Page 25 of A Clash of Moonlight

“Do you always mute your aura?” she asked.

“It is habit now.”

“Because you don’t want people suffocating you with attention?”

“Yes. Pull into the valet.” He gestured toward the circular drive in front of the city’s nicest hotel.

She scowled as she slowed to a stop. “I hope this is where you want me to dump you because I am not walking into this hotel with you.”

“Ah. Forgive me. Your aversion to beds temporarily slipped my mind.”

She threw him a look that said he was not funny. Usually that was true.

“I have been here before,” he said. “The staff is discreet.”

“I don’t care how discreet they are. It’s a public building. And I’m not accepting your wager.”

“Understood,” he said. Then he waited. He hoped she was not as indifferent to him as she appeared. Her bearing had chilled. Her shoulders stiffened. Her chin lifted. She was Lehr’s daughter again, the ice princess who kept the world at bay.

“Then we are at an impasse,” he finally said. “I am not leading a werewolf to my sanctuary.”

Her mouth flattened for a moment, then she gave him a wintry smile. “I’ve made a decision.” She unlocked the Tesla’s doors. “I’m stealing Deagan’s car. Get out.”

His brows rose. “Perhaps you would like to pick another location?”

“The location where I dump your ashes?”

The valet knocked on her window.

Jared watched. Waited.

Nora’s jaw locked tight. Her head shook slightly, as if she were asking herself what the hell she was doing, then she waved the valet away and sped out of the drive.

“You are arrogant,” she said.

“You are frigid,” he returned. Her nostrils flared at the accusation, one he was certain she had heard often. Perhaps it agitated her more than she let on.

He let her drive without further comment, curious about where she would go. If she stayed true to her reputation, she would pull over and attempt to eject him from the vehicle. But if she had stayed true to her reputation, she would never have found herself in a car with a vampire.

The lights of the city faded, leaving only the glow from the radio to highlight her profile. She really was beautiful. Strong and intelligent, too. The urge to add her to his clan resurfaced. Such an odd feeling.

“How far do you plan to drive?” he asked.

“Not far enough,” she said. Instinct told him those words had nothing to do with him and everything to do with her alpha father. She wanted freedom, but she was trapped by what she was. He could relate.

“Pull over here,” he ordered.

Her brows drew together. “There’s nothing out here.”

“Pull over,” he repeated.

She looked at him then, and he unmuted his aura—not completely but enough for her lips to part and for some of her tension to abate. He could drain more of that tension away. He wanted to, which was another foreign thought. He wanted her languid in his arms. Sated. And he wanted to be sated by her as well.

He waited for her to make a decision. It took nearly another mile, but finally she pulled off the road.

She put the Tesla into park. Turned off the headlights.

That was all the consent he needed. He moved his seat back as far as it would go and pulled her into his lap. It was not enough room, but then, he did not intend to allow space between them.