“Don’t worry, I’ll vouch for you.”
My teeth pressed together hard enough that my jaw ached. I forced my tongue to the roof of my mouth, swallowing down the bitter taste that crept up the back of my throat. My shoulders stayed still, even as every instinct screamed at me to pull away.
I was already trying to think of a way out of this. Something, anything… when I caught movement at Manshu’s side.
The male demon stepped up close enough that their shoulders brushed. Ignoring me completely, his expression on Manshu shifted into something sharper, more possessive.
“Why waste your time or effort on the help,” he drawled smoothly as he leaned in, whispering in Manshu’s ear, “when you’ve got better options right here?”
His hand drifted down his chest, and Manshu watched as he licked his lips. The demon’s eyes cut briefly toward the female vampire draped over Manshu’s other side, a silent cue.
She followed it instantly.
“Exactly,” she said, her lip curling as her gaze dropped over me, slow and deliberate, before she looked back up at Manshu like he was the drink of water she’d always dreamed of. Her handslid down his chest, fingers tracing each muscle as she leaned in closer, her mouth brushing his ear.
“You can have all the fun you want with us,” she murmured, her voice soft but edged. “That one?” Her eyes flicked toward me again, dismissive. “She wouldn’t last. Not even after the first thrust.”
Laughing at me, they closed in tighter around him, drawing his focus back to them.Fucking thank god.
His grip on my hair loosened, his fingers flicking the strands away as if they no longer held interest. The tension around me eased just enough that my shoulders dropped before I could stop it.
He turned away from me completely, his focus snapping back to the two practically humping his sides. The demon’s face was caught in his hand, pulled close as he shoved his tongue down his throat. The vampire pressed in from the other side, running her teeth over his neck before she whispered all the things she wanted to watch Manshu do to the demon.
She cut me a calculated smirk, thinking she had won, but there was nothing I wanted more in this world than to disappear from this outdoor threesome that was about to happen. Just thinking about fucking Manshu made me want to blow out my brains.
Shifting my weight, I took several steps back, keeping my movements quiet until I turned away from them. The sounds behind me blurred together—low laughter, murmured words, the unbridled moans—as I tried to put distance between us.
“Hey!”
The word snapped through the air. I froze mid-step, slowly turning my head back over my shoulder.
The vampire was watching me now, her earlier amusement gone, her eyes narrowed as she dropped to her knees and unzipped his pants. The demon’s gaze locked onto mine, sharp and warning, his posture tightening as if daring me to linger too long.
Manshu barely looked up, reaching into his pocket and tossed something without aiming.
The keys hit my chest before dropping into my hands.
“Take the car,” he said, his voice breaking between words as his attention drifted elsewhere. “Park it at the club and?—”
His sentence faltered as he hissed, his eyes rolling to the back of his head as the two at his sides pulled him further out of focus.
“Just… park it,” he muttered, waving a hand vaguely in my direction.
That was all I needed.
I turned on my heel and moved fast, the noise behind me fading with every step. My grip tightened around the keys as I reached the car, yanking the door open and sliding inside.
The engine roared to life under my hands, and for the first time all night I felt true relief.
***
Handing the keys off to the bouncer, his troll thick fingers closed around them as he gave a short nod and turned away, already shouting something over his shoulder to the valet line.
The bass from the club thudded through the pavement under my boots as I stepped back, scanning the street for a cab. Headlights passed in streaks, revealing supes clustered in loose groups along the sidewalk, their laughter and sharp voices cutting through the night air.
“Via! Hey—wait!”
I pivoted just in time to see Lark pushing through the line at the entrance, slipping past a couple of annoyed supes as she hurried down the steps. Her heels clicked unevenly against the pavement as she ran toward me, one hand waving high to catch my attention.
