Sherrilyn Kenyon: Unleash The Night

Marvin, the resident monkey mascot of Sanctuary, came running up to Wren with a new cloth for cleaning the tables. He took it from Marvin's hand as he forced himself to go back to cleaning the table. Still, he felt the unknown woman's presence, and before long he found himself staring at her again while she talked to her group of friends.

Marguerite took a sip of her beer while Elise and Whitney ogled the men in the bar. She reached for a pretzel only to have Blaine slap her hand.

He looked aghast at her. "Are you insane? Do you know how long that has been out? How many grimy hands have been in it? For that matter, our termagant waitress probably poisoned it just for spite."

Marguerite rolled her eyes at his unreasonable paranoia. She glanced back to the busboy, who had moved closer now. He was working again, but even so she sensed that she was his primary focus.

She frowned as she saw a tiny brown spider monkey run up the busboy's arm to rest on his shoulder.

The busboy pulled a small carrot from his white apron's pocket to hand to the monkey, who ate it while the busboy returned to work. She bit back a smile as she realized who this guy was. He must be Wren. Nick used to talk about him from time to time. He'd told her that at first he'd thought Wren was mute, since he never, ever spoke to anyone. They'd known each other for a full year before Wren had finally mumbled, "Hi," one day when Nick had come in to visit his mother.

According to Nick, Wren was a complete loner who kept to himself and who refused to participate in the world. The only reason Marguerite knew it was him was that Nick would talk about the monkey… Wren's only real friend, who was prone to steal their billiard balls while the two of them played in the back corner of the bar.

The monkey was named Marvin…

Blaine caught sight of her watching the busboy. He turned in his chair to see Wren, who had returned to staring at her. At least that's what it seemed like, but again, he kept his hair over his eyes, so there was no way to know for certain.

"Is he bothering you?"

"No," Marguerite said quickly, afraid of what Blaine might do. In a weird way, she felt almost flattered. Men didn't normally notice her unless they knew who her father was. It had been her mother who had turned heads.

Never Marguerite.

"What are you looking at?" Todd snapped at the man.

Wren ignored him as he moved to the table beside theirs that was covered with glasses and a plate of half-eaten nachos.

Marguerite could sense that he wanted to speak to her and she found herself wondering what he looked like underneath all that blond hair. There was an air of danger around him. One of powerful restraint, and yet she sensed that he didn't want to attract anyone's attention.

It was as if he wanted to blend in seamlessly with the background but was completely unable to do so.

A strange image of a sitting tiger in the zoo came to her mind. That's what he reminded her of. A large beast that was carefully watching those around him, detached and yet confident that it could take down anyone who messed with it.

"What a freak," Blaine said as he looked over to see Wren watching them. "Hey, buddy, why don't you do something with those disgusting dreads?" Blaine tossed a few dollars at Wren. "Why don't you use that to get a real haircut?"

Wren completely ignored Blaine and the money.

The monkey started squealing as if protecting Wren. Without a word, Wren patted the monkey's head, then whispered something to him. The monkey jumped off Wren's shoulder and scampered toward the bar.

Wren set his pan of dishes aside.

Her heart pounded as she realized he was coming toward her now. Up close, he was much larger than he'd appeared from a distance. For some reason, he slumped down and appeared to be around six feet, but if he were to straighten to his full height, she was sure he'd be around six two or three.

There was an aura of supreme power that surrounded him. One of speed and agility.

He was simply magnetic.

This close, she could finally see his eyes. They were a vibrant turquoise blue that was so pale they were haunting in their color.

And in their mercilessness.

He indicated her empty glass with a tilt of his chin. "Are you finished, my lady?" His voice was deep and resonant, mesmerizing. It sent a thrilling chill down her spine.

She smiled at his polite title. "Yes," she said, handing her glass toward him.

He wiped his hand off on his apron as if he didn't want to offend or dirty her before he reached for it.

At first she thought their hands might touch, but he moved his away as if he was afraid of making such intimate contact. A strange disappointment filled her.

Dropping his gaze, he took her glass, holding it as if it were precious, and moved away. He set it in tine pan, then glanced back at her.

"Excuse me, Rasta-mon?" Todd said rudely. "You don't need to be looking at her, asshole. She's way out of your league."

Wren cut Todd a bored look that said he didn't find him much of a threat.

"Wren?" the blond waitress said as she came up to him and confirmed his identity for Marguerite. The waitress paused to give them a warning glower before she softened her expression and looked back at Wren. "It's time for you to take a break, okay, sweetie?"

He nodded.

As he started away, Blaine pushed at the pan in his hands. "Yeah, sweetie, hang out with your own kind in the gutter."

Before Marguerite realized what he was doing, Blaine slung his drink in the man's face.

Wren let out a sound that was a strange hissing growl that didn't seem quite human. In a split second, he dropped the pan and lunged for Blaine.

Out of nowhere a group of men appeared to pull Wren back. She staggered to her feet and watched as the four much larger bouncers had to struggle to hold on to Wren. They surrounded him so well that Marguerite couldn't even see him anymore as they formed a barrier as if to protect her group.

The waitress was livid. "Get out!" she snarled at them. "All of you."

"Why?" Blaine asked. "We're paying customers."

Another blond man came up, one who bore a striking resemblance to the waitress. He must be the brother she had mentioned earlier who managed the bar. "You better do what Aimee says, boy. We just saved your life, but even we can't hold him for too long. By the time his vision clears, you better be long gone or we're not responsible for what he does to you."

Blaine sneered at him. "He touches me and I'll sue all of you."

The man laughed menacingly. "Trust me, there won't be enough of you left to feed through a straw, never mind file a lawsuit, dweeb. Now get out of my bar before I throw you out."

"Come on, Blaine," Todd said, pulling him toward the door. "We've been here long enough."

Whitney and Elise balked at having to leave, but like dutiful zombies they got up and followed the men.

Marguerite stayed behind.

"Margeaux?" Todd asked.

"Go on. I'll catch up later."

Blaine shook his head at her. "Don't be stupid, Margeaux. Our kind doesn't belong here."

She was so sick of the "our kind, their kind" mentality. She'd had quite enough of that in her life, and much to her entire family's chagrin, her thought was that there were only two kinds of people in the world. Those who were decent and those who were mean.

Personally, she was sick to death of those who were mean. "Shut up, Blaine. Go home before I beat you."

Blaine rolled his eyes before he headed for the door with Elise and Whitney in tow.

"Are you sure you want to stay?" Todd asked.

"Yes. I'll catch a cab home."

He looked less than convinced, but he must have recognized her determination to stay. "Okay. Be careful."

She nodded, then waited for him to leave before she headed off in the direction where she'd seen the bouncers take Wren. This whole fiasco had been her fault The least she could do was apologize for the fact that she was dumb enough to hang out with assholes.