by Katie Reus
* * *
Aldric didn’t want to be here, didn’t want to deal with questioning any more vampires tonight. They had hours and hours of investigation left. At least he was with Natalia, though it was heaven and torture.
The truth in her eyes when she told him she didn’t want to work with him after this job, didn’t even want to be his friend, was a slice directly to his heart. He wasn’t giving up on claiming her, but the reality of what he’d done to their relationship settled into his bones, weighing him down.
As they reached the front door, it opened. Leigh Dawson, a fairly young vampire of one hundred, nodded once at Aldric and stepped back. “Welcome to our home,” he said, looking at Natalia. “I’m Leigh…but you already know that.”
“Natalia,” she said, nodding politely.
The most feral part of Aldric was glad they didn’t shake hands. It was caveman but he didn’t want her touching any other males. After the sex club they’d been to earlier, he wanted to wash the stink of it off both of them. “Thank you for agreeing to see us on such short notice.”
Leigh snorted. “Don’t have a choice, do we?”
Aldric lifted a shoulder. “You always have a choice.” Of course if he’d rejected Aldric’s request it would have put him on the Brethren’s radar, something no vampire wanted.
The male’s jaw tightened as he led them down a long hallway and into a plush study. His mate, Ivonne, was already waiting, wearing gray slacks, a silky white top and a gray cardigan. Her pale blonde hair was down around her delicate face. Leigh stood next to her, his light brown skin a contrast to her ivory coloring.
“Aldric. Welcome to our home.” Her voice was crisp. “Can we offer either of you refreshments?”
Aldric shook his head and quickly introduced Natalia before asking if they could all sit. Standing didn’t bother him, but it seemed to make people uneasy. Right now he wanted the vampires as relaxed as possible. It wasn’t as if he thought they’d spill all their secrets because they were sitting, but putting people at ease would only help this investigation.
Leigh went to get drinks for him and his mate as the three of them sat around a huge leather ottoman. Across from Aldric and Natalia, Ivonne gave him a once-over, her hunger crystal clear as she swept her gaze over his chest and lower.
Next to him Natalia stiffened ever so slightly. It didn’t go unnoticed by the female vampire, who paused before leaning back in her chair.
Aldric would never understand that facet of the vampire species. Not all of them had open relationships, but he’d met enough vamps that he knew it was common enough for mates to stray or bring others into the relationship.
“If it’s all right with the two of you,” Aldric said as Leigh sat next to his mate, handing her a glass of blood, “I’d like to cut right to why we’re here.”
Both of them nodded.
“You know about the relationship between Darius and Constance.”
Darkness flickered in Leigh’s brown eyes. “We’re aware.”
“You don’t like their relationship?”
Ivonne smiled and patted Leigh’s thigh. “It’s not that he doesn’t approve of interspecies matings, it’s just…”
“The two of them think that their mating will bond our coven and their pack?” Leigh gave a derisive snort.
“And you don’t?”
“There’s too much bad blood between our people.”
“So you want a war, then?” Aldric asked.
“I didn’t say that. We’re just as tired of fighting as they are. But I don’t like this bullshit mating idea.” All his muscles were pulled taut, his mate patting his leg gently.
From what Aldric understood, the mating wasn’t bullshit, wasn’t contrived. Or it would be real if they finished bonding. First they had to find Darius. Aldric wasn’t going to bother arguing with this male though. That wasn’t why he was here. He simply needed to gather information. Anything that might help him locate the two missing males. “How did you first find out about the potential mating? It’s not common knowledge.”
Ivonne shrugged. “Arthur came to us about it. Our opinion has sway with the coven and he wanted to see how receptive we’d be to the idea of one of our own mating with a Kinley.”
“It was clear his question wasn’t hypothetical, so I pushed.” Leigh lifted a shoulder. “He eventually told us.”
“Arthur is supportive of the joining,” Aldric continued. “Did that make you angry?”
Leigh’s brow furrowed. “Why would it make me angry?”
“That’s not an answer.” Vampires were just as evasive as shifters when they didn’t want to directly answer a question.
Leigh shoved up from his seat. “Why the fuck are you asking me all these questions?”
Ivonne tugged on his wrist gently, her expression growing strained. There was such an age difference between these two. From the files he had on the two of them, Ivonne was centuries older. She seemed to be able to control his moods at least.
Aldric leaned back in his chair, keeping his cool when it was clear this male had control issues. Before he could ask his next question, Natalia spoke.
“How many of your staff are here right now, able to listen in on this conversation?” Her voice was calm, but Aldric sensed her anger under the surface. She was incredible at scenting out things, another reason she was so good on investigations.
Subtly, he inhaled but didn’t scent anyone else—yet there were many smells to sift through in here, including various cleaners. He’d specifically told Ivonne and Leigh before arriving that they should be the only two in residence. However…he realized there was a very faint heartbeat coming from somewhere.
Aldric and Natalia stood almost in unison and whatever was on their faces made Leigh return to his seat.
Ivonne sighed, seemingly unconcerned. “Crystal, please come in here.” Her voice was raised only slightly.
