Roke shook his head. “No. Wait—”
A small fragment of memory floated at the edge of his mind. Some piece of research he’d found in an obscure book about demons on the edge of extinction.
Before the memory could fully form there was a sharp knock on the door and Bliss’s voice penetrated through the thick wood.
“Roke, I need to speak with you.”
Roke yanked a dagger from the sheath at his lower back, not missing the edge of urgency in the female vampire’s voice.
Glancing toward Cyn, he waited for the male to give a grudging nod, shifting his bulk between the door and the baffled Sally.
Whatever Cyn’s feelings toward witches, he’d just agreed to fight to the death to protect her.
With his dagger clutched in his hand, Roke opened the door just far enough to slip into the hallway, firmly closing it behind him.
“What?” he demanded, frowning at Bliss before his gaze slid over her shoulder to spot the dozen nymphs who were kneeling at the end of the hall. “Shit. What the hell is going on?”
“Like I know?” Bliss waved scarlet-tipped fingers toward the mixture of male and female fey who had rapt expressions on their beautiful faces. “One minute the club was running smoothly and the next I find half my staff kneeling in the hall.”
“What do they want?”
“They won’t say. They kneel there like they’ve been enchanted.” Bliss deliberately glanced toward the closed door. “Or more likely, bewitched.”
Roke’s protective instincts roared to high gear. This wasn’t just some random coincidence.
Sally.
“Do you have a back exit?”
Bliss narrowed her eyes, clearly offended by the question.
“Don’t ask stupid questions.”
Sally covertly put some space between herself and the behemoth of a vampire.
She was female enough to acknowledge he was a dazzlingly gorgeous behemoth. If a female enjoyed golden-haired warriors with eyes like jade and massive muscles. She happened to prefer slender, raven-haired men with mesmerizing silver eyes....
Wait. No.
The point was, that while Cyn possessed more than his fair share of male beauty, he was also a bloodthirsty predator. And he obviously blamed her for mating Roke against his will.
The more space between them the better.
She’d reached the edge of the fire pit when the door was opened and Roke entered with the floozy female vampire.
Her fingers twitched, the urge to toss a spell that would shrivel Bliss’s pale, perfect features like a prune nearly irresistible.
Thankfully, her inner bitch was distracted as Roke stepped toward her, his expression grim enough to warn her that he didn’t have good news.
Not that she was surprised.
She couldn’t remember the last time there had been any good news to share.
“What is it?” Her alarm spiked as Bliss headed directly to a far wall, touching a hidden lever. With a faint click a panel slid inward to reveal a dark tunnel. “Roke, what’s going on?”
Sliding a protective arm around her shoulders, Roke urged her toward the opening.
“The locals have sensed your presence.”
She frowned. “What locals?”
“The fey. A dozen nymphs are currently kneeling in the hallway.”
Cyn made a sound of surprise while Sally felt a queasy fear roll through her gut.
“It could be the box, you know,” she muttered.
“Either way the fey are beginning to attract attention,” he said, his ruthless push toward the door saying loud and clear he didn’t believe for a second the nymphs were interested in the box.
Her fear ratcheted up another notch.
“Do you think they’re a danger?”
“I don’t know, and until I’m certain, they’re not getting near you.”
They stepped into the tunnel only to be halted by Cyn.
“Can you protect her without me?” the large vampire demanded, shoving the box into Roke’s hand.
“The day I can’t protect what’s mine I’ll hang up my fangs,” Roke growled.
“Good. I’ll make sure you’re not followed.”
Roke placed a hand on Cyn’s shoulder. “Thank you, old friend.”
Cyn nodded, the thin braids brushing against his cheeks as he leaned down to speak in a low voice that wouldn’t carry.
“Be careful, Roke,” he warned. “The fey pretend to be brainless fools who think of nothing but pleasure, but there’s a darkness just below the surface and powers they rarely reveal.”
“I have no intention of taking unnecessary risks,” Roke promised, his gaze sliding toward Sally. “I can’t say the same for my companion.”
She narrowed her gaze. Jackass.
“Feel free to stay with your friend,” she snapped. “I’m happy to be on my own.”
The silver eyes flared with an unfathomable emotion. “Never again.”
Sally found it oddly difficult to breathe as she became ensnared in his shimmering gaze, losing track of their surroundings until an impatient female voice sliced through the thick air.
“There will be a boat waiting for you.”
Roke offered the woman a small dip of his head. “We’re in your debt.”
Bliss leaned forward to trail her lips down his cheek. “You certainly are.”
“She—”
Without giving Sally the opportunity to react, Roke was hustling her down the tunnel that led to the edge of the island.
“Don’t let her bother you,” he muttered.
The very intensity of the need to go back and scratch out the female vampire’s eyes made Sally grit her teeth.
She didn’t want to feel this . . . insane jealousy.
“She doesn’t,” she forced herself to say, breathing hard as she struggled to keep up with his swift pace. “If she wants you, she can have you.”
He shot her a brooding glance. “Liar.”
She was.
But she’d be damned if she would admit it.
Instead, she clamped her lips together and allowed herself to be led to the end of the tunnel in silence.
She even managed to hold her tongue as she was tossed in the waiting motorboat that was swiftly slicing through the waves with a throaty power.
They slowed as they reached the rocky shoreline, but clearly too impatient to wait for the boat to come to a halt, Roke scooped her off her feet.
“Hold on.”
It was her only warning before Roke was giving a mighty surge and they were flying through the salt-scented air.
Her arms instinctively wrapped around his neck as they landed on a protruding boulder. She expected a jolt that would send them tumbling back into the water.
Of course, she was in the arms of a vampire.
She barely felt his feet touch the ground before they were leaping upward again, climbing the steep cliff with an ease that a billy goat would envy.
In a matter of seconds they’d reached the top of the cliff and Sally shivered as a blast of icy air hit them. He tightened his arms around her as he raised his body temperature to keep her warm.
A part of her wanted to snuggle into that unexpected warmth. To press her face into the curve of his neck and allow his scent to soothe the lingering irritation that another woman had dared to touch him.
Another part was desperate to regain some sense of control over the mind-numbing chaos that was now her life.
“Roke,” she said, angling her head to study his stark profile as he cut a fluid path through the thickening trees. “Wait.”
His steps never faltered. Typical.
“We need to hurry.”
“Hurry to where?”
His lips twisted. “What choice do we have?”
It took her a confused minute to shuffle through the meaning of his obscure words.