“Dev, I wanted you to come.” I tried to explain as I sought to make things stop spinning. “He’ll come around.”
“Not when he sees the condition I let you get into, sweetheart,” Dev said bitterly. “He’s going to think I’m turning you into an alcoholic.”
“Once and for all I am not drunk.” And that was the moment my gut decided to completely betray me. “Oh, god, I’m going to be sick.”
I pulled away from Daniel and managed to make it to the grass before emptying the contents of my stomach.
Dev was behind me, trying to hold my hair and making sure I didn’t fall over. When my insides stopped clenching, I sat back up. I was so miserable and it wasn’t all about the concussion I was pretty sure I had now. There was no way I was going to be able to make them believe me, and it really pissed me off. I was willing to ponder the idea that Dev had been a hallucination. The hit to my head was obviously more serious than I’d first thought. I must have managed to get myself out of the pool. But the weird bat and bird were no hallucinations. They’d been very real, and I needed to figure out what the hell had happened tonight. It looked like I was going to be doing the research on my own, though.
“Can you get up, sweetheart?” Dev asked. “Daniel’s gone to get a cool towel. We’re going to move you into the limo and then see how well vampire blood works on a hangover.”
“It’s not a fucking hangover.” I was forced to let him help me up because my legs weren’t exactly listening to commands. I would have to take that blood, too, because while I wasn’t certain it would help a hangover, I was pretty damn sure it would work on my concussion. My stubborn nature told me to tell the boys to screw themselves, but I didn’t want to end up in the hospital. At this point, they would take the concussion as a symptom and not the cause.
Dev sighed. “All right, sweetheart. We can call it anything you like.”
“Don’t you condescend to me, Dev,” I managed to get out. Daniel was back, and he pressed a cold rag to my forehead.
I found myself in the limo before I could say anything vaguely like good-bye. I was an embarrassment to be dealt with, and Dev was good at smoothing over a difficult situation. I was hustled out with all haste and scooped into the limo, still shivering in wet clothes.
The car pulled away as Daniel pulled his shirt over his head. Dev was attempting to get me out of the wet clothes, but I slapped his hands away.
“Zoey, don’t be difficult,” he said with a huff.
“I haven’t been difficult enough, Dev.” I’d been accommodating for months, never questioning them or asking to be let in on their plans. I’d allowed them to maneuver me to a place where I was nothing but ornamental. I had no one but myself to blame. “I’ll take the blood but these clothes stay on until I get home.”
“You’re going to be uncomfortable,” he pointed out as though that was the absolute worst thing a person could be.
“Maybe I’ve gotten too comfortable,” I muttered more to myself than anyone else.
Daniel tossed his shirt aside and leaned back. He pulled me into his lap, not complaining about the wet clothes. He quickly popped a claw out of his right hand, the change as elegant and quick as any alpha. He drew the claw across his chest in a short deep stroke. The blood welled up, and I put my mouth to it.
It tasted like a dark, slightly metallic chocolate, rich and thicker than a human’s. It healed and brought youth. It brought Daniel great pleasure. He held my head to his chest and encouraged me to drink my fill as I felt the pressure building in him. After a minute or two, I licked the wound. It closed quickly once I was no longer sucking at it.
Desire was plain in Daniel’s eyes, but I pushed away to the other side of the limo—the side the boys were not on. I knew what Daniel wanted. He wanted me to ride him hard and fast until he came. He wanted to feed and make me scream.
I wasn’t ready to do any of those things. My head was clear now and those pesky twitches were gone. My stomach felt infinitely better and a pleasant, healthy warmth was infusing my entire body. Unfortunately, now that I was able to think again, I was getting really angry. Had they told me the same story, I would have believed them until facts proved me otherwise. I would have given them the benefit of the doubt. I would have been out there trying to hunt down the things that had attacked my men.
“Thank you, Daniel.” The events of the night were weighing on me. They didn’t trust me. I didn’t really have a place in their lives besides the bedroom. “I feel better now.”