A woman wearing what was clearly a cleaning uniform strode in a few moments later, her eyes wide as she looked at Aldric. When she made eye contact with him her fangs descended once before she pulled them back in. A natural instinct for some when faced with a predator.
“You’re Crystal?” he asked.
The woman was tall like Ivonne, the scent of her faint. Even with her in the same room he could barely smell her. He wondered how Natalia had picked up on her presence even as he cursed himself for having not.
“Yes. I clean here three times a week.” She shot a wary gaze to Ivonne then looked back at Aldric.
“Could you hear our conversation?”
Swallowing, she nodded. “Yes.”
Well, hell. “Return to whatever you were doing but don’t leave just yet. I need to talk to you.” Angry at the disrespect shown to him on multiple levels, Aldric turned back to the couple. His wolf was in his gaze and his voice. “I’m going to need a list of every single person in your home, whether staff or visitors, over the last six months.”
Leigh’s expression turned murderous but Ivonne squeezed his leg before standing. “I’ll make you a list.”
Aldric could understand general annoyance at being questioned in your own home and being unable to ask specific questions of the investigator, but Leigh’s behavior had just put him at the top of Aldric’s shit list. Not only had he lied to them, but now their suspect list had grown even bigger. Most vampires tended to keep their business private but apparently these two morons thought it was okay to talk about confidential things with staff around. Stupid.
Thirty minutes later, after questioning the vampire couple, the cleaning woman and obtaining a list from Ivonne, Aldric and Natalia headed out. They still had more stops to make before sunrise.
“Why did you think there was someone else in the house?” he asked as he steered out of the driveway. He hated that he hadn’t scented Crystal.
“The scent of fresh lemon cleaner. It was down the hallway and in the study. It was too fresh so I knew someone had been cleaning very recently. And you know tha
t bitch doesn’t clean her own house.”
He laughed. “Bitch?”
Natalia shot him a sideways glance. “I didn’t like her. She was checking you out with her mate in the same room. That’s disrespectful.”
Aldric’s primal side was smug with satisfaction at the hint of possessiveness in Natalia’s voice. He didn’t know if she was even aware of it but he heard it, felt it, straight to his core.
It told him that maybe things weren’t quite as impossible between them as he’d feared. He wasn’t giving up, regardless.
Not where Natalia was concerned.
He would win her trust first. This female was his, and once he claimed her there was no going back.
Chapter 12
Moving quickly and quietly she hurried through the woods. It would be dawn soon and she needed to check on her captives. She wasn’t worried about them escaping but both Arthur and Darius were powerful males. So she couldn’t underestimate them.
Too bad they’d been stupid enough to underestimate her. Like most males, regardless of the species. Now they were going to help her bring the Kinley Alpha down. She wasn’t foolish enough to think she could dismantle the entire Kinley pack, but she could hurt the Alpha. He deserved every ounce of pain she could give him.
The best way to hurt that animal was to kill his daughter.
And she had the best plan laid out to have that haughty bitch executed. Years in the making, her plan was finally coming together. But she had to be smart, take things one step at a time.
With her mask and other clothing in place, she was hidden from head to toe. She couldn’t hide that she was a female but that didn’t matter. After scanning the forest, she moved the underbrush off the trapdoor and opened it.
The twilight sky offered enough illumination, but she didn’t need it. Not with her extrasensory abilities. After opening the door she waited, listened.
She could hear faint shuffling coming from the prison she’d created. The prison no one knew about. It had taken decades to get it built, to get everything right.
She was near immortal so she’d had the time. If anything, the more centuries that passed, the more her need for vengeance had grown. She would never let go of her anger, her rage.
So she’d turned that rage into an ice-cold blade and she wouldn’t be satisfied until the male who had killed her mate was utterly destroyed. Because outliving the only male she’d ever loved was worse than death. Something that monster Craig Kinley would soon learn. Losing his daughter would destroy him.
If she played things right, no one would ever know what she’d done. And the Alpha would have to live with the fact that his daughter was dead and there was nothing he could do to bring her back—and that he’d been helpless to save her.
It had to happen according to her plan. Not a simple kill. No, Constance would be framed and executed for her ‘crimes.’ Only later would it be revealed that the little bitch hadn’t been guilty at all.
That would shred the Kinley Alpha. His daughter would be dead, and all for nothing.
It would probably start a war, but she didn’t give a shit. She’d been alive a long time. She wasn’t afraid of death and she was willing to die if it brought her deceased mate justice.
Not bothering with the ladder, she pulled the door shut over her, then jumped down the ten feet to the solid concrete ground. The prison was perfect and insulated. And it was far enough away from prying ears that no one would hear shouts of help.
Both males were sitting up, each on the mattress she’d left inside their individual cells. She wasn’t a complete monster.
They watched her carefully, wordlessly as she stood in front of the bars to their prison. Quickly scanning, she didn’t see any damage anywhere. Well, not much. Some of the concrete near both prison doors was crumbled away, as if the males had tried to pound their way under the doors using their fists.
She’d thought of that though and didn’t comment on their pathetic escape attempts. No need to. They wouldn’t be escaping.
