Chad laughed, but she was only half kidding.
He was definitely a newbie. One who hadn’t been around long enough to figure out what his moniker would be. Most minions changed their names a century or two into their new lives, when everything they’d once known and loved had burned through the finite days of mortality and passed away. Vamps often chose names that represented who they’d become. Like Raze, who leveled every opponent in his path, and Torque, who tweaked, finessed, and applied pressure to situations as necessary. Contrarily, Vash had kept her angelic name, as a reminder of the woman she’d once been, one who’d been worthy of Charron’s love. She’d changed a lot since then. She wondered what Char would think of who she was now, whether he’d want her as much as he had before, whether he would want her as much as Elijah did.
Syre held out his hand. “I’l drive. Chad, ride with Raze.”
“Gee,” Raze muttered. “Thanks, sir.”
Vash took the three lycans with her and Syre; Raze took the four vamps. They hit the road with Vash resetting the GPS so Syre knew where they were going.
“I’m surprised to see you here, Vashti,” Syre said, glancing at her.
“No, you’re not.”
“Yes. I am.”
“Not as surprised as I am to see you.”
He adjusted the rearview mirror. “I’ve yet to see one of these wraiths in the flesh and it’s high time I did so.”
She hit the button to lower the window and rested her elbow on the frame, relishing the cooling kiss of the breeze on her face. “I feel like you’re checking up on me. Again.”
“Maybe I am,” he conceded. “You’re valuable to me and I’m concerned that you’re…conflicted.”
Great. Pretty soon everyone who mattered would know she was a mess. “There’s a lot on our plate right now. I’m worried we won’t be fast enough.”
“We’l know more once the other teams check in.” His voice was low and soothing, wielding his ability to mesmerize and charm.
“And if they al come back with reports of entire neighborhoods taken over by wraiths? What then?”
“Ah, my eternal pessimist. Then I guess we’l stock up on zombie apocalypse movies and try to pick up some pointers.”
She didn’t want to smile, so she turned around and looked at the crew instead. The males were dark haired and big. Beautiful male specimens real y, but mere shadows of Elijah. The female was blond and petite, pretty in a wholesome homespun way with her stick-straight hair, green eyes, and pink bow lips.
Vash briefed them. “Elijah wil be able to zero in on the aspects relating to lycans better than I wil , but I’l tel you to be careful regardless. Wraiths seem to have a hard-on for you guys, and our al iance is new enough to be a liability. We haven’t fought alongside each other long enough to dance together without stumbling. A stumble with these guys can get us kil ed. Watch each other’s backs more than usual.”
Al three glared at her with mute hostility.
“Names?” she asked, lacking the energy to get into a pissing match now.
John, Trey, and Himeko, she was told. Turning back around, she cal ed Raze. “Hey. How’s the sleeping situation going to work at the motel?”
“I picked up three additional rooms, aside from the one Elijah’s got. I wasn’t expecting you, Syre, or a five-man backup crew. Hopeful y, we can snag another room for the commander; the motel isn’t exactly in high demand. If not, we’l put you with Syre and I’l take one of the vamps in my second bed. The other two rooms have multiple beds, so we’l have them bunk up.”
“Sounds good. Thanks.”
But when they arrived at the motel, they found the place sold out, thanks to a popular band playing at the restaurant next door. Vash claimed her backpack from Raze’s room and exited out to the sidewalk to wait for Syre, who was grabbing his bag from her rental on the other side of the lot.
Raze was in the front office, taking care of getting keycards for the new arrivals.
She stood alone, feeling inexplicably lonely.
Drawn to Elijah, she sidled closer to his room. Her stomach knotted with every step she took, her mouth watering with the need to taste him. Not just for blood and sex, but the sound of his voice, the beat of his heart beneath her ear, the warmth of his arms around her. It struck her that she was terribly afraid he might open his door and she would plead for him to stop shutting her out, forfeiting al her dignity and pride.
She was shaken by the depth of her craving. She didn’t understand why he had to make their… association—she wasn’t going to cal it a relationship—so complicated. Couldn’t they just take what they needed from each other, give each other what they had to give, and take it one day at a time?
She was formulating an argument to hit him with when a suspicious sound caught her ear. When she heard it again, her lungs seized and an icy lump settled in her gut.
“No, no, no,” she growled, stalking closer to Elijah’s door. Her blood heated and her heart began to pound.