Free Chasing Midnight (Dark of Night Book 2) by Ranae Glass Page A

age. Hell, at any age. I know that it’s not what your uncle wants for you.”
    “Ah, and you have hit the crux of my problem. Why should I live for what my uncle wants for me? I’m a grown man. The white picket fence he’s picked out for me feels like prison bars. At the end of the day, it is my choice.”
    I sighed and got up from the table, circling around to the sink. “You’re right. It’s not up to Xavier or anyone else how you live your life—or death, as it were.”
    “So you’ll talk to him for me?”
    I jerked back. “Oh, hell no. This falls clearly under the heading o f none of my busines s . Besides, I doubt he’d take any advice from me.”
    Standing, he grabbed my cup and took it to the sink. He looked down at me with warm, human eyes. “My uncle thinks more of you that you realize. I’m beginning to see why.”
    I looked at him, feeling like I should deny it or at least apologize for it. I shook my head. “Sorry, you are on your own here. Xavier and I have a professional relationship, and I’d like to keep it that way.”
    He snorted. “It didn’t look very professional to me.”
    And he was back to calling me a whore. Or at least, assuming he understood my motives. Either way, it made me want to throw my coffee on him. “If that’s all you needed?” I moved toward the door, handing him his jacket.
    “I just meant that… well, are you seeing my uncle?”
    “Not that it’s any of your business, but no.”
    He held up his hands. “I only ask because I’d like to take you out for coffee sometime.”
    “Oh.”
    It was the second time that day that he’d caught me off guard. I blinked and forced myself to look at him, not just as Xavier’s nephew, but also as a potential date. I shook my head. “I appreciate the offer, but I don’t think so.”
    “If you change your mind, you can reach me here,” he said, handing me his card.
    He was out of the door before I glanced at the tiny slip of paper in my hand.
    “Who was that?” Shane asked as he lumbered down the stairs, still wearing his plaid pajama pants and no shirt.
    “What, your vampire hearing on the fritz?”
    “I wear these noise-canceling headphones Richard gave me. They block out the noise so I can rest.”
    Huh. I learned something new every day. “It was Xavier’s nephew Devon.”
    He followed me into the kitchen. “What did he want?”
    I paused, rinsing out the coffee mugs. “Oh, you know. He brought me flowers to thank me for saving his life. Oh, and he wants me to talk Xavier into turning him.”
    Shane’s head popped up from behind the fridge door. “What?”
    I shrugged and went back to washing. Behind me, I could hear the fridge clank shut. “And he asked me out.”
    Shane reached over me and grabbed a paper cup from the cabinet. “I hope you had the good sense to say no.”
    I turned, shooting him a dirty look. “Do I look stupid? Besides, that guy is trouble with a capital T. I can smell it on him like cheap cologne.”
    “Yet Xavier is a fluffy bunny,” Shane muttered as he nuked the cup of blood.
    “A—bunnies are terrifying. B—that’s my saying and you are not allowed to steal it. Besides,” I said and tossed the dishrag in the sink, “at least with Xavier, I know what drives him. But Devon, he’s hiding something, something that’s driving his desire to be changed. Something big. And until I’m one hundred percent sure it’s not something that’s going to come bite me in the ass, I’m out.”
    “Practical,” Shane said before taking a long gulp of his beverage. I suppressed a shiver.
    Yep. That was me. Practical.

 

    SHANE
     
    Shane was right on time for his meeting with Xavier. It was the first time he’d been summoned by the Chancellor since he was told he was being forced from the large plantation mansion that housed most of the Conclave. It was his punishment for attacking a ranking member of Xavier’s council. It was a hard lesson, but a soft punishment, as punishments went.