“I don’t—I mean, what’s wrong with your hair?” she asked, sounding confused.
Shaking his head, Aiden wondered when he’d become such a woman, allowing his freaking feelings to be hurt by her comment. “Look, you’re the one who just suggested I didn’t look the par—”
“I meant your attitude,” she interrupted, cutting him off as she gestured toward him with a fluttering of her fingers. It was one of those wholly feminine gestures that a guy couldn’t have pulled off to save his life. “It hasn’t really seemed as if you wanted the assignment or job or whatever we are. In fact, I think your friends expected you to pass us over to them. Is it that you don’t like kids, women or humans? Or a combination of all three?”
Huh, so she’d picked up on that while watching his exchange with Kellan. The woman was obviously observant for a human, which meant he was going to have to be damn careful around her. He didn’t want her getting inside his head. He just wanted to get her to Colorado, where she and Jamie would be safe, while somehow managing to keep the animal half of his nature from completely screwing up his life.
“Well?” she asked, prompting him for a response.
Aiden kept his attention focused on the long, moonlit stretch of highway. “I like women and kids just fine.”
“But…not human ones? Is that it?”
“Yeah,” he muttered, knowing damn well that he sounded like a prick. “That’s pretty much it.”
A soft, wry sound that didn’t quite make its way into a laugh fell from her lips. “Um, ouch.”
His face felt tight, his mouth dry. “It’s nothing personal, Liv.”
“Oh, no. Not at all.” Flexing his hands around the wheel, Aiden figured he’d have to be deaf to miss the sarcasm behind those simple words. “Will you at least tell me why?”
He worked his jaw, managing to scrape out a gruff refusal. “The why isn’t important, so just drop it.”
She nodded, as if that was the response she’d been expecting. “So, uh, whose brilliant idea was it to send you after us, then?”
“Kellan and I have been in Kentucky searching for the Marker that Jamie’s wearing. Noah joined up with us two days ago. Since we were closest, it made sense that we come after you.” Aiden kept to himself the part about Molly insisting that he be the one to personally watch over them, unsure why the little psychic had done it.
“And Molly was the one who told you about us?” she asked, rubbing her palms along the tops of her thighs.
“That’s right.”
“You mentioned that Molly was…contacted.” She cast a quick look into the backseat, then shifted her gaze back to his face. “Since Jamie’s asleep now, I’d like you to explain what that means.”
Lifting his left hand, Aiden rubbed at the tight knots in the back of his neck that seemed to be growing more painful by the minute. “Molly’s human, but she has certain…powers,” he explained. “I’m not real clear on all the details, but when she sleeps, ghosts are sometimes able to communicate with her.”
Her breath sucked in on a sharp, shaky gasp, and she turned her face to the side, staring out the window again. Softly she said, “So Monica made contact with her? Did she tell her where Chloe is?”
“Yeah, Monica contacted her,” he rasped, uncomfortable with the topic, wishing he knew how to handle this kind of crap. A certain level of compassion would probably have helped, but that just wasn’t him. He’d spent so many years honing his cynical, smart-ass attitude, he’d forgotten how to be…easy. If he’d ever even known in the first place. “But she, uh, wasn’t able to tell her where Chloe is. All we know is that she’s been taken.”
“And Monica told Molly that the Casus were coming for me and Jamie?”
Aiden nodded, saying, “After seeing how ruthless those bastards can be when they go after a target, we knew we didn’t have any time to lose. So we headed to Lennox and tracked you down as quickly as we could.”
She took a deep breath, obviously working to take it all in. “You make it sound as if there have been a lot of Merrick losses already. Is it really that bad out there?”
“It’s gone from bad to worse,” he admitted in a hard voice, “and things are moving faster every day. Saige Buchanan, who’s an anthropologist, managed to get possession of some encrypted maps that give the locations of the Markers, and has been able to decode a few of them. We’ve already got four of the crosses in our possession, but there are still too many that need to be found before the Casus, along with their Kraven buddies, get hold of them.”
