“I can see she’s worth it,” he muttered, his eyes going back to Lucien even as his words made the redhead’s face twist into a pout that I wish I could say wasn’t pretty but it made her look damnably cute as a button.
What I wanted to know, but didn’t ask, was what I was worth.
It was like they were talking code!
Lucien didn’t respond to Jordan. Instead he looked at the redhead.
“Cecile,” he murmured.
“Lucien,” she whispered in a breathy voice.
“Now, Lucien, you released her, remember?” Jordan said and his tone was lighthearted but his words felt like a kick to my gut. The redhead looked like she felt the same and this look was not cute as a button at all. It was anguished.
She recovered before I did, damn the woman.
“I remember.” She spoke up.
Jordan turned to me. “He always gets the best ones. Luckily, sometimes the rest of us can pick up the scraps.”
Everyone tensed then.
Me in an all of a sudden feeling of camaraderie for my female brethren.
Lucien because he could be a jerk but I suspected he was a gentleman.
Cecile because his insult wasn’t veiled, not in the slightest.
“Perhaps you should be on your way,” Lucien suggested from between clenched teeth.
Jordan, clearly a new kind of vampire to me, the demented kind, grinned in the face of certain peril (namely Lucien). “Perhaps I should.” His eyes came again to me. “Leah, it was a pleasure.”
I didn’t know what to do so I simply lifted my chin. This made his grin widen to a smile, he nodded to Lucien and he took Cecile’s arm and moved to pass us.
Lucien moved too. Keeping me to his side with his arm around my shoulders, he shifted us around and his hand shot out and wrapped around Cecile’s upper arm.
Jordan and Cecile stopped.
“Cecile’s going home,” Lucien declared and I felt my mouth drop open as Jordan’s eyes narrowed on Lucien’s hand then on Lucien.
We were almost home free and now foiled by Lucien who was also obviously of the demented vampire sort.
“I beg your pardon?” Jordan asked Lucien.
“It’s okay, Lucien,” Cecile whispered.
“Don’t do this,” Lucien clipped to Cecile.
“It’s okay,” she repeated.
Lucien dropped his hand but he didn’t admit defeat. “Your family won’t agree.”
I watched as her face paled again.
“I’m not sure this is your business,” Jordan butted in, coming closer to the threesome that included Lucien, Cecile and me.
“I’ve selected three of her line, not including her, it’s my business,” Lucien returned.
“You released her just over a week ago,” Jordan snapped. “You had your fill, you’re out.”