The moment Calum Fletcher stepped into The Cavern, his body quickened. The heavy thud of his heart pounded at his temples. His skin prickled. Above the scent of booze and sex, he noted the musty, metallic odor of blood, and his stomach churned. Every instinct shouted danger.

Striding past the brawny, dull bouncer at the door, he kept moving, needing to draw calm around him before his nature was revealed. Although the vampires had been warned of his pack’s arrival in Seattle, he preferred to cloak himself in humanskin, free of wolf scent. The better to study the enemies he’d now be aligning with in war.

Dance music beat against his body. Bright, strobing lights pierced his eyes. Turning from the dance floor, he moved toward the bar, ignoring the activities of the patrons—the feasting, the fucking. Everywhere, except at the bar, an orgy of bloodlust and sexual excess was in progress.

The blonde behind the bar gave him quick, assessing glance. Her green eyes narrowed. “Can I get you a drink?” she asked, all the while continuing to watch him as though she expected trouble.

“A beer.”

“No preference?”

He shook his head, wanting to look away, but he was studying her as well. The blonde, uneven cut that barely reached to her chin looked wind-tousled. Her pale unpainted cheeks were as smooth as porcelain. Her mouth was bowed but held in a tight, firm line. Below, her figure was lean and muscled with only a slight flare of hips and a meager bosom.

And then he viewed her clothing—a black, form-fitting tank and faded blue jeans with ragged holes over both knees, stuffed into square-toed black boots. Harsh, dark. Echoing the look in the eyes. Vampire, he concluded. Had she already guessed his true nature?

She placed the beer on a cardboard coaster in front of him. “Haven’t seen you here before,” she said, her voice soft, but with a hint of an edge.

“I’m from out of town.” Out of state, actually, but he didn’t elaborate.

“How did you find this place?”

He gave a shrug then met her gaze, locking with it. “I was walking along the docks. Heard the music.”

She frowned. “And once you came inside…?”

Her tone clued him she was angling to hear what he thought of what was going on. A human who ventured inside by accident should be shocked. So, she hadn’t made him.

He held still. Barely breathed. If she knew he wasn’t a willing “host,” someone who understood the rules of the blood exchange, what would she do? His curiosity was piqued by her deepening frown and downturned mouth. Was she considering giving him a “friendly” warning?

Calum broke with her gaze and glanced at the dance floor. Most pairs danced, bodies moving in a wild fervor. A few barely swayed while hosts’ necks bent and vamps’ mouths worked, teeth and tongues biting and licking. He barely repressed a shudder. Worse, his gums tingled. When he turned back, he didn’t bother hiding a frown.

She reached out a hand and cupped the back of his wrapped around the beer. “Are you curious?” she asked, her voice thicker than before and lisping.

Curious about her, yes. Which should have alarmed him. But she wasn’t flirting and wasn’t attempting to use her vampire’s tricks to seduce him. Her gaze was direct. A straightforward challenge.

And although he wasn’t there to play, he did have time to satisfy his curiosity. The rest of his pack would be arriving soon enough. He’d pushed ahead of the convoy while they’d stopped for a meal. He gave a slight nod.

Her chest rose, and she lifted a hand to signal to a waitress, who made her way behind the far end of the long wooden bar. Then the blonde lifted the hinged, vertical opening in the bar and stepped through to join him.

Standing next to him, she had to raise her head to meet his gaze, something that appeared to irritate her, because a frown dug a line between her brows. “Bring your beer.” She stepped past him, skirting the dance floor and moving toward a row of leather-upholstered booths at the opposite side of the room, lit only by candles set in decorative glass bowls.

He followed, beer in hand, then slid into the booth she indicated.

Rather than taking a seat opposite him, she slid in beside him and turned, raising one knee to the seat. Her gaze went to his beard then trailed over his chest and below, before slowly rising again to his face. “I’m Ginnie,” she said, her voice huskier than before.

He noted the sharpened tips of her corner canines, peeking from beneath her upper lip. “Calum,” he said, his own voice deepening. His breathing was coming faster, sitting this close to her, drinking in her sweet-almond scent, which should have acted like repellent. But almond blended with a slight hint of vanilla and her feminine musk, and now moisture gathered in his mouth. He wanted a taste.

His mouth twitched and, inside, he laughed at himself for his attraction. How long had passed since he’d fucked a woman? Now, he wished he’d come better prepared. Vampires were naturally sensual creatures. That was all this lust was. He was growing aroused because she was what she was, and he’d been without for far too long.

She cleared her throat, and her glance shifted to the side, toward those occupying the tables around them.

One couple was particularly “involved.” A woman with a loosened skirt straddled a creature whose bony mask was revealed and mashed against her neck. The way she moved on him, jerking forward and back, Calum knew they fucked. The creature’s growl rumbled as his jaws worked. The woman sobbed softly and mewled, likely teetering between rapture and death.

Calum’s fists balled, and he stiffened, ready to push up from the table, but he wasn’t quick enough.

In a gray blur, Ginnie moved toward the couple and gripped the male vampire’s hair. She bent toward his ear and whispered.

Calum had no problem hearing her soft but harsh voice.

“Let her go, or I’ll kill you, Jay.”

The creature growled more loudly, warning her off.

Ginnie bent, reached into the top of her boot, and slid out a stake. She slipped it between the slats of the chair back and pressed it forward, just a couple of inches.

Jay released the woman and stretched his arms to reach behind him. His face crackled and reformed to reveal a man in his early twenties. “Ginnie, dammit. Stop!”

“Take care of her,” she growled then pulled back the stake. “I won’t warn you again.” When she returned to the booth, she stood beside it, studying Calum’s expression, her frown deeper. “So, do you want to?”

Calum’s eyebrows shot upward. “Which part? The fucking or the nearly dying?”

Her lips tightened. “Look, I’m…hungry.”

And getting bitchy, by her tone. Calum wasn’t prepared to share his blood. Not yet. His secret would be out, and now, he was interested in how she would cajole him to give up a vein. That she wasn’t simply forcing him spoke to the fact she wasn’t entirely soulless. Good to know, since they’d soon be fighting on the same side. “I don’t know…” His gaze swept her lean frame.

Her sigh dropped her shoulders. “Follow me. I’ll take you somewhere more private.” Turning on a heel, she walked away, again skirting the floor, her head pivoting toward the crowd, likely gauging whether she’d have to intervene again, but she continued toward a set of stairs that led upward to a booth above the club floor.

He followed, more slowly, noting the jerking sway of her backside, the stiffness of her shoulders, and wondering why she acted angry. Was she irritated with him? Or herself?

Once up the stairs, she stood to the side, her hand on the doorknob, waiting for him to pass inside what appeared to be a well-furnished office with a sitting area.

After he entered, she turned the lock on the knob. Then, with her back to him, she drew her tank from the waist of her jeans and pulled it over her head. The bra fell away. Next, she toed off her boots and pushed down her jeans. Once completely nude, she turned slowly to face him.

His groin tightened. She was lovely. Her skin was pale. A silver ball chain with a key dangled between her small but rounded breasts. Her sex was nude. A surprisingly feminine pale pink painted her toenails.

Her breath left in a prolonged huff, and she walked toward him, reaching for his belt buckle. With a flick, she freed the tongue then unzipped his jeans and gripped the waist to push his pants past his hips.

His cock sprang upward, and her gaze locked on it. Looking downward, he noted the sharpening of her cheekbones and the blush rising to color her cheeks with soft, rosy color. Calum reached behind his shoulders and grabbed the back of his tee to pull it over his head. Before it was clear, he felt wet heat surround his cock.