“Glad to help, Z.” His jaw clenched as he dealt with the sexual frustration. In the normal course of our lives, I would be riding him by now and Dev would be cheering me on, waiting for his turn.
I stared out the window as we moved back into the downtown area where Ether was located. I could feel the tension in the car, but I wasn’t ready to talk yet. Dev tried to initiate a conversation, but he fell back into silence when I said nothing and refused to look at either one of them.
We pulled into the parking garage, and the three of us walked silently to the elevator. One of the reasons Dev had decided Ether was the best place for us to live was the labyrinthine path we had to take to get up to the penthouse. We had to go all the way down to the club and then up to Dev’s office, which was protected. There was an elevator in the office that only went to the penthouse. It was controlled with a keycard and could be locked down. It was great for security purposes. It sucked because it meant I got to parade past much of the supernatural world looking like a drowned cat.
I crossed my arms over my chest because everyone could tell I was cold. Dev tried to give me his jacket, but I was stubborn enough to ignore it. He tried to argue but Daniel sent him one of those man-to-man looks and Dev backed off. We walked by the long line of patrons waiting to get in, and every one of them stared as we strode past.
When we entered the club, I realized there was one person who might be willing to help me. At the very least, he would tell me if what I’d seen had any possibility of being real. I looked around and quickly found the large male I was seeking. Albert, Dev’s butler and sort of personal assistant, was sitting at the bar talking to the bartender with a cup in front of him. No highball glasses for Albert. He was strictly a tea drinker. Albert was a seven-foot-tall, red-skinned half demon. Only his personality and his blue eyes were even vaguely human. He’d also forgotten more about the supernatural world than most people ever knew.
I started to walk off, but Dev’s hand came out, catching my arm and pulling me back.
“Where do you think you’re going, Zoey?” he asked in a voice that told me he’d had enough of my antics for one evening.
I pulled away from that warm, tingly feeling I always got when Dev touched me. I didn’t want to feel good right now. I wanted answers. “I’m going to talk to Albert about my hallucinations, Dev. I would like to know what it is my alcoholic’s brain managed to pull out of thin air. So back off.”
His jaw tightened, and a long sigh came out of his mouth as though he was struggling to keep his patience. “Zoey, you need to go upstairs and rest.”
His condescending tone pushed me over the edge. I might have been able to handle that from Daniel. Fighting had always been a part of our relationship, but it was new with Dev. The fact that Dev was beginning to see me as a problem to be handled really cut to the quick, and following true to form, I struck out as hard as I could.
“I’m not five, Dev,” I pointed out, hearing the cruelty in my voice but not quite able to stop it. “Contrary to what you might think, you don’t own me. We’re not even married. If providing for me means I suddenly have to obey you, then I can sure as hell provide for myself. I’m going to talk to Albert. If you think you can stop me, feel free to try, but you have to sleep sometime. You can let me get the information I need now or I can get it later when you least expect it.”
I saw the hurt register on his face before that careful mask fell into place. This was the king’s advisor, not my love. “Of course. Feel free to speak to Albert. As I am not your husband, I will leave your care to him. I’m going out for a while. I’ll sleep in the office tonight. I wouldn’t want to disrupt your marriage bed.”
Dev walked off, loosening his tie, his posture and movement a testament to his anger.
“Damn it, Z,” Daniel growled, getting into my space. “That was just fucking mean. You got anything you want to say to me? You want to try to run me off? Give it your best, baby, because if your plan is to alienate the people who love you, you’ve done a fantastic job tonight.”
I didn’t say anything because I was worried if I started talking, I would start crying. I needed to be hard and cold. I needed every bit of my inner bitch or I would be upstairs with both of them making me feel like a spoiled child. “Are you done?”
Daniel rolled his eyes. “For god’s sake, don’t let me keep you. Go talk to Albert. You’ve already fucked up the evening, so what’s another ten minutes of waiting on you?”
“If you don’t have the time to wait, the door is that way, buddy.” I made my way to the bar.