Free InkintheBlood by Chandra Ryan

and hazy as she walked through the door.
Dancers were pressed into every available space and were moving in time to the
rich bass that blasted from well-hidden speakers. Even with a quick glance, it
was obvious her father’s club drew a different clientele than her uncle’s.
    Beck’s had been tailored to wealthy, beautiful people who
were looking for an escape from routines. Toxic, however, had been designed for
the young. The music was as fresh as the bodies dancing to it. Barmaids had
been replaced by gorgeous men and women who walked around with glowing test
tubes on their trays. Dressed in leather and lace, they helped the clientele
forget about their mundane lives for the night. The employees were there to
make the customers believe they were important, exciting people. And they had
all the newest paraphernalia to help in that endeavor.
    Making her way to the roped-off stairs, she whispered to a
guard and then started up the winding staircase with Jacob trailing behind her.
He wouldn’t be searched since she’d vouched for him, but her stomach still
cramped with nervous energy.
    They’d just cleared the last step when she spotted Alex’s
table. Never one to turn his back to a crowd, he was aptly sitting in a heavily
shadowed corner. He had two armed bodyguards posted next to him. And, of
course, lanky females surrounded him. Their slight frames swayed to the
remnants of music that wafted up the stairs.
    “There she is. My big sister!” Alex’s black hair was pulled
back into a tight ponytail, revealing beautiful blue eyes that were framed with
long, black lashes. With her new hair color and her natural eye color, they
even managed to look like brother and sister.
    She’d expected to be afraid of him, just as she had been in
the past. But their years apart and her recovery had changed her. Now, looking
into his eyes, she found only pity for him. He wasn’t a monster. He was an
empty shell—a wasted soul.
    “I see you brought a toy with you.” He wobbled slightly as
he stood. “You certainly do have a love of their kind, don’t you?” He walked
over to Jacob, his eyes sweeping over him appraisingly. “I, personally, don’t
see it.”
    “Of course not,” she said dryly as she grabbed Jacob’s hand.
She meant it as a show of solidarity, but she found comfort in his touch as
well.
    “No offense, I’ve just found they’re no fun.”
    Having seen his definition of fun, she wasn’t offended. “No
offense taken.”
    She was about to suggest finding a private table when a very
familiar face stepped out of the shadowed corner and walked over to Alex. It
was the fader she’d had evicted from the barstool at Beck’s. The one who’d disappeared
in front of Jacob. Izzy watched as the girl whispered something to Alex, but
try as she might, she couldn’t make out the woman’s words.
    “Maggie says she bumped into you at Beck’s.”
    Jacob’s grasp on her hand tightened just a little, but Izzy
wasn’t concerned—yet.
    “She kindly gave me her seat.” Izzy smiled coldly at the
woman standing next to Alex. “Thank you. Though I didn’t appreciate the vodka
shower quite as much.”
    Maggie’s smile held a calculated twist that Izzy didn’t care
for but she was too busy focusing on Alex to give it much thought. He’d already
taken a couple of steps toward her. He was close enough now that she could
smell the alcohol and stale smoke on his breath. “She says she overheard
something about ink.”
    Izzy tried to pull her arm back, but it was too late. One
hand wrapped around her wrist as the other pushed the capped sleeve up to her
shoulder to reveal the red-and-gold sunset.
    “Is this real?” He ran his thumb over the ink as if
expecting it to smear.
    “You sound surprised. You’ve always known who my family is.”
    “I thought I was your family. That our father was your
family.”
    Even though she’d planned to keep the tattoo hidden, the
anger in his eyes made her almost happy it’d been