Siobhan would flay the skin from Naya’s body if she found out about her.
On his list of concerns the vindictive dhampir was the least of his worries, and wasn’t that saying something?
“Why don’t you hunt in a pack?” If he didn’t steer his mind from the lewd thoughts currently hardening his cock, he wouldn’t be worth a shit.
Naya cocked a brow; the barest hint of a smile played on her full lips. “Only brujas track magic,” she answered with a laugh. “But sometimes, I take Luz.”
Ronan helped himself to a dagger from the top shelf, stuffing it into his waistband before Naya could take it away. “I just assumed that since your people are shifters, you would go out in a pack. Who’s Luz?”
“My cousin.” Naya’s mouth formed a petulant pout as she watched him stow the dagger, but she made no move to take it from him. Point: Ronan. He was wearing her down. “You’re just going to go out like that?” Her eyes dipped to his bare chest and Ronan’s abdomen tightened with lust. “You might raise a few brows running around shirtless like that. And I’m not a shifter.”
Who—and what—was this female who’d tethered his soul? She wielded magic like a witch and kept company with shifters. Remarkable. “The shifters employ you, then?” Ronan was determined to peel back her layers until he knew everything about her. He knew better than to assume that she was a simple employee. No hired hand would be forced into an arranged mating. “I don’t need a shirt to fight,” he replied. “But if it distracts you, love, I’m sure we can pick something up for me, no?”
She averted her gaze and pulled her bottom lip between her teeth. “We’ll find you something,” she said without denying that the sight of him distracted her. Ronan wanted to crow with satisfaction. “Are all dhampirs vampires?”
“No.” Ronan smiled at her attempt to deflect.
She snatched a Ruger from a safe that sat next to the shelves of assorted weaponry. She ejected the clip and checked the ammo before sliding it home and thrusting it into Ronan’s hand. “If you insist on tagging along, you can at least make yourself useful. Or at the very least, protect yourself so I don’t have to.”
Ronan stowed the weapon in his waistband, opposite the dagger. Whatever had brought him to Crescent City, he obviously hadn’t come outfitted for war. Unless … had someone divested him of his weapons? A tremor of anxiety rolled through him. Gods, he wished he remembered. “I’m touched that my mate is concerned for my safety.” Naya’s heartbeat picked up its pace, music to his ears.
“Don’t call me that,” she quipped. “I just don’t want to have to explain how a dead vampire wound up on my turf when there aren’t supposed to be any left.”
Ronan swallowed down the snarky comeback that would assure their verbal sparring continued. She got his blood up with nothing more than her smart mouth. A mouth he wanted to savor at his leisure. He couldn’t ignore the niggling feeling that whatever Naya hunted tonight was somehow connected to Chelle’s disappearance. Ronan was a fixer. He was good at it. And if he could only earn Naya’s trust, he’d take care of all of their problems and save them both a hell of a lot of stress.
Chelle…?
Gods. Chelle!
“Naya, I remember something.”
Her head whipped around, eyes wide with excitement. “You do? What?”
“I know why I’m here.” His own excitement rushed through him like a spark. How could he have possibly forgotten his own twin?
He could kill two birds with one stone by going out with Naya. She knew the town and the outlying areas. He could look for Chelle while earning Naya’s trust and showing her that he was capable of protecting her. He’d prove to her that she had no reason to be wary of him. In the hours since he’d woken up bound to her bed frame, Ronan had come to the conclusion that Naya was a strong female with an even stronger will. Reliance was a sign of weakness. She was the sort of female who demanded to be treated as an equal, rather than demonstrating her superiority complex the way that Siobhan did.
He wanted Naya more by the second.
“I came here to find my sister.” The first step to earning his mate’s trust: He had to confide in her.
Naya finished closing up the gun safe and the weapons cabinet and studied him, her brow furrowed over her dark eyes. “Vampires seem to be coming out of the woodwork,” she remarked. “I’d know if there was another one of you in the city.”
Ronan quirked a brow. “Would you?” He couldn’t help himself. Getting her riled by challenging her authority was just too easy.