Page 19 of Bad Luck Vampire

“Right o’,” Connor said as they all finished tucking away their phones and turned to her. “So, this blind date went bad how?”

Sophie grimaced, and hesitated, but finally said, “I realized early on that we weren’t compatible and ended the date before we even finished ordering. But when I then tried to leave, he followed me out of the restaurant and was making a nuisance of himself. Tybo intervened.”

“The bawbag tried to force hisself on ye,” Inan growled, apparently seeing through her polite wording.

“We’ll be needin’ his name, lass,” Ludan said grimly.

“Aye,” Alasdair agreed.

Sophie peered at him with surprise, amazed to see the fury on his face and... in his eyes. The gold in them seemed brighter even than it had got before, almost as if it were a banked fire, and it actually seemed to be swelling to fill the black. That wasn’t possible, was it?

“Goodness! I think I need the ladies’ room before dinner,” Marguerite announced suddenly. “Sophie? Will you join me?”

Sophie turned as the other woman stood up, and then found herself standing up as well. “Yes, of course.”

She then spent the walk to the clubhouse wondering why she’d agreed and followed as she had. Sophie didn’t have to go to the bathroom, and she didn’t really decide to accompany Marguerite, she simply had, and didn’t know why. Weird, she thought.

Seven

“The tadger who attacked our wee Sophie was named Carl Breckham.”

Alasdair turned from watching Marguerite and Sophie leave the tent and raised an eyebrow at his uncle Connor. “You read her mind.”

It wasn’t a question but his uncle nodded anyway.

Alasdair’s mouth tightened with irritation. Sophie was his life mate, and aside from dreading the very idea of his uncles “helping” him, he didn’t like the idea of any of them poking through her thoughts.

Connor clucked his tongue. “Now don’y fash yerself o’er it. I ken ye feel possessive o’ the lass since she’s yer life mate, but our being able to read her can help ye in yer wooin’.”

“Aye,” Inan agreed. “For instance, we can tell ye that the lass is gaggin’ fer ye, lad.”

Alasdair straightened abruptly, his irritation forgotten. “She is?”

“Aye, I was reading her mind as we came up and she wants to bottle yer spunk and inhale it,” Inan told him with a grin.

Alasdair was just blinking in horrified disbelief at this, when Ludan cuffed Inan in the back of the head and growled with disgust, “No’ his spunk ye daft eejit. His scent.”

“She thinks you smell good,” Colle explained quickly. “She wants to bottle your scent so she can breathe it in as she likes. She thinks all women would love it.”

Alasdair let his breath out on a sigh. The spunk business would have been just weird, at least as he suspected his uncle had intended it, which had nothing to do with the proper definition of spunk being his mettle or spirit, but more along the lines of the slang use where it was a term for ejaculate. But liking his scent was good.

“She likes yer eyes too,” Connor told him. “Thinks they’re bonnie.”

“And she was fightin’ the want to kiss ye, because she’s supposed to be here with Tybo,” Colle informed him solemnly. “Speakin’ on that, you might want to hold off on anything until this night is over. I suspect she’d suffer terrible guilt for mucking about with ye when on a date with another, and that could slow ye down. Better to just keep a bit o’ distance tonight, and start the real wooin’ tomorrow when this business with Tybo is done.”

“Tybo,” Alasdair sighed the name, and then frowned and asked, “What about this blind date that Tybo and Valerian handled for her? Carl?”

“Tybo did the handling,” Valerian announced, and Alasdair turned with surprise to find the groom standing behind him. Smiling, Valerian added, “He took control of Carl and made him strip naked, then dance around and do cartwheels in the restaurant parking lot.”

“How long have you been here?” Colle asked even as Alasdair wondered that very thing.

“Long enough to catch the gist of the conversation,” Valerian answered Colle, and then glanced to Alasdair and said, “There’s no need to punish Carl. The police were called, and he was arrested. We checked later and Carl was charged with a lot of things including public indecency. He will also be put on the sex offender registry.”

“For streaking?” Alasdair asked with surprise.

“For streaking across the street from a public school,” Valerian explained. “Even though it was night and the school was closed, it can still land you on the registry. Or at least they’re trying to put him there. Whether they succeed or not depends on the mortal courts.” He shrugged. “Tybo thought it was what he deserved. And I agree. We read his thoughts that night and he did intend to force himself on Sophie. She was lucky we were there.”

“Aye,” Alasdair agreed. “Thank you for helping her.”

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