She turned toward him, her gaze settling back on his profile, making him burn. “What’s a Kraven?”
“The Kraven are a species that’s half Casus, half vampire, but who can pass damn easily for a human. There’s one named Westmore who seems to be orchestrating this whole thing, pulling the strings from this side of Meridian, which is what they call the Casus holding ground where the shades are imprisoned.”
“Shades?”
“Because of their immortality,” he explained, “the Casus can’t die in Meridian. They’ve simply wasted away to ‘shades’ of the creatures they once were, which is why they’re forced to take human hosts when they return to this world. We think Westmore has partnered up with a Casus shade named Calder, but we don’t know much about him. What we do know is that the Kraven are a nasty piece of work, and seeing as how they have the backing of the Collective, as well—”
“They what?” she gasped, cutting him off. “The Collective? But I thought the Collective was some kind of army of humans who tracked down clan members and executed them.”
“It is,” he told her, flicking the wipers onto high as the rain began to come down in a hard, steady pour. “But the human soldiers are working with Westmore, which means they’re working with the Casus, as well.”
Twisting toward him in her seat, she pulled her left leg beneath her and shook her head. “Okay, you’re going to have to explain that one.”
Aiden could understand her disbelief. Hell, he hadn’t believed it himself when he’d first been told. “From what I understand, it all started because the Collective found the ancient archives—documents that apparently hold endless amounts of information about the clans. They were lost not long after the Casus were imprisoned and the Collective Army began hunting down the clans.”
“How did they find them?” she asked. “And where?”
Frustration coiled through his body, cranking his tension. “We have no idea, but from what we’ve been told, Westmore found out that the Collective had discovered the archives, so he went to the Army Generals, offering them a trade. In exchange for allowing him access to the archives, their bank accounts and even their men, he offered them the one thing they apparently couldn’t resist—the location of every ancient clan that remains in existence.”
“Oh, m-my God,” she whispered, her stammer returning. “C-could he actually do that?”
Aiden blew out a rough breath, hating that she was afraid. And hating that he hated it, because it meant that he gave a crap, when he knew he shouldn’t. “I hope to hell not,” he muttered. “But he already gave the bastards four vampire nesting grounds. The Collective caught the Deschanel completely off guard, and from what I understand, it was a complete slaughter.”
She shuddered, wrapping her arms around her middle. “Have you ever f-fought against the Collective?”
Nodding again, he decided not to tell her exactly how many of the human soldiers he had taken down over the years. Instead, he simply said, “We may need orders to take down a clansman, as far as the Consortium is concerned, but the Collective are free game.”
“Sounds d-dangerous.”
“It can be. But they haven’t given us much trouble since Riley’s awakening last month. Idiots are probably wondering what they’ve gotten themselves into, teaming up with those psychopaths.”
Quietly she said, “And so their greed will be their downfall.”
“Who said that?” he asked, thinking the words so
unded vaguely familiar.
She gave a soft laugh. “To be honest, I have no idea. The words just came to me.”
“Well, whoever it was, it about sums things up. By making the deal with Westmore, the Collective Generals have created a hell of a mess for themselves. Now it’s the Merrick and Watchmen against the Casus, Collective and Kraven, with all of us in a race to get our hands on the Markers before the other side.”
“Why do they want them?” she asked, resting the side of her face against the back of the seat.
“We wish like hell that we knew. But some of us have started to suspect it has something to do with bringing the flood. We just don’t know how.”
“The flood?”
“When all the Casus escape at once.”
“God. That would be…” Her voice trailed off, and he knew she was trying to think of a word that would do the horrific idea justice.
“Yeah.” Lifting his hand, Aiden scraped his palm against the hard edge of his jaw. “That’s why we’re doing everything we can to keep it from happening. Kierland Scott, Kellan’s older brother, is in Prague right now, addressing the Consortium. You know who they are?”
