Page 4 of Wicked Bite
He dropped my hand and crossed his arms over his chest. “Do tell me what a two-hundred-year-old vampire gains from the follies and challenges of running around with the young, dramatic, and magical?”
“Let us not judge the dramatic. I do recall you have a flare for it. And I’m one hundred and ninety-nine to be exact.” No one ever asked a vampire their age. They just assumed I was young, or I might have lied about it. Either way the job got done . . . for now. “And it’s not for me to gain. Alataris had to die and one of us had to assure that he did. Pressing in on the vampires was his next move, and we all knew it.”
“And now The House of Shade is aligned with the Royal Court of Witches.”
I gave a humorless chuckle. The truth was I adored them all. I’d made friends with the lot of them and respected the hell out of them. “Rather brilliant, I do believe.”
Atlas nodded and the Raven soared toward him and perched himself on his shoulder. “Still, posing as an eighteen-year-old baby vampire just to help the world . . . I wouldn’t have done so.”
“We both know that to be a lie. Had Titus commanded it, you would’ve done so.” Atlas was all things to the crown for The House of Shade including an assassin, an enforcer, and one of my best mates for the past hundred years.
“Fair words.” He shrugged and started for the door.
“Um, Sav?” He froze and glanced at me over his shoulder. I sighed and pointed toward the raven. “Can’t go wondering about with Poe on your shoulder.”
“Right you are.” He brushed his hand between the lapels of his shirt, and the raven jumped up into the air and spread its wings wide. It smacked into his chest then stretched and flattened out over his skin, turning from a real-life raven into a detailed tattoo that stretched across his skin from shoulder to shoulder.
“Sav, what are you doing here?” I headed toward the door and flipped the lock. “Honestly.”
He let go a heavy sigh. “Like I said, The House of Shade beckons. This is the year of the prophecy, and we all need to be there.”
I groaned and yanked the door open. Don’t remind me.
CHAPTER TWO
PIPER
“Umm, what was that?” Dice gave me a huge smile then turned to another customer to get their order.
When she spun back to me, I played innocent. “What are you talking about?”
“Oh, you know.” Dice whirled around and grabbed a bottle of beer from the ice bin in front of her. “You flirted . . . with the tall, sexy Brit.”
There were three things in life I was sure of: one, I’d make a shit ton of money—tonight the place was packed. Two, that British guy was hot as hell. And three, I could hide nothing from my bestie. She knew me inside and out. “I mean, did you look at him?”
She scoffed. “Psh, yeah, I did.”
“He looks good.” He was tall, with damp, wild, wavy hair that fanned back from his face. His shoulders were broad, but the rest of him was trim and fit. Dark pants, a dark shirt, and a dark leather coat equaled my kind of fun . . . or trouble. It depended on the day. I gazed at the door to the men’s room. “And that accent.”
“Yeah, I noticed that, too. I also noticed he looks like trouble wrapped up in a nice package that you find on the road toward heartbreak.”
I moved in closer to her and whispered, “Or on the road toward multiple org—”
“Have you figured out the drink then, sassy creature?” He seemed to appear out of nowhere, startling me.
I glanced at Dice. Did he hear me? I grabbed a chilled glass and poured Jack over the ice in the shaker.
He met my eye and gave a smile. “Very good.”
“I know.” There was something about the way he didn’t come on so strong but at the same time, I felt like he would take me at any moment.
“Allow me to introduce you to my friend here.” He pointed to a tall, dangerous-looking guy who seemed to be as still as night but everywhere all at once. “Atlas Savage. Sav, for short.”
Dice slid in front of me and bumped me out of the way with her hip. She offered her hand to Atlas. “Dice.”
He leaned in close and took her hand in his. He turned it and hovered over it and caught her eye. He held her gaze and gave her barely a smile. “Lovely to meet you.”
When he let his lips bursh over the back of her hand, her cheeks lit to a bright pink, and she shook her head. “Oh, you are trouble, aren’t you?”
