Save the Last Vamp for Me (27 page)

With the ceremony over, party time began. People streamed back to the tent and tables, laughing and talking as they went. Logan noticed I’d grown a little shaky and offered his arm. “Thanks.”

“No problem. By the way, this is Moira.” He meant the red-headed woman, who fell in step with us on my other side.

“Hi. Thanks for, uh,” I lifted my cast slightly, not sure how to complete what I’d been saying.

“You’re welcome.” Moira radiated good humor and warmth. “I bet that was strange for you.”

“The smoke startled me, but the rest was cool, especially the tigers.”

Logan stumbled slightly and Moira’s eyes widened. They both asked, “Tigers?”

Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything about them. “Um, yeah. Kind of ghostly looking, in the sky over us?”

Before either could respond, a scream came from somewhere near the tent. Logan unwound his arm from mine, pointing at Moira. “Stay with her.”

She nodded, and he rushed away. I followed her to the closest picnic table, and we climbed onto it for a look. Moira hissed. “Those damn outsiders.”

Mega Douche was plowing through the clan, his followers on his heels. I spotted Terra being herded toward us, Logan at her back, but then she turned and darted around him, avoiding everyone who reached to stop her.

She shifted, her clothing tightening and tearing before falling free. There were only a few seconds to admire her black-striped, white figure before she leaped at Mega Douche. He actually punched her in her tiger face, an uppercut that knocked her away.

Meanwhile, others were shifting to tiger, including Logan, who charged toward the oversized enemy. But before he reached Mega Douche, who was now a gigantic tiger, a white streak struck the enemy leader. He and Terra rolled a few feet, and she sprang free before Mega D wrapped his heavy front legs around her.

Thwap, thwap, thwap!
She began pounding away at his head and face, her claws extended and drawing blood with each blow.

“Thatta girl! Show him who’s boss!” I cheered, wrapping my good arm around my ribs. “Ow.”

Thwap, thwap, thwap
. I squinted at Terra. Her white fur seemed to be brighter than before. “Um, is she glowing?”

“Yes.” Moira bounced up and down, before a fierce grin appeared on her face. “She is.”

A final blow from Terra toppled Mega D onto his side. She roared, and I gaped as tigers became humans again, all except Terra. Even those who were unconscious. At least, I hoped they were only unconscious.

The shifters closest to Terra dropped down to their knees, bowing their heads, and those behind them followed suit, until the only people standing were Moira and me.

I realized what had happened.

The White Queen had come into her own.

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T
erra hadn’t killed Mega Douche. In spite of the number of naked people around, I made my way over to him to check once Moira helped me down from the tabletop.

He was conscious, lying on his side and curled into fetal position. That made it easier to ignore the fact that he was naked as a jaybird. So did the bright pink lines crisscrossing his face and scalp, and the blood-seeping puncture wounds dotting his face and neck. “How bad are you hurt?”

“I’m healing.”

I crouched down. “I didn’t help this time.” He glared back. “She kicked your ass, dude, and she’s only a teenager. Just sayin’.”

He grunted, uncurling enough to roll forward and push up until he was resting on hand and hip. I kept my eyes on his face, trying not to notice his now-exposed junk lying right at the periphery of my view. The whole shifter nudity thing was a little too much for my delicate sensibilities. “She’s come into her power.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought happened. It’d probably be a good idea for you and your buddies to call it a night. Might want to think long and hard about coming after her again too. She may decide you’re too irritating to live.” I shrugged, rising to dust off my jeans, and added, “You might even consider getting the hell out of Santo Trueno. Just sayin’.”

He stood up too, and I couldn’t avoid a full-body look while lifting my gaze to his face. Holy crap, he was scary big all over. I hoped no one noticed my face turning red. “What if I don’t?”

“Then I guess you deserve whatever you get, dude.” With that, I turned my back on him and walked away, trying to pretend I was blind.

Way too many naked people around for my comfort. Way, way too many.

I made an about-face to hide in the tent when I realized most of them were heading the direction I wanted. If the cars were that popular now, I could make my own way home soon. No one else was in there, and it seemed like a good place to wait until the clothing impaired became unimpaired.

“Discord?”

“Yes?” I didn’t turn around to look at Logan.

“Are you all right?”

“Yeppers. Hiding out with the food for now.”

“Why?”

“Naked people.”

“Oh. Give me a few minutes. I’ll get dressed and come back.”

“Actually, I’m kind of ready to go home, if that’s okay.” I hadn’t realized how tired I was until then.

“It’s okay. Not sure...what do you want to do? Close your eyes and let me lead you?”

Sounded like a future funny story in the making. “Yes, let’s do that.”

He laughed. “Okay, close your eyes and turn around.”

I did, and he walked over to take my hand. “Here we go.”

“Bet you think I’m being silly about the nudity.”

“Being raised differently isn’t silly,” Logan said. “We usually don’t run around without clothes anyway.”

“Oh. So, Terra’s officially Queen now?” I’d missed her eighteenth birthday.

“Yes.”

“Which means she doesn’t need bodyguards all over the place to go somewhere?”

Logan’s fingers tightened on my hand. “Well, she should always have someone close by. Why?”

“I missed her birthday party. Thought I’d do something to make up for it after my cast is off.” After I could use my abilities again.

“She’d like to spend some time with you.”

It wasn’t exactly a yes, but it wasn’t a no either. “I’ll figure something out and let you know.”

“All right. We’re almost to the gate.”

