Bride took the dress to the dressing room and did her best not to remember how fine Vane had looked naked in here. How good he had felt inside her. The look of supreme satisfaction on his face as he rocked her gently in his arms.
She hung the dress up and went to find accessories for it. She didn't know where he was going to take her, but she was going to look her best if it killed her.
Vane made his way back to the doll store where he'd left Ash.
He had a date.
With Bride.
Panic was already setting in. What on earth did humans do on a date besides have sex?
He'd seen humans in the bar interact with each other, but those encounters had been similar to what wolves did. Someone would come in, look around, find the partner they wanted to claim, and take them home to screw them. Dev had told him from the very first night that that wasn't the way the human world normally worked. That some things at Sanctuary were different.
The other, more subdued humans who came in were already dating or married to each other. They usually seemed to be having a good time unless they were fighting. But Vane had never paid very much attention to them.
He didn't know anything about trying to make a human actually "like" him.
He'd spent the last four hundred years of his life either killing those who threatened his siblings or trying to scare the rest away.
What would make Bride fall in love with him enough so that she would agree to be his mate?
After parking his bike on a side street, he went back to Liza's for some help.
Vane hesitated as he entered the front room where two women were browsing the doll collection while talking to Liza. One of the women was an exact copy of Tabitha, except she didn't have the scar on her face.
She must be Kyrian Hunter's wife, Amanda. Vane had crossed paths with the ex-Dark-Hunter from time to time, but had never met his wife. Marissa was in Amanda's arms, playing with her mother's hair. The other woman, a short brunette, he knew well. She was Dr. Grace Alexander, the human psychologist who kept telling him nothing would help his brother until Fang was ready to be helped. Grace held her son in her arms while Amanda stopped mid-sentence.
All three women turned to stare at Vane, who hesitated just inside the door.
"He's in back still," Liza said, as if she knew who he was looking for.
"Thanks."
He heard Liza explain who and what he was to Amanda as he headed toward the back room.
Vane passed through the curtains to find the demon gone and Kyrian, Nick Gautier, and Julian Alexander talking to Ash.
He knew Nick from the number of times the young human had come into Sanctuary to see his mother, Cherise. Nick was strange, but since he served the Dark-Hunters and they loved his mother, the bears treated him like another one of their cubs. Kyrian was slightly taller than Julian, with blond hair that was a shade darker. Even though they were mostly human, the two men possessed enough authority and skill that Vane respected them.
"What's up, wolf?" Ash asked as he reclined against a worktable that was littered with doll parts and fabrics. Ash had his butt resting on it, with his legs stretched out before him and his hands braced on either side of his long, lean body.
Nick, Julian, and Kyrian stood in a semicircle between him and Ash.
Vane hesitated. He didn't relish the idea of a public consultation, but since two of the men were married to modern-day women and Nick was known to date a lot, maybe they could help him out.
"I need dating advice. Fast."
Ash arched a single brow at that. "I'm useless. I've never been on one."
The three human men turned to gape at him.
"What?" Ash asked them defensively.
Nick started laughing. "Oh man, this is priceless. Don't tell me the great Acheron is a virgin?"
Ash gave him a droll look. "Yeah, Nick. I'm lily-white."
"How did you get through life without a date?" Kyrian asked Ash.