Page 28 of The Firebrand
“How?”
“All breeds, including Earthers, have auras. We’ll cut through here.” Rein steered her left.
“Great. Alleys work well for us.”
Under a neon sign, a man leaned against a brick building, his knee bent, a cowboy boot to the wall. The tip of his cigar glowed as he took a drag. He exhaled, tossing the stub at his feet, grinding it out with his heel. “Rein,” he said.
“Thorn.”
The man stooped to recover the dog-end, slipping it into a pocket. “Chay’s inside with a couple of nymphs. Come on in. Bring your human.” He swiped fingers through shaggy chestnut brown hair that hung shorter on the sides than in the back. His irises were a warm amber, but jagged claw marks scarred his jaw.
Braelyn glanced above the man’s head. Blood Shed with a blinking “e.” She tugged on Rein’s elbow.
“What?”
“Let’s go in. I’m game.” Questioning her own sanity, she rested a flirty palm on his ripped abs. “Please?”
While Thorn dipped his chin, hiding a grin, Rein shook off her touch. “Why? You want to do a story on … creatures? Is that what you called us?”
“That’s mean. We both know I’m not going to write about all this. I am curious, though. Occupational hazard.”
Rein scrubbed a fist across his stubbled jaw. “This is Scath. We don’t talk about our day at the office or our next vacation.”
“Wha-a-a-t? Are you saying it’s wild in there?”
He smirked.
“Balls to the wall,” said the man he had called Thorn.
The occasion required a big lie.Surely I can pull it off. I’m a journalist for a paranormal tabloid.“I go clubbing with my friends all the time. Lots of drinking, fights, biker dudes with tattoos. Buck wild.”
Thorn opened the Shed’s door, music blasting into the alley. “See you inside.”
Braelyn went eye-to-eye with Rein’s big blues.
“We aren’t human,” he said.
“I get that. How stupid do you think I am? Besides, I’m full up on shock today.”
Her kidnapper’s mouth twitched into a reluctant grin. He stepped in body-to-body, tilting her chin, bending to brush his lips across hers. A gentle kiss. “Let’s go, wild woman.”
Braelyn’s pulse quickened. She stroked where Rein’s mouth had been. “What was that for?”
“Damned if I know, female. This is probably a fucking bad idea, but it seems I’m brimming with fucking bad ideas today.”
When he opened the door, a deafening blast of Bloodhound Gang’s “Magna Cum Nada” slammed into them. Braelyn covered her ears as Rein pushed her forward. She blinked, struggling to see. Inside the cavernous room, multicolored lights flashed, casting a trembling, harsh glow on the surroundings.
To the right, writhing bodies crowded a dance floor. The strobes distorted the figures who jerked in time to blaring sounds, pumping their fists into the air, shouting, “Hooray for boobies.”
“Oh my God. A monster disco.”
“Funny. Still up for a drink?” Rein bent close to her ear, tickling it when he spoke.
“Yep. Just line them up.” Straight ahead was a large horseshoe bar. On the left, shadowy bodies lazed on couches, glasses cluttering low coffee tables in front of them. Braelyn shielded her eyes from the winking lights.
Rein’s lips flicked across her ear. “I like a party girl. What’s your usual?”
“Um, whiskey. Neat.” Braelyn had no idea what that meant, but she had heard it in movies.Truth time.A big night out at home was a beer at the rag’s hangout on First Avenue. After a single bottle, sometimes unfinished, she’d leave the joint. Alone.
