Wicked Thing (C.O.A Series Book 2) (46 page)

Grey’s jaw dropped as Lexy strolled towards him. He took her arm, smiled as he leaned in and whispered in her ear, “You look stunningly beautiful tonight, Lex. That dress could stop traffic.”

Lexy caught him staring at her cleavage and then blew it off as wishful thinking. It was far too early in the mind wipe for those feelings to be returning. She looked into her Handler’s eyes and quipped, “You’re looking mighty hot tonight too, Greydon.” Lexy was feeling quite glamourous as she strolled into the club on Grey’s arm. She’d been to this club many times before and this was why she’d been so surprised by that hive of inbred Lampir. They were usually refined eloquent speakers that could easily pass for mortal. This was how they’d blended into society for thousands of years.

Grey gave her arm a gentle squeeze and whispered, “You know that G-string you have on makes you look like you’re going commando.”

She followed his line of sight to the mirrored floor; there was a clear view up her red silk dress.
Like she gave a shit…
Lexy scanned the room for the rest of her clan and spotted Markus, Lily, Frost and Jenna right away. They were all looking amazing tonight and sitting at one of the mirrored topped tables with their eccentric yet undeniably sexy dark featured host. The job tonight was to let Lily work her Succubus magic so they could find out whether or not Lucien knew anything about the sudden influx of hybrid hives.
She’d be seriously disappointed in him if he had anything to do with it but she was pretty sure he didn’t. Lucien was all about honor and integrity.

Lexy turned back to look at Lucien and as always, he only had eyes for Lily. She’d always seen him as kind of a classy guy but with the addition of the voyeuristic flooring in this club she knew there must be more to him than meets the eye.
If anyone could get the truth out of him, Lily could.

Most of the people in the room tonight were mortal. She could tell who the Lampir were by their unique aura. Lucien trusted their clan, this was obvious because there were only a half dozen Lampir in the room.

The two of them were led to a section of tables closer to the dance floor. The others were already sitting there staring at their menu’s preparing to order. She knew where Orin was sitting because she could see his light blonde hair over the top of his menu.
Why wasn’t he at the head table?
Arrianna, the third in their trio’s golden locks were styled in perfect waves down her back, and she was smiling at them as they took their seats. Dean, the new guy was looking dapper in a grey suit with a lavender tie. He animatedly waved at them as they took their seats but Orin didn’t look up.
Was Orin intentionally ignoring her or was he just upset that he had to sit at the kiddie table with them? Had Grey said something to him already? She’d never had to deal with this situation before. She had no idea what she was supposed to do?
Lexy opened her menu, crossed her legs in a ladylike manner and decided that two could play at this game.
She’d just hide behind her menu and pretend that she could understand it
. They brought around a tray of martinis and placed one on the table in front of each of them saying they were compliments of Lucien. She glanced over at the head Lampir’s table, Lucien smiled at her and raised his glass, in salute. The volume of the music turned up and the lights were dimmed. She heard Grey’s chair shift, and her Handler was off to the womanizer races.

Dean gave her menu a poke and she lowered it as he asked, “So, how come we can see their reflections in the ceiling?”

Of course, they all had a reflection because that particular tell-tale sign of Hollywood’s favorite immortal beings was complete and total bullshit.

Orin giggled from behind his menu and Lexy wondered if he’d heard her inner commentary.

Arrianna grinned as she began to quietly explain in the ins and outs of the Lampir, “Most of the things you’ve heard about them are completely untrue. They eat garlic, have reflections and their skin is only pale if they haven’t been feeding regularly. They aren’t cape wearing soulless abominations as literature and movies would have you believe. They have a society with rules and regulations that they have to follow just like we do.”

Dean nodded to show that he understood and then he whispered, “Is Lampir just short for Vampire?”

Arrianna quietly replied, “They consider that word as an insult, so you might want to take that term right out of your vocabulary.”

Dean, the newest Ankh leaned in and asked her another question, “Do they still drink blood and can they turn people into Lampir if they drink their blood?”

Arrianna smiled and replied, “Yes, they do but most often a new Lampir is created by a broken condom followed by a random accidental death. As long as the feeding is voluntary and there are not a large number of accidents we tend to leave their community alone.”

Someone was playing footsies with her.
A waiter showed up, placed a mixed tray of appetisers in the center of the table, nodded and walked away. Lexy tried to keep her game face on as someone’s foot kept intimately touching her leg.
It had to be Orin.
Lexy peered over her menu, locked eyes with him and she mouthed one word, “Hi.”

Orin grinned as he mouthed, “Hi,” back to her and placed his menu down on the glass topped table.

Lexy probed, “Have you decided what you want yet?”

Orin grinned as he mischievously replied, “From the drink menu?”

Oh, it was a drink menu…that made sense
. She grabbed the end of a toothpick that held together a bacon wrapped scallop from the tray in the center of the table and popped it into her mouth. While she was chewing the hidden meaning behind what Orin had just said to her popped into her mind. Lexy tried to be as casual as possible so none of the others would catch the secret flirtation in Orin’s response as she innocently picked up the menu, looked at it again and repeated the question, “Do you know what you want?”

