by Laina Kenney
Gracie’s voice was quiet even through the phone.
“Relax. He only said it in front of me. And I just knew he was posing. He’s that type, and you’ve never encouraged him. But he is really worried about you. If you could have seen how he stormed out of here. Right off the deep end. Did he call you?”
Only when Valeri’s hand steadied hers did Angel notice that the phone was trembling in her hand.
“Yes, or someone called twice just now and didn’t leave a message.”
“Just be careful, Angel. I wouldn’t be surprised if the doctor showed up at your door. He was borderline hysterical, IMO. You should have seen his face. If he goes over there, I don’t think you should let him in. Call the police. I mean it. There’s something funny going on with him.”
Angel felt a rush of gratitude for her friend.
“Thanks, Gracie. I—” She didn’t finish. How could she tell her friend that the police wouldn’t be necessary? She had guards outside and a warrior beside her. She wasn’t in any danger. If the doctor showed up at her door, the human police weren’t going to hear about it.
“You take care, Angel. Call me tonight.”
Angel promised that she would, and Gracie hung up.
Angel turned and buried her head against Valeri’s wide chest. His arms closed around her with satisfying strength, but her worry lingered.
Chapter 15
Valeri was talking about making lunch when the doorbell rang. Angel had spent half the morning on edge and expecting Dr. Novaks to show up at any moment. She had peeked out the front window twenty times, but now that she knew someone was at the door, she just wanted to hide.
Valeri walked past her and opened the door without checking. A handsome dark-haired man stepped in, and Valeri closed the door.
Angel knew without being told that the man was vulfen. He was too wild, too beautiful to be human. He bowed his head to Valeri and to her in turn.
“I have a report,” he said in a gorgeous French accent. The corner of his wide mouth quirked up, and Angel relaxed in spite of herself.
Valeri gestured him to come in, and they all sat in the living room. The two large men made her living room look like a dollhouse.
“Angel, this is Ives Toussand, a warrior of Guichard Clan. Alpha Alain Guichard graciously took in the last remaining members of the Perrault Clan. Ives, Angeline Ralston. My Angel is of the Perrault Clan.”
Ives inclined his head to her and sniffed discreetly.
“Yes, she is a lovely combination of Perrault and human. The former Alpha was her father?”
“Grandfather,” she corrected.
“Ah.” Ives grimaced and exchanged a look with Valeri.
Angel watched the new man with interest.
“I’m not sure I like any of this,” she said. “I don’t really understand this life, but I want to try. For so long, I’ve had no one. If you think they would allow it, I’d like to meet my relatives.”
“Of course you want to meet your people,” Ives said. “Many from Perrault belong to my Clan now. Guichard would offer you a place, of course.”
Valeri bared his teeth. “I will die first before I allow you to steal my mate away. She is mated and marked.”
Ives sat forward. “You marked her twice. Your insecurity shows in that, my friend.”
Valeri snarled at the other man. Angel rolled her eyes and smacked his arm hard. He turned startled eyes to hers.
“Your manners were better when you had fur,” she said in exasperation. Both men looked at her, and Ives grinned.
Valeri ground his teeth but mastered his temper quickly.
“Your report pertains to our situation?” Valeri asked after a moment.
Ives leaned back in his chair.
“I have been doing some research into the branch of the hunting society in Boston. Dr. Novaks is a new member, but this is not his first experience with the unexplained. He spent several months when he was a youth in college harassing a young woman whom he believed to be a vampire. She was fully human, but frequented Club Nocturne and dressed all in black, and he accepted her charade as truth. He called her day and night, and appeared many times at her place of employment, openly begging her to bite him. The matter was heard in human court, and the judge granted her a restraining order against him. His parents encouraged him to move away. He came here to Boston to finish his studies and has lived quietly.”
Angel could feel her wolf side rising just under the skin. She had felt it before, but hadn’t realized what it meant. The wolf side had always backed away from Dr. Novaks, as if sensing the wrongness in him.
Valeri nodded. “And now he has joined up with the hunting society. He wants power but does not care how he gets it. He doesn’t deserve it.”
Ives grimaced. “He should not have power or authority of any kind. From the smell of him, he should be locked away where he can do no harm to himself or others. His head is not right.”
Angel couldn’t help but agree. Stalking was a crime for a reason. Just thinking of it made her skin crawl.
Ives continued, but Angel couldn’t sit still and listen any longer. She picked up a pile of her mother’s things from the floor and took it into the kitchen to load everything into the dishwasher.
She could hear Valeri and Ives discussing in the background, but she just didn’t want to know any more. She needed time to get used to things, to let her emotions settle, but it seemed like every hour some new issue cropped up. She just needed a break from it.
Valeri came into the kitchen and assembled two thick sandwiches, which he wrapped and took away again. She heard the front door open and close, and then Valeri was back.
She rubbed her forehead again and reached for her glasses. She rarely used them, but when she was tired or strained, her eyes needed a little help. It didn’t make things better that she stared at a computer screen at a fixed distance for hours a day.
Valeri pulled her to a halt and looked her over. She was wearing threadbare jeans and her oldest wool sweater. Last night’s rain had continued into this morning, and the air had a definite chill to it.
A little smile grew on his face, and he kissed the tip of her nose.
“You are beautiful.”
“I’m not beautiful.” Her protest was automatic. “I’m too top heavy.”
His slow smile was very male, and Angel felt a flush tingling in her cheeks.
“And see,” she hurried on, “I wear glasses.”
Valeri laughed softly. “My Angel, if you believe that two small pieces of