“I know a little. Monica and Chloe told me about them.”
Aiden was about to explain the purpose of Kierland’s visit when he caught the flickering glow of a neon sign through the driving sheets of rain. After being in the car with her for so long, he was covered in Olivia’s scent, the drugging perfume seeping into his pores, filling his head—and driving his goddamn beast to the edge. If he didn’t get out and give himself some breathing room, the thing was going to shatter his control. And then there’d be hell to pay.
Reaching down, he turned off the music, then jerked his chin toward the sign. “That looks like a good-size motel up there. We should probably go ahead and stop.”
“Will it be safe?” she asked, leaning forward to peer through the windshield, as if to see if any monsters were lurking out there in the dark.
“As safe as anything else we’ll come across.”
After heading around to the back of the building, Aiden parked and turned off the engine, his tension cranking even higher now that they’d stopped for the night. If he hadn’t been such a bastard, he knew he would have told her that he’d wait outside until Kellan and Noah arrived, then do the right thing for everyone involved and step aside. Every second he spent in her presence was tempting fate. Tempting him to make a costly mistake. It didn’t matter that he should keep his distance. Didn’t matter that she was human and he didn’t trust her.
No, the only thing that mattered, other than keeping her and the kid alive, was getting her under him—which meant that he was just going to have to suck it up and throw together a game plan. He was good at working through shitty situations. He’d had to be, or he wouldn’t still be around.
And it could be worse, he thought. She could be freaking out. Screaming and crying and blaming you for the mess that her life is in.
Yeah, when he looked at it that way, he’d gotten off lucky, all things considered. Thanks to her stepsisters, she understood enough about the clans to save them all a lot of arguing and headaches.
And who knew? Maybe he was getting worked up over nothing. After all, what were the chances that she was going to be anywhere near as tempting as his imagination believed she would be?
So stop getting so jacked up. After you bed her, you can forget about her. Just like you’ve done with all the others.
As far as game plans went, it wasn’t much, but Aiden was willing to give it a go. He’d screw her a few times, making sure the itch was scratched to the point that it bled clean, and God willing, once he did, he’d find out that Olivia Harcourt was the same as every other woman he’d ever had, even with that goddamn “Eve effect” going on. Then he’d be able to leave her behind, and get on with his life, searching for the next Marker…and then the next.
The plan should have brought him a measure of peace, but it didn’t. Instead, Aiden’s gut twisted tighter, and he swore something foul under his breath. Christ, when had he become such a bloody head case?
“You okay?”
Jarred out of his thoughts by her question, Aiden caught himself staring at her mouth. He could feel her embarrassment, thick and hot in the air, but he couldn’t seem to look away, fascinated by the sensual shape, the impossible softness. Not for the first time that night, he found himself wondering if she’d actually kissed him back when he’d taken her to the ground back at the house. Or if he’d just imagined it. And if she had, why?
Frustrated at himself for mulling over it like an old woman, he forced out a gritty admission. “I don’t want to leave you out here unprotected.”
She glanced around the quiet parking lot. “Do you really think it’s dangerous?”
Shrugging his shoulders, he said, “The odds are unlikely that they could track us this quickly, especially with all the rain that was coming down, but I also don’t see the point in taking unnecessary risks.”
She nodded, already undoing her seat belt. “Then we’ll go in with you.”
“That was the plan,” he murmured, already unfolding his long body from behind the wheel. Aiden opened the back door and reached inside for Jamie, who was slowly waking up. When he unbuckled her from her car seat and lifted her into his arms, she cuddled against his chest as if it was the safest place in the world for her to be. Looking half-asleep, she gave him a shy smile and ran her pudgy fingers along his arm.
“Pwetty,” she whispered, touching her little fingers to his tattooed forearm.
Blinking, Aiden choked back a gruff burst of laughter. God only knew he’d been called a lot of things in life, but pretty wasn’t one of them. He slid a laughing look toward Olivia, and found her watching them with a strange smile on her face. “You’re going to have your hands full with this one when she hits sixteen. She’s already a charmer.”
