“Be careful. I have no idea if they’vebrought in more Savages to help them with this or not. They cleanedup most of their mess pretty quick, but there’s still more cleaningup to do.”
“We’ll take care of it. See you soon.”
Saxon hung up before Aiden could reply. Hewalked over to return Zeke’s phone to him as Zeke slid a plate offood in front of Maggie. Aiden glanced down at the steak in frontof her and the blood oozing from it.
“Is that undercooked?” he asked.
“I hope so,” Maggie said as she picked upher knife and fork.
He watched as she sliced into the steak andshoved a piece in her mouth. She rolled her eyes and practicallydanced in her chair as she gave Zeke an enthusiastic thumbs-up.“Didn’t realize you served human food here,” Aiden said toZeke.
“Occasionally we receive an order for it,and you know Carha, she’ll take every penny she can,” Zeke replied.“Can I get you anything else?”
“I’ll take a pint of blood,” Aiden said.
He expected Maggie to flinch or give him adisgusted look, but she didn’t glance up as she continued to devourher meal. Usually, he wouldn’t drink anything that didn’t comestraight from a vein, but he needed to gain strength, and herequired blood for that.
Zeke returned with a pint glass full ofblood and placed it in front of him. Aiden drank it as Maggieshoved her empty plate away, patted her belly, and downed anotherglass of whiskey.
“I have to clean up,” she said and hoppedoff the barstool.
She felt revitalized by the whiskey and foodas she strolled across the bar toward the bathrooms. Unlike otherclubs or bars where she would have to fight her way through peopledancing, most of the crowd here were in the booths. Some of thepatrons slipped behind one of the two metal doors on the other endof the room, opposite the bar.
Maggie frowned at those doors as shewondered where they went and what they hid. Then, she realized shewas better off not knowing.
She felt Aiden’s body heat against her elbowbefore she made it twenty feet, but she didn’t look back at him asshe walked toward the bathrooms. Stopping outside the hideousdoors, she almost laughed when she saw one marked Dracula and theother as Dracula’s Bride.
“Oh, for crying out loud,” she muttered andpushed into the Bride’s room.
She couldn’t hold back her laughter when shespotted the fake garlic hanging from the light fixtures and thecross-shaped soap dispensers before heading into one of the stalls.The corniness of it all made her giggle again when she emerged fromthe stall to wash her hands.
She barely recognized the pale, dirty womanstaring back at her from the mirror above the sink. She washed thegrime from her face and scrubbed her hands. Blood stained thecollar of her shirt, and the front of it was streaked with dirt andblood, but no wounds marked her neck. She poked at the places whereAiden and that thing had bit her, but not even a tendernessremained. Gulping, she shoved aside her unease and focused ongetting herself at least a little cleaned up.
She undid the buttons of her shirt andpulled it open to reveal her black tank beneath. She washalf-tempted to take her ruined uniform shirt off and throw it inthe trash, but if they went back outside, she would regret herdecision to stroll around in a tank top in March. She shouldn’t bewearing her uniform in a bar, everything in her protested it.However, she didn’t think anyone here would report her, and shedoubted anyone she knew was going to enter this place anytimesoon.
A knock sounded on the door before it pushedopen a little. Aiden stuck his head inside. “You okay?”
She glanced at him as she pulled the elasticfrom her hair and slipped it onto her wrist. “Fine.”
Running her fingers through her hair, sheworked the tangles from it the best she could. She jumped whenAiden suddenly appeared behind her in the mirror. She’d assumedhe’d gone back out, and she hadn’t heard him enter.
She gazed at his reflection in the mirrorwhile he stared at her. Seeming almost transfixed by her hair, helifted some of it and ran it through his fingers. She went to pullit away from him but stopped when he spoke.
“Beautiful,” he whispered. “You are sobeautiful, Magdalene.”
She didn’t know how to reply to that as hisscent of cloves and male engulfed her when he leaned closer. He sethis hands on her hips and turned her to face him. She’d witnessedhis supernatural abilities, yet the vulnerability in his eyes stoleher breath.
His eyes fell to her mouth. Before she knewwhat he intended, he bent to brush his lips over hers. She jumped alittle when a jolt of electricity sizzled across her lips andthrough her body. She should pull away from him. The last thing sheneeded was to get entangled with a vampire, especially one who hadmore layers than an onion.
She didn’t move.
She’d watched him tear into other vampireslike they were gummy bears. He’d bit her and taken her blood. Hermother was in an institute probably screaming about vampires rightnow, and Maggie had always feared they’d be sharing a bunk one day,but she couldn’t pull away from him.
“So beautiful,” he murmured against hermouth before nipping her lip.
Her body reacted like he was the artist andshe was the clay as she melded against him. His hands slid over herhips and around to cup her ass. He pulled her so close she couldfeel the rigid length of his cock straining against his jeans as itpressed into her belly. She’d only had one boyfriend who mattered,but even though they’d loved each other deeply, she’d never feltdesired before.
That wasallshe felt now.
