HUNTER ESMUND WAITED to speak to Dante, keeping an eye out for the office door to open. There had been another incident, and this time, someone had been hurt. It wasn’t just property damage anymore.
After what seemed like forever, he watched as Phoenix exited Dante’s office, closing the door behind her. As she walked past, Hunter saw the bite marks from Dante on her neck. They starkly stood out against her creamy skin. Dante hadn’t healed her all the way, and Hunter had to wonder if it had been deliberate.
Phoenix neared and looked up to meet his eyes. He tipped his chin in greeting, and she nodded back. Not shy in the least about what she’d been doing in his boss’s office—or, more accurately, what his boss had been doing to her—she strolled past with her shoulders back and her head high, as if her being there was an everyday, normal thing. Although sexual arousal clung to her, she didn’t smell of the actual act.
The whole thing was odd. Everyone in the house knew that Dante had a voracious appetite when it came to fucking, but since the female cat-shifter had come into his life, he’d refrained. Usually, sex and feeding were a package deal with the Guardian leader, but while something happened as he fed from Phoenix, they never had actual sex. Not only did neither of them ever smell like it, but Dante had also been increasingly testy lately. And, while Dante had regulars, he never fed from the same female twice in a row. Until now. Yet the two of them had made no claims on one another. Like Hunter had said, odd.
Not that Hunter really understood the whole fucking-and-feeding thing. Or, more truthfully, he didn’t understand the whole fucking thing. He’d had a handful of lovers over the years, yet he could take or leave all of them. Sure, it felt good, but so did his hand, and it was a lot less complicated. No awkward conversations after. He didn’t know what it was, but there always seemed to be something missing when he had sex, and he never felt the rush of desire from feeding either. So, now, he just skipped the screwing part. He fed from a few females who understood that he didn’t want anything more from them. It was easier for everyone that way.
He’d once tried to broach the subject with friends, asking them something like why they thought sex was so great and what was so special about female blood. But, after the looks his pals had given him, Hunter had laughed, like he’d been joking, and never talked to anyone about it since.
Maybe he just needed to meet the right female. Then, things would be different, and he might finally understand what all the hype was about.
Dante opened the office door, and Hunter snapped out of his self-pitying thoughts.
“Lexine,” Hunter called down the hall to let her know Dante was ready to talk.
He’d warned her earlier that something had gone down, but when she’d seen that Phoenix was still in Dante’s office, Lexine had told Hunter to just let her know when they were ready. No one talked about it, but everyone knew she had a thing for Dante. Everyone but Dante, which was probably good because he didn’t see Lexine as anything more than a fellow Guardian.
Hunter entered the office, and Lexine walked in moments later. She left the door open since they were the only ones there now that the cat-shifter had left, and everyone else was out in the field.
Dante ran his fingers through his dark hair while Lexine stared at the floor, her white-blonde hair hanging around her face like a curtain.
“What’s going on?” Dante asked.
“There was another attack tonight.”
Dante cursed, and his deep brown eyes filled with anger. None of them wanted to see their elders in danger.
Lexine didn’t seem to have a reaction. Hunter would have wondered if the female hadn’t heard him, except she had vampire hearing and stood directly next to him.
“This time, someone got hurt,” he added.
Lexine’s head whipped up, looking at him for confirmation, her hazel-green eyes round. “What?”
So, now, she cares.
“Who?” Dante asked, the ire in his voice apparent.
“Mrs. Howard.”
“Shit,” Dante said as he collapsed down in his chair.
“Oh no,” Lexine said, worry in her tone. She bit her lip, as if she wanted to say more but stopped herself.
Mrs. Howard was about eighty years old, but she was a tough old bird.
“She’s fine,” Hunter reassured them both. “She wasn’t supposed to be home this evening, but she wasn’t feeling well, so she stayed home from her regular bingo night. She was sleeping when she heard someone outside. She called her son and then proceeded to go out on her own to confront whoever was messing with her property.” Hunter shook his head at the woman’s bravery and stupidity. “She slipped and fell on her porch steps, and the noise scared off whoever was out there. Her son pulled up as the trespasser drove off, so he took her to the clinic. She’s got a bruised hip, but she’s lucky. It could have been a lot worse.”
