her emotions. “‘Get my goat.’”
Devon snorted, his soft and intent gaze not allowing her to rebuild her walls. “Yeah. But, you know, goats are worth money. For the milk and cheese and stuff.”
“I should invest in a goat.” She tried to laugh.
“I’m always around for talking, you know. If you need to hash stuff out. I don’t know anything about your magic, but I can maybe tell you about mine, and you can learn that way.”
“It’s okay. I got it.” She straightened herself up.
Finally, he nodded, straightening up too. “It’s out there, if you need it. We men don’t like to talk about our own feelings, but we can sure fix up other people’s lives.”
Laughter came a little easier this time as she settled back into the seat. She wanted to reach out and touch him, to feel his solidity and ease her fear and uncertainty, but she gathered he wasn’t a man that bent to intimacy all that well—at least, the non-sexual kind. She didn’t want to trade her uncomfortableness for his. It wasn’t fair.
She settled for leaning her head on the back of her seat and crossing her arms over her chest.
Devon had his hand on the gear selector, ready to put them back in drive, when Andy walked over.
“What’re you doing?” Devon said, rolling down the window. He’d wrapped his alpha rage back around him like a favored coat. Poor Andy.
“She okay?”
“She’s fine. Let’s go!”
Andy threw his hands up. “Drop a man a line once in a while.” He started jogging back to his car.
“Tonight would’ve been a success if that elder hadn’t shown up,” Devon said softly, watching Andy get into his car. “I mean, it’s still a success, because everyone is okay, but…”
“I take it the other one wasn’t a problem?”
“Yasmine lured it out of the house easily. Led it right to us, then helped us finish it. She’s a strong addition.”
Charity turned toward the window. It wasn’t a surprise Yasmine had pulled off her task—she seemed competent and capable—but Charity hated being the weak link.
As if hearing her thoughts, like he always managed to do, Devon asked, “What happened tonight?”
“I got beaten up by a vampire.”
“Yes. Before that.”
Charity relayed the events as Devon drove home. When she got to the part about the vamp’s offer, he held up a hand. “Wait.” He pulled into his driveway and threw the SUV into park. “He wanted to set you up like a mistress?”
“I guess. He said he’d share me. That he wasn’t possessive.”
A crease formed between Devon’s eyebrows. “I see. Go on.”
At the end of the story, Devon’s mouth had worked into a tight line. “He remembers you from the party,” he summarized. “He wants to keep you as some sort of pet. He offered to give you whatever you want, including men. And then he tried to take you by force? Take you, not bite you?”
Charity brushed her hair out of her face. “That about sums it up. The guy is Froot Loops.”
“You stared him right in the eye and said no?”
“Obviously. Otherwise I would be wearing a gold collar, asking for another doting boy to serve me grapes.”
Devon glanced out his window as the rest of his crew walked past the SUV and up to the house, everyone glancing at them as they passed. “I have to speak to Roger. This might be something the elders do. I have no idea. Sounds…”
“Froot Loops.”
A handsome smile flashed across Devon’s face. It was the first full smile, however fleeting, she’d seen from him. And it was a thing of beauty, so much more real than that vampire’s.
Too soon, he was back to serious and brooding. “I wasn’t angry at you earlier; I was angry at myself. I left you alone tonight. That was a stupid move.”
“You couldn’t have known that vampire would find me.”
“It is my duty to protect you, Charity, and I failed. It won’t happen again.”
She crinkled her nose. “You should apply to be one of the doting boys, because that almost made my heart squish.”
“Can you be serious for a moment?”
“No. I stabbed and shot a guy tonight. Technically, he might be a creature, but my mind is still trying to agree with my eyes on that one. I emptied a gun into a living body. As if that weren’t bad enough, I did it at point-blank range and somehow missed its heart. How bad of a shot does that make me? My brain, as we speak, is trying to unravel in half