“Hey, Logan.” That was Soames. “Terra wants to talk to you.”

We stopped, and I heard Logan sigh. “All right. Discord’s ready to go home.”

I thought about telling him I could wait, but kind of wanted to take a pain pill and pass out. “Thanks. See you.”

“Yeah.” He brushed his cheek against mine, putting a smile on my face, and released my hand.

“Why are your eyes closed?”

I sighed. “Naked people.”

Soames didn’t get it. “And?”

“Just lead me to your truck, and if you don’t have clothes on, could you find some? I don’t want to explain to my mom why you’re naked when you drop me off.”

He laughed. “I have clothes on, come on.”

And away we went.

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A
fter the excitement of Ceremony Night, I made a determined effort to chill out for a while. A couple of days before I was due back at work, I decided I’d been sitting on my rear end for long enough, because of my car.

My poor baby was covered in dust from being parked. Though it was mid-October, the day was hot enough to slip into a bikini and drag out everything needed to wash a car.

I mixed carwash liquid with water in a bucket and started with the roof. Barely twenty minutes of scrubbing later, I was panting like an overheated dog. “This is what I get for being a couch potato.”

With a sigh, I rinsed the roof off and sat down in a lawn chair. My car looked worse than before I’d started.

While I sat gazing in disgust at the mess I’d made, Logan pulled up at the curb.

Instant embarrassment. My black bikini had seemed perfect car-washing garb, but it also showed off my ghost white skin from the neck down. My only consolation was the fact the tan on my arms, neck, and face had faded a lot, so that I wasn’t noticeably two-toned.

Logan walked around his truck, looking at the bucket, towels, and hose. “Hi.”

“Hey.” That’s me, the brilliant conversationalist.

“Need some help?”

Hm, hot guy offering to wash my car. I went with the intelligent response. “Yes, please. I guess I’m still not one hundred percent.”

“Okay.” He stripped off his grass green, short-sleeved polo and went straight to work.

I sat and pretended he wasn’t half-naked, which was on the difficult side because he did have the six-pack I had suspected he would. Logan looked like a guy who worked out to keep fit, but not to excess. He had some good muscle definition going on.

He scrubbed my car down, rinsed, and began drying it. “How’s Sunny?”

“She’s good. Already back at work.”

He nodded, squatting down to dry the passenger door. It was quiet until he’d finished drying everything. “Soames mentioned you’re not seeing Nick anymore.”

Logan tilted his head, surveying the quarter panel, and bent to buff a spot.

“Yeah, we broke up. Kind of got tired of the arguing, and his thinking I’m too dumb to survive much longer.” Nearly the instant I said it, I realized how stupid that sounded, after my Near Death by Merriven experience. “Though I guess he has a point, huh?”

Logan glanced my way, not making eye contact or appearing to ogle my bikini-clad body. “I don’t know about that. Talking the gargoyle into helping out was smart.”

“I guess.” Too bad I hadn’t managed to completely impress upon Tase’s mother, Petra, the need for quick action. She’d almost arrived too late.

He moved the microfiber towel a few inches to rub at another spot. I squinted, but couldn’t see any leftover drops of water anywhere on my car, at least not the parts visible from where I sat. On the other hand, I had an excellent view of his muscles moving around under his tanned skin as he worked.

Hurray for car washing and a shirtless Logan. My day was definitely looking up.

“Heard anything about the house you wanted?”

“Hm?” I jerked my eyes away from his abs, hoping he hadn’t noticed my ogling. He stepped back to scan the hood of my car. “Oh, yeah. Looks like it’s a go. The owner’s eager to sell, so Dad was able to talk him down a little more.”

“Great. How long before you move in?”

“I don’t know. Maybe another month or so. There’s a lot of paperwork to it.”

“We appreciate you putting us in contact with Rita. She’s already been a huge help.” Logan stretched over the hood to swipe the towel at a few spots. I tried to avoid staring and found myself doing it anyway, because of the way his jeans clung to his rear and thighs.

“Oh, good.” My gosh, what was wrong with me? Too weak to finish washing my car, but not to drool all over a friend? Still needed to have that talk with myself about priorities and being shallow.

Said friend was pretty damn hot, and hotness wasn’t remotely his best quality. Nope, there was compassion, his willingness to help others, strength, how he never freaked out about anything...a whole laundry list of great qualities, plus he liked to read.

“When you move, I’m available to do any heavy lifting you need done.”

“Sure, if you’ll do it shirtless too.” My eyes widened. Holy crap. “Um, did I just say that out loud?”

“Yeah.” Logan began furiously buffing a headlight. “I can go shirtless if you want me to.”

“What I want right now is for the ground to open up and swallow me, because I can’t believe I said that. And to you, of all people.”

“I don’t mind.”

“It was rude and pretty wrong considering I haven’t been broken up with Nick for even a month yet. You know, I kind of jumped into things with him and look how that turned out.” Oh my God, Cordi, just shut up! “I mean, at least we’ve known each other for a while.”

Logan wasn’t buffing anymore. He’d straightened and turned to look at me, the towel dangling from his hand. Brow lightly furrowed, he said, “Yes, we have.”

“But I’m in the rebound zone right now, so really, really shouldn’t be noticing how hot you are.” Holy crap, why couldn’t I stop talking? “And you are. Very.”

“Thanks.”

There was me, being all shallow again. “Not that being hot is all you’ve got going. You’re a good person, and,” Shut up, shut up,
shut up
! “You like to read too.”