I didn’t want to be a cheater. But all I could think about was how to cover my tracks and hide the secrets multiplying in my heart and my body.
“To ease your mind, Max.” Caspian winked at me. “There’s no such thing as fraternization for us. Even before the Rupture, rules like that never applied to Aelindor, Drakken, Nikolai, and me.”
My heart skipped a hot, jealous beat.
Did they share women as well?The question surfaced before I could drown it.
I needed a drink. Desperately.
28
MAX
Noise and music slammed into us from the Broken Drum before we reached the club.
The shifter guards fanned out. Two peeled ahead to sweep the entrance. The rest fell into a loose perimeter behind us.
Bryn walked on my left, eyes wide, trying to look casual and failing.
The large ground floor had been converted from a warehouse with exposed timber beams. The ceiling rose high enough that Stormglass lanterns hung on chains like low stars. The bar ran the full length of the west wall. Four bartenders worked at combat speed.
Soldiers and cadets packed every inch. They drank at long wooden tables. Leaned against support pillars. Played cards in gambling corners where coins and chips changed hands with every round. Two pool tables sat at the far end, cues clacking over the din. Smoke from hand-rolled cigarettes drifted in blue layers. The air tasted of cheap liquor, fried food, and sweat.
The crowd sensed the predator among them the moment Caspian strolled inside, his arm still draped over my shoulders.
You and him both, the demon chimed.Your power makes the lesser beings uneasy. It draws the powerful toward us.
Heads turned. Every eye locked onto us. Conversations stuttered. Soldiers straightened. Others edged back, creating a path without being told.
Caspian led us toward the stairs. I kept my spine straight, eyes ahead, face blank. As if in marching formation, not walking into a bar with a prince’s arm around me.
If anyone who didn’t know us looked our way, they’d probably think I was Caspian’s big sister. Not only was I a couple inches taller, but I looked rougher around the edges. Miner upbringing versus a prince.
We settled in the VIP section on the second-floor balcony, an open mezzanine. Leather seats, low tables, better liquor. Servers bowed and brought bottles. Caspian ignored them. His aides handled the orders, the logistics, the stream of people wanting a word with the prince. He waved them all off and dropped into the seat beside me with the boneless ease of a man who owned the room and couldn’t be bothered to prove it.
I slouched and kept my head down, ignoring the gazes piling on me from every direction. I’d caused enough unwanted attention since the heirs carried me into their fortress.
Caspian laughed and joked, riding an incredible high. I fought not to laugh back. Not to flirt back, whichwas harder than it should have been. The shifter prince could probably make the dead crack a smile.
Then I felt it. One glare, heavier and more potent than all the others combined.
Drakken strode into the VIP section. He sat at a table a few feet from ours. And he wasn’t alone.
A blue-eyed, willowy blonde was with him. She wore his dragon’s color, a fitted black-and-gold dress that left little to the imagination. She sat beside him, legs crossed, her posture angled toward Drakken like a compass pointing north. She was taller than average, but compared to me, the top of her head would barely reach my chin.
She put up a good fight reclaiming him. Vying for his attention with every tool she had: touching his arm, leaning into his space, her lips moving close to his ear. I caught her hand sliding along his thigh, fingers migrating toward his groin with practiced confidence.
A sudden rage beat through my blood like a war drum. My shoulders locked tight.
I turned away. Forced my gaze forward.
Who the dragon prince fucked was not my business. Not even slightly.
But whenever I lifted my head, I looked. I couldn’t stop.
And there he was—glaring at Caspian and me as if we’d both done him wrong. His gray eyes burned deeper than anger. He mostly ignored the blonde, and she’d noticed. She followed his gaze to me. Her expression curdled into venom.
Just great. I was a hatred magnet.