Page 7 of The Vampire's Hunter

Kharis only shook his head at him. “Revenge is supposed to taste sweet, my friend.”

Corbin scoffed. “Revenge is a poison no sane man would drink, and yet, here we are.”

“No one ever dared call you sane, old boy.” Corbin felt more than saw Kharis hesitate, before the other vampire lifted one full, dark brow. “You’re not getting cold feet, are you?”

Corbin cut him a biting look.

Kharis lifted his hands in surrender, clearly recognizing he’d pushed too far. “I’m only trying to help, that’s all.”

“My feet are not cold,” Corbin said, punctuating each word with his lack of amusement as he watched the bar below. One of the club’s many bartenders was lighting a line of pink martini drinks aflame. “No colder than your bed each night,” he mumbled.

“Now I know you’re sulking! It’s the only time you bother to insult me,” Kharis protested.

His friend fell silent for a moment as he took a sip of his drink, lowering his voice though they were already alone. Some discussions were only meant for whispers.

“And the distraction you need to keep Lucien busy? Have you found it yet?”

Corbin didn’t deign to answer.

Kharis may have been his friend, but he wouldn’t be managed.

“Fuck, Corbin,” Kharis swore, his face growing suddenly serious. “You know you can’t dazzle your way out of this one?”

“You should know better than anyone that I candazzlemy way out of anything.” Corbin cast his friend a sidelong glance. “And I’m working on it.”

Kharis scoffed. “In other words, we’re fucked.”

“I said, I’m working on it.”

“Well, work faster.”

This time, Corbin didn’t hide the scowl that pulled at his lips. “If you came here simply to nag me, Kharis, then why don’t you—”

Without warning, a shout sounded from the far side of the club below, drawing Kharis’ attention. His friend’s gaze shot to the downstairs floor, before he let out a low wolf whistle, instantly enthralled. “Well, well, well, would you look what the cat dragged in.”

Unamused, Corbin followed Kharis’ gaze to scuffle below, something the club’s bouncers would no doubt take care of, though from the amused way Kharis’ smile lit, his friend appeared as if he were a cat who’d been gifted a rather large blow of cream.

“I believe your night just got far more interesting.” Kharis smirked.

Corbin’s gaze fell to the scene before him, his eyes quickly locking onto Kharis’ target and staying there for a moment more. In an instant, a low growl rumbled in his throat, his fangs aching. He swallowed down a curse.

What the fuck was Dani doing here?

He scanned the human woman near his dance floor from head to toe. The black dress. The lean legs. The subtle curved form. Tonight, the gold undertones in her blond hair pulsed red beneath the club’s crimson glow. Instantly, Corbin’s cock stiffened.

To say Dani Harper was beautiful was an understatement.

She was the kind of ethereal beauty that every man wanted to know, to possess, to own, because what man, what vampire, could resist a woman who was so beautiful, so doe-eyed and innocent that she might as well be a lamb brought to slaughter? Who among them didn’t desire to take that kind of womanly innocence and claim it as his own? To twist and corrupt it?

It was in their fucking natures.

A woman like Dani aroused the predator in all of them.

Him more than most.

His eyes fell to the vampire across from her, the one clutching her hand as she fruitlessly attempted to pull away. Obviously, the message he’d given her to get gone and stay gone hadn’t been clear enough when he’d saved her once before. When he’d had to painstakingly extract her from Cillian’s clutches, putting his own neck, his own goals at risk.

If there was one thing Dani was reliable for it was waltzing into the most dangerous of situations with little more than a tender-hearted smile on her face, floating through life, as if she were waiting for him to swoop in and save her as he had dozens of times before.

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