Pike might have been beautiful once, but it was gone now, lost under the scars. They were at his wrists, his neck, and undoubtedly under his expensive, black, silver-threaded shirt. His confidence was absolute, and it pulled at me even as I refused to let it take hold and sway me.
“You okay, Rache?” Jenks said.
“Fine.”
“Your pulse just shot up, and your temperature—”
“You want to make sure they don’t throw out your food stocks? Ask them where they put Bis, while you’re at it,” I interrupted, and Jenks hovered backward, eyeing me.
“Sure.” Hesitating, he rose up. “Tink-blasted Rachel candy,” he muttered as he gave me a last, wary look and flew to the two movers standing over the boxes by the boat.
Pike’s smile widened to show his sharp but small canines. The sun was in his face, and I could tell it bothered him as he squinted. He’d been sipping too much undead blood to feel comfortable under the noon sun, but he tried. I could see it in the way he moved, silky smooth and without a wasted motion. He drifted to a halt before me, a suggestive question in the back of his eyes as he looked me up and down.
Sensation plinked through me, breathless like silver fire. I hadn’t allowed myself to enjoy that mix of allure and danger since Kisten, and I quashed it, blaming it on wading through the pheromones at Stef’s apartment.
“Rachel,” he said, and I locked my knees, shocked. Damn. He’d been doing more than sipping. “I tried to get ahold of you this morning,” he said, his lips quirking into a knowing smile as he saw what he’d done to me with just his voice. “Maybe I have a bad number.”
Stupid-ass vamp pheromones, I thought, hating that I looked like a pushover. “I don’t answer my phone unless I know who it is,” I said, then cleared my throat. The two movers with Jenks had their arms full of boxes and were heading to the car. “I’ve got two more weeks according to my eviction notice. What gives?”
Pike shifted to get his face out of the sun. “Constance moved up her plans. The prep is done. No need to wait.”
“I’ve seen your prep,” I said, remembering that I was angry, not infatuated. “It’s sitting in my back seat, homeless.”
Pike’s lip twitched. Clearly he didn’t care. “I took the liberty of clearing out the boat. We’re taking possession of that today as well. It’s better for everyone that way.” His gaze went from my car to the moving vans. He had shifted closer, and the scent of dusky incense plucked a long-fallow chord. “Ivy and Nina asked me to move their things to storage as well.”
A flash of fear lit through me, and his eyes darkened as he sensed it. I wasn’t afraid for me, but he didn’t know that. “I swear—”
“Yes, I’ve noticed that about you,” he interrupted. “Vocabulary can make or break you, don’t you think? That and what we choose to wear.”
“Really? That’s where you want to start?” I said as he looked me up and down again. I’d had just about enough of his slick-vampire attitude. He was getting away with breaking the law, sending a poker-hot jab into my sense of fair play. Breath held, I took a step forward to give him a piece of my mind, only to drop back when Jenks darted up between us.
“The boat is cleared out, Rache,” the pixy said, angry enough for both of us. “Where’s my food stores, fang boy?”
“Fang boy?” Pike’s amusement faded when Jenks touched his sword hilt, wings rasping in threat. “Everything in the fridge was packed in a temperature-controlled box,” he said, voice edged in warning. “First van.”
Jenks flew off in search, his dust lingering to look like a touchable sunbeam. The movers with my stuff had dropped their load and were going back for more. “Pike, this isn’t right, and you know it,” I said, trying to be pleasant, but he was taller than me, and it ticked me off that I had to look up at him. “I need the boat for a few more weeks. I’ll stay out of your hair. No wild parties. Promise,” I finished, but it sounded sarcastic to even me.
“No,” he said flatly. “You’ve had three months to find new lodgings. Not my problem.”
Stymied, I took a breath and he turned his big, pupil-black, fully dilated eyes on me, stifling my protest.
“And if you make it my problem, you will find my fee too large to pay,” he added.
My car door slammed and I jumped. Stef had gotten out. She was still holding her cat, and she watched the movers set two more boxes down by the car and go back for the rest.
Face warm, I backed up, not caring if he knew I was cowed. There’d been real threat in those words, the ability to enforce it coming not from Constance’s borrowed power but his own, hard-won and eager to be exerted. “You might be surprised at how big my bank of clout is,” I said, chin raised.
“Would I?” he mocked, and then his eyes shifted to the street, his expression blanking.
I turned as well, wondering what Pike was uptight about. It was only a man dressed in a suit standing beside a black car, almost hidden beside one of the abandoned warehouses. I’d say he was from the paper even if his car was too sleek for your average reporter. It made sense. Who wouldn’t go out on a limb to get an interview with the new master vamp?
“You should close your mouth and say thank you that your knickknacks and witchy charms aren’t being left on the curb,” Pike said, and my frown deepened at the faint, sour scent of angry vamp now rising from him. “Ivy paid for this with her blood. Be grateful.”
“If you hurt her . . .” I threatened, weight on my toes, and he laughed, the bitter sound bringing everyone to a standstill for one eerie moment.
“Me?” His hands went into his pockets. “Not me.”
I could do nothing, and frustration bubbled up. “This is harassment.”
“No, it’s reality,” Pike said, his mood bad, clearly done with me as he flicked another glance at the watching man. “The entire city is being reorganized. Rather egotistical of you to assume it’s to put a chip in your fang.” He turned away, then immediately spun back. “You, Rachel, have been living in city-deeded property for six months, rent free. Piscary’s belongs to Cincinnati’s master vampire. Get out.”
I blinked, shocked at the softly erotic sensation as he said my name. “I don’t like you,” I said, and he shrugged and turned from me. “I’m not leaving Cincinnati!” I called after him.
“You may not have a choice!” he shot back over his shoulder, and I took three steps after him before I jerked to a halt. He was walking away. I should let him go. Following an angry vampire was saying, “Bite me, I’m yours.”