“What? What’s wrong? Is something wrong with Robin? Oh . . .” Cage’s voice trailed off, but his mouth didn’t close.
Nik waved at the vision of a wood nymph walking toward them from the old mill. “I was about to say, Robin will show up when she’s good and ready.”
And probably naked, he didn’t add, since that was now obvious. She had a beautiful, tight little body and no qualms at all about uncovering it. The moonlight made her fair skin glow, and even when the glare of the floodlights hit her, she looked pretty damned good.
Shaking his head, Nik grinned and took a step back. There was no controlling this particular drama, so he might as well enjoy the show. He didn’t know what would come out of her mouth, but it was bound to be highly entertaining.
Nik pulled his own singed shirt over his head and held it out to her when she got within reach. “You might want to put this on before ashes fly into Cage’s open mouth.”
She snatched it out of his hand and held it up. There were more holes left than shirt, so she tied the sleeves around her waist in a smoky approximation of an apron. “I thought I might see something if I flew over the area, but it was too late. Whoever set it was already tucked out of sight. You two all right?”
Cage’s expression had gone from open-mouthed gape to appreciative astonishment, and he seemed incapable of speech.
Which Robin noticed as well. She walked to within a foot of him and reached up to flick more mud off his cheek. “Is the little girl okay?”
Cage nodded and cleared his throat with some effort. “She’s fine. You’re, uh . . . fine as well, I see.”
Robin laughed, a surprisingly sweet sound that always took Nik by surprise. “Get over it, vampire. I’m naked. If you haven’t seen a naked woman in your, what, seventy or eighty years of life, then it’s time you did.”
She huffed out a frustrated breath and edged around Cage close enough for her breast to brush against his arm. Not an action he missed. He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it.
“Any female body parts I need to explain to you?” She stared at him until he shook his head in a quick negative. “No? Good. I’m hungry, then. Let’s go.”
CHAPTER 13
A pang of longing swept through Melissa as soon as she opened the door to the community house. Soft music, something vaguely Celtic, filled the dimly lit room. The banked embers of the fire flickered in orange and gold shadows on the polished floor.
Mirren sprawled on one of the plush leather sofas with Glory curled up next to him, her hand resting underneath the hem of his black T-shirt, his arm around her both possessive and protective.
Melissa recognized the signs of post-feeding euphoria mixed with love. She’d had enough brushes with violence to know that the experience left you desperate for the warmth of another, desperate to hold the most important people close, desperate to be held.
If you hadn’t run away from Mark after you were turned, you could’ve had that.
She put on a bright face that belied the thoughts buffeting her inside, as thick and heavy and choking as the smoke from the house fire. It was the internal storm of a woman who’d thought she knew her own heart, only to fear she might have been wrong.
“Hey guys, sorry to interrupt.”
Glory answered without looking around. “You’re not interrupting. We’d have to actually be doing something for you to interrupt, and we’re too tired to do anything except sit here.”
She sat up and yawned, which set off another unexpected wave of longing in Melissa. Vampires didn’t yawn; they simply had a slight fading of power as dawn approached. Her arms and legs were already growing heavy in anticipation of daysleep, still two hours away. She envied Glory her humanity and the sureness of her heart.
Glory settled back, propped against Mirren’s shoulder. “Krys says a couple of other scathe members—Shawn and that guy who’s running the gas station—are gonna spend their daysleep in the space beneath the house across the street, along with Fen and Hannah. There’s nothing else anyone can do tonight.”
Melissa scratched her nose and a sprinkle of dried Alabama clay flaked off, settling to the front of her shirt like a red snowflake. “I need a shower before daysleep, for sure. What about Cage? He staying to keep an eye on Fen again?”
Except for Cage, all the lieutenants and their mates were spending their daysleeps in an underground bunker somewhere in Penton; even Melissa didn’t know its location. The rest of the scathe had an elaborate setup west of town. Cage had spent his first daysleep under the now-burned community house so he could keep an eye on Fen until the newcomer had convinced everyone, particularly Mirren, to trust him.