The rest of the club had cleared out, and the only customers who remained were the wolves. A few of the dancers were obviously leaving with them, and that girl Viola looked so excited, Maya thought she was going to bust. Smiling, Maya grabbed a couple of stray glasses and made quick work of cleaning them before slipping them back in the racks. When she looked up, she came face-to-face with Horace.
“It’s about time for us to head out, beautiful.” Horace lit a cigarette, even though he wasn’t supposed to smoke inside. His gaze wandered over her face and drifted down to her cleavage, lingering on that or her necklace, Maya wasn’t sure which. He took a long drag, slipped the stainless-steel lighter back in the pocket of his blazer, and nodded toward his pack, who were all waiting by the door of the club. “I was hoping I could talk you into coming out with us for a little after-party back at our hotel. I promise I’ll have you home before sunrise.”
Maya opened her mouth to tell him no, but before she could utter a sound, Shane appeared behind Horace and took it upon himself to answer for her.
“Maya will not be able to attend your…festivities.” When Shane shifted his gaze to Horace, he had to look down a bit because Horace was so much shorter. “Perhaps another time.”
“What are you, her brother?” Horace blew a huge puff of smoke directly into Shane’s face, but the sentry didn’t flinch.
“Definitely not, and I’m sure if I actually breathed, that smoke would bother me,” Shane said evenly, leveling a deadly glare at Horace. “However, your meaning is clear. I do hope you’ll show better manners when you visit with the czars.”
“Yeah, I’ll be sure to do that.” Horace took another drag. Waving over his shoulder at Maya, he started to leave. “I’m staying at the Plaza, and you can join us if your boy over here ever lets you off the leash.”
Leash? Like a fucking dog? Oh, hell no.
Shane was watching Horace walk away and clearly didn’t notice the fury in Maya’s face when she grabbed the bag with her clothing from under the bar. She should probably change before leaving, but she was so furious that all she wanted was get the hell out of there.
“I’d love to, Horace.” Maya flew across the room in a blur. She linked her arm in his as the front door of the club opened. “Bye, Shane. Tell Olivia I’ll be back before sunrise.”
“Don’t do this, Maya.” Shane’s voice, cold and curt, filled the club.
“She made her choice, big guy.” Horace’s eyes flickered to orange briefly and a growl rumbled through him that sent Maya’s sonar-like senses into overdrive, almost making her nauseous. She stilled, thinking she’d made a huge mistake, but his eyes quickly went back to normal and he winked. “I’m all bark and no bite…unless you ask me real nice.”
The door swung shut behind them, and the last image she saw was a look of pure, unadulterated fury on Shane’s face. Stepping out into the chilly air, Maya was filled with guilt, anger, and frustration. Sensing the change in her demeanor, Horace wrapped one arm around her in an almost protective gesture. Maya smiled at him and noticed that his body temperature was far warmer than any human she’d encountered—even more than someone with a fever—and he smelled different too.
All of the men in his pack had a distinctive scent, a combination of fresh earth and wood smoke. Their scents made her almost dizzy, and for some inexplicable reason, she simply had to go with them. She didn’t particularly want to be with Horace, but something deep inside her gut pulled her toward him.
“After you,” Horace said with a sweeping gesture.
Maya looked up and saw a massive, white stretch limo waiting at the curb. All of the other couples had piled in, and the human limo driver stood patiently waiting by the open door. Maya looked from the closed door of the club to the limo and back to Horace. She nibbled her lower lip, knowing full well she should get her butt back to her apartment, but one of the other girls, a vamp named Ginger, leaned out the open door and waved.
“Come on, Maya. You’ve never partied until you partied with these boys. They’re wild,” she shrieked just before Marcus, one of Horace’s pack members, pulled her back into the limo.
“See,” Horace said. “You’re perfectly safe with us.” He trailed one finger along her jaw, down her throat, and around the necklace. “We’re just here to have some fun.”
The door to the club swung open and Shane stood in the doorway like the angel of death. If Maya didn’t know better, she’d say he’d grown about a foot and a half. In the blink of an eye, Maya slid into the waiting limo, but Horace stopped in the doorway and faced Shane. He waved off the limo driver, who promptly went to get in the driver’s seat.
“The lady made her decision, Quesada.”
The girls in the car giggled and clung to their dates, but the men kept their eyes on Maya. She gripped her bag tighter and peered out the door past Horace. Her stomach dropped when Shane’s eyes met hers.
“Yeah,” Horace said on a laugh, “I know who you are. You’re a sentry, one of the soldiers that do all the dirty work for the Presidium. So unless you want to break the nice little truce we have going between our races, I’d suggest you back the fuck up. I’d hate to have to tell the czars that you were picking a fight with the heir to the throne.”
“Heir? That’s funny, I thought you were the spare,” Shane murmured, shifting his furious glare from Horace to Maya.
“I’m royalty, and you are the fucking help.”
Shane said nothing but took a step back. Maya didn’t know whether to be relieved or annoyed.
“That’s what I thought.” Horace flicked his cigarette butt into the gutter and slid into the seat next to Maya.
The limo door slammed shut just before the driver pulled away. Maya turned around to look out the window, but Shane was nowhere to be seen. Her gut clenched and tears stung at the back of her eyes because she knew that she’d hurt him. But when Horace implied that Shane had control of her, that he had her on a leash, she lost it. One thought nagged at her: Had she lost Shane in the process?
Maya leaned on the smooth granite counter of a lavish bathroom that was bigger than some entire NYC apartments. Staring at her reflection in the mirror, she didn’t like what she saw one bit. One of the human misconceptions about vamps was that they had no reflection, but that wasn’t true. Nope. Maya could see her dumb blond self as clear as day.
How could she have been so stupid?
Once they arrived in the suite, which was one of the most gorgeous spaces Maya had ever seen, she quickly excused herself to go to the bathroom and change. At first she worried that Horace might try to stop her and keep her in the horribly tacky dress from the club, but he didn’t. He continued to be a gentleman.
There had been no sign of Shane, and so far, he hadn’t tried to telepath with her. Right after the limo pulled away, Maya opened her mind to him and found nothing but silence. Achingly sad silence filled Maya’s head and made her long for one of Trixie’s jabs about her bad taste in music or one of Suzie’s silly newbie vampire questions. At this point, she’d even take a scolding I-told-you-so from Sadie.
She heard none of that. There was only silence because Shane, the one person whom Maya could now telepath with, wasn’t speaking to her—and she couldn’t blame him. Maya nibbled her lower lip and ran her fingers through her hair, attempting to smooth it as she thought about how upset Olivia was going to be when she heard Maya went with the wolves. However, no matter how angry Olivia got, it would be nothing compared to the hurt look on Shane’s face when she went with Horace.