My eyes widen. “That was fast.”
“Tannis told me to let them go,” Nate admits.
“Because they’re my friends?” I ask, my voice threaded with concern. Gray looks just as skeptical as I do.
“No,” Nate says, “because they don’t want to fuck with the witches any further.”
That’s ominous. I ask. “Why?”
The other vampires part, as two more drag a man in by his arms. He falls to the floor at our feet, and at first, I’m horrified, but the minute I see that he’s a vampire, too, the answer is suddenly obvious.
“This one caught your friend Jill at the bar and tried to… proposition her. When his efforts to compel her fell short… well, you can guess what happened next.” Nate looks down on the man with irritation and disgust. Guess it’s a good thing I didn’t break the rules.
“How was I supposed to know the bitch was a maj-hag?” The man grunts. One of Nate’s guards zips forward and pulls his head back by the tail of his ponytail. It’s enough to nearly rip his head clean off his shoulders. I draw back and turn my head away. I’ve had enough torture for one night.
“Take him out of here.” Nate orders. His guards make quick work of the rule-breaker, towing him out until the sound of resistance is long gone.
Gods, of course she was fired up.
Reasons aside, I’m relieved that a horde of vampires won’t be hunting down my friends any time soon. I may still be processing what I witnessed, but I won’t allow anyone to hurt Jill or Emma for what I know is a misunderstanding. If I can just talk to them, I’m confident that I can clear this up.
“I’ll talk to Tannis when we get back,” Gray says, as if reading my mind.
Nate claps his hands together, drawing our attention. “And in the meantime, the two of you should get going. I’m sure you don’t want to remain here soaked to the bone.”
“Probably for the best,” I admit. My towels aren’t as much help now that they’re as wet as my dress.
Gray offers me a hand and I take it. He pulls me to stand, and I wobble. I didn’t think he took that much blood from me, but Iguess I was wrong. He wraps an arm around my waist and holds me steady.
“You can take the car.” Nate produces a set of keys and tosses them over to Gray.
“What about you?” Gray asks, pocketing them.
“I’ll get back, don’t worry about me.” Nate places both hands on his hips while the other guys behind him get to work with mops and buckets. It’s the most mundane thing a vampire in an expensive suit could be doing, and yet, it somehow makes the situation we’re in a little less grim.
“Is there a back door somewhere?” In a flash of speed, Gray scoops me into his arms and holds me tight to his chest. I grip his wet shirt with my shaking hands. “I’d prefer not to go the way we came.”
“Sure.” Nate nods. “Service elevator behind the bar. They’ll let you through.”
Gray doesn’t waste a second more. He blurs down to the dance floor in a blink, dipping behind the bar we were at earlier, with me clinging to his frame like a shaking leaf. The elevator is a short ride up, much quicker than our original descent. Instead of the laundromat, we wind up inside a cooler fridge full of beer and liquor. Another hidden door innocuously located inside of a 24-hour liquor store.
“Could’ve warned us about the cooler.” My teeth chatter as Gray hunts down the car.
Conveniently enough, the laundromat is a block away from the liquor store, and the car is already parked out front for us. Nate must have had someone pull it up in anticipation of our quick exit.
“Don’t worry”—Gray winks as he slides me into the passenger’s seat—“I have some ideas about warming you up, but they’ll have to wait until we get back.”
“Can’t wait.”
Before I know it, the heat is on blast, the radio is pumping out late night tunes, and we’re on the move again. Safely away from the club and any danger, I still can’t help but worry. Torn between Gray, who could have died, and Jill, who has been a witch this whole time. With Dante already a threat, we don’t need to add two of my closest friends to the list of our current enemies.
I uncurl myself from the seat long enough to twist myself toward Gray. He looks rigid as he drives, white-knuckling the steering wheel with a look that could kill.
“Phone?”
“Nate stored them in the glove box,” he says tightly, red eyes flicking from the road to me. “Are you going to call her?”
“What other choice do I have?” I open the compartment and snag my phone. The same sense of dread I felt toward Dante now simmers low in my belly as I pull up Jill’s name. I swallow a lump in my throat as I hit ‘dial.’ With a steadying breath, I bring it to my ear and wait for the connection.
