Aiden steered her toward the bar and an empty seat at the end of it. “They’re not all real blood,” he assured her when he saw her gazing at the red jugs.

“I know,” she replied.

“I guess you would know, with your job and all.”

She shrugged. “I can also smell the difference.”

He opened his mouth to question her further, but the bartender arrived before he could. “Aiden,” Zeke greeted and was unable to keep the surprise off his face when he saw Aiden’s hand on Maggie’s back. Unlike many of the other vamps who frequented Carha’s, Aiden had never brought someone with him. “I’m Zeke.”

Maggie took the hand Zeke extended toward her. “Maggie.”

“You weren’t gone long, and you look like shit; what happened to you?” Zeke asked Aiden as he released Maggie’s hand.

“Long story,” Aiden replied.

“Anything to do with the commotion Brutus reported outside?”

“Yes.”

“Glad you’re okay.” Zeke glanced at Maggie again. “Looks like you two could use a drink.”

“Yes,” Maggie said. “I’ll take a glass of the best whiskey you have that doesn’t have food dye or blood mixed in with it.” She thrust her thumb at Aiden. “I’m assuming he has a tab, so it’s on him, and so is everything else I order.”

Zeke chuckled. “And you?” he asked Aiden.

“The same. I also need a phone.”

“You got it.” Zeke dipped into his shirt pocket and pulled out his phone; he tossed it over to Aiden who caught it. “I’ll be back with those drinks.”

Aiden pulled up the touchscreen pad for numbers and typed in the one he’d memorized for Saxon earlier in the night.

“What?” an irritated voice inquired after the first ring.

Aiden stepped away from Maggie, who didn’t so much as glance at him before snatching up the glass Zeke placed before her and downing its amber contents. She pushed the empty glass toward Zeke, took Aiden’s drink, and consumed it too. She held up two fingers to Zeke.

“It’s me,” he said to Saxon.

“Where are you?” Saxon demanded. “I’ve been standing on a street corner for half an hour waiting for you, and more than a few women are hoping I’m a male prostitute. I’ve been propositioned more times than the last woman on earth would be if the entire male population survived. I shit you not.”

“And how many have you taken up on their offers?”

Saxon chuckled. “None yet, but there were a few it distressed me to turn down.”

Aiden was aware of what inner battle Saxon waged to keep his demons at bay as Saxon spent much of his free time in a woman’s bed.

“I ran into some trouble tonight.” Aiden explained what happened while Maggie downed another glass of whiskey and leaned across the bar to speak with Zeke.

Zeke nodded before heading through the door connecting the bar to a back room.

“Where are you now?” Saxon asked.

“I had to come back to Carha’s. I was hoping to find my phone, which is garbage.”

“I see.” Saxon didn’t ask what he’d been doing at Carha’s to begin with; they all had their ways of dealing with the darkness plaguing them.

“There’s more.”

“When isn’t there?”

“I found her,” Aiden said.

“You’re kidding?”

Saxon knew immediately who he meant as there was only one her any of them would mention finding. “No. She’s one of the paramedics who picked me up, and she’s sitting at the bar in Carha’s right now.”

“Get her out of that place.”

“You think I want her here? The Savages are outside. I have no weapons, and I’m weakened. I can’t take them on, and I can’t put her at risk by taking her out of here. One of them already bit her.” Remembering the attack on her caused his fangs to lengthen. “I’d rather have her safe and repulsed by me than have one of those things get their hands on her again.”

Saxon took a deep breath. “Okay. I’ll call Ronan and get some backup. I’ll meet you there.”

“Be careful. I have no idea if they’ve brought in more Savages to help them with this or not. They cleaned up most of their mess pretty quick, but there’s still more cleaning up to do.”

“We’ll take care of it. See you soon.”

Saxon hung up before Aiden could reply. He walked over to return Zeke’s phone to him as Zeke slid a plate of food in front of Maggie. Aiden glanced down at the steak in front of her and the blood oozing from it.

“Is that undercooked?” he asked.

“I hope so,” Maggie said as she picked up her knife and fork.

He watched as she sliced into the steak and shoved a piece in her mouth. She rolled her eyes and practically danced in her chair as she gave Zeke an enthusiastic thumbs-up. “Didn’t realize you served human food here,” Aiden said to Zeke.

“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 a disgusted look, but she didn’t glance up as she continued to devour her meal. Usually, he wouldn’t drink anything that didn’t come straight from a vein, but he needed to gain strength, and he required blood for that.

Zeke returned with a pint glass full of blood and placed it in front of him. Aiden drank it as Maggie shoved her empty plate away, patted her belly, and downed another glass of whiskey.

“I have to clean up,” she said and hopped off the barstool.

She felt revitalized by the whiskey and food as she strolled across the bar toward the bathrooms. Unlike other clubs or bars where she would have to fight her way through people dancing, most of the crowd here were in the booths. Some of the patrons slipped behind one of the two metal doors on the other end of the room, opposite the bar.

Maggie frowned at those doors as she wondered where they went and what they hid. Then, she realized she was better off not knowing.

She felt Aiden’s body heat against her elbow before she made it twenty feet, but she didn’t look back at him as she walked toward the bathrooms. Stopping outside the hideous doors, she almost laughed when she saw one marked Dracula and the other as Dracula’s Bride.

