Hell, she hated that she’d had to kill the hunter, but he hadn’t given her a choice. He had been in the wrong, a rogue, and would have killed an innocent vampiress.
Some of the hunters hadn’t see it that way. She had murdered one of their kind while defending a vampire. Even though the League had mostly exonerated her, several hunters still felt she’d been a traitor to take the vampiress’s side in the confrontation.
“This club is for hunters. Not for the likes of you,” a man growled.
She didn’t even know him, but it seemed everyone knew of her.
Another looked her up and down as if he’d like to have sex with her, even if he had no other use for her. She gave him a killing glower back.
Which made him smile. “Hell, I don’t know what all the difficulty is,” he said out loud. “She looks good enough to eat. Keep her unarmed and naked in bed, is my motto.”
“And if you had a kid by that abomination?” another man said, shaking his head. “You would have to destroy it before it became just like her.”
Then she saw Daniel. Oh hell, if he saw her, there would be hell to pay.
She’d tried to slip through the crowded club before anyone stopped her and forced her back out the front door. Although it might not matter if Atreides had already left. Surely, he wouldn’t sit there any longer than had been necessary. He’d dropped her off, and then he and his friends would be gone.
But it was impossible to move about the club in the slinky red dress with her reputation and remain unnoticed. Still, she’d almost succeeded to reach the side door until one of the women—superior huntress Candy Kline—caught sight of Selena and instantly leaned over and spoke to Selena’s brother. Daniel’s head whipped around as if he’d just been told a vampire was coming in for the kill, and he’d better prepare himself.
Selena turned her head away and reached for the knob to the side door, not about to put up with Daniel’s hateful words, if he thought she intended to stay, and he was going to ensure she didn’t.
As soon as she twisted the handle, his hand grabbed hers, and he jerked the door open, then shoved her outside. As if, damn him, he was trying to prove to the hunters in the club that he would show her who was boss.
She whipped around and growled, “Go to hell, Daniel. I wasn’t planning to stay.”
He fisted his hands, his face reddened with anger. “What the hell do you think you’re doing here? Carrying an unsheathed hunter’s sword into a hunter club? And you aren’t even supposed to be armed. What’s the matter with you? You don’t belong here, damn you. Don’t you ever show your face in here again.”
“I hadn’t intended to, you prick.” She spun around and meant to stalk off, but he grabbed her arm and whirled her around to face him.
“I asked you what the hell you were doing in here.”
“It’s none of your business. Don’t you dare touch me again,” she growled low.
This time when she turned and stormed off, he didn’t make a move to stop her. Her head was pounding, her whole body hot with anger, and she felt she could have taken him out, forget that she was supposed to take down rogue vampires—when she wasn’t on restriction.
Damned hunter ego that he had to act as though he was taking out the club’s trash—her.
The door squeaked open, and she thought Daniel was returning to the club, but instead she heard Mack say, “What did you go and send her away for? I wanted to dance with her.”
“The hell that’s all you want to do with her, Mack.”
Neither spoke a word, though she knew they were watching her. Had to be because the door didn’t open again so that they could return to the club.
“Where the hell is your car?” Daniel hollered.
“Go to hell, Daniel,” she shouted back, still not looking in his direction. She turned down another street, hoping to get out of his sight before he decided to question her further about the fact her car was nowhere in view and ask again why she’d visited the hunter club, armed with an unsheathed sword.
Atreides stared in disbelief. Not only had a hunter tossed her out of the club, but he’d manhandled her in such a violent way that Atreides had wanted to kill the bastard himself. He’d felt the tension in the van rise as his friends watched the confrontation unfold. His teeth had immediately unsheathed, and he suspected his friends’ teeth had also. The others had been just as irritated as Atreides was.
What Atreides couldn’t believe was that, despite the hunter recognizing she was without transportation, he’d let her go, not caring for her safety in the least. What the hell was wrong with the two hunters?
A brunette poked her head out of the club’s side entrance. “Aren’t you coming back inside, Daniel?”
The huntress was nearly out of sight, and the man nodded. He started back into the club, but the other named Mack stood watching the huntress still. “Coming, Mack?” Daniel asked.
“Yeah, hell, Daniel. She’s not that bad.” Mack joined him, and the door clunked closed.
“Damn, where the hell does the huntress think she’s going, alone and on foot? Does she have a death wish after what happened to her near our dance club?” Atreides growled to his friends as they watched from his van. He started the engine, intending to follow her, to learn exactly where she was living and with whom.
“Follow her. If we have to, the three of us can take care of her if someone threatens her,” Renault said.
She would only need Atreides’s protection, he wanted to growl back. And he was already following her. His fangs were still fully extended, and he was gripping the steering wheel so hard, he wished they’d been around the hunter’s neck. As soon as Daniel had shoved Selena, Atreides’s blood had sizzled with barely controlled anger.
Atreides was torn between wanting to thrash the hunter and shake some sense into the huntress for not telling him what kind of trouble she was in. Not that it should have mattered to him, but…
“Where the hell is she going?” Colt asked, echoing Atreides’s dark thoughts.
Atreides drove slowly down the street, ready to jerk the van to the curb if anyone attempted to get close to her, and he would change his mind. But he’d never expected what happened next.
For a couple of blocks, Selena had managed her composure after her brother had torn into her. Normally, she was good at burying her feelings. But she believed her nerves were on edge, all having to do with her sister’s disappearance, the note about it from her friend, and she still felt groggy from—she wasn’t sure what. The vampire’s attack on her, most likely. So, she attributed her inability to deal with her emotions in a rational way—to everything else going on with her.
Tears blurred her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. She cursed feeling any emotion about it any further. She was what she was. She would not allow a hunter to kill an innocent vampire. If she had to do it all over again, she would. She was certain some hunters would feel the same as her, but they didn’t want to end up like her, in trouble with the League. She needed to get home where she would be safe. Then she would take care of herself.
But what if the vampire came for her again? She must have some connection to him, but she had no idea what it was. Had she killed one, and there was another? The wolf perhaps?