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I turned my unfocused gaze from the window to look at him.
“We’re here. ”
Here had brought us to the front of a club known as the Chameleon Lounge. Depending on what circles you ran with, it was either the most famous nightspot in New York or you had never heard of it.
The Chameleon Lounge was run by weres for weres, and like the council headquarters, humans did not see the club in its true form. To human eyes the building had become so run down even bums refused to sleep there. To a were, it was a posh and lavish place to see and be seen.
If Lucas was bringing me here on our first date, he must not be too ashamed to be spotted in public with me, because by tomorrow morning every wolf in Manhattan would know we’d been here together.
I got nervous. I’d honestly been expecting us to dine at a nice human restaurant. One of the places he wined and dined models and movie stars to the delight of local gossip seekers. Part of me had hoped to be called a mysterious blonde in the weekend edition of Page Six.
This was serious. Not just to our relationship, either. This meant I was about to flaunt my newly discovered royal status to a room of full-blooded weres. Inside the club the name Secret probably didn’t hold water, but the name McQueen did. And Lucas Rain walking in with a McQueen implied something huge.
Everyone in the club knew more about soul-bonding than I did, so while I might not understand it, the deeper meaning would be evident to them.
I avoided spending time with werewolves because, just as Lucas had the night before, they could smell death on me. He had accepted it as a side effect of my chosen career, but what conclusion would a room of strangers draw? And how long would it be before someone pieced together my association with the vampires and the scent lingering on me?
I gave this courtship until my first full moon with him. When I didn’t change into a wolf, I had no doubt Lucas would be done with me.
There was no way this could work.
I grabbed his arm as he began to exit the car, and he gave me a quizzical look. His blue eyes gleamed in the interior car lights.
“Didn’t you want to go somewhere else? Like Nobu or something like that?”
I knew sushi didn’t appeal to either of us as wolves tended to crave more substantial meals, but I ate out so rarely—blood-bag takeout from Calliope’s alternative-reality Starbucks didn’t count—I said the first restaurant I could think of.
He smiled and patted my hand like I was a nervous child. The gesture was mildly condescending, but I doubted it was intended in that way.
“I know this must feel like I’m throwing you into the deep end right after your first lesson, but trust me”—he emphasized the last words by squeezing my hand—“this is the best way. ”
With my stomach planted in my shoes, I let him draw me out of the car. Dominick held the door open and gave me a conspiratorial smile. Though he was a wolf, and just as near in proximity to me as Lucas or Desmond had been, he left no taste in my mouth. It confirmed what I’d thought a
t the hotel. I didn’t react to other werewolves the way I reacted to those two.
Desmond was waiting by the entrance doors, and when he opened them a wave of warmth and noise swept out into the cool spring evening. Holding my hand, Lucas passed through the opened doors and into the club.
For a few moments my dread kept me from breathing. My lung capacity was substantially greater than that of most girls my size and was the only thing that kept me from turning blue and passing out. One of the many benefits of not being human. I had to admit, in spite of my reservations and complaints about what I was, there were definite perks.
Sadly neither of those perks, vampire nor werewolf, could get me out of this situation.
The unique feeling of being near a fellow werewolf was amplified by the presence of so many being together in one room. The warm, comforting feel that made the beast inside me respond like she was home washed over me, and all the hairs on my body rose with a shudder. It was the most overwhelming and electric sensation I’d ever experienced—standing this close to so many who shared one half of my curious heritage. When I was with vampires there was a cool silence. Being among the wolves was like getting dropped into a nest of fur and live wires.
I wanted to rub my face against the tangible energy in the room.
I also really wanted to be wrapped around Lucas again. Hoo-boy he hadn’t been kidding when he used that deep-end metaphor. I had begun running my hand up and down his arm and had to force myself to stop. I put my free hand in my pocket to keep it from shaking. What was happening to me? One day with the wolves and already my control was slipping. It scared me.
The din in the room quieted to dead silence and all eyes were on us.
A beautiful woman with dynamic, curly red hair strode up to us, wearing a skin-tight violet bandage dress that hugged her ample curves more dangerously than a mountain road. Her heels were six inches high, which made her calves look like they were sculpted by razors. In a dress that tight with heels that high, any other woman would be relegated to standing still and looking pretty.
This woman, with her audacious body, approached us in a manner that brought the word slink to mind. She moved with a grace that would make supermodels insane with jealousy.
“Lucas. ” Her soft, husky voice turned his name into a delicate purr.
Even I wanted to sleep with her. How could I hope to compare or compete with someone who looked like sex squeezed into human form? Lucas nodded to her and placed his arm possessively around my waist, pulling me in closer. The redhead had cunning green eyes with smoky purple makeup that made them smolder, and now they were focused on me.
“Genevieve,” Lucas said, “this is Secret McQueen. ”