“Oh, for crying out loud,” she muttered and pushed into the Bride’s room.

She couldn’t hold back her laughter when she spotted the fake garlic hanging from the light fixtures and the cross-shaped soap dispensers before heading into one of the stalls. The corniness of it all made her giggle again when she emerged from the stall to wash her hands.

She barely recognized the pale, dirty woman staring back at her from the mirror above the sink. She washed the grime from her face and scrubbed her hands. Blood stained the collar of her shirt, and the front of it was streaked with dirt and blood, but no wounds marked her neck. She poked at the places where Aiden and that thing had bit her, but not even a tenderness remained. Gulping, she shoved aside her unease and focused on getting herself at least a little cleaned up.

She undid the buttons of her shirt and pulled it open to reveal her black tank beneath. She was half-tempted to take her ruined uniform shirt off and throw it in the trash, but if they went back outside, she would regret her decision to stroll around in a tank top in March. She shouldn’t be wearing her uniform in a bar, everything in her protested it. However, she didn’t think anyone here would report her, and she doubted anyone she knew was going to enter this place anytime soon.

A knock sounded on the door before it pushed open a little. Aiden stuck his head inside. “You okay?”

She glanced at him as she pulled the elastic from her hair and slipped it onto her wrist. “Fine.”

Running her fingers through her hair, she worked the tangles from it the best she could. She jumped when Aiden suddenly appeared behind her in the mirror. She’d assumed he’d gone back out, and she hadn’t heard him enter.

She gazed at his reflection in the mirror while he stared at her. Seeming almost transfixed by her hair, he lifted some of it and ran it through his fingers. She went to pull it away from him but stopped when he spoke.

“Beautiful,” he whispered. “You are so beautiful, Magdalene.”

She didn’t know how to reply to that as his scent of cloves and male engulfed her when he leaned closer. He set his hands on her hips and turned her to face him. She’d witnessed his supernatural abilities, yet the vulnerability in his eyes stole her breath.

His eyes fell to her mouth. Before she knew what he intended, he bent to brush his lips over hers. She jumped a little when a jolt of electricity sizzled across her lips and through her body. She should pull away from him. The last thing she needed was to get entangled with a vampire, especially one who had more layers than an onion.

She didn’t move.

She’d watched him tear into other vampires like they were gummy bears. He’d bit her and taken her blood. Her mother was in an institute probably screaming about vampires right now, 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 her mouth before nipping her lip.

Her body reacted like he was the artist and she was the clay as she melded against him. His hands slid over her hips and around to cup her ass. He pulled her so close she could feel the rigid length of his cock straining against his jeans as it pressed into her belly. She’d only had one boyfriend who mattered, but even though they’d loved each other deeply, she’d never felt desired before.

That was all she felt now.

Unable to stop herself, she rose onto her toes, slid her arms around his neck, and ground against his erection. The motion caused more pleasure to spiral through her as it stoked her passion. He released a sound that had her contemplating tearing off her pants as her nipples hardened and a wetness spread between her legs.

When Aiden slid his tongue over her lips, they parted to let it slip inside. A feeling of calm spread over him again as he ran his tongue over the sweet hollows and contours of her mouth. He’d only meant to check on her, to make sure she was okay, but when he’d seen her, he’d been unable to resist the lure of her.

He’d expected her to push him away, to leave the room or order him out. He hadn’t expected her to drape her arms around his neck and draw him closer. He hadn’t expected her to respond to him as enthusiastically as he did her, and now he couldn’t let her go. Lifting her, he settled her ass onto the restroom sink so he could nestle his rigid cock between her thighs.

Her fingers dug into his nape; she pulled him closer as her body arched toward him. Sliding his hand toward her breasts, he was about to cup one of them when hinges squeaked.

Maggie didn’t have time to process what caused the squeak before the kiss ended, she was abruptly lifted off the sink, and set down behind Aiden. She blinked as she tried to figure out what happened. One second, she’d been in a lust-filled haze. The next, she was staring at Aiden’s broad, still healing back.

“Oh,” a voice squeaked. Maggie peered around Aiden to the woman standing in the doorway. The woman blushed prettily, put her hand over her mouth, and giggled. “There are rooms in the back for that.”

“Get. Out,” Aiden commanded in a voice that made the hair on Maggie’s arms rise.

The woman’s smile vanished, and she ducked away. Maggie tugged at her shirt, buttoning it over her tank again as she tried to hide the blush creeping through her cheeks. Never in her life had she considered sex in a public place, especially not the bathroom of a funky vampire club with a virtual stranger, but if that woman hadn’t walked in, she didn’t know what would have happened between her and Aiden.

Scratch that, she did know; that was the problem. This man was a killer, he was a vampire, she didn’t know him from Adam, and she’d been about to screw him in this germ-ridden room. What is wrong with me? Get it together!

She straightened her shoulders, smoothed back her hair, and stepped out from behind his back. She dodged his hand when he reached for her and hurried toward the door. “Maggie—”

“I want another drink,” she interrupted.

“I’d like to clean up. Please wait for me in here.”

The please made her stop at the door, but she didn’t look at him again. When the water turned on, she glanced back to make sure he was distracted before slipping out the door.