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“Pink.”

“Should’ve known,” she mused, sliding the second glass to Ren. “Give this a go?”

Ren collected the cocktail, taking a long drink. Her appreciative hum was paired with a lazy, suggestive smile. “Oh, this tastes likesin.”

The floral perfume of Vi’s blood intensified as her cheeks flushed, making me shift on my seat. My throat burned with thirst—I hadn’t gotten a chance for a top-up yet today, and I was still getting used to the smell of her.

Of dew-covered honeysuckle and sweet vanilla.

I hadn’t felt a pull like this toward a human since I’d been turned. I’d heard the stories, of course—vampires who met mortals with blood that called to them as a physical need. Hearing about it, I couldn’t understand how anyone could be tempting enough to make a vamp lose themselves.

But experiencing it?

I got it now. The desire to touch, and taste, and drink, and rip, and tear, and—whoa Elsie! Cool. Calm. Flirty.

I downed the rest of the drink, hoping that the platelets in the plasma were enough to drown the need hollowing my belly and demanding I drink.

Cole and Kaylee breezed through the heavy curtain, laughing loudly as they came to join us. I snapped up, my spine straightening as they threw themselves down onto stools beside me like bookends.

With the scent of Vi’s blood in the air, I could hardly register them. It was nearly suffocating.

“Vi,” Kaylee sang. “Can you make me a Knockoff Rolex?” She spread her arms over the bar, half lying on top of it. “God, I’m so tired.”

“Coming right up.”

“Knockoff Rolex?” Ren asked, quirking an eyebrow as she quickly rinsed our empty glasses.

“Yup!” Kaylee popped thepenthusiastically. “The finest ambrosia.”

“It’s a drink we made up when we worked together in college,” Vi explained, turning her back to me as she pulled down a bottle of cheap whiskey. “All the guys with fake Rolexes ordered a double of well whiskey with whatever bitters we had behind the bar.”

Ren’s mouth popped open in horror, lip curling back from her fangs.

“You’re joking; you know we carry top shelf—right?” She turned, levelling an accusatory stare at Kaylee.

The blonde shrugged. “Don’t knock it ‘til you try it, snob.”

I grabbed Ren’s sleeve as she made a move to take the bottle from Vi’s hand. “Maybe you’ll like it.”

She scoffed, turning her offence on me. “Don’t be absurd.”

“Y’know what? I’ll take one too,” chimed Cole conspiratorially. “Team bonding or whatever.”

Vi mixed us each a drink, sliding mine in front of me with a gentle smile and a couple of seconds of eye contact that I lapped up like a starved dog. The others received theirs shortly after, offering polite smiles and thank yous.

“Bottoms up!” Kaylee shouted, tipping the cup into her mouth and smacking her lips together appreciatively. “Ugh,disgusting! Nostalgia never makes it better!”

Ren sniffed her glass like it was likely to explode, making a face. “There’s no way I’m drinking this.”

“Oh yeah?” Vi challenged, stepping toe-to-toe with the vampire.

“Yeah,” she asserted, looking down at the human with her jaw set stubbornly.

The tension was palpable as Vi’s palm met Ren’s chest in a decisive shove, forcing her down onto a stool. The human stepped between my covenmate’s legs, the space between them dwindling down to nothing as her hand threaded into Ren’s hair.

“C’mon,” she said softly, a thread of teasing in her soft tone as she took a drink from the glass.

If I didn’t know better, I’d swear that Ren had been compelled by how quickly her lips popped open. Vi used her grip on Ren’s hair to tilt her head back, leaning over her to press their lips together in a kiss that allowed her to trade the cocktail between them. Ren drinking straight from her lips as her tattooed throat worked with her swallow.