“Has anyone interviewed her yet?” Dante asked.
“Sterling and Ram had just finished up when they called. They should be here any minute to give us an update.”
“So, we don’t know who did this?” Lexine questioned him. She sounded strangely relieved.
The front door slammed.
“I guess we’ll find out now,” Hunter said.
The pounding of large boots coming down the hallway sounded louder than normal. The room felt like it was getting smaller, and the oxygen was being sucked out. Lexine had to get out of there.
Dante and Hunter looked at her with concern.
“Lexine, are you okay?” Dante asked her.
He sounded like he was concerned, and she couldn’t handle it. Not after seeing Phoenix, the bitch of a cat-shifter, come here tonight to feed Dante. Again. Not after knowing deep in her heart that she should be feeding him. Not after hearing how the nice elderly Mrs. Howard had gotten hurt. Not after knowing it could have been worse. A lot worse. Not after—
“Lexine,” Dante barked.
She slowly looked at his face. “I…have to go.” She gradually stepped backward, one small step at a time.
“We’re not done here.”
She never defied an order from Dante before, and while it pained her to do so now, she turned and fled.
Dante and Hunter called after her, causing her to look over her shoulder as she ran down the hallway until she hit a hard wall.
“Oof.”
“Lexine, are you okay?”
She looked up into gray eyes filled with tenderness and worry. Sterling. Somehow seeing that it was him made her want to burst into tears, and she had no idea why.
He looked over her head at Ram and jerked his chin toward the end of the hall. “I’ll meet you in there in a second.”
Lexine glanced quickly at Ram, whose hard yellow eyes suspiciously stared at her. He was six-four, and sometimes, it seemed like he was as wide as he was tall. Even though she knew him and worked with him, he was still an imposing figure. Her vision filled with black spots for a second, and as she heard Ram’s retreat, she felt Sterling put his hands on her biceps to steady her.
Sterling’s grip was warm against her skin, even with the layer of clothing between them, and it sent tingles down to her fingers and up to her face.
She didn’t know what to make of this new sensation, and she was already overwhelmed with everything else, so she jerked her arms out of his grasp. “Don’t touch me.” She couldn’t handle his touch. She didn’t deserve his concern.
Sterling stiffened before he straightened, his arms falling to his sides, and his eyes lost their warmth. They went from molten silver to hard, cold stone. “I apologize for worrying about you.” His words spoke of forgiveness, but his tone did not. His thick lips stiffened into a straight line, and suddenly, his icy demeanor was more than she could take.
Since when had she cared so much about what Sterling thought?
“No,” she started, trying to salvage…something. “It’s not you.” It’s what? Me? She couldn’t really try to feed the most famous breakup line to Sterling. To this male who she wasn’t even dating. “Look, I’m just…stressed out.”
His eyes softened as he exhaled. “You can talk to me, you know.”
She bit her lip and shook her head. No way.
The urge to pour her heart out to him was strong, and for that reason alone, she needed to get out of there.
She moved to step around Sterling, but he put a hand out to stop her, placing it low on her abdomen. The warmth from his body seeped into hers and made her realize how cold she was, all the way down to her bones.
“If you won’t talk to me, at least talk to Dante or Lennox.”
Lexine almost snorted out loud. She wasn’t telling Dante anything. And her brother? Well, he would never understand or sympathize whether she was his sister or not.
“Yeah, maybe I’ll do that,” she lied.
Sterling dropped his hand, and his eyes filled with disappointment.
It seemed like he knew what she was thinking, but she didn’t understand how. They were friends and coworkers, but they weren’t close.
Still, she couldn’t handle letting him down. “I’ve gotta go.”
And, this time, he let her.
She grabbed her jacket, put on her shoes, and picked up her car keys. Then, she slipped quietly out the door.
Sterling Wardell watched Lexine leave the compound. He waited sixty seconds before he followed her.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed Dante as he got behind the wheel of his SUV. When Dante picked up, Sterling didn’t wait for him to say hello. “I’ll be back later. I’m gonna follow Lexine.”