Page 25 of The Donor’s Dilemma

The not-human-not-vampire chuckled. “Probably not.”

“Didn’t realise they were letting you guys in again,” Theo said, sipping Verity’s wine.

“Verity,” called Vivienne. “Why don’t you go dancing with your friends?”

She glanced over at the dance floor, at Adam and the cool kids, then at Vivienne who offered her a sympathetic smile. As much as she hated being told what to do, and didn’t particularly want to dance, she was grateful to be excused.

Theo stood and pulled her chair out, offering a hand for her to stand. He looked at her then, and Verity wished he hadn’t.

He was livid.

The smiles she had enjoyed only an hour ago were nowhere to be seen, replaced with the hard line of his mouth and a nose scrunched in disgust. Her heart sank.

She went to leave but he grabbed her hand, their fingers lacing, as he tucked her hair behind her ear. His lips brushed her ear as he leant in, almost making her knees buckle as an inferno raged within her.

“Touch no one,” he said, just loud enough to hear over the music. “If anyone touches you, you call me. No second chances.”

“Theo,” she started.

“Not now, Verity. You stay where I can see you, no accepting drinks, no touching. You wanna survive tonight, you belong to me. No exceptions, no excuses. Understand?”

She nodded, her cheeks burning. Then he was gone, back to the table, leaving her lost without him beside her.

“Verity!” Adam called, grabbing her hand and pulling her into the fold.

She looked over her shoulder. No touching. Was that just vampires or anyone? Theo watched but looked no more murderous than before so she guessed he meant vampires, and whatever the fuck Abraham was.

Verity wasn’t a fan of dancing, she felt too old, but it was better than sitting at that table. She took it as an opportunity to scope the room, and, gods, had the scene before her changed.

Everywhere she looked humans and vampires were together, dancing and kissing and feeding. She had never even heard of a human-vampire relationship, yet she counted at least eight at a glance. She had also never seen another vampire feed before, yet there were even more doing that.

On the edge of the dance floor a young woman sat on a vampire’s lap, teeth in her neck and hand up her skirt. Whatever he was doing she seemed unfazed as she scrolled through her phone.

Similar scenes played out everywhere, even on the dance floor. Couples grinding and biting. Every now and then a cry of pain or ecstasy lifted above the music, mingled with talking and laughter.

“Verity?”

Sienna appeared, and to Verity’s shock, hugged her.

“It’s so great to finally see you here.” She smiled and Verity could have sworn it was genuine.

Wait. If Sienna was Queen-Bee because Harris outranked the others, did that mean that Verity was about to take her crown? She nearly laughed at the idea. Sienna could keep it!

The group danced together, Verity keeping her distance while the others clung to one another. Theo watched throughout, never taking his eyes off her, while the table talked around him. She offered him a tight smile, but he wouldn’t return it.

Before long Bea appeared, pulling Adam’s arms around her and whispering in his ear before nipping his neck. Another donor, Georgie, was accompanied by her vampire. Verity tried not to stare. Such things were private, but when the vampire lifted his own wrist to his mouth and bit, she froze. He sucked, filling his mouth with blood before the wound quickly healed, then turned to Georgie. He smiled, blood coating his teeth, and kissed her, lifting her into his arms as he did.

For the hundredth time that day, Verity thought her heart might cease beating. Human-vampire relations were taboo. Neck biting was against donor regulations. But drinking a vampire’s blood? To call it illegal was an understatement. Verity wasn’t sure there was a greater sin.

She watched, waiting for him to release Georgie, waiting to see if she was okay, when an arm wrapped around her.

“Home time.” Theo’s voice left no room for argument, and Verity wasn’t inclined to.

He took her hand, leading her out, across the dance floor, between the tables and out the door.

“Theo,” she tried, as he dragged her across the car park, but he wasn’t stopping.

He walked up to a blacked out four-by-four, opened the passenger door and helped her in before closing it behind her. When he climbed in and started the engine she tried again, but he continued to ignore her.