“Don’t I know it,” she groaned, giving a soft shake of her head that sent the fiery strands brushing against her cheeks.
Thinking of Olivia raising Jamie alone and without help, he suddenly found an uneasy frown working its way into his expression. “She’s gonna need some big, mean-looking daddy to beat off all the boys.”
“I’ll beat them off. With a shovel, if I have to.”
Aiden lifted his brows at the forcefulness of her tone. “It’s a huge responsibility you’ve taken on, raising her by yourself.”
She reached up and ran her hand down Jamie’s back, her own expression one of fierce determination. “We’ll manage.”
“Well,” he rasped, “the good thing is that you don’t have to manage on your own anymore.”
She sent him a startled, questioning look that made something in his chest go tight. “What do you mean?”
“You’ve got friends now, Liv.”
For a moment all she did was stare back at him, her eyes wide…wary. She looked somehow afraid to believe him, and equally afraid not to. “Do I really?” she asked, the soft, whispered words nearly silent beneath the gentle rasp of the wind.
“Yeah,” he muttered, knowing there was no way out of this. He was just going to keep sinking deeper, but man, there had to be worse ways to go. Right?
“You’ve got friends who can be ruthless as hell when they need to be,” he told her, holding her misty gaze. “So stop worrying so much, because we’re not about to let anything happen to either one of you.”
CHAPTER SIX
OLIVIA HAD MEANT TO TELL Aiden she wouldn’t need all their luggage, but by the time she’d recovered from hearing those low words on the Watchman’s lips, he’d already paid for a suite, tucked Jamie up in the room’s king-size bed and headed back out the door. Jamie was snuggled into her pillow, half-asleep, so Olivia found the bathroom and quickly splashed some water on her face, while silently lecturing herself for being such an emotional sap. God, the guy told her she wasn’t alone anymore and she almost bawled like a baby.
But there was no denying ho
w good it had felt to hear those words. Even from a man who’d already admitted he didn’t like her…kind. It probably made her fifty different kinds of pathetic, but she was honestly too tired to care.
When he came back a few minutes later, she walked into the small blue-and-cream living room…and could only blink at the fact that he was carrying all of Jamie’s and her luggage at once. The bags must have weighed four hundred pounds combined, and the muscles in his arms were bulging against the seams of his T-shirt, yet he hadn’t even broken a sweat.
“What the hell do you have in here?” he grunted as he tossed the heaviest bag onto the striped sofa.
“Um, my books are in that one.”
Surprise shone in his eyes. “Christ, woman, how many books do you need?”
“Don’t you like to read?” she asked defensively.
“Well, yeah.” He arched one tawny brow, adding, “But I don’t usually feel the need to travel with an entire library.”
Aware of the warmth burning in her cheeks, Olivia knew she should have shown a little more restraint when packing, but damn it, she loved her books. It no doubt seemed crazy to someone like Aiden, but she’d been leaving everything else behind. Her furniture. Her job. Her life. At least her books had been something she could take with her. “You don’t have to make a big deal out of it, Aiden. All I did was put in a few favorites.”
“A few favorites?” he repeated with a low bark of laughter. “Okay, this I gotta see.”
Realizing he was going to look inside, Olivia screeched, lunging for the suitcase. Aiden was too fast, though, and as he lifted the top section, his low whistle blended with her groan. “Liv,” he said with a wicked, lopsided grin curling the edges of his mouth, “I’m shocked.”
“Yeah, right,” she muttered.
He clucked his tongue against the roof of his mouth, clearly enjoying himself, his hazel gaze teasing and bright. “What would the other teachers say?”
Olivia rolled her eyes. “Oh, honestly. There’s no crime in reading erotica, Aiden. So stop making such a big deal out of it. I wouldn’t have expected you to be such a prude.”
Touch of Seduction Page 7