Besides.
She was dating Rand. Just thinking about the vampire sped up the blood in her veins. The way his eyes moved over her body left her more than a little breathless. Her fingers slid along the outside seam of her jeans and she wondered what it would be like to be with a vampire.
Oh, she’d toyed with a few of them in school. But nothing that ever progressed as far as things did the other night. But at the same time, she thought of Aristide and wondered at her wisdom of keeping dating life and work separate after all.
Diana reached for her phone in case either of the girls had called or texted but the only message was from Rand that he would be arriving within the hour to escort her to the gallery premier.
It was for show. Partly. He needed a woman on his arm and she needed a distraction from her work at the shop. And besides, she couldn’t be a boss to Gabby and date her father. That would be too weird. But that didn’t stop her from wondering.
She and Aristide had met two years ago when he’d come across an old pack artifact and wondered at its magical properties. She’d touched the old pocket watch and immediately doused the thing in salt, the trail of tainted magic broken as quickly as it had come into the shop.
“What did you do that for?” His dark eyes had widened in shock.
She’d countered his incredulous expression with one of her own. “You make a habit of bringing cursed objects into my shop unannounced, wolf boy?”
“Cursed?”
“You heard me.” Diana reached inside the energy of the piece and ripped the foulness from its cogs and coils, bringing up the vaporous stench of rotten eggs.
“Ugh.” Aristide took a step back, his nostrils flaring.
“Who did you say that was from?”
“My late wife’s father.”
“He didn’t like you very much, did he?”
“I guess not.”
And that started their sparing sort of friendship and flirtation.
Diana’s lips turned up at the thought. Her shop was not your typical antique emporium and they both knew it. Moon Called Antiques Emporium housed and collected cursed objects. They were either salted and cured or buried in a consecrated burial site. There was no in between.
Flicking her wrist, she noted the time. Celine was late. It wouldn’t be the first time but she would have hoped the girl would have learned to use her phone by now.
The door opened, chime jingling.
“There you are. I was beginning to worry…” Diana started, her voice trailing off when she got a glimpse of Celine’s face. Tears streaked down the girl’s cheeks, her mascara lining her eyes like a demented raccoon. Her normally impeccable anime inspired costume was soiled with what appeared to be mud and her pigtails were plastered against her head.
“What is it?”
“Gabby. She’s disappeared.”
“What do you mean?” Diana rose from her chair and went to Celine, her arms wrapping around the shaking sixteen year old.
“I mean, I wanted to see if we could trade shifts for today and she wasn’t answering her phone.” Celine hiccupped.
“A lot of girls don’t answer their phone.”
Like you.
“No,” she shook her head adamantly, stepping back. “No. I checked at school. She wasn’t there. And then I ran over to the pack house and her dad answered the door.”
“And?” Diana crossed her arms in front of her chest.
“And she’s gone.”
Chapter Three
Aristide Benoit stalked around his daughter’s room, anger sizzling through his very core. She hadn’t been home last night. With her recent behavior taking a down turn, he had a mind to pull her from her part time job just to teach her a lesson. But with what was happening in the city right now, he was torn between wanting to give her the hiding of her life or just finding her and hugging her until she squealed in protest.
There should be a support group for all single fathers of sixteen year old girls. He didn’t know how he was going to survive it. Gabby was all he had, even if she would rather forget about that most of the time.
Teenagers. You couldn’t live with them and you couldn’t shoot them. But he wanted to.
He’d texted her downstairs to get her butt down there for dinner, not being sure if she was on shift at Diana’s shop. She was supposed to leave a copy of the schedule on the fridge so in case he got dragged into pack business he could check on her. Or at the very least she could have texted him a picture.
She hadn’t.
Usually she would respond with some sort of emoji but this time…this time she didn’t. So he trudged upstairs and dared to enter the inner recesses of her sanctuary.
Alpha of his pack he may be, but that was nothing on the wrath of a teenage girl’s privacy being violated. He still had the scars from the last time. It was hard enough living in a house full of wolves, let alone being the daughter of the Alpha. He got that. He really did. And he got the fact that she missed having a mother.
Liz, the housekeeper and the other women of the house helped as best they could. And Jenny, the young wolf who’d recently moved from Baton Rouge to take their open Cook position had even bonded with her. But after checking with each of them, he still had no answers and this close to the moon, his wolf was already on edge.
Everyone was.
Aristide was still reeling from his phone blowing up over the latest disappearance. A girl visiting some of the local haunts had run into an all-night coffee shop screaming about her friend being dead on the street but when authorities got to the spot, there was no one there. Strange occurrences happened in Moulin Revere all the time. But the girl who had gone missing…she was a member of Aristide’s pack and thus part of his protection.
He’d been on the phone with her parents, Skyping with the pack elders and putting out fires as fast as they sprung up when Ken, one of the security team brought him a report.
