Page 27 of Fear

“You were spying on me?”

“I was close enough I sensed Apollonius’s arrival.”

“A half-truth, at best.”

He shrugged, stood, and gave me a relaxed smile. “Not a lie, and not dishonest. I’ll be on my way before Patrick arrives. We’ll talk later.”

My meeting with the Alpha went as expected. His territory is just over the Georgia line, but he’d been part of the Chattanooga Pack before making the move south and taking over what had been a corrupt and ill-managed pack. By all accounts, he’d turned things around and was now Alpha over a healthy pack. We negotiated and signed all the treaties necessary to allow our people to cross territory lines, and to be friends. I’d expected he would bring his wife, but didn’t mention the fact he hadn’t. I’d talk to Moira about it later, since her notes said they seemed to rule as a power couple despite the fact Briana was a relatively new wolf.

My nights were full of negotiations with area and regional leaders, and I didn’t see the slayer again for several days and nights.

So of course he showed up during the Tuesday night shindig for the Eagles, when I was supposed to seduce our chief of security.

I spent the day in the basement of TBC and then fed really well before I went upstairs. It was still daylight, so no one would be looking for a vampire. It’d been a long time since I’d tried to pull off human to a shapeshifter. Could I still do it?

Marco had provided me with two humans from his flock, so I could drink enough to be warm, and to smell human to a bird. A wolf or bear wouldn’t be fooled, but birds rely more on sight than scent.

One of the humans had a bad grade and was due an encounter with a belt. Twelve strikes, lots of fear. Funny, he was just as afraid of crying in front of me as he was of taking the strikes, so I didn’t just make him cry, I made him bawl.

Something told me his grades weren’t going to be a problem for a while.

The other human was female and wasn’t in trouble, so I only fed blood from her, which was fine because she’d recently eaten lots of sweets, and her blood was downright decadent.

I dealt with the male, belting him and then feeding from him so he had a hard-on but no orgasm, sent him away, drank from the female and gave her an orgasm that seemed to rock her world, handed her over to her boyfriend so he could have fun with her while she was still horny, and immediately headed upstairs before I lost the heat of the humans.

According to Evan-the-eagle’s file, he had a type. Thin, pale, with long dark hair. Me.

I don’t like this fad where everyone wears blue jeans most of the time, but the easiest way to play human was to wear tight jeans. I topped it with a white sweater that clung to all my curves, and I used deodorant. Vampires don’t need it, but I was playing human.

Evan sat at a table with other eagles, and it was clear they were deferential to him. A human woman was sitting at a table in the direction he was looking, and I sat with her, so I could meet Evan’s gaze. Yes, she was a plant — a human who wanted to join the flock, but Marco had reservations. She’d been in the flock of the old Master of Birmingham, and Brooke had released most of his human flock when she took over.

We talked as friends. She knew what I needed to do, and she knew what to say.

“Sorry I’m late,” I told her as I sat. “Unforeseen issue I had to deal with.”

“Not a problem. I got you hot tea. I didn’t know if you were in a beer mood or a whiskey mood.”

“Whiskey. If I don’t get laid soon, I’m going to go off like Vesuvius.”

“You’d get laid a little more often if you weren’t so damned picky.”

“Is it too much to ask that a guy keep himself in shape?”

“It isn’t just their shape, and you know it.”

I shrugged. “So I’m a sapiosexual. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

She took a drink of her margarita. “It cuts down on the available one-night stands, though.”

Evan was looking at me now, and I looked down at my teacup. I’d told her to order me the hot tea because I was trying to hold onto as much heat as I could. I took a tiny sip and let my gaze meet Evan’s. I couldn’t drink much, but a few sips wouldn’t make me sick, and holding the cup kept my hands warm.

He tilted his head and smiled, and I gave him a half grin. He wore a tight black t-shirt over ripped muscles, blue jeans, and honest-to-god cowboy boots. He was in need of a haircut, and I liked the effect. I imagined myself running my hands through his blond hair, and he stood and walked to me without saying another word to his friends.

I motioned to an empty seat at our table as he neared, and the human said, “Wow, that was fast, even for you. I’m gonna go load the jukebox.”

I kept my gaze on Evan while she left. “I’m Elisabeth.”

“Evan.”

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