Undying Thirst (Crimson Coven #2)

27. Catalina

TWENTY-SEVEN

catalina

They pulled into a parking garage and headed toward one of those gates where the plastic barrier swung up when you pressed a button. Ren had been on his cell phone for the last few minutes, listening to whatever the buzzing voice said on the other end. The others seemed to hear the conversation based on the glances they offered each other.

The curiosity ate me up, but I kept my mouth shut.

“Did you find them?” he snapped and swiveled his head to look at me squished between Bastien and Tobias.

“You need to go handle it,” Tobias said.

“ We need to go handle it.” Ren ended the call.

Tobias’s jaw twitched.

The garage wove onto a ramp that turned into an upward spiral spanning floors; I lost count how many, until Jaxon pulled the SUV into the parking spot in front of a glass wall.

“You two go, and take Bastien, Asher and I can handle taking her shopping.” The way Jax offered, his tone bland, made me want to claw his hair out. He’d become different recently, less hostile, and I didn’t trust it.

I glared at the back of his head.

He rolled to the front of a large glass entrance. Fluorescent overhead lights glinted off the surface, but I couldn’t see anything inside until doors swung open. A woman stood with her hands clasped before her in a neat skirt suit, the gray hem reached below her knees. Her hair was neatly pulled back into a high bun.

I tucked one of the loose strands that fell out of my half ponytail behind my ear. I’d brushed the hell out of it, but only made the frizz worse. While I was here, I was getting my anti-frizz product. Tobias opened the door and smoothly exited, then reached back with his hand outstretched. I hesitated only for a moment and took his hand to exit the car. Bastien followed me out, causing the car to jostle a bit from his mass moving across the seats. His fingers curled on the outside of the car as he pulled himself out causing the metal to dip a bit. My eyes bugged out, but no one blinked an eye at the damage.

“Hello, Mr. Crimson,” a commanding female voice said, and heels clicked in approach. The woman calmly and smoothly stopped in front of Tobias. She had the same ethereal aura to her as all the other vampires I’d encountered. “I’m Taylor and I’ll be your escort through the necessary departments. I will ensure this is a successful visit for our esteemed guests.”

“Alistair won’t be making a showing?”

“My Sire sends his regards and said he will visit Crimson Nights to have a drink.”

“Who’s Alistair?” I shook Tobias’s arm.

“He’s a Coven Sire. He owns this shopping center.” Tobias smoothed his large palm down the side of my head. “Catalina, we will return for you when you are done.” The woman’s gaze flicked to me, but didn’t seem phased in any other way. “If you will lead them.”

“Absolutely.” Her gaze lifted over my shoulder. Her blue eyes slightly widened and she gasped.

Bastien could not care less for the attention, he stiffened, narrowing red eyes at her. I caught his hand, scooching close so my shoulder pressed into his torso. His threatening sneer faded. Tobias cleared his throat and she snapped out of the gawking.

“Go with Jaxon,” Tobias said to me then gripped Bastien’s arm and shook until he released me, but he did not budge otherwise.

“A little help, Love,” he drawled.

I grabbed Bastien’s arm and guided him back to the car. He easily acquiesced to my manhandling.

“Go with them.” Bastien’s eyebrows furrowed, but he settled down.

“I’ll see you soon, Cat,” Ren called from the front of the car. My heart skipped a beat. And I muttered some muffled version of okay. I closed the door and stared at Taylor expectantly. For the briefest moment, confusion flashed over her features.

“Ah, yes, if you follow me.” Taylor clicked forward on her expensive heels. Were those mother-effing Louboutin’s? I was so jealous.

A throat clearing dragged my attention up. Jax raised an eyebrow from where he waited a few feet away with his arms crossed. Hurrying to his side, I laced my hands in front of me and didn’t look at him. Entering through the open glass door, a few lounge chairs artfully littered the carpeted room, but no one sat. A girl nervously shifted her eyes side to side as she shuffled on her feet. Her wide-eyed attention was on Asher slouching near the door.

“It took you long enough,” Asher announced, straightening.

“This way, please.” Taylor waved a hand at the opened elevator. “You, human, hurry,” she snapped at the girl still standing by the door, frozen in whatever thought held her in its grip. She jolted and scampered forward. I’d never seen someone actually scamper, but that was the only descriptor that satisfyingly encapsulated her flurry of movement.

Human . . .

The girl didn’t even merit a name? I crowded next to Jax, but made sure to have enough distance so we didn’t touch. Asher leaned his shoulders against the fabric coating the elevator, one foot crossed over the other. The doors smoothly slid shut.

“Did you open all the shops?” Taylor’s vibe rubbed me the wrong way. The dismissive way she looked at the girl was frankly fucked up.

“Yes,” ‘the human’ whispered.

Taylor swung her gaze toward me and I smoothed my glare. I’d reached new levels of comfort, here I was, glaring at a vampire without fearing for my life. Jax pressed his palm into my shoulder, raising an eyebrow at the woman. My eyes widened in the reflection of the gold-plated elevator doors as Taylor looked away.

The corner of my lips twitched up slightly.

Jax could have been a statue with his lack of expression. Asher on the other hand, had this Cheshire grin he did nothing to hide. Smugness radiated from him. I was too busy trying not to nervously clench my hands to say anything.

The elevator dinged open. “After you, Mr. Crimson.” Taylor swept her hand forward.

“Gladly,” Asher took hold of my hand and tugged me into the brightly lit mall. His long strides made it hard for me to keep up.

“Asher.” He peeked back and grinned. “Not all of us were graced with crazy, long legs,” I huffed, taking a bit to catch my breath. Usually, the wave of pressure passed quickly.