Altercations with vampires, missing wolves and a red haired older woman leaving the scene of most of the occurrences. The pack’s tribal markings were sited, so he knew in all likelihood the reports were true. In many cases, the individuals fighting were never seen or heard from again.
He put the phone on silent and lifted his eyes from the report. “What do you think it means?”
“I don’t know,” his second replied. “But what I want to know is who is the strange woman?”
The man had a point.
Dealing with his bull headed daughter tonight was not on his list.
Her bed was unmade, clothes in piles on the floor. But what disturbed him most was her purse sitting on her dresser, next to her school books. And her phone, light blinking with the new text from him.
She would never go anywhere and leave her cell. Ever.
So where the hell was she?
His phone vibrated on his belt and he yanked it free, eyes scanning the contents of the text flashing across the screen.
Another one.
“Damn it,” he swore, shoving the phone back in place. In two steps he was out the door, his wolf pacing beneath his skin. Something was wrong and he sure as fuck was going to find out what it was. Wolves just didn’t go missing out of thin air. Not since his grandfather had ruled.
To him, that only meant one thing.
Either the woman was a vampire or she was in league with them.
Was it the centuries old feud brewing anew, barely held in check, the vampires trying to re-assert their hold on the wolves?
And had his daughter landed right in the middle of their power play?
He flew down the stairs, past startled wolves and cubs, and was at the front door when his phone buzzed again. In a quick jerk, he had it back in his hand, but this time there was a message from Diana at the shop.
“Have you seen Gabby?”
Shit.
He would go to the shop first and see what Diana knew and then he was going to roam the streets until he found her, no matter how long it took.
&nb
sp; ***
“You shouldn’t go out tonight. It isn’t safe.” Rand’s manservant brought him his tuxedo jacket and he slipped it on.
That didn’t change the fact that all he wanted to do was tell the older servant to go and find a post elsewhere in the compound and leave him to his own devices and get dressed like he had for the last thousand years.
He was a Master vampire, not a wet behind the ears revenant. And he hadn’t gotten to be Regent by hiding when there were those who wished him harm. Let them come.
“I think I’ll be fine, Jameson. If you wouldn’t mind…”
The older man sniffed. “As you wish, sir.” Closing the door behind him, he left the dressing room, leaving Rand momentarily to himself.
Tonight he would finally have his little witch all to himself and then he would find out what it was like to trace his fangs down the ivory lines of her flesh with more than just a few moments to spare. Diana had played aloof, but then again so had he. Thrust together by politics and chance, he hadn’t considered her more than an evening’s diversion until he’d dropped her off at her door after their second date.
“Do you want to come in?” She’d unlocked the door, bidding him entrance.
He’d glanced at his limo driver and body guard, and with a staunch glare, let the man know to wait.
“I would like that.”
She held the door open and he passed over her threshold, the warmth of the living passing over him. A cat sat in the front foyer regarding him, but as soon as he met the creature’s eyes, it fled down the long hallway with an audible hiss.
“Schubert, that isn’t nice,” she said, frowning. Diana tossed her bag on the counter, and invited him to sit.
“I can only stay a moment.”
And he could barely spare that. A text had come through that more of his vampires had gone missing and still others had been found with their throats ripped out in the woods on the outskirts of town. That combined with the search for the cursed amulet gave him little time for social niceties.
Her relief at his impending departure was palpable. How curious, when it was she that invited him inside. He lowered himself onto the couch, his trousers becoming more uncomfortable by the moment. He hadn’t had a woman who interested him in centuries, but this dark haired beauty held his attention with every facet of his being.
Namely the growing and very uncomfortable desire to part her creamy thighs and see just how she tasted.
Diana sat on the other end of the couch, her knees pressed together, the sparkling red of her dress bringing out the red in her lipstick and the dark luster of her hair. When she met his eyes, her look was unwavering.
“Are you just dating me because the Coven wants you to?”
Rand had fed before he’d gone out but the urge to sink his teeth into her flesh was also fast becoming a problem. Rand’s fangs had begun to drop, but they snapped back in place with a start.
“What?”
The witch stood, angrily pacing, her hips swaying with every movement of her very long legs.
“You heard me. The Council insisted we go on these last couple of things…but do you like me at all? You barely said a word at the play and frankly…well if you have better things to do, I have my work at the shop.”
“Stop.”
He rose from the couch and grasped her hand. “Two dates. That’s all we’ve had to try and get to know one another. I believe my Coven would prefer to have a good relationship with witch kind, but that isn’t why I decided to go out with you.”
“It isn’t?”
“No.” Rand’s lips twitched and he decided to let her see just what kind of reaction she was provoking in him. Fangs released, he smiled and grasped her wrist, letting the tip of his fang etch along the top of her hand.
She was ambrosia. He could taste the wild magic rocketing beneath her veins.
Diana sucked in a gasp, groaning when he drew her into his arms, his throbbing erection pressed against her softness.
