by Leeah Taylor
Besides, he was waiting for someone.
Michael Kordall emerged from the office, grunting something under his breath. It was brave he’d even tried to go in considering the foul mood Lucien had seemed to catch between Val Valena and Sterling. He definitely knew something about the barrier coming down, and Damien was determined to find out what.
Michael leaned against the banister, taking a cigarette from his shirt pocket. “What’s with your brother?”
Damien gave a humorless chuckle. My brother is an unpredictable nut sometimes, that’s all. If only Michael knew how much his brother’s control was waning in that office with those books as his only lifeline. Lucien needed things to make sense.
“He likes things a certain way, and, fair warning, you light that, and you’ll become a certain way too,” Damien warned with an arched brow.
The man considered the rolled tobacco between his fingers, hopefully contemplating which brother he needed to consider in his decision to light it. After a moment, he slipped it back in the top pocket of his shirt.
Smart man.
“Safe to say Sterling bought that garbage I spewed out on the evening news,” Michael said, not bothering to hide his discontent. Damien wondered how they ever got stuck with him. Oh yeah, let the people decide. That’s what Lucien said. Idiot.
“Oh well, I mean, you could tell them the truth. ‘Citizens of Sterling, today a witch brought down a magical barrier wall that protects you from werewolves. Lock your doors! The culprit is still at large’.” Damien shook his head with a dark laugh. “Yeah, I think the truth would go over well.” He patted Michael on the shoulder, all amusement gone. “Let me know how that works out for you.”
“You don’t have to be a dick.”
“Why not?” He half-shrugged, eyes roaming the room downstairs. “I’ve been told I’m really good at it.”
Michael huffed. “Fine, you want to tell me how this happened today? Your crazy ex-girlfriend finally come back for her revenge?”
Damien bristled. He wedged his fists between him and the banister he was leaning on. Restraining the urge to deck the sheriff that made his fingers twitch.
“Let’s be clear. She was never my girlfriend.”
“That’s right.” Michael glanced over at him. “She was just the jilted lover that was never a lover but that you loved. I’m sorry, thanks for setting me straight.”
Keep it up, asshole.
Damien clenched his jaw. “You know, you can still do your job with your tongue removed.” His stare darkened. “And it will look like an accident. I can make it look like an accident, Sheriff.”
The color drained from the man’s face. “S-s-sorry.”
Damien dismissed him with a wave of his hand. “Remember your place, Sheriff. Now get out of my face. I have business to take care of.”
“Chelsea Greaves.” He bowed slightly as she came up the stairs. “All powerful Sterling Regent.”
Chelsea tucked a few strands of golden blonde hair behind her ear, narrowing her blazing green eyes up at him.
“Interim,” she corrected him. “Why are you being a dick?”
“I’m trying it out.” He smirked. “And you are still the Regent.”
She returned his smug look. “Seriously, you don’t even have to try. And are you accusing me of something?”
“Well, obviously it was a witch that took down the barrier.”
She crossed her arms and cocked her head to the side. Whatever she had to say he wasn’t going to like. When it came from Chelsea, he usually didn’t. He could see what Lucien saw in her. History aside, Chelsea was strong and didn’t take shit from him or his brothers.
God, I’m definitely getting stuck with this one as family. No doubt Lucien will put a ring on her finger by Christmas.
“You know, if memory serves me right, it was your girlfriend and my best friend that put that wall up, and again, correct me if I’m wrong, can bring it down.”
He growled. “Why does everyone keep calling her that? She was never, in any capacity, my girlfriend, and that’s beside the point. This wasn’t her.”
Chelsea dropped her arms to her sides and huffed as defeat etched in the corner of her eyes. “Well, you two were something. Call it what you want but this reeks of vengeful ex coming back to take all you love and hold dear away like you did to her.”
“It wasn’t her,” he gritted out.
