“It’s all set. Solon can take over if need be.”
Somehow I doubt that. Solon tells people what to do, he doesn’t actually do it himself.
“Or Ezra,” Wolf quickly adds. “If you go back to tending bar.”
I give Wolf a playful salute and then head over to the bar while he links arms with my mother. I’m just passing the dance floor (it used to be a ballroom, after all), with a few people already dancing to the playlist Lenore picked out, when suddenly William is coming toward me.
“Can’t say no to Thriller,” William says and he reaches out, grabbing my hands and pulling me toward him.
I laugh, caught off-guard by his attention. “Well, I can since I have to go work the bar.”
“Seems like it’s being taken care of,” William says, sliding his hands around my waist now. I get a large whiff of cologne. It’s not bad, it just doesn’t smell like Wolf naturally does, that’s all.
“Except Ezra needs to watch the feeding room,” I protest as William spins me around. I manage to catch Ezra’s eyes at the bar and give him a look that says help. Ezra nods and heads to the feeding room, which leaves me to get out of this dancing.
“You know, this isn’t how you dance to the song,” I say as William pulls me closer. “I mean, there’s literally instructions on how to do it in the music video, and this ain’t it.”
“Nothing wrong with improvising,” he says, leaning in so close that I swear he’s going to kiss me.
I pull my head back. “Look, I appreciate being asked to dance and all…actually, scratch that, you didn’t ask, you just kind of made me, didn’t you?”
That brings out a cocky grin from him, the kind I want to wipe from his face.
“But,” I continue, “if I don’t get some alcohol into these vampire’s systems, they’re going to start wanting blood, and guess who I’m going to sacrifice to them first? Trust me, there are no rules outside the feeding room.”
“I’ll take my chances,” he says, leaning in again and I’m seconds away from kneeing him in the crotch, you know, for fun.
Then I feel a burst of ice-cold wind at my back.
“Don’t you fucking touch her,” I hear Wolf growl from behind me.
My eyes go wide but William’s face remains obnoxiously drunk. “Oh yeah? She belong to you? Last I checked, she didn’t.”
I slowly turn my head to look at Wolf, catching the venom in his eyes for just a moment, before William twists me around to face him.
“Nothing new for you to see there,” William says to me, laughing.
More ice skirts along my back.
“I said don’t you fucking touch her,” Wolf repeats, louder this time, his rage simmering in his voice enough to make other people in the club look over at us. The air becomes thick with excitement, the vampires’ eyes reflecting bloodlust. “If that’s a problem for you,” Wolf continues, “I’ll gladly fix it by removing your hands.”
William scoffs but finally he’s starting to look a little afraid. He lets go of me and steps back. “Fine,” he says, showing his palms. “Wasn’t aware that Amethyst was your property.”
“I’m not his property,” I quickly interject.
Wolf lets out another growl at that and storms past me, heading to the bar.
“Sheesh,” William says, watching him go. “Might want to keep your vamp on a leash. I didn’t sign up for being threatened when I agreed to come here. The minute volunteers start feeling unsafe, that might be a problem for you and your club.”
He’s got a point about that. Still, I have a feeling that William won’t be allowed back into Dark Eyes after this. Drunk or not, he’s a shit-disturber.
“I guess he saw you weren’t getting the hint,” I tell him, giving him a cold glare before I head over to the bar.
Wolf has his back turned to me, pulling a bottle off the top shelf.
“What’s wrong with you?” I hiss at him, aware that there is a row of impatient vampires sitting at the bar, waiting for a drink. Guess it doesn’t matter if I lower my voice, they’ll hear me anyway.
“Saving your ass, that’s all,” he mutters, turning around to rummage for the shaker.
“My ass didn’t need saving,” I tell him.
“Ah,” he says dryly, though the look in his eyes is still volatile. The gold in his eyes gleams like fire. “So then, you were enjoying yourself. It’s hard to tell with you.”
What the hell does that even mean? “I wasn’t enjoying myself. But I can handle myself all the same. He was just being a dick.”
His brow raises and I know what he’s thinking, back to when Solon rescued me when the guy attacked me. I wasn’t able to handle myself then.
“And anyway,” I quickly add, “you can’t go around threatening volunteers. You’ll make them feel unsafe.”