She tossed a blood bag first into Darius’s cell, then into Arthur’s. When neither made a move to go for their bags, she took a step closer—but not so close that she was within reach of the bars. “Drink it,” she whispered. “If I’d wanted you dead, you would be already.” When they still didn’t move, she continued. “If you don’t, I’ll bring a live human down here, cut her open and you can fight your hunger to drink from her until it’s too much. Which will be worse? Being drugged, or killing a defenseless little human?” She kept her words almost subvocal, so quiet they wouldn’t be able to make out her identity.
Her words had the impact she was looking for because both males picked up their blood bags, hate clear in their gazes.
“Drink,” she hissed. Her gold mask covered any facial expressions that might give her away as well.
Growling, both males picked up their bags and with a quick puncture from their fangs, they started sucking them dry.
Satisfied that they’d be unconscious soon, she turned and headed back the way she’d come. She couldn’t be gone long right now. It was almost dawn and as it was she’d been cutting it close getting here. But she’d wanted to make sure they were unconscious or at least weakened for the next twelve hours. She’d increased the dosage of the drugs this time.
Just because she’d fortified this place didn’t mean it was escape-proof. She was almost certain it was, but she might have missed something. And she hadn’t had a chance to test it before now so she was covering all her bases.
Hurrying back up the ladder, she paused as she slowly pushed the trapdoor up. Inhaling deeply, she took in all the scents of the forest. No vampires or shifters nearby. No humans either, but that was a given. No humans were stupid enough to venture into this territory.
Using her supernatural speed, she jumped out and secured the trapdoor before racing back home. Orange streaks were already painting the sky, urging her to go faster, faster. Normally she’d prefer to lay a scent trail somewhere else then return home by other means, but there was no time.
She hadn’t been able to visit the males earlier because of the stupid shifters skulking everywhere. She knew they’d been hired by both the Brethren and The Council, though she wasn’t certain if they knew Darius was missing yet.
She assumed so but there had been no official announcement anywhere. It would come soon, she was certain.
Adrenaline raced through her veins. She needed to feed, to sleep. Then when the sun set again, it was on to the next part of her plan. This next step would be a bit messier, but she didn’t care. Nothing would stop her from getting her revenge.
* * *
Arthur spat the blood out onto the ground as soon as the trapdoor closed. He was almost certain they were underground, not in a dungeon like he’d assumed before. An icy chill invaded the space and though the cold didn’t affect him like humans, he still felt the effect on his body. Especially since he hadn’t fed in a couple days.
Next to him Darius did the same then emptied his blood bag under his own mattress.
“We’re underground,” he said, wanting to see what Darius thought.
The other male nodded. “I smelled the forest when she opened that door.”
“Any idea who she is?” Arthur kept his voice low even though he was certain she was gone. His internal clock told him dawn was approaching, so whoever she was, she’d want to find shelter. She was definitely a vampire. Her scent was masked but it had cool undertones, something he associated with his own kind.
Darius shook his head, rage vibrating off him. “We need to get out of here. I need to get to Constance.”
Arthur understood the male’s anguish; he was just keeping his own locked down much tighter. Darius was a younger male and hadn’t yet mated. He would be more out of control with the need to get back to his female, to claim her.
Arthur refused to let fear for his mate or his own potential death make him act rashly. “Your—” He cut himself off, not wanting to say
mate and rile the guy up more. “Constance is strong. She’ll be able to take care of herself. And her father will have her guarded right now. She’s safe.” Something the male would know if he was thinking clearly.
Darius stood and rolled his shoulders. “I know. This entire situation is too strange. Why the fuck is that female just keeping us down here?”
Arthur knew the male wasn’t looking for a real answer so he didn’t respond. He moved to the door of his own cage and pounded against the concrete floor as he had during the night. Despite the level of strength he was using it barely cracked, little pieces barely crumbling off.
“She’s definitely reinforced it somehow.” He flexed his bruised, bloodied knuckles. They were already healing, only slightly slower than normal given that he hadn’t been feeding the past week. He ignored the pain because it didn’t matter.
Freedom and getting to his mate were the only things he cared about.
“My guess, she’s spelled the cage as well as lined it with silver,” Darius said.
Or more likely had someone—a witch, no doubt—spell it.
Arthur simply nodded, scanning his cage again. There was an invisible force stopping them from breaking through the concrete.
It was clear she’d taken their clothes to prevent them from using the material to block against the pain of silver. Pain wasn’t the only thing stopping them, however, because if it would get him free he’d deal with the piercing agony. It was the risk that they’d get silver poisoning that kept him from attempting to rip the bars out.
If enough silver got into their blood it could potentially kill them, or at least disable them with enough pain that their bodies simply shut down. So they would be unconscious by the time the bitch finally returned. And without any blood to rejuvenate them if they did escape, it would be a fruitless effort.
“I’m going to try using the mattress again,” Darius said.
Arthur nodded, but didn’t join in with the male and try the same thing in his own cage. As he continued looking around their prison, scanning for something that might help them break free, he watched Darius out of the corner of his eye.