Jocelynn Drake - Wait for Dusk

“Leave us,” Danaus said in a low voice. “Mira and I have something to discuss.”

Valerio and Stefan didn’t hesitate. Valerio disappeared instantly, and Stefan was directly behind him with a soft snicker.

I looked up at the hunter and frowned. This wasn’t going to be pleasant. Whatever he had learned during his time with Sofia was about to come back to bite me in the ass. I knew I never should have left him alone with Veyron’s pretty little pet.

Danaus shrugged off his coat and tossed it over the back of one of the chairs as he paced the room. I settled in the open seat and crossed my left leg over my right knee, trying to steel myself against whatever the hunter was about to drop into my lap. My stomach and jaw clenched as I watched him shove one hand through his dark hair, pushing it away from his face.

“I want us to free Sofia,” he announced. This was definitely going to get ugly.

“Why?”

Danaus stopped pacing and pinned me with a dark glare. “Why?” he repeated as his right hand balled into a fist. “She’s a prisoner. That vampire is holding her against her will.”

“I’m not sure if I believe that.” I shrugged as I relaxed in my chair. “And even if she is, I am willing to bet that she got herself into that mess in the first place. It’s not our job to get her out of her current predicament.”

“So, you’re saying no?”

I drew in a deep breath and released it slowly, as I reminded myself that Danaus wasn’t accustomed to my world. There were limitations as to what I could do without causing a storm of trouble that I wasn’t willing to deal with at this time. I already had enough on my plate.

“She’s a pet, Danaus.”

“I figured out that much myself,” he snapped, but I ignored him and continued.

“She’s a pet, and most of the time that’s a position a human attains willingly because she or he is enamored of the nightwalker. She’s treated well, I’m sure. I’ve seen poorly treated pets, and she’s not been abused. In fact, judging by the clothing and jewelry she was wearing, it looks as if he’s treated quite well.”

“You don’t know that!”

I finally frowned as I uncrossed my legs and slid to the edge of my chair. Danaus put his hands on the back of the sofa that separated us and leaned forward so he could look me directly in the eye. “She’s a prisoner,” he growled. “He restricts her movement. He feeds off her. He shares her with his friends. She’s just an object to him.”

“Sounds like a pet to me. Nothing too surprising in any of that treatment.” I paused, searching for some way in which he could accept Sofia’s arrangement. “Look, Danaus. She got herself into this situation. She’s just going to have to deal with it. If she’s lucky, he’ll get bored with her. Hell, it’s likely that we’re going to have to kill Veyron eventually, so she will be free after all. We can’t just waltz in and tell him to free her.”

“Why can’t we free her now?”

I shook my head and glanced down at my hands clasped in my lap. “It just isn’t done.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“She’s Veyron’s pet.” I pushed to my feet, which also caused Danaus to straighten to his full height. “You don’t steal another creature’s pet unless you want to start a war. I don’t want her. I don’t want to spend the rest of her existence protecting her. It’s bad enough that I just claimed Budapest as my second domain. I don’t need to steal away another nightwalker’s pet when he’s got her under his protection. My reputation can’t afford to get any blacker.”

“You certainly had no problem stealing Tristan from Sadira when we were in Venice,” Danaus accused.

“The court of the coven was going to kill him, and Sadira wasn’t going to do anything to stop it! I didn’t have a choice. I couldn’t stand by and let it happen. I promised him that I would help him get free of her,” I argued, finally raising my voice.

“And Nicolai? What was your excuse there? You can’t tell me that you weren’t taking a major risk by confronting Jabari and the entire coven by taking the werewolf off their hands. You knew that you were going to spend the rest of his existence protecting him from Jabari.”

“Damn it, Danaus! You were there. They were going to hand Nicolai over to the naturi. There was a chance that he could have been the next sacrifice that would break the seal. We couldn’t take that risk. Nicolai had to be removed from the coven. There was no choice.”

“Convenient,” the hunter sneered. “You’ve got an excuse for both of them.”

“Is Sofia in danger? No!”

“You don’t know that.”

“Veyron likes his little pet. She’s not in any danger so long as she obeys him. He will protect her and she knows it. Sofia isn’t in any danger from the coven or the naturi. Hell, she’s probably the most well-protected creature in all of Budapest.”

“But she’s not free.”

“That’s not our concern.”

“She’s human and she wants her freedom. That makes it my concern,” Danaus said. He glared at me for several seconds as if waiting for me to agree with him, but I didn’t say a word. “I’m going to help her.” He turned and started to walk out of the hotel room.

With a growl, I put one foot on the sofa cushion and leapt over the back. In a couple quick steps I was in front of him before he could reach the door. I placed my hand on his chest, stopping him.

“You’re not going anywhere,” I ordered. “You try to free her and you’re going to start a war. We still need to get rid of the naturi and discover why it was so important to Macaire that we come here. Freeing Sofia is not part of that deal.”

Standing so close to Danaus, something caught my attention. I drew in a breath to release an aggravated sigh when I noticed a new scent in the air. It was everywhere around us, filling the tiny hallway that led to the rest of the hotel room as if there were another person standing directly between us. I released the breath and drew a second, checking to make sure that I hadn’t lost my mind.

I could smell Sofia. Or rather I could smell her perfume. It was everywhere. I slowly lifted my hand from Danaus’s chest and sniffed my hand before jerking it away again. The smell was even stronger. It was coming from Danaus.

“What have you been doing?” I asked. Horror filled my voice as I pressed my back against the door.

“What are you talking about? You’re changing the subject—”

“What have you been doing? I can smell her. She’s everywhere.” I suddenly pushed off the door and leaned into Danaus so my nose was just inches away from his chest. The scent of Sofia’s perfume smacked me across the face, sending me reeling away from the hunter once again. “She’s all over you!”

“Mira, you’re being ridiculous.”

“Am I? You come to me reeking of this other woman, demanding that I help you set her free. What am I to think? For a moment I thought your interests lay with me, but apparently some pathetic human has caught your attention. What is it, Danaus? Is it because she’s a helpless damsel in distress or just because she’s human?”

“There’s nothing going on. When I told her that I would help her escape Veyron, she threw herself on me. She gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Nothing more.”

A low growl escaped me as I grabbed the front of his shirt and slammed him into one of the walls. “You allowed her to touch you! You’re mine! Don’t you understand that? I made you my consort before the coven and the entire nightwalker nation, and you’re choosing a human over me already.”

“I don’t belong to you! I’m not your pet!” Danaus roared, trying to push me away from him, but I wasn’t budging.