Page 33 of A Velvet Kiss After Dark

With a heavy heart and even darker thoughts, Kane returned to the group to make the necessary introductions. "This big man here is a werewolf like me. He comes from the Scottish highlands, and his name is Graham. That bald son of a bitch is Seth. You've met him before in Egypt. He's a bodyguard for Blackmoore Security Corporation, and an all-around hired hand. The female with the long hair is Alexis; his twin sister. Both vampires," he said with barely retrained loathing in his voice.

One of her eyebrows drew upward at the inflection. "Tell me how you really feel."

He merely shrugged in an aggressive gesture.

"Are you," she hesitated over the word, "friends with these people?"

Kane let loose a grunt. "The only person here I'd call a friend is perhaps Graham is trustworthy enough. Isn't that depressing?" he muttered.

Her spine straightened as she glared at him. "Really? Is that all the thanks I get after I let you into my house so you could bleed all over my floor and nurse you back to good health? After your enemies tried to kill me in my own apartment, scaring the living crap out of me, giving me PTSD, and wrecking my entire life?"

A foul mood fell steeled over him at the mention of her being hurt because of him. That much was true. Even if it was not directly his fault. It was all the more reason why he didn't keep friends or lovers. When people wanted you dead, they'd hurt anyone to get to you.

An itch of displeasure had him furiously scratching at the beads of sweat that wouldn't stop dribbling down his neck. When you cared for someone, you put them in danger. Did she have family who'd mourn her if she came back in a body bag, he wondered?

"You said you were moving away." He shrugged as if to say c'est la vie. That's life. "Didn't figure you'd care for a little blood on your floor."

She grumbled about not being able to get her deposit back.

"Did you create this group?" She waved at the others with a curious look on her face. The heat in the atmosphere flushed her cheekbones bringing a sparkle to her eyes and moisture to her pale pink lips. Her tiny freckles stood out starkly against the pallid hue of her skin, she looked surprisingly pretty after such a close call.

"Zeke brought us together. This was all his plan. I work alone."

Tabitha peered up at Kane with a smile trying to appear at the corner of her mouth. "Spoken like a true action hero, Kane."

He dismissed the idea. "It's not like that, Tabitha," he said, pointedly using her name; his own irritation rising that she could so easily get under his skin. "When you work with people, you start caring about them. Then, what happens when people die because of you?"

Her expression was horrified as she looked up at him. A dainty hand moved to caress her throat in a nervous gesture. "Is this how you live? Your life is so dangerous that you can't even work alongside others without fearing the worst?"

Don't you? he wanted to say.

His thoughts drifted back to his brother Konnor, and how he'd returned later to find him bled to death, skin a ghostly pallor. He'd had to use his claws to shovel a shallow grave for his own flesh and blood, while he'd still reeked of the stench of vampire's rotten touch.

Kane bit down on the inside of his cheek until he tasted copper. Sometimes he forgot she didn't live in a world of blood and violence or murder and gore. She wore disguises to uncover gossip on the elite for a silly tabloid, and he accepted ludicrous paychecks to murder bad people for living. They didn't exactly share the same philosophy on life.

If he could take back what he said, he would. He regretted opening this line of conversation. But something about her made it easy for him to talk to her. Always had. At least now he understood why.

He shook his head, and chomped down on his tongue to keep from saying more at her expectant look.

She blew out a frustrated breath. "Fine. Keep your secrets. Fornow." She leaned closer to him as she said the last, and his eyes zeroed in on her mouth, only to move lower to the pulse staggering at her throat. Every muscle in his body tensed to the point to where he couldn't even breathe. Afraid to touch her, yet desiring it with a need that shook him.

Her breath tickled the underside of his jaw as she leaned in closer so the others couldn't hear him. Perhaps she didn't know that vampires had spectacular hearing and would pick up on every word she spoke. "Know that I always get my story. Always."

Only after she moved away from him did he suck in a much-needed breath of air.

Soon after, the group packed up their belongings and Kane finished reconnoitering the oasis. Seth had climbed a tree and spotted a city due north. He spotted a massive stone wall structure hosting a bustle of activity with demons wearing colorful garb and a market open. It was decided unanimously that they needed directions on how to find the Castle of Illusions. Which, so far, remained as much of a mystery as anything. So, they'd go the city, undercover.

If they were lucky, they wouldn't catch any trouble. Kane wasn't betting on the worst, though. He never had much luck. What would a group of demons do when faced with a heavily-armed entourage of vampires and werewolves? He knew what he'd do—attack first, ask questions later.

They tossed around ideas of leaving Tabitha with one of the team, but that meant Kane would be the one to stay with her and there was no way he was leaving the search for the relic up to the others. If they failed or mucked it up, it'd mean him returning empty-handed to Zeke, which meant he wouldn't receive permission to claim his female. Kane eyed Tabitha who was currently talking to Graham and garnering a robust laugh from the big werewolf and scowled. He definitely needed that relic. He wouldn't leave Hell until he found it.

Kane handed Tabitha his spare ammo cartridges, and she slipped them in her back pockets like a pro. With their water jugs filled and a few protein bars eaten, the group headed north toward the city.

Up above, the sky swirled in strange mists of pink and orange hues. A luminous sun acted as a beacon and alit the world while scorching them each with blasted, ceaseless heat.

Graham smirked triumphantly. "See, this is why I wore flip-flops."

"Just wait until you have to run, wolf," Alexis said. Her leather armor had to be hiding a soaking wet body, and probably a foul stench, too. Kane knew personally that vampires did in fact sweat.

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