She shivered as he spoke his erotic threat, and he could sense her slow, spreading smile as the car came to a stop on her floor.
The doors slid open, revealing the black wrought iron grate that secured the white marble vestibule of Jordana’s lavish apartment.
The grate was ajar. Someone waited inside.
A Breed male, seated on a delicate, velvet-upholstered antique chair, his head down, forearms braced on his knees. A dark wool coat was folded over his lap as if he’d been sitting there for some time.
“Elliott.” Jordana practically squeaked the vampire’s name.
He lifted his head at once, worry etched deeply into his face as he stood up to greet her. “Jordana, thank God. I—” His eyes narrowed the instant he spotted Nathan behind her. Disapproval and suspicion ate away his look of concern.
Jordana stepped off the elevator and walked into the vestibule. “Elliott, what are you doing here?”
He didn’t look at her at first, instead stared coldly at Nathan, lurking behind her.
Nathan didn’t so much as blink under the outraged scrutiny of Jordana’s would-be mate. Part of him flared hot with the urge to haul Jordana against him and kiss her like he had in the elevator—show Elliott Bentley-Squire that she would never belong to him.
But a possessive display like that was unnecessary.
The other Breed male could smell freshly spent desire on Jordana as easily as any of their kind, and Nathan’s still-rampant erection—to say nothing of his amber-swamped eyes and elongated fangs—was equally hard to overlook.
Nathan would have ripped apart any male who had the bad judgment to lust after a woman he cared for, let alone touch her. Yet the Darkhaven lawyer seemed to let the affront slide with little more than a bitter scowl.
Nathan had a mind to throttle the undeserving man simply for his lack of reaction.
Bentley-Squire swung his frown on Jordana. “I tried reaching you tonight, several times. When you didn’t return any of my calls, naturally, I became worried something might have happened to you. Did you get my voice messages?”
“I worked late,” she murmured. “Did Seamus let you in?”
He scoffed. “I don’t need a human to give me permission to make sure you’re all right, Jordana. Where have you been?”
Panic spiked in her, a feeling so intense and visceral, Nathan could practically hear the sudden race of her heartbeat from where he stood near her. She swiveled her head in his direction, and there was misery in her wintry blue eyes.
“I was out, with Carys. We were at La Notte.” Her voice quieted then, an apology swimming in her gaze. “I had one too many drinks, so Nathan kindly offered to drive me home.”
Bentley-Squire grunted, his lips pressed flat in disapproval. “I didn’t realize the Order was running a chauffeur service.” Sneering, he glanced once more at Nathan. “How much do I owe you for taking care of my lady tonight?”
Vibrating with menace, Nathan had already calculated ten different ways he could kill the male. He said nothing, half hoping Bentley-Squire would be fool enough to try him.
Jordana must have realized the dangerous direction of his thoughts. She pivoted back around to face him.
Please, she mouthed silently, giving him a nearly imperceptible shake of her head.
If she hadn’t looked so desperate, so terrified of what he might do in that moment, Nathan might have acted on the anger simmering just below his deceptively cool surface.
“Thank you for seeing me home safely,” she told him, her politeness grating after what had happened between them just a few minutes ago.
“Jordana,” Bentley-Squire said from his position behind her in the gleaming finery of the vestibule. “I’m sure this warrior has more pressing business to attend to tonight. You’ve delayed him from his work long enough, don’t you think, darling?”
Nathan ignored the other vampire, his blazing eyes locked on Jordana. If she gave him any inkling that she didn’t want to be there—if she looked at him even remotely like she had last night at the museum reception, when her gaze seemed to all but beg him to take her somewhere, anywhere, else—Nathan would have dragged her back into the elevator in that same instant.
“I have to go,” she murmured softly. “Please try to understand.”
She stepped away from him, back to the Breed male who was part of this other world she inhabited. The world that drew her back into its orbit, even while Nathan could still her hear climax in his ears, could still smell her sweet juices on his fingertips.
He didn’t like the anger that seethed in him as he watched her fade out of his reach.
He wasn’t accustomed to letting emotion rule him.