PHOENIX STUCK HER nose in the air and crossed her arms. “What are you doing in here?”
Just like this female to go on the offensive and avoid his question.
Dante stood from where he was leaning in the doorway and walked toward her. “I came to see if you were okay. You left the conference room in a hurry.”
She dropped her arms and tried to look relaxed. “I’m fine.”
Right. And I’m the Queen of England.
She must have read the skepticism on his face because she added, “Well, I will be anyway. Nothing that hasn’t happened before.”
Dante had already sensed her…sadness? No, that wasn’t right. It seemed almost like despair. He could sense it through her blood, and to hear her depressing words on top of it concerned him. It was no way to live, and his heart ached for Phoenix. For the prison she and the villains of her past had put her in.
Dante glided closer to her until they were a foot apart. He knew he shouldn’t mess with her dignity, but he had to know. “Who were you talking about right before you turned around?”
It was a horrible idea, asking whom she’d been referring to, and one that would likely not end with anything good, but Dante so very much wanted it to be him. He’d only been guessing when he called her out on it earlier.
His blood link to her filled with panic. Not a scared panic but a nervous panic—to the point that he would swear that she’d let her guard slip. He smelled it in the air, too.
He doubted she would have been nervous had she been speaking about someone other than him. And, when she didn’t answer his question, it basically confirmed his assumption.
He was so pleased to know that he affected her, and it wasn’t just one-sided, so he let his own guard down. Phoenix’s eyes widened with confusion as, for a split second, he let his own feelings pass back through the blood she’d consumed from him.
He shouldn’t have been too shocked at this turn of events. She had been letting him consume her blood once a month, and she’d let him make her come. But it always seemed like, before and after, she was a cold, reserved being. She would momentarily come alive in his arms, but once it was over, she always went back to being the same female he’d met months ago. If he wasn’t in the same room with her when she orgasmed, he would never believe it actually happened. All this time, part of him had assumed that she let him drink her blood because she owed him for rescuing her from Gerald and for telling her about Gerald’s whereabouts.
To know that she continued to feed him because she wanted to changed the whole ballgame.
But, at the same time, could anything come from it? Phoenix had some deep issues that Dante feared would never let her open up to anyone completely.
Phoenix always seemed so strong and indifferent to many things around her. She was very loyal to her pride and obviously cared about them, but it seemed that her devotion was reserved to only them. Could Dante have penetrated the wall she’d built around herself?
Dante studied Phoenix and tentatively lifted his hand to touch her. When she didn’t shy away, he lightly touched her hair. “You know you can trust me.” With your body. Your heart. Your mind. But he didn’t say any of that aloud because a part of him knew she would balk at his words. “I would never hurt you.” More than anything, he wanted her to know that he would die protecting her if he needed to.
Phoenix looked up into his eyes and opened her mouth, but the words didn’t come out because both of their phones beeped, breaking whatever spell had been cast around them.
Dante stepped away from her and pulled his mobile out of his pocket.
Before he finished reading the message, Phoenix said, “Naya’s in labor.”
Hunter and his fellow sentinels had been summoned to the vampire clinic. With the impending birth of Princess Naya and her mate, Vaughn’s, babies, their meeting at L & L Construction had been postponed. However, over forty-eight hours later, Naya was still in labor. The vampires’ and shifters’ fearless leaders knew they still needed to take care of the matter at hand, so they commandeered an empty room for them to finish their meeting.
Basically, they all showed to get their assignments, which was good because they barely all fit in the much smaller space. It was not made to fit the almost twenty people who were currently crammed inside.
Hunter was beginning to feel claustrophobic, but that could be due to the male next to him. Despite someone being behind him, in front of him, and on the other side, Hunter only seemed to be aware of Quentin.
The wolf-shifter was shorter than Hunter but wider, and the male smelled incredible, like evergreens at Christmas, like the outdoors and raw sexuality. And he put off so much heat that Hunter was starting to sweat. The worst part was that Hunter could feel himself getting hard.
What the fuck is going on? he silently asked his dick.
His dick’s only response was to become a full-fledged erection, and soon, Hunter had to adjust himself in his pants. Why in the hell was he getting turned on now? This was not the time or the place.
Thankfully, no one, not even Quentin, seemed to notice, as their attention was focused on Dante, Vance, and Damien in the front of the room.
“So, we are going to start placing assignments. We have the city marked off in sections,” Vance said. “We’re going to have you pair up, and we’ll get to that in a minute. First, because of the threats to our communities, we’ve decided that our mates need protection, especially when some of them are in a delicate position. Vaughn will stay with Naya, of course, since he will already be home with the babies. My mate and my daughter will stay with me, freeing up Damien to go on patrol. That leaves Kenzie, and she will be assigned to Phoenix and Sawyer, of course. The two of you can decide your schedules.”
Phoenix was only a few people away from Hunter, so he heard her gasp. He leaned forward to get a look at her face. She looked pissed, but she didn’t utter a word. Hunter wondered what Dante thought of her assignment and if he wanted to be with her. On their last job, Hunter had been paired with Dante, and he’d been the one to help Dante rescue Phoenix.
Hunter’s mind had wandered so much that he missed the rest of the assignments, but since Phoenix was with Kenzie, he figured he was with Dante again. Due to the overcrowding, Hunter decided to wait for some of them to leave the room before he went and spoke with Dante. He didn’t get far though.
“Looks like you and I are together,” a deep baritone said beside him.
Hunter’s head whipped around to look at Quentin. “Huh?”
“You and I are together.”
Others were leaving the room, yet it seemed as if it were getting smaller.
“I’m sorry. I missed that.”
Quentin smiled at Hunter like the vampire was a simpleton and needed an extra explanation. “You”—he pointed to Hunter—“and me”—he pointed to himself—“are assigned to patrol together.” He held out his hand. “I’m Quentin. We weren’t formally introduced.”
Hunter, still in a daze, raised his hand for Quentin to shake. As their skin touched, Hunter felt like a spark had lit inside his body, traveling all around, bouncing off his bones and organs until it settled in his groin. It was then that Hunter realized he was shaking the shifter’s hand with the same hand he’d adjusted himself with less than fifteen minutes ago.
Ashamed, Hunter yanked his arm away and out of Quentin’s grip, but it was too late.
Hunter was hard again.
Quentin, however, didn’t seem to notice. He looked at Hunter and slowly lowered his own arm. He frowned at Hunter with what looked like hurt and disappointment in his eyes. “Maybe you should go and ask your leader for a new partner,” the wolf said, his voice clipped.
Hunter was confused. Quentin was obviously mad, but he didn’t understand why. Then, Hunter looked down to where he was clutching the hand he’d used to shake Quentin’s, as if the shifter had the plague.
Hunter immediately dropped his hands. “No, this is not what it seems.”
Quentin raised his brow, as if to say, Explain it to me then.
No can do. There was no way Hunter was going to tell this stranger that he’d gotten a boner.
Quentin snickered. “That’s what I thought. Either go ask to work with someone else or come find me when you’re ready. Either way, get your shit together because we have work to do.”
“But—”
Quentin didn’t give Hunter a chance to finish. Jaw clenched and fire in his eyes, he pushed past Hunter and exited the room.