Page 35 of Vampire Pack

"Take whatever you want," I told King, heading over to Mal instead of following him into my bedroom.

It wasn't like he didn't know his way around it. We hooked up at the arena most of the time, but we'd been together at my apartment at least a few dozen times, too.

"Hey," Mal said, looking back at her sketchbook.

"Hey." I leaned up against the cabinets behind me, suddenly exhausted.

My shoulder hurt, and it had been a fucking long day. My food was in the fridge, ready to be warmed up, but warming it up sounded exhausting.

"How'd your day go?" she asked, as if nothing absolutely insane had occurred, and my accidental mate wasn't currently stealing whatever he wanted from my bedroom.

"Eh. It was mostly meetings and physical therapy."

Mallory shuddered. "My definition of hell."

"Agreed. How was yours?"

"Good. We're finally finishing up the set for that modernized Shakespeare production. I painted about a million leaves." She held up her hands, showing me the green paint that flecked her skin and arms in a bunch of different shades.

"Damn. Do you have pictures?"

She pulled her phone out and scrolled through for a moment before handing it over. "It's a complicated set."

"How long does the play run again?"

"I think it's twelve weeks? It's star-driven, and the celebrity chick who's funding it is pretty much in charge of how it goes. The budget was huge. She already has the next few plays scheduled, too. We're reusing a couple of the elements, but most of it will be fresh."

"So the set is amazing?"

"Naturally."

"We need to book tickets."

"Already done. I put the dates in the pack calendar a few weeks ago. They sold out really fast." She gestured to the digital calendar sitting on our countertop, a few feet away.

I rubbed the back of my neck. "I should probably check that thing sometimes."

"The pack calendar? We know you don't check it. We just put your schedule in and take you to whatever we plan, remember?"

"I do recall that happening in the past."

"Mmhm. So…" Her gaze flicked in the direction of my room, and she wagged her eyebrows.

"He's leaving me alone here for the night."

"We should hit the town for our last hurrah with you as a single woman, then?"

I smiled. "If you want to get murdered by a vampire hockey player."

"I have an unfortunate connection with another vampire hockey player that will probably keep me alive." She refocused on her pasta, but I didn't miss the red on her face.

Mal had a situationship going on with Jude—one of the members of the Vampire Pack. Or Asshole Pack, depending on who you asked.

They'd hooked up at a team party I dragged her to a few months earlier, and he'd been addicted to her blood ever since. That happened sometimes, for vampires.

Mal and Jude weren't fucking, as far as I knew, but she was providing him with blood bags once a week or so in an attempt to wean him of his addiction.

"You might survive it, but Paige would be at risk. And I'd probably be locked in a vampire's nest for the next six months, which wouldn't exactly be convenient."