Page 7 of This Blood That Breaks Us

To my surprise, he smiled. “Find the horse to beat. I’ll wait, and then go make our bets.”

I couldn’t suppress the laugh. “Some chaos might be what this place needs.”

He held out his hand to me, and I placed mine on top. Our handshake was completed with one of my hands smothered by his and the other on top. I turned on my heels and walked the stands, looking for my mark—the meanest-looking fucker I could find.

An older man with gray hair and his sleeves rolled up stood out. I grabbed a drink from his hand and downed it. Straight bourbon. Next to him, an even larger man towered over me with hulking arms and red hair.

“Who are we betting on?” I couldn’t wait for the buzz to hit me.

They said nothing and stared at me with gnashing teeth and blank scowls.

“You need to get back up to your suite, Mr. Calem,” the older man said.

Of course they knew my name.

“Why? Afraid to have a little discussion?”

“We don’t want trouble,” the big one said.

“You look like you want it.”

He practically growled, and his buddies avoided looking at me. They were all elegantly dressed in various colors of velvet.

“Come on. Think you can take me?”

I chewed on the ice before dropping the glass to the floor and finally grabbing the big one’s drink and downing it in front of him.

How hard was it going to be to get this fucker to hit me? He had to be the one to hit me first, or Ezra would be up my ass for fighting.

“Damn. This tastes expensive.” I was bluffing. All of it tasted the same to me.

He gritted his teeth. I was getting somewhere. My tactic was simple. Get someone to fight me—easy, then beat the shit out of them to tell me the horse to beat. Not subtle, but I didn’t have time to be.

“Maybe you should listen to the warning.”

“Should I? I think I’ll stay here. Who are we betting on?”

He grabbed the collar of my shirt.Yep, that did it.

As I awaited the raising of his fist, another spoke.

“Word is that twenty is the one to beat.” A boy no older than eighteen with dirty-blond hair and bright, golden eyes stared at me. “He’s the large white one.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat and tried to refocus. Moving my thumb, I pinched the soft connective tissue on the man’s hand, and he dropped me with a grunt.

“Thanks kid.” I turned to the others. “Was that so hard?”

I turned on my heels to find Luke. He gave me a thumbs-up, signaling he heard me, then disappeared into the crowd.

The drinks hit me at once, and I cared less and less about the sheer number of people staring at me. Even sober, I didn’t care,but I was in another country about to meet the vampire queen I loathed, and everyone in our new environment looked like they were ready to snatch my soul from my body. They wanted to be me. It was comical, really.

The fact they’d probably get down on their knees and beg to be in my position. I had wondered if there was a way I could hide Luke and run, but I was over that pipe dream. They had Will and Thane, which meant we weren’t going anywhere.

I ascended the steps toward our booth and stopped to watch them line the horses in the stalls. Nothing looked out of order, but I wasn’t worried.

A man dressed in all black came to stand beside me. One of ours.

“Need something?” I asked.