She dismissed it with a shrug. “Fine, it wasn’t her. But considering the power that shook through Sterling today, it was her blood on the altar. How do you explain that?”
He had no explanation. Damn that girl’s blood and the power in it. Anyone with any sense in their head and knowledge of Sterling’s history would know it was Juliette’s blood on the altar. If he didn’t find her, they would. His heart thundered in his chest. Nobody better lay a finger on her. Ever.
Leaning against the railing he narrowed his attention on Chelsea. “Thought you were in Pearson today?”
He heard her heart skip in her chest.
Her eyes widened. “What?”
Ha, gotcha Lucien.
“Lucien said the two of you spent the day in Pearson.”
“Right, of course.” She nodded. “I just meant from what I heard.”
He shook his head. “Don’t try to lie for my brother; the sex can’t be that good.”
Her brow shot up. “Oh, Damien, it’s better than good. You should ask Juliette sometime.” She covered her mouth with the audacity to blink innocently up at him. “Oops.”
“You little—” he roared, pushing off the railing at her. She didn’t even flinch.
“Damien!” Lucien barked from the office.
“You’re lucky it’s him I’m pissed at.” Damien shoved his finger in her face before heading towards his brother with daggers in his eyes.
“Lucien,” Chelsea called. Lucien glanced in her direction. “Next time you want to use me as an alibi, drop a text or something.”
He raked his gaze over her, and Damien rolled his eyes. “Sorry, Chel.”
“Deal with your brother then come find me. We need to talk,” she said.
Damien slammed the door. “Do you need your hearing checked?”
“Damien—”
“No,” Damien interrupted, holding up a hand, “I want to make sure you can hear me good this time when I ask, for the last time, where were you today?”
He sank into one of the leather chairs, daring his brother to lie to him one more time.
“Take your time, I’ll wait,” he said.
Lucien took off his suit jacket and laid it on the back of the other chair facing Damien and hesitated before sitting down.
“Fine, I got a phone call early this morning.”
“From?”
“Are you going to let me tell you?”
He swept his hand towards the empty space between them. “Please.”
Lucien leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and pinched the space between his eyes. “It was a girl. She was hysterical—”
“What girl?”
“Damn it, are you going to shut up and let me tell you?”
Damien leaned close. “I don’t want the whole book.”
“Juliette was missing, Riley O’Hare called…” He paused with his brow raised. So, Juliette was with the Alpha werecat princess. It was an interesting tidbit. “She had the number with instructions that if anything ever happened to call and ask for me. I went to find her.”
“And did you?”
“Sort of.” Lucien pushed up from the chair and went to the bar in the corner behind the desk. “She finally just showed up.”
“Just showed up?” Damien shrugged, folding his hands in his lap. “When?”
Lucien waved off the accusation. “A few hours before the attempt on the barrier. As soon as I knew she was okay, I left and hung around to make sure she didn’t do anything else stupid.”
The moment the words left his mouth, he closed his eyes and cursed
towards the ceiling.
“Anything else stupid?” Damien cocked his head to the side with dozens of ideas racing through his mind. He’d seen the kind of stupid mistakes she could make.
“Stupid how?”
“Nothing.”
“Oh no, no, no, no.” He shook a finger at his brother. “You specifically said do anything else stupid which insinuates that she had already done something stupid. So, aside from fucking you, what other stupid thing did Juliette do?”
Her name rolled over his tongue awkwardly. Familiar red crept into his vision. It was the first time he’d said it out loud in years, and it conjured an image of her and Lucien he’d buried a long time ago.
Lucien looked like a trapped wild animal. “Shit, I really thought I’d have more time to figure this out?”
“It was her blood on the altar, wasn’t it?”
“Most likely.”
“Which means you know how it most likely ended up there?”
Lucien collapsed into his desk chair, nodding with a flash of defeat. “She was hard up for cash.” He blew out a shaky breath. “She’s been selling her blood to vampires for money.”
