“All right, all right, let her finish her food,” Devon said, and a burst of power rolled through the air.
Like leaves stirring on the forest floor, Charity felt her magic respond to his. Heat pulsed in her middle, and she quickly finished off the rest of her plate so she could escape into the kitchen.
Macy grabbed Devon’s plate. “I’ll help.”
“Since when do you clean up?” Rod asked skeptically.
“Since I want to get away from your ugly mug.”
He snorted. “I feel sorry for Dillon, having to deal with you.”
“You shouldn’t. At least he gets laid.”
Rod nodded and shrugged at the same time. Point to Macy.
“How goes it?” Macy asked Charity a moment later. The plate clinked against the countertop next to the sink. “Did it go okay with Roger? He was acting kinda strange…”
“Oh, good. So he normally isn’t that intense?” Charity rinsed her plate and tucked it into the empty dishwasher.
“No, he isn’t normally that calm. I heard he smiled.”
Charity rinsed the other plate. “If that was nice Roger, I do not want to see mean Roger.”
“Like I told Andy, it’s best to steer clear. Let Devon be the middleman on that one. He’s able. I am not.”
Charity smirked. She filled a glass with water and drank it as the doorbell rang.
“That must be the new wolf,” Macy said, waiting for Charity to finish. “Jimmy got reassigned. I heard what he did to you. That must’ve freaked you out.”
Charity sniffed. “It sure wasn’t what I was expecting, I’ll say that much.”
Macy took a few steps with her back to the front room. “Well, don’t worry about it. He got reassigned. This is a new girl. Thank God! Seriously. Being the only girl with a bunch of stinky, rude guys is the—”
The words died on her lips as she turned around.
In the living room, it was like someone had pushed the pause button. All the guys stood motionless, staring at the newcomer like a pirate would a treasure map. Macy’s mouth dropped open slowly, fear washing over her features.
The newcomer had arrived. And holy crap, she was freaking gorgeous.
Charity had seen pretty girls in her day. Hell, she went to school with a bunch of them. But few of them had achieved this caliber of perfection. Long blonde hair streamed down the girl’s back, curling at the ends. Light brown, shapely eyebrows arched glamorously, setting off smooth but defined cheekbones and pale blue eyes surrounded by long, thick black lashes. Her full, pouty lips smiled as she surveyed the men. She was clearly used to being the object of attention.
“Hello,” she said in a sultry voice, matching her smile. “I’m Yasmine.”
Devon rose from the couch slowly, his spine rigid, his eyes riveted. “I’m Devon, the alpha of this pack. Welcome.”
Yasmine’s eyes sparkled as she looked him over. A coy grin pulled at her lips and she slinked down into a pose that blasted sex!
Silence settled onto the room. No one moved.
What was everyone waiting for, the theme of The Bachelorette to start playing?
“Right,” Charity said, “Shall I do the introductions? Otherwise, this is getting awkward.”
Yasmine’s lovely eyes turned Charity’s way. A shapely hip jutted out. Another sexy pose ensued.
“I’m Charity.” She touched her fingers to her chest. “I’m new here, too, although we still aren’t sure what I’m good for. You’ve met Devon…”
Devon started, coming out of his trance. He probably should’ve worn boxer briefs, because he was creating an embarrassing moment for himself.
“Yes. Hello.” His tough façade settled over him. Yasmine smiled appreciatively. “Let’s take a seat in the sitting room, and we’ll go over details.”
All the male eyes followed Yasmine as she followed Devon out of the front room.
“Really?” Macy elbowed Dillon. “With the staring?”
Dillon started. His face flared red. Macy huffed and walked out of the room without him.
“You got a little wine reduction drool there, bro.” Andy used his pointer to flick Rod’s chin. “I don’t think girls dig blank stares, by the way. You look like a caveman.”
“Yeah, like you weren’t looking,” Rod said, shouldering in front of Andy.
“Already over it, bro. Girls like that take too much work. I prefer the mute ones.”
“Yikes.” Charity rolled her eyes. “Jokes like that are why you’re still single.”
“Probably,” Andy conceded with a grin.
After everyone was settled in the sitting room, where the furniture was decidedly less comfortable but arranged in a sort of circle, Devon leaned forward and braced his forearms on his knees. Thankfully, his lustful haze seemed to have dissipated a little.
“Okay,” he said, and snatched a notepad off the table at the center of the group. “Ten recruit vampires were originally at the party. Three were taken down and one is on my love seat. That leaves six active newbie vamps.” He glanced at Yasmine. “We need to start taking them out ASAP. There’ve already been two deaths, which have the police baffled, of course. It won’t be long before the MLE office steps in. I would like to avoid that. This was my mission, and I want to complete it. Based on the information Dillon and Rod have collected, we already have one accessible target. We can take that one out after this meeting. I know of a home base for another, so we’ll need to plan out how to approach that one.”