Succubus Unchained - Heather Long Page 0,27

eager. Energy surged through the malaise infused in my cells, and the only thing I wished was that I had a drink to knock back before I knocked his teeth out of his head.

I hadn’t been in a bar brawl in a while. This idiot wasn’t Dimitri or Isaac, but I could do with breaking his neck in their place for right now. It might even be therapeutic. The pair of vampires behind him started to crowd closer as the idiot opened his mouth to… Well, whatever he planned to say, I didn’t get to hear it. His whole demeanor shifted, and he leaned back in the chair as if trying to put distance between us.

It was only when he flicked a look behind me that I braced for a possible attack…

One that didn’t come.

Without a word, the vampire scraped his chair backward in his haste to leave. Wow.

How very anticlimactic.

A drink slid onto the table in front of me, and I froze, every nerve cell I possessed lighting up as the chair next to me was withdrawn and Fin took a seat.

“Hello, Beautiful,” he murmured, his expression almost tender. “Miss me?”

Chapter 6

“Everything in the world is about sex except sex. Sex is about power.” - Oscar Wilde

A smile flirted around the mouth of Fin’s angelic face as he studied me with his nearly pitch-black eyes with the barest ring of gray around them. His dark hair fell in a messy tousle, as though he’d just rolled out of bed, and the longing skulking through me suddenly let out a clarion call. It was so fucking loud, I almost jerked at the cacophony. Hunger waged a second assault, and I seized the glass he’d placed in front of me with a surprisingly steady hand and tossed back the full measure of it without regard for what it was.

The whiskey went down smooth and blazed a path to my belly. Setting the glass down, I met those much-missed eyes. “No,” I lied, because I’d cut my own tongue out before I admitted the attachment had burrowed deeper inside me than I’d realized.

“You wound me,” he murmured, though his own nonchalance didn’t betray any such thing. He rubbed his thumb along his lower lip, and I tracked the motion before forcing my attention back to his eyes, then away from them and to the dancers. “But then, you knew that.”

I didn’t respond. It was better to not rise to the bait.

“I missed you,” he continued. The dancer I’d been watching swung around on the pole and locked gazes with me. I let one corner of my mouth curve upward. I admired the athleticism, but she was a far more practical soul, and while her audience might be drooling for her, she wasn’t remotely interested in them. However, the spark in her eyes suggested I might have better luck.

Amusement curled through me until the dancer’s gaze slid past me and she blanched. Much like the vampire had earlier, she jerked her attention away and nearly fell.

“That was rude.”

“Was it?” Fin was a picture of innocence as I glanced at him. “I didn’t do anything.”

“Of course you didn’t.” I needed to go, preferably before Elias came back. If he noticed Fin here, he would come to defend me, and I didn’t need any of them having his face or scent. I’d call him later and apologize.

So much for my continued hiding at his place. It was time for me to go anyway. Elias would never throw me out, but he’d been right earlier. I needed to do something. The longer I sat here, however, the more I realized I didn’t need to feed on anything this place could offer me.

Well, save for the one who’d taken a seat next to me and threatened to send me up in flames.

Definitely time to go.

I pushed my chair back, but Fin had already moved to ease it away as I stood. Ignoring him took considerable effort. I hadn’t really dressed up for the club, just wore jeans and a halter-necked tank top that left my back bare. The flat-bottomed boots were better for fighting or running if I had to do either. With a toss of my hair, I headed for the door.

“Are we done so soon?” Fin asked, even as he set his palm lightly against my waist, but his thumb skated over the bare skin the top left open. “You just had the one drink, Beautiful.”

“Go away,” I told him.

“But I just got here.” He