Page 17 of Brushed By Moonlight

“Um…” he started.

“No breakfast. I think she’s mad,” Bene stage-whispered to Roux.

Oh, he had that right.

Roux eyed me, then leaned toward Bene. “Mad at what?”

He shrugged. “No idea.”

Roux raised an eyebrow at me. “Did we do something wrong?”

I kept my lips sealed and my glare at DEFCON 1.

“I told you we shouldn’t have moved in to those extra rooms,” Bene murmured.

I stared. They’dwhat?

“Just a few,” Bene hastened to add, catching my expression.

I closed my eyes, telling myself,one thing at a time.

I did snatch my favorite mug out of his hands, though — the chipped one with a picture of Franz Marc’sBlue Horses.

“Hey!” he protested. “Are mugs off-limits now too?”

“Just that one,” I muttered.

A scuffing sound heralded the arrival of my next hungry guest, and I didn’t have to open my eyes to recognize Marius. His thundercloud presence made the air pressure in the room drop abruptly, the way it did before the heavens opened in a deluge.

Yeesh. What was his problem? And how the hell did he manage to intimidate and arouse me at the same time? Just being around him made my nipples go hard.

A second later, a wave of ice-cold air heralded the arrival of Henrik. I socked him with my bitchiest glare.

His smug look evaporated, and he took a step back.

You could cut the tension in the room with a knife — or better yet, a garlic-smeared ax.

Everyone stared at Henrik, and Bene murmured, “Uh-oh.”

Uh-oh was right. But silence was my best weapon, and I wielded it like a sword.

“What did he do?” Roux asked me.

I ignored him the way he’d ignored me when we’d first met.

“What did you do?” he tried Henrik next.

The vampire stuck his hands up. “Nothing.”

Marius snorted.

For an instant, my eyes flicked to him, surprised to find him halfway engaged in a conversation. Then I flicked my gaze — er, glare — back to Henrik.

“I said, what did you do?” Roux’s voice dropped to a snarl.

Henrik moved his icy gaze to Roux, and I couldn’t help wondering who would come out on top in a fight between a vampire and a tiger shifter.

I would be cheering for the tiger, that was for sure.