The Dangers of Dating a Rebound Vampire by Molly Harper Read Free Book Online

nodded. Sometimes it really sucked to hang out with a mind-reader. “Jane, maybe you shouldn’t go poking around in Nik’s head. It seems like a violation of a lot of different civil rights.”
    â€œLet’s worry about vampire Fifth Amendment issues when you’re not attracted to a man who seems to have Gigi-based rage blackouts.” Iris snorted. “Also, you were seeing him over Christmas break, and you didn’t think to tell us?”
    â€œI wasn’t seeing him as in dating him. I was seeing him as in possibly hallucinating him!” I cried. “And I don’t know how that is relevant to the current conversation.”
    Nik’s smile was indulgent as he stepped closer to me. “I am certain I would remember attacking someone as pretty as you, sladkaya. ”
    â€œWhat did you call me?” I asked, arching a brow as Iris pushed Nik back a step away from me.
    â€œHe called you ‘sweetheart,’ ” Cal said, glaring at the back of his friend’s head. “He’s Russian. He calls every woman he meets under the age of seventy ‘sweetheart.’ It doesn’t mean anything.” Cal’s glare intensified. “It doesn’t mean anything, right, Nik?”
    â€œWhy wouldn’t it mean anything?” I growled, though I wasn’t sure who was on the receiving end. “Look, you actually spoke to me this time, don’t you remember that?”
    Nik turned back to Cal, completely ignoring the question. “You said she was a bit of a genius. Does that mean she is also a little bit . . .” Nik made a hand gesture near his head that was considerably less flattering than the “little off” gesture Miranda had made for Collin.
    â€œOh, I’m crazy now?” Seething, I reached down and squeezed his thigh, right over the spot where I’d stabbed him with silver. He didn’t even bother defending himself. In fact, he looked downright intrigued when I reached toward his thigh. But when I applied the pressure, he yowled and backed away. “Do you remember how you sustained this limp? Because that’s how I left you, Skippy, with a gaping, difficult-to-heal silver wound.”
    He looked almost amused by the fact that I’d left a big wound on his leg. “ You stabbed me?”
    â€œWhat?” Cal watched, his expression horrified, as a bright bloody patch spread across the leg of Nik’s jeans.
    â€œI told you, I stabbed him in the thigh with my hairbrush stake. Am I the only person in the room following this conversation?”
    I heard several murmurs of “Possibly” and “Probably.” I was more worried about the intensity of Cal’s glare, which, by rights, should have melted Nik’s forehead.
    â€œCal, was this one of your training exercises gone wrong?” Iris demanded, as Cal slid between me and Nik and gently shoved me out of striking distance. “Did you send your friend to attack Gigi in a parking lot? I can appreciate that you want her to be prepared, but I think you’ve gone too far.”
    â€œOf course I didn’t!” Cal exclaimed. “Nik, did you attack Gigi in a parking lot?”
    â€œNo, I came here as soon as I rose for the evening,” Nik insisted, the faint Russian accent growing deeper. “She looks familiar, I will admit. But Cal, you know I would never hunt a random human, especially not this close to the Council office. It would be professional suicide.”
    I would try not to focus on the “professional suicide” qualifier, I really would.
    Cal checked his watch. “You just now rose at two a.m. ?”
    â€œI rose late. I have been working longer hours lately. I did not know I was going to need an alibi.”
    â€œOK, how did you end up with that wound on your leg?”
    â€œI do not know.”
    â€œWhat do you know?” Cal asked.
    Nik nodded toward me. “I know that I have seen