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“They were just leaving,” I said, my weapon trained on Pony-boy.
“We’ll see you again,” he promised.
“I look forward to it. I’ll dress up for the occasion, since it’ll be the last thing you idiots ever see. ”
I backed away from Ian’s slumped form and let them reclaim their fallen comrade before they slinked off with their tails between their legs.
“You’re having a productive evening,” Holden observed.
“Never a dull moment. ”
Chapter Nine
My productive evening took me to Mercedes’s police station where Holden and I spent several uneventful—and somewhat tense—hours going through police records to see if any of Kellen’s friends had problematic histories or had recently been arrested.
Coming up with nothing but dead ends, we left the station with Cedes promising to keep us posted if she came across anything, but I wasn’t holding out too much hope. I rarely found my answers by human means.
When I walked into my apartment to see Lucas in my living room, I was both relieved and oddly guilt-stricken to still have Holden with me. It was now the second time in as many nights Lucas had seen me with the vampire, and I knew what it looked like. I didn’t know what it was, but I knew what it looked like.
Lucas appeared a lot better than he had when he barged into Holden’s apartment the night before. He’d shaved and was wearing a clean blue polo shirt and stain-free jeans. He smelled spicy, like all werewolves, but different somehow. I used to love how unique his smell was. Now I wanted it out of my house.
“Are you out of your mind?” I demanded, bypassing all polite forms of greeting. “You’re breaking into people’s apartments on a regular basis now?”
“I had a key. ”
“Whose key?” I’d given him one once, but I’d made damned sure I got it back.
“Desmond’s,” he confessed. The way he said it made me believe Desmond wasn’t aware his key had been borrowed. Lucas tried to look sheepish, but I wasn’t buying it. He did all sorts of unacceptable bullshit and tried to act apologetic after, but he never stopped doing the wrong thing. He hadn’t learned a single damn lesson. His policy remained—begging forgiveness is easier than asking permission.
I was all out of forgiveness.
“Give me the key. ”
Lucas didn’t argue and put the key ring into my outstretched palm. “What, you’re not going to hand it over to him?” He angled his chin at Holden.
My eyes narrowed, and my rage was hot and unstoppable when my lips parted. “He already has one, and he uses it frequently. ” If my implications had been too subtle for him, I grabbed Holden’s belt and tugged his body close to mine, looping a possessive arm around his torso and giving Lucas a glare that invited him to protest.
Bless Holden’s perverted soul, he didn’t dispute my territorial claim on him. The problem with what I’d done was that Holden was a shark, and I’d just dumped a bucket of chum in front of him. He hated Lucas and he wanted me, he’d said as much himself. I’d given him the perfect opening for the ultimate fuck you to the wolf king.
I knew I’d made a mistake the moment I put my hand on his belt, but there was no going back.
“Oh yes,” Holden said with a hot, mischievous grin that made my heart feel a bit wobbly. “Secret loves it when I slip through her back door late at night. ”
I fought against the snort trying to escape me and gave him a warning smile. It worked about as well as showing a yellow traffic light to a Ferrari driver. With eyes only for Lucas, Holden jerked me hard against him, and when I started to say something, he merely put my open mouth to good use.
It wasn’t the first time I’d kissed Holden, and unfortunately it showed.
When the vampire claimed my mouth with a bruising, eager, too-showy kiss, I returned the embrace. I molded against him, fisting my fingers in his soft shirt and letting a small, telling moan rumble through my throat. Maybe Holden wasn’t the only one being unnecessarily theatrical. He tangled his fingers in my hair and placed a possessive hand on my hip, slipping it low to cup my bottom. When I opened my eyes, his pupils were an oil-colored black, and he dragged his exposed fangs over my swollen lips.
“Apologies,” Holden said, sounding ever so pleased with himself. He grinned, flashing his fangs at Lucas. “I completely forgot you were here. ”
I looked at my ex-fiancé and tried not to appear the least bit guilty about what I’d just done. It was a cruel way to stick the point home, but he had to understand I wasn’t his anymore. Not only that, but I’d never be his again. If he had to believe I was screwing around with Holden to make him get the message, then so be it. I’d do anything short of letting the vampire mount me to keep Lucas from coming around again.
I still felt sleazy.
“What do you want?” I asked, when the bristling silence had stretched into the realm of uncomfortable. Lucas glared at us, his skin red with bottled frustration, blue eyes shiny.
“I’m here to see how far you’d come in looking for Kellen. ”
