He nodded and offered her a kind smile. "Thank you, Bride."
"No," she said, touching her necklace that he had given her. "Thank you."
He kissed her hand, then turned, tucked his hands inside his pockets, and walked slowly down the street toward Bourbon. Her heart heavy, she watched that deadly masculine swagger.
"Bride?"
She turned to see Mina Devereaux standing in the open doorway. "You okay?" she asked.
Nodding, Bride forced herself to go inside. Mina led her to a table near the window where her sister, Tabitha, was seated.
"Hey, Bride," Tabitha said in greeting as she unwrapped a cracker. "You okay? You look a little distracted."
"I don't know," Bride said as she took a seat across the table from Tabitha.
"I've had the strangest day of my life and I think I may have just made the biggest mistake of all time."
Only she wasn't sure if the mistake was sleeping with someone she didn't know or letting him leave her.
His heart heavy with regret, Vane made his way through the French Quarter down to 688 Ursulines Avenue where the bar Sanctuary stood on the corner. The redbrick building had saloon-type doors with a sign outside that featured a dark motorcycle silhouetted by a full moon on a hill.
A tourist attraction, the biker bar was crowded as always with natives and tourists. There were already several motorcycles lined up on the sidewalk outside that belonged to the local biker gang who called themselves the Vieux-Doo Dogs. The first time he'd seen the gruff bikers enter the building, Vane had laughed The biker humans had no idea that Sanctuary wasn't just a place for them. It was one of the very rare true havens for his kind.
All over the world and in various time periods, certain Were-Hunter families had established places like this one where Katagaria members could hide out while running from their enemies. But of all the known animal havens, Mama Bear Peltier's Sanctuary was the most respected and renowned. Mostly because hers was one of the few establishments that welcomed Dark-Hunters, Apollites, Daimons, and gods equally. So long as you came in peace, you were allowed to leave with all body parts intact.
As the Sanctuary slogan went: Don't bite me and I won't bite you.
Anyone who breached that one rule was quickly sacrificed by one of Mama Peltier's eleven sons or her exceptionally large mate. It was a well-known fact that Papa Bear Peltier played with no one but Mama Bear.
Though Mama and her boys were bears in their native form, they welcomed all Katagaria branches: lions and tigers and hawks and wolves. There wasn't a single known group that didn't have at least one member hiding here.
Hell, there was even a drakos, and as a rule the dragons seldom made the twenty-first century their home. Due to their size, dragons had a tendency to live out their lives in past times where a smaller human population and open fields made it easier for them to hide.
The Peltiers even had an Arcadian Sentinel who watched over the place and that was the greatest feat of all. Arcadians were the Were-Hunters who had human hearts and they were mortal enemies to the Katagaria, who had animal hearts. In fact, the two species had been at war with each other for thousands of years.
The Arcadians were supposedly the kinder branch of Vane's people, but his experience said that was wishful thinking on their part. He'd much sooner trust a Katagaria with an animal heart than an Arcadian with a human heart any day. At least the animals attacked you openly. They weren't nearly as treacherous as a human.
But then, no Katagaria female had ever held him the way Bride had. None had ever made him feel this strange protectiveness that wanted nothing more than to go back to the restaurant where he'd left her, take her into his arms and carry her home with him.
It didn't make a bit of sense.
He strode through the saloon doors to find Dev Peltier sitting on a tall barstool at the entrance. Dev was one of Mama Bear's quadruplets. Even though they were identical in looks, each of the quads had a very distinct personality and carriage.
Dev was easygoing and slow to anger. He exuded an air of powerful grace and moved methodically like most bearsas if he had all the time in the world. But Vane knew the bear could be damned near as quick to move as any wolf.
The first time he had seen Dev lunge at his younger brother Serre in a play fight, he'd developed a healthy respect for the bear's abilities.
Tonight, Dev wore a black T-shirt that didn't quite cover up the Artemis bow mark on his biceps that he had as a goof on the Daimons and Apollites who occasionally ventured inside the bar. He was playing five-card draw with Rudy, one of the human employees who had no idea that half the "people" in the bar were really animals walking on two legs.
Rudy had straight black hair pulled back into a ponytail, and a rough face that showed every sign of how hard the ex-con's life had been. He had a full black beard and every inch of exposed skin was covered with some kind of colorful tattoo.
The man was truly grimy and, unlike the Were-Hunters who made this their home, he wasn't attractive. In fact, that was the easiest way to tell the humans from the animals. Since Vane's people valued beauty above all else, it was rare to find an unattractive Were-Hunter.
Like his brothers', Dev's curly blond hair fell all the way down his back. As always, he wore it loose. He had on a pair of tight, faded jeans and black boots.
Dev acknowledged him with a tilt of his head. "Hey, wolf, you okay?"
Vane shrugged as he neared them. "Just tired."