manager loves the fact that the guy's hit eighteen. Everything Billy pulls now is public record."
"You nail a street address?"
"Yeah." Vishous grinned. "You gonna put a hurt on the guy?"
"Like you read about."
"So let's go."
Wrath shook his head. "I'll meet you and the rest of the brothers back here later tonight. I've got to go somewhere first."
He could feel V's eyes sharpen, the vampire's fierce intellect churning over the situation. Among the brothers, Vishous had the most raw brainpower, but he paid for the privilege.
Man, Wrath sure had his own demons, and they were no walk in the park, but he wouldn't have wanted Vishous's cross to bear. Seeing what had yet to come was a terrible burden.
V drew on the hand-rolled and exhaled slowly. "I dreamed of you last night."
Wrath stiffened. He'd been kind of waiting for this. "I don't want to know, brother. I really don't."
The vampire nodded. "Just remember something, okay?"
"Shoot."
"Two guards tortured will happily fight each other."
Chapter Thirteen
"Dinner was great," Beth said as Butch pulled up in front of her building.
He thoroughly agreed. She was smart and funny and sit-forward-in-your-chair beautiful. And if he stepped out of line, she never failed to knock him back where he should be.
So she was also incredibly sexy.
He put the car in park, but didn't turn the engine off. He figured killing the ignition would make it look like he wanted to be invited in.
Which he did, of course. But he didn't want her to feel awkward if that wasn't where she saw things heading.
Well, wasn't he turning into a nice guy.
"You sound surprised you enjoyed yourself," he said.
"I am, a little."
Butch ran his eyes over her, starting with her knees that were just barely showing under the hem of her skirt. From the dashboard's glow, he could make out the lovely lines of her body, her long, exquisite neck, her perfect, perfect lips. He wanted to kiss her, here in this dim light, in the front seat of his unmarked, just like they were teenagers.
Then he wanted to go inside her apartment with her. And not come out again until morning.
"So thanks," she said, flashing him a smile and reaching for the door.
"Wait."
He moved quickly, so that she wouldn't have time to think and neither would he. He took her face in his hands and put his mouth on hers.
Wrath materialized in the courtyard behind Beth's apartment and felt a prickling across his skin.
She was close by. But there were no lights on in her place.
Following a hunch, he walked around the side of the building. There was a nondescript American sedan parked in front. She was inside of it.
Wrath went down to the sidewalk and, as if he were just taking a stroll in the shadows, passed by the car.
He stopped dead.
His useless eyes worked well enough to tell him that some guy was all over her. As if the potent sexual craving of the male human wouldn't have tipped him off.
For God's sake, he could smell the bastard's lust through the sedan's glass and steel.
Wrath lunged forward. His first instinct was to rip the car door off and kill whoever had his hands on her. Just pull the guy out and tear his throat open.
But at the last second he spun away and forced himself back into the darkness.
Son of a bitch. He was literally seeing red, he was so worked up.
That some other male was kissing those lips, feeling that body under his hands...
A low growl vibrated through his chest and out his mouth.
She's mine.
He cursed. Yeah, and in what parallel universe was he living in? She was his temporary responsibility, not his shellan. She could be with whomever she wished. Wherever. Whenever.
But God, the idea that she might actually like what the guy was doing to her, that she might prefer the taste of the human's kiss, was enough to make Wrath's temples pound.
Welcome to the wonderful world of jealousy, he thought. For the price of admission, you get a splitting headache, a nearly irresistible urge to commit murder, and an inferiority complex.
Yippee.
Man, he couldn't wait to get his life back. The second she was through her transition, he was going to get the hell out of town. And pretend he'd never, ever met Darius's daughter.
Butch O'Neal was one hell of a kisser.
His lips were firm, but deliciously soft. Not coming on too strong, but letting her know he was prepared to take her to bed and show her he meant business.