Stefan (Lost Nights Series Book 1) by Jocelynn Drake

tonight to witness your temper tantrums. We’re here for justice.”
    “Then give me justice!” Carla screamed as she shoved back to her feet. While her movements were initially a little stiff, she didn’t act injured despite being flung against the stone wall. “Let me kill the bitch!”
    “For what? Being in the wrong place? Being framed?” I shouted back at Carla, feeling a little better now that there was a little breathing room between myself and my attacker. Sure, I’d seen her close that distance in a heartbeat, but I appreciated the space while I had it. “I didn’t kill your friend. I have no reason to touch her.”
    “Silence!” Stefan thundered, pushing to his feet so that he loomed over the gathered masses. Everyone was instantly quiet and still, their breath held as if fearing to catch his narrowed gaze. “We have more important things to deal with in our world than the insignificant death of a pet.”
    “Your pet killed mine,” Carla said in a low, respectful voice, but there was no masking the boiling rage within her. “By our laws, I have the right to kill your pet without fear of retribution.”
    I bit back the urge to shout that I wasn’t Stefan’s pet, holding to the belief that he would say the words. But he didn’t. Stefan didn’t speak. He didn’t move. And a little part of me died inside. Why wasn’t he telling everyone there that I wasn’t a pet? He knew that this was all some kind of insane misunderstanding; that I had been framed.
    Knox’s warnings rang loud and clear in my brain. It was the only thing that was keeping me from shouting at all of them. I wasn’t his fucking pet, but I was hoping that the sneaky bastard had some nifty idea rattling around in his head and I didn’t want to ruin his attempt to save my ass.
    “That’s true,” Stefan said blandly with a slight indifferent shrug. He stepped back and seemed to flow back into his throne as if he were made of water rather than bone. That was it? He was going to hand me over like that? My mouth fell open and I prepared to let these damn vampires know what I was thinking, but Stefan continued, cutting off my rant. “But you have yet to prove that Ms. Prescott actually killed Sabrina. If you kill Ms. Prescott when she had nothing to do with it, then...”
    The sentence was left hanging ominously in the air. A sickening cold smile slithered across Stefan’s face and I glimpsed the reason he had been able to climb to his position of power. There was a ruthlessness glinting in his eyes that I had seen associated only with playfulness. If Stefan discovered that I was truly innocent after I was killed, not only was Carla dust but so was anyone close to her.
    Crossing her arms over her chest, Carla struck a pose that reminded me of a rebellious six year old. “Read her memories,” Carla said defiantly. The statement struck me as strange. She had to know that I had no memories of Sabrina. Of course, I had been assuming that Carla had been involved in Sabrina’s attack. Maybe Sabrina and I weren’t the only victims of this nasty trick.
    I turned my attention back to Stefan to find him glaring at me. He couldn’t be more pissed at me. I hadn’t done anything too horrible since stepped into their throne room. Well, at least I didn’t think I had. Not liking the look on his face, I looked at the nightwalkers on the dais and took a nervous step backward. They were all looking at me that way.
    “I can’t read her,” the nightwalker with the dark hair murmured in surprise.
    Stefan shook his head in frustration, only willing to admit his own failure now that another had done it. Everyone looked expectantly down at the redhead with the frightening man leaning against the back of her chair.
    “Mira?” The blue-eyed man’s voice was a low rumble, prompting her when we’d waited nearly a minute in absolute silence. Everyone was watching her. It made me wonder if she was the oldest among them, or at the very least, the