Captivated (Deep in Your Veins 6)

In her jaguar form, Maya was in her element out here. But she soon began to tire, chuffing and coughing in complaint. I suspected she was exasperated that their search was coming to nothing.

Walking alongside me, Imani nudged me. “Is there a reason Max keeps staring at you?” she asked, her voice too low to carry to others.

I’d felt his gaze on me more than once, but I hadn’t looked his way. Hopping over a twisted tree root, I lifted a brow. “You don’t think I’m stare-worthy?”

“I think you’re keeping something from me, and that is not fair. My curiosity needs to be fed.”

I snorted. “I’ve noticed. But since I’m just as nosy, I can’t even give you shit for it.”

“Did something happen between you two?”

Sensory memories assaulted me—his hot mouth on mine, his fingers curving and stabbing, his cock grinding against my clit. “It’s nothing I care to talk about here and now.”

“Later, then,” she said, sidestepping a prickly pineapple bush.

I nodded. “Later.”

Another hour went by before Sam and Jared declared it was time to return to The Hollow. Once we’d eaten lunch at the canteen, we headed to another part of the rainforest to do a second search. It was just as fruitless as the first. By the end of it, we were all seriously tired. We were vampires, not machines.

Due to said fatigue, I asked Imani to postpone her visit until the following evening. Not for my sake, but for her own. Although she was a Keja, she’d once been injected by a serum that was supposed to reverse vampirism. Instead, it had changed her in various ways—both strengthening and weakening her. She tended to tire faster now, but she still often stupidly overexerted herself. So both myself and her mate, Butch, worked on ensuring she got enough rest. As such, I was both surprised and miffed when a knock came at the front door shortly after I’d finished my late dinner. Awkward minx, I thought as I made my way to the door.

(Max)

Hearing muffled voices, I glanced over at the guys in the hall who were eying me curiously while talking among themselves. And I knew it would quickly circulate around The Hollow that I’d come to Paige’s apartment. The legion were like gossipy old women.

I inched up a brow, daring them to comment. They quickly looked away, but not fast enough to hide their smiles.

Not everyone bought that Paige and I had simply had a disagreement in the restroom. Some were sure that something a little more interesting had happened, and I wondered if that number included these two vampires here.

Just then, Paige’s front door opened. Surprise flashed in her eyes, and her expression then went vacant. Well at least her gaze was finally meeting mine. She’d refused to acknowledge me since walking out of the restroom last night.

“We need to talk,” I told her.

She looked about to blow me off, which I couldn’t allow—this was too important. Knowing she wouldn’t want her neighbours to overhear anything they might repeat, I slid the vampires down the hall a quick glance to show her we weren’t alone. She tracked my gaze, and her mouth tightened.

“Fine.” She stepped back, allowing me to enter, and then closed the door. That easily, the air crackled with awareness. An awareness that we were alone, that we’d crossed a line last night, that she’d have been fucked raw if Sam hadn’t interrupted.

Paige cleared her throat. “You said we needed to talk,” she prompted, folding her arms.

“We can’t go on like this.”

“What?”

I walked toward her. “You know what,” I said, my voice even. “You pretend I’m not nearby. You avoid looking at me. You greet everyone but me.” I thought she might go on the defensive, but she let her arms fall to her sides and conceded my point with a tilt of her head.

“I know. I just felt … awkward and I let that get in the way, which I can’t afford to do, considering we have to work together. It won’t happen again.”

That was one of the things I liked about Paige. She might have a lot of pride, but she never failed to admit to her mistakes, no matter how big or small they were. I wondered if she considered last night a mistake. Probably. Which bothered me a lot more than it should have. But it hadn’t been a mistake to me, no, the mistake had been in me believing I could forever ignore how much I wanted her. Hence why I was there.

She bit her lip. Such a simple act, but it made my cock jerk. Made me wonder how it would feel to have those teeth biting my neck. Her tongue swiped over her lower lip as her gaze held mine. The flare of heat there made the memories of last night flash through the forefront of my mind.