“Three bedrooms and four people,” Matias corrected him. “One bedroom is mine already. So, you will share.”
“Great,” Scotty growled, dragging a large leather bag out of the back of the SUV.
“That’s okay. Really. It’ll be okay. We can share. I’m a good roommate. I don’t snore. Do you snore? Never mind. It doesn’t matter. Fine. It’ll be fine. We’re fine,” Donny shot out in staccato sentences as he followed Scotty into the house.
“Oh, sí, the Scotty, he has this thing for you and he has it bad,” Matias said with delight as they watched the two men disappear into the house.
“Why?” she asked with exasperation as she dragged her bags out one after the other and began to sling them over her shoulders. “Why would you even imagine that?”
“Because he has not killed you for letting Donny drink the espresso. Even though he knows he will be stuck with the man tonight.”
Beth tried to hold on to her scowl. She truly did, but couldn’t help it and her expression cracked as a laugh slipped from her lips. She covered her mouth quickly and shook her head. “It isn’t funny. Donny is going to make him crazy.”
“Nah,” he said lightly. Taking two of her bags, he reminded her, “We are going dancing. Donny can work the caffeine out of his system on the dance floor and I will finally have a proper rumba partner again. Truly, chiquita, the girls here do not know how to dance.”
“Dancing. Right. I forgot about that,” Beth said with a smile as they headed into the house.
“Forgot about what?” Scotty asked, meeting them in the entry. His hands were empty, and Beth glanced past him to see that he’d set his own bags on the floor just inside the door of the first room on the left, a small living room decorated in earth tones and overstuffed furniture.
“That we are going dancing and Donny can work off the caffeine on the dance floor,” Beth explained.
“Oh, dear God, aye,” Scotty said with relief. “If I have to share a room with the lad chattering away like he is now, I’m like to kill him.”
“Speaking of which, where is he?” Beth asked.
“Hey! I found the kitchen!” Donny’s voice came from the back of the house in answer. “Does anyone else want blood? I found the fridge. And food! Good food! Cheese and sausage. Whipped cream. Dip too. I love dip. Are there chips? Jeez, this is great stuff. Things I haven’t had since I started training. Bologna and salami! Sliced smoked turkey! I could make us Dagwoods!”
“Bologna?” Beth peered at Matias with disbelief. “Your mother would shoot you for even bringing all that junk into the house.”
“It tastes good,” Matias said helplessly.
“Oh wow! Look at the backyard. It’s huge!” Donny cried and then asked excitedly, “Are those dogs back there? Man, they’re beautiful. Scary-looking too, but they’re probably nice dogs. They just look scary. Right?”
“Dogs?” Beth asked, her eyebrows rising. Matias had always wanted a dog. But his mother, Aunt Giulietta, thought they were messy and smelly and wouldn’t let him have one as he was growing up.
“Sí.” Matias beamed at her. “Two Dobermans. They are beautiful. I only put them outside when I am not here so they do not ruin the furniture. One of them, Chico, he tried to eat the couch when I left him home alone for a couple hours, so now they must wait in the kennel until I can be with them.”
“I see,” Beth said and shook her head. “Aunt Giulietta hasn’t visited you here yet, has she?”
“Sí,” he assured her. “Mama has been here twice, but I had a friend keep the dogs while she was here both times.”
The sound of a door slamming made all three of them glance toward the back of the house.
Eyebrows rising, Scotty headed down the hall, with Beth following closely on his heels. There were several doors on the right, each seeming to lead into a bedroom. But there was only one doorway on the left and it was at the far end of the hall. She and Scotty turned in to a family room that took up the near side of the large open space, while a kitchen filled the other half. She spotted the door that had slammed at once. It was in the back corner on the kitchen side, but she didn’t move toward it. Instead, she stared out the large windows that seemed to make up the back wall of the house. Through them, she could see the huge backyard, the two outbuildings, and Donny running toward a kennel where two beautiful Doberman pinschers were jumping at the fence, barking excitedly as the ginger-haired man approached.
“Will they bite him?” Beth asked with concern.
“I do not know,” Matias admitted with a frown. “He is terribly excited and if he excites them too much . . .”
“Crap,” Beth breathed and hurried to the door to go after the young immortal.
“I’m thinking we should take him dancing sooner rather than later,” Matias called after them as Scotty followed her.
Beth was too busy running to comment, but she thought that was a damned good idea.
“Have you known Matias long?”
Scotty winced at that loud shout in his ear and tore his gaze away from Beth’s gyrating body on the dance floor to peer down at the girl who had cozied up to him on the couch. She was one of the half-dozen women who had been draping themselves all over Matias since they’d arrived here more than an hour ago. He seemed to be popular. But Scotty supposed the little girl with blue hair leaning up against him had tired of trying to vie for the young man’s attention and shifted her focus to him.
“Have you?” she asked again. She was shouting to be heard over the music. He wished she wouldn’t. Her shouting was giving him a headache. Fortunately, she seemed to realize how unattractive having to shout might appear and made a little moue with her lips. She also blinked her eyelashes at him in a way that made him wonder if she had something in her eye . . . or eyes.
“Nay,” he answered her question and then shifted his attention back to the dance floor, finding Beth again as Donny twirled her around to the manic beat.
“Do you like to dance?” the girl tried again.
“Nay,” he answered, not even looking at her this time.
“Do you—”
“Matias,” Scotty growled. He didn’t shout. Immortals had superior hearing and the young Spaniard caught his warning. A moment later the warm weight against his side eased away and then was gone. Scotty supposed the Spaniard had slipped into her thoughts and either urged her back to his side or sent her away. He didn’t care which.
“If you keep staring at her like that she will surely burst into flames.”
Scotty gave a start at that comment and turned to look around. Matias hadn’t sent just the little blue-haired girl away. He’d sent all the women away. He’d also moved next to him on the couch and was eyeing him with curiosity.
“You like my cousin,” he said finally.
Scotty merely turned his gaze back to the dance floor.
“Beth says you are over eight hundred years old. Is that true?” he asked.
“Aye,” he muttered.
“Interesting,” Matias murmured so softly that despite his hearing, Scotty nearly didn’t catch it.
Eyes narrowing, he turned to peer at him in question. “Why?”
Matias hesitated and then, instead of answering, asked, “Why didn’t you want Beth to be a Rogue Hunter?”
Scotty stiffened. “Who says I did no’ want her to be a hunter?”
Matias grinned and raised his eyebrows. “You tried to convince my uncle and Drina not to let her train, and then, once she’d finished training, you traveled to Spain to try to convince the Council to refuse her a position as a hunter. Everyone knows that.”
“Beth too?” he asked with alarm.
Matias nodded. “My uncle sat her down and said you didn’t think she should be a hunter, and he’d argued on her behalf to the Council. He told her not to screw up and prove him wrong.”
Cursing, Scotty glanced back to the dancers. He should have realized that she would find out. Not that it would have stopped him. He’d been desperate to keep her safe. He would have appreciated it had everyone kept their mouths shut, though. It just complicated the situation further, he thought and began to frown, partially because of that, and partially because he couldn’t find Beth on the dance floor.