Orin seductively caressed her leg with his foot underneath the table as he replied, “I’m not sure, I haven’t decided yet.”

Well, that was a loaded statement.
Lexy looked at the menu again and tried to stop herself from reacting to his naughty little game of footsies because there were witnesses and she also wasn’t sure what she wanted.

He grabbed a pastry from the tray of appetisers as he chuckled, “You have no idea what that menu says.”

Lexy lowered the menu and laughed.
She’d been busted.
“Not a damn clue,” Lexy answered as she placed the menu back on the table. Everyone else left the table and they were out on the dance floor together.
She hadn’t heard them leave.

Orin leaned forward and flirtatiously questioned, “What exactly have you told Grey?”

She knew he wouldn’t be able to keep his mouth shut.
Lexy shook her head and felt the heat of embarrassment in her cheeks as she prepared for her awkward confession, “Do you want the truth?”

“Why dance around it, I think we’re both far past the point of needing to be coddled,” Orin replied as he took a sip of his martini. He looked surprised and with a rather random change of subject he stated, “These are delicious. It tastes like a caramel apple.”

The tension immediately dissipated as she took an experimental sip of hers.
It was heavenly.
She met the penetrating gaze of his ice blue hazel flecked eyes with her own and started at the beginning, “So, I fell back into that situation with Grey again and we started to think that maybe we could cheat the spell if we didn’t actually consummate our relationship, and it worked for a while… We went off of a cliff, when Trinity took Molly and Grey died. I think his memory was wiped then but I didn’t notice until that night when I kissed him and he freaked out. Long story short, after a huge argument I confessed to sleeping with you in an attempt to change the subject. He took it so well that I just decided to let him think that I might be interested in you.”

Orin couldn’t stop grinning.

“I was just trying to shut him up. I’m not expecting anything from you.” Lexy said as she took another drink of her tasty martini.

Orin seemed intrigued by her honesty as he questioned, “So, you want to pretend we’re into each other and see if that deters your Handler from having feelings for you?”

She honestly hadn’t thought that far ahead
.

He smiled and sparred, “Do I at least get a steady booty call out of the arrangement?”

Lexy wasn’t sure what she should say.
Maybe?

“I was joking,” Orin laughed as he snagged two more martinis’ off of the waiter’s tray as he passed the table and handed one of them to her. He added, “I don’t see any reason why we can’t spend some time together for the greater good. I’ve just been whoring around lately and frankly even I’m feeling like it’s getting a bit ridiculous.”

Oh, good. He wasn’t waiting around for her. That made her feel like a little less of an asshole.

They sat there together laughing, joking around and drinking for hours. She was just a girl sitting at a table with a cute guy having a conversation about life, there were no expectations and it felt good.
It felt normal…Was she ready to live life as a normal girl unencumbered by the chains that had always bound her?
She’d been enjoying their conversation and she hadn’t looked for Grey in hours but as he crossed her mind she did, and saw him in an intimate looking conversation with a beautiful brunette. It stung less while having Orin as a distraction.

Orin placed his drink on the table, stood up, held out his hand and announced, “Alright, my stunningly gorgeous break-up buddy. I’m in if you’re in.”

Lexy laughed and the weight lifted off of her heart as she put her drink down and took Orin’s hand. It felt surprisingly wonderful as he tugged her into his embrace and they started to move together on the dance floor.
Different…but still good
. She rested her head on his shoulder, closed her eyes and smiled nervously.
It felt exciting and new.
She didn’t know how this would end or even if it would really begin but for the first time the ending of the story wasn’t already written and she could choose her own adventure.

He whispered in her ear, “Let’s get out of here.”

There was change in the air. It wasn’t like the feeling that she had when a storm was brewing, it was more like how she felt in the moments before the dawn of a new day…

The Beginning

Kim Cormack is the always comedic author of the darkly twisted epic paranormal romance series, "The Children of Ankh." She worked for over 16 years as an Early Childhood educator in preschool, daycare. She's lived most of her life on Vancouver Island in beautiful British Columbia, Canada. She currently lives in the gorgeous little town of Port Alberni. She's a single mom with two awesome kids, Cameron and Jenna. She spends the majority of her time parenting, creating hijinks, or disappearing into her own mind, journeying through other realms and winning battles. When you read one of her books... May you laugh, cry and step out of your box for a moment and realize that no matter what the circumstance...Magic is absolutely everywhere.

Happy Reading XO

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If you loved this book, check out the main series.

Sweet Sleep (Book One)

What would you do if you discovered that everything you’ve ever known as reality was a lie?
What if…
The things that go bump in the night, things you thought were simply a figment of your wild imagination were in fact very real?
Would you live your life differently if you knew you were going to be corrected…erased from this world sometime around your sixteenth birthday?
You and your twin sister were never meant to be born. There will be no place to run… No place to hide… You won’t even know they’re coming… Do you have what it takes to survive your Correction? Do you have what it takes to leave your humanity behind? If your answer is yes, then hold on tight…