“This is why I wanted to see you again…” He bent down and buried his face in her hair, the dizzying vanilla spice scent of her driving him wild.
His lips met hers and he carefully explored her mouth, letting her discover his fangs, and the swift intake of breath when she nicked herself on one.
Her sweet blood teased him, and he growled, his hands roaming beneath her skirt, plucking at the elastic edges of her panties.
“I want you,” he murmured, guiding her hand over the bulge in his trousers.
“I’m not your blood flower,” she argued, her eyes bright when they met his gaze.
“I didn’t say you were.”
The door of the house burst open, the glowing eyes of the driver tense with anger. “Regent, we must go. There have been some developments.”
He released her, retracting his fangs, his cock wooden and aching.
She spun away, trembling and he stalked wordlessly out of the small home, letting the door slam shut behind him. Rand realized he should have said something but if he spoke he was sure it would be something foolish and he was far too angry.
That was then.
But tonight he would take her out and find a quiet location in the gallery to continue their conversation, and he would prove to her that their mating would be in both their interests.
“Tonight.” He smiled, the anticipation running in his blood. “Tonight.”
Chapter Four
Aristide paced the streets searching for Gabby but there was no sign of her. No scent trail to follow. Not the school, nor her usual hang outs near the mall. Zilch. So he vied back to his original plan and ended up in front of Diana's antiques shop.
Dusk had fallen, humid and hazy, a storm brewing in the distance, thunder rolling, and bursts of lighting streaking across the sky.
He pushed open the door to find a tearful Celine and Diana. At the jingle of the door chimes, they both regarded him with startled expressions.
“I got your text. Have you heard anything?”
“Not a thing,” Diana responded.
“I thought maybe the two of you had some idea.” He let the door fall shut behind him as the first rains began to fall. The normally soothing shop with its antique cases and scent of old leather held no comfort for him this night.
“No,” Celine started. “That's why I came to your house. We were supposed to talk about stuff at school and she never called me.”
“Her purse. Her phone. They're up in her room.”
“That's…” Diana couldn't speak and she turned away.
The feeling of hopelessness tore at him and he forced it down. That would not help Gabby. He had to be strong and if anyone was it was the woman across from him.
“Tell me what you know.”
“All I can tell you is there something missing from my case.” Diana pointed to the glass enclosure next to them. “One of the girls took it in so I was at a meeting and it was supposed to be here, untouched, until I came home but when I checked it was gone.”
Aristide narrowed his eyes on Celine.
The girl held her hands up. “I didn't touch it. I swear. Only that picture and Gabby is holding it, not me.”
“I know.” Diana reassured her.
“Let me see the picture.”
She held up the phone and soon as he saw the blue stones staring back at him he felt like someone had punched him square in the gut.
That fucking thing?
It had been burned into his memory as a pup.
“Watch for this trinket, boy.” His grandfather had warned. “It’s dangerous. If ever you see it run. Don’t touch it. Don’t look at it and for fucks sake never, ever deal with the one who wields it.”
A young Aristide wanted to ask him why, but after the pictures in the book his grandfather Mathias showed him, there was nothing left to say. The amulet was evil and now it had taken his Gabby.
“Where did you get that?” Aristide bit out, his voice harsher than he’d intended.
“
Someone brought it in. We took it in.” The girl’s eyes were wide and she backed up against a bookshelf, a whoosh of something invisible brushing past him with an aggravated hiss.
Was that a cat?
“Who? Who brought it?” Aristide demanded, made his way deeper into the room.
“I don't know,” Celine wailed, flustered.
“What's wrong?” Diana narrowed her eyes at him.
“That necklace has been the cause of war between vampires and wolves for as long as I can remember. My grandfather spoke of it.”
Diana paled. “Then what's it doing in my shop?”
“I thought you deal with cursed things.”
“Yeah. Except I hadn't had the opportunity to check this one in.”
Nothing added up. The necklace. Gabby missing. The skirmishes in the outlying parts of the town. And the fact that being here with this woman felt like the most right thing that had happened today.
Mate.
His wolf whispered loud, scraping the underside of his skin with a persistent nattering of teeth and claw. She would make their family complete. If only she didn’t have the faintest scent of vampire around her.
But even that didn’t dispel his beast’s interest. The wolf had wanted her from the first day he’d stepped foot in the shop, but he’d kept away for Gabby’s sake.
“Something's wrong.”
“Tell me what you remember about and holding the necklace.” Diana walked over and pulled a bowl from the bookshelf behind her, setting it on a small wooden table.
Encouraged, Celine continued, moving away from the bookcase and back toward the center of the room, still keeping her distance from him, he noted.
“Well she couldn't stop staring at it.”
“What else?” A candle joined the bowl on the small table, as well as a bottle of water, which she poured into the bowl. A pinch of salt and she set the grinder down, the dark water rippling as the granules sank beneath the surface.
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