The dark-haired woman flicked a glance at him for a millisecond before looking right past him. He couldn’t stop staring if his life depended on it and she’d barely noticed him. Talk about a blow to his ego.
“Are you two hooligans done for the night?” the beautiful woman asked.
Rex stared, his gaze tracking her as she moved farther into the room. His heart rate kicked up a notch and he had to force it to remain steady, to appear as if he was unaffected. Unlike the human myths that said vamps didn’t have hearts, he definitely did. And right now his was beating out of control. What the hell was wrong with him? His fangs pushed at his gums, aching to be unleashed with an insistency he hadn’t felt in over two centuries. It was…
Fuck.
No. No, no, no.
It was not what he thought it was. He refused to even think the words.
“You can’t use a word like hooligan. You sound like an eighty year old woman,” Talia teased, still perched in Grant’s lap, though she swayed slightly and Rex realized she’d had more to drink than he originally thought.
“I’m two hundred,” the female said, laughter in her voice. “Grant, these two maniacs are done for the night. I’m sure you’ll get Talia home so I’m taking Sarah back to the compound.”
The compound was the condominium complex the pack owned. Pricey beach front property where every packmate had a view of the ocean. It was right next to Grant’s two-story beach house. Seriously prime real estate.
“Hey, I don’t need…yeah, okay maybe I do,” Sarah slurred again, slumping against the chair.
“I’ll escort them,” Rex blurted, surprising himself and everyone else in the room.
All eyes turned his way and he could feel Grant’s curious gaze on him but Rex just watched the dark-haired female. Her espresso-colored gaze raked over him from head to toe, as if she found his offer amusing. She raised an eyebrow then turned back to her alpha without even acknowledging him. “I’ve got Sarah.”
Grant nodded. “Okay, but Rex will go with you, Margery.”
The female stilled, her jaw tightening. “I don’t need any help taking a drunk packmate home. Especially not from a vampire.”
What the hell did that mean? Rex frowned, but didn’t respond. Maybe she didn’t trust vampires. That wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibilities. Just because he and Grant were friends didn’t mean that vamp-shifter friendships were normal.
“I’m not drunk,” Sarah muttered as she fiddled with her cell phone. It appeared as if she was trying to unlock the screen but couldn’t figure out her code.
“Humor me.” There was no give to Grant’s voice, his wolf in his eyes as he gave her an order.
“Grant.” She gave her alpha an imploring look and for some reason Rex was positive there was more to her hesitancy than she was saying aloud. Margery and Grant were clearly having an unspoken conversation. After a long moment, the female sighed. “Fine, but no baked goods for you for a month,” she snapped in annoyance.
To Rex’s surprise, Grant just grinned again while Talia loudly whispered that she’d share her stash with him.
As Margery helped Sarah to her feet, she muttered something under her breath about obnoxious vampires. Moving into action, Rex went to help her, but she shot him an annoyed glare so he backed off.
“I don’t need your help,” she said quietly.
“My name is Rex.” It wasn’t exactly hostility he sensed in her voice, but she was definitely wary of his kind. He didn’t like it. For some reason the thought of this female feeling anything for him other than hunger raked against his senses like silver daggers.
She didn’t respond, just steadied her packmate and headed for the door. Rex wasn’t sure why Grant had ordered the female to let him help, but he wasn’t going to question the alpha. The woman—Margery—had the most addicting scent. It wasn’t just her natural lavender scent, there was something else under the surface driving his senses crazy. As he started to shut the door behind them he saw Talia straddling Grant and quickly pulled it closed.
As they reached the elevators, Sarah swayed against Margery and Rex immediately reached out a hand to help steady her. If his fingers happened to brush against Margery’s shoulder then all the better for him.
She instantly pulled away from him in the elevator, putting intentional distance between them as she pressed the button for one of the parking garages. And she was still avoiding his gaze.
“Grant asked him to join our pack,” Sarah said in what she probably thought was a whisper as she laid her head on Margery’s shoulder. “He’s cute.” Even if she had been whispering he still would have heard her with his supernatural hearing. Something the female had likely forgotten in her inebriated state.