I put my hand to my chest. This was the first time it felt this tight in a while. Drinking their blood correlated with how well I felt.

“Let’s go in here.” A squeal escaped with how quickly he pulled me to the left.

My other arm was snatched midair and I was pulled the opposite direction. I gasped at the force against my joints.

“You’re tugging her around like a ragdoll, Asher. Ta hand om hennes kropp ,” Jax snapped.

I gawked. Asher narrowed his eyes. He didn’t get angry often, but when he did, his irritation couldn’t be missed. I whipped my head from one to the other. His eyes briefly flashed red. Okay, time to break it up.

I jerked both arms away and rubbed the wrist Jax had held. His grip had tightened painfully. “I can walk by myself.” I put both hands up and shuffled into the brightly lit clothing store.

In every direction I looked there was some name brand, but I didn’t want to be obvious about wanting to leave, so I looked at the closest rack. One of the dresses caught my attention. A black number with straps; simple and elegant. A lace slit hugged the hip areas.

The silk fell through my fingertips. Such buttery consistency would kill my bank account. I let it slide out of my fingers. Not like I owned one anymore since I was classified as a dead person. I could accept everything insofar since they literally set everything I owned to flames, leaving me with nothing, but this price tag was excessive. I cleared my throat and made a show of continuing to rifle through the rack. Nothing was in a frugal price range.

A hanger screeched. Asher plucked the dress from the rack and a store clerk hurried to grab it from his hands.

“What are you doing?”

“You liked it.”

“It’s unnecessary,” I retorted.

“Humor me. You’ll be modeling it.”

“But—”

“There won’t be any budging him, Cat, you’re just going to make him bitch more,” Jax drawled from a few feet ahead of me, arms crossed.

I puffed my cheeks out. Fine, but I’d look for some clothing that I wouldn’t feel guilty about selecting. Moving through the racks, I quickly found that would be an impossibility. My mouth watered with every graze of soft, expensive fabric. Pieces that I’d seen in recent collections.

Everything I even peeked at was snatched up by Asher. The poor human girl had started a pile in the fitting room. I scowled back at him, then changed tactics, moving to the men’s section.

Jax followed close by. His attention had been focused on me the entire time, curiously watching me shuffle through everything so far. “What are we doing here?”

“To get clothes for Bastien.” His eyebrows raised but he made no comment.

I pushed back the hanger to look at the polo shirt.

Asher folded his arms on the display, his chin on his fist. “He wouldn’t like that one.”

“What would he like?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Believe it or not, but before he lost the plot, he was more of a 1920’s suit sort of guy.” The only image I could conjure of the style was of hats with a dark strap at the base.

“The 20s were glorious,” Taylor murmured, her eyes taking on a faraway look. “Such order.” She sighed.

Okaaaay.

“We have a selection over here that may suit that taste.”

I stopped in front of a mannequin wearing one of the outfits that were much different to the current style. It had a higher waist and wide lapels, the pattern looked retro vintage in its dark blue color with lines a shade darker running through.

I grabbed hold of one of them and approached Jax. I crooked my finger down and his nostrils flared but he bowed so I could lift the coat to his shoulders. Bastien’s shoulders were much broader than this.

“Put it on?” Jax blinked and his palm settled over mine.

“Hate to interrupt the soulful looks, but I know his sizing,” Asher interjected from his spot leaning on the stand. I yanked my hand out from Jax’s touch and cleared my throat.

The girl stood to the side, head slightly lowered.

“Here.” I offered a smile. She dipped her head and grabbed it from me. I didn’t want to get her in trouble, so I didn’t push anything. Asher grazed his hand over the surface, eyebrows raised as I approached with a warm face. The hesitation with Jax was a mere lapse in judgment.

“Do you think he’d like this?” I lifted a long dark blue tie. Asher’s lips twitched at the corner and he tapped the bowties.

My brain did not compute. I eyed him suspiciously, but plucked one in the same color. The girl was there to grab it for me. Bastien was a bow tie guy? I couldn’t compute the big, feral male wearing this outfit.

“Let’s get to the fun part,” he straightened and strode to me to hook his arm around my back, guiding me into a private side room. A white semi-circle couch faced a section with a curtain in front of it.

The girl hurried inside to pull the curtain back. “I hung everything here for you.”

“Thank you.” I wrinkled my nose. “I don’t want to refer to you as human. What’s your name?”

“No worries,” she put her hands up, peeking at the exit. “Human is fine. Please call if you need anything.”

She rushed off with me gawking after her. Okay then.

“Start trying things on, Pet.” He patted my ass, sending me into action. I frowned at him and jerked the curtain shut. I made sure both sides were sealed tight then started removing my clothing. I grabbed the first dress in line. The one to catch my eye when I initially walked into the establishment. I removed everything but my underwear even though this wasn’t made to be worn with them.

The silk fell over my skin with a caress. I smoothed my hands down my sides, turning to look at my reflection. It hugged my waist perfectly, the lace at the sides showing my skin down to the hem. Two thin straps rested on my shoulders, and the neckline was squared, leaving much of my skin on display. My long, almost waist-length hair fell around my bare shoulders. I wrapped it in my hand and held it up to see how it would look. Turning my head side to side, a smile bloomed on my lips.

“You’re taking too long.” The words joined the rasp of the curtain being swooshed open. I widened my eyes at my reflection. Asher stood behind me, his intimidating stature looming well above my head.

His lips parted and he dragged his gaze down, devouring me with his eyes.

“Have mercy,” he breathed.