Damien shot up from the chair, fire erupting in his veins, and the lamp on the table beside him went flying across the room. It smashed into the wall and left a gaping hole behind. His chest heaved up and down, attempting to catch his breath, but it just hurt to try. Lungs squeezing every ounce right back out. Suffocating one more time because of her. He balled his hands up to keep them from shaking, torn between seriously maiming his brother and hunting her down. Exactly what he should have done twenty years ago.
The hell would I have done with her once I had.
“Blood sharing?” he roared. Why did he even care? Besides the fact that she was putting a big, fat target on her back. “She’s blood sharing?”
“No, I think it’s more she’s letting vampires feed off of her. Her blood can be quite euphor—” With one glance, his brother stopped and cleared his throat. “It’s alluring.”
As if Damien needed any more reason to hate his brother or her right now. Why not shove that blade just a little deeper and twist good and hard?
“What happened?” he growled.
“She met a… client, and it turned out to be a werewolf not a vampire. Bite knocked her on her ass for over twelve hours.” Lucien pushed his fingers through his hair. “There was nothing she could have done to stop it once she realized it.”
“Where is she?”
Lucien shook his head. “Damien, I won’t let you kill her.”
He wanted to throttle her. How fucking stupid could she be? What was she thinking? Why didn’t she call him? Because she’s scared of me. Fuck. He forced himself to suck in a breath.
“Lucien,” Damien said. “That werewolf was smart enough to con Juliette into letting him feed from her to bring a barrier that’s been in place for twenty-five years.”
He wanted to throttle her for her stupidity, but it would be a cold day in hell before he let anyone else harm her. If anyone would make her pay for her sins, it would be him. Letting her live was either his weakest moment or the best decision he ever made.
“How long do you think it will be before they realize leaving her alive was their only real mistake?”
“You don’t believe it was her?” Lucien fell back, either in shock or surprise, but it still left Damien annoyed.
“No.” Sterling meant more to her than that. “She may hate me. Loathe me. I really don’t care. Can’t be any worse than how I feel about her right now, but I know Juliette. If she wanted to hurt me, she wouldn’t use the barrier to do that. She’d just screw you again.”
Guilt and shame swam in his brother’s expression. Good, he should feel guilty and ashamed. I know I do.
He saw the war brewing in Lucien. Tell him, don’t tell him, tell him, don’t tell him. Damien slammed his fists down on the desk, and the wood splintered.
“Do you really have to think about this?” he pleaded. “Where is she?”
“I’ll call her.”
“Lucien…”
Lucien shot to his feet sending the desk chair back into the wall behind him.
“What do you want from me?” he roared. “Twenty years ago, I watched you sink your fist in her chest, almost killing her. Why? For sleeping with me. Because? You wrecked her, again. And I was pissed that I loved her, in all the ways she needed me to, and she still wanted the one person who wouldn’t. You!”
A finger jabbed in Damien’s direction, hand shaking.
“So, I slept with her to get back at you, and she slept with me to feel better. That’s it. To lessen some of the hurt in her heart that you put there.” Lucien balled his hands into fists. “And now you want me to trust you enough to tell you where she is and hope you don’t kill her like you promised. No, I’m sorry. I can’t do it. I won’t do it.”
Damien laid his palms flat on the surface of the desk, leaning forward and leveling a hard stare at him.
“You’ll trust a wolf not to kill her over your own brother?”
Lucien might as well have shoved the dagger right through his heart when he nodded with a cold look.
“Yeah, I would.”
Asshole. I should have ripped your heart out.
“You forgot one thing.”
Lucien’s lips pressed into a firm line already dismissing him. “Yeah? What?”
“I felt her heartbeat in my hand,” He held his right hand up, making sure Lucien was listening then dropped it. “But I didn’t kill her. If I had wanted her dead, Lucien, trust me, I had plenty of opportunity for years.”
Damien dropped back into the leather chair behind him.
“Make the damn call.”
7
Juliette
Juliette pulled the towel off her head and ran her fingers through her wet hair to work out the tangles. She tilted her head to the side and stared at the faded red lines left behind from the wolf bite. I’m so stupid.
A dull ache lingered in the back of her head, and a light tingle pulsed through her body from the residual poison still working out of her system. Wolf bites were nasty. Full moon or not, their bite still hurt like a bitch.
She yanked on her tank top. At least it would heal. The scar just under her left breast, though, never had. Her fingers touched the spot, and she remembered the agony of his fist shattering her ribs and gripping her heart. The scraping of her bones against his skin. A grip so powerful she believed he’d literally shatter her heart, but it was the look of pure betrayal in his eyes. Damien’s heart and soul snuffed out.
Guilt and anger warred for purchase in her heart. He’d played his part too. It wasn’t all her fault. She discarded the towel and pulled on a pair of denim leggings. A knock on the bathroom door made her jump with her heart lodged in her throat.
“I’m not the big bad sexy wolf man,” Riley giggled.
Juliette rolled her eyes. “Bastard could have killed me, and the only thing you remember is that I said he was hot.”
“And sexy,” Riley teased. “You know better than to tell me those kinds of things.” She gave her a shrug before disappearing. “So, I ordered a pizza.”
“Riley,” she whined. “That money is to get everything all caught up.”
Riley appeared in the doorway. “Mr. Good Looking in a Suit slapped fifteen hundred dollars down. That’s on top of taking care of the rent, Jules, both back and the next couple months. A fifteen-dollar pizza won’t be the difference between lights or no lights.” She pointed accusingly towards Juliette. “And you never told me that the Frosty bunch was loaded. Like carry around thousands in cash, loaded.”
“Riles, that family goes back at least seven hundred years. Of course, they have money.”
“You just said well off. I assumed that meant well off enough to live comfortably, not well off enough to go, ‘Here you go, Jules, have fifteen hundred bucks without blinking an eye.’”
“Think that’s a big deal?” Juliette
chuckled.
She pushed past Riley into the living room and over to the couch. Plopping down on it, she curled her legs under herself and fidgeted on the scratchy surface. It looked better in the picture. Not much you could ask for when it was free.
Riley curled up in the spot next to her like a child at story time. “Okay,” she said, her face lighting up. “Now, spill.”
“Damien and Lucien were looking at space in Sterling to move their goods from The Falls to be closer to Juleps. They had looked at half a dozen places, I think, and couldn’t find what they needed to accommodate the back stock for the bar and blood supply.”
Riley nodded, her excitement clear in her yes. She always loved Frost stories. More when the stories were about Ollie.
“Right.”
“I went with Damien to look at a place. And it turned out to be this beautiful little loft a few buildings down from Juleps. It was open with an adorable kitchen and the most amazing view from the balcony looking down into Riverfront square and Sterling Bay.”
She wanted to believe, if Damien ever came to his senses, it could be for them.
“It wouldn’t fit for what they needed, but Damien already knew that I was in love. He called Lucien on the spot and told him to bring him a hundred grand cash.” She shrugged. “Hour later, Damien handed me the keys.”
Riley’s mouth fell open. “He just bought you a hundred-thousand-dollar loft?”
Juliette nodded. “Yep.”
He’d bought her whatever she wanted even when she didn’t ask. Like the twenty-thousand-dollar designer dress she had seen in a magazine. He’d bought it with no fuss, so she could wear it to attend the Winter Solstice with him. She had felt like a princess that night. If it involved money, it just didn’t matter.
And that was the problem.
He didn’t have a problem displaying his love for her with extravagant gifts. Nobody thought twice when he bought her whatever she wanted. People just assumed it was the perk of being a part of the Frost family, and, in a way, it was. The problem was he couldn’t just tell her he loved her. Instead, he chose to hurt her.