Chosen Thief by Scarlett Dawn

masculine voice rumbled from directly behind me in a lazy intonation, “Care to share what’s going on, Queen Ruckler?”
    I yelped, not expecting anyone to be in here, my heart rate again shooting off as I jerked around…to stare at the bottom half of a massivechest. I blinked, and absurdly, I muttered, “That’s a lot of fucking cashmere. Do you have to buy it by the yard?”
    A sniff. “That’s a thousand-dollar shirt you’re mocking.” I continued staring in amazement at the size of this guy’s torso, my heart rate beginning to slow again as I watched him lift a hand and point around a glass of brandy, waggling it up and down my frame. “And where did youget the pajama set? A thrift store?” Another sniff. “You smell of homelessness. Back the fuck off. I hear it can be catching.”
    “I did get it at the thrift store, thank you for asking, and if you’re interested I can give you their address so you don’t have to be one of those men who makes himself feel better by wearing a thousand-dollar sweater.” I nodded when I heard him choke on his drink, andlifted a finger, poking the guy in his pec, uncaring that he stilled at the contact. All I felt was rock-solid under the layer of black cashmere. “Holy shit, I know a man who would pay big money to have you on his payroll.”
    He growled quietly, “Who the fuck are you?” He chuckled derisively. “And Jesus, can you get any damn shorter? I can’t see anything but the top of your tastelessly dyed whitehair.” He paused, then he said over my head, “Why are we bringing strays in from the damn street?”
    “I’m not all that short, buddy. You’re just like,” I waved my hands high and wide, “like gigantic or something. Hell, forget the guy I know, you could play the next billed role as Godzilla and make major cash.” I shrugged, dropping my hands, still staring wide-eyed at the chest, utterly astonished.“And they kidnapped me. I don’t want to be here anymore than you want me here.”
    “Shut up!” Queen Ruckler growled. “Caro, what the hell was that?”
    I shrugged again. “It’s gone. No worries.” And yeah, I was no longer scared shitless, so it was gone; this guy’s size was a great distraction.
    “I’d like to know the answer to Brann’s question,” a feminine voice stated to my left, and I did betterthis time at hiding my surprise as I finally pulled my eyes away from the chest in front of me to the direction of the voice.
    I poked the guy again, earning a growl from him as I stared at the Vampire goddess. “Maybe you should let her borrow your sweater. She seems to have forgotten clothing isn’t optional if she’s not a Shifter.”
    The Vampire woman turned blue eyes on me, scowling, her luxuriousred and black streaked hair brushing at her shoulders. Her bare shoulders. There was only a thin piece of shiny black leather barely covering her ample breasts, and tiny matching shorts that I was sure were smaller than underwear I owned. She also wore stiletto-heeled, thigh-high red boots, and she swung one of them in irritation over her other leg where she sat on a recliner in this livingroom of sorts. “These are clothes,” her finger ran over the edge of her bosom, “or maybe you need to look closer?”
    I snorted. “Um…they’re already,” I popped my eyes wide, “out there, ya know? No need for closer inspection.” I cocked my head, hair dangling over my shoulder. “And unless this is Halloween or the super-secret prostitution house the Kings and Queens run, those are definitely not clothes.”

    Her Vampire growled at me as she flashed a bit of fang, clearly pissed.
    “I’m feeling faint,” another voice, a soft baritone, sounded to my left. “This is just too much hostility for me. If it’s safe to leave, I think I’ll go to my meditation room.”
    I blinked, turning my head slowly in that direction, and gawked at the Mage leaning his muscular, bulky frame heavily against the wall, his bronzedface ashen as