in her seat, her arms crossed over her leather-wrapped chest. “You pull that shit again, and I’m moving back into the penthouse.”
That was a double-edged threat that left Rafe fighting to hide his smile. Lola had lived with him for several decades before she finally moved out on her own. They’d gotten along wonderfully and always had a similar need to enjoyable distractions. They both loved sex and fun, though it had been a lot of years since they’d last been together.
But Rafe had started to harbor hopes of getting Philippe in his bed, and he didn’t want Lola around for that. And he most definitely had zero interest in sharing Philippe with Lola.
They finished the rest of the drive in relative silence. Lola spoke only to give directions. Rafe knew they were both pouting, and it was more than a little ridiculous, but he wasn’t worried about Lola. She was the only person who knew him as well as his brothers, and he liked to think he knew her just as well.
Parking where she indicated, Rafe tried not to wrinkle his nose as he took in their surroundings. Definitely not a good area if he was going by the broken and boarded-up windows, trash along the sidewalks, and the pervasive scent of urine. But for a vampire to stay unnoticed for a century, he usually had to live among the most overlooked and forgotten humans. The poor and crime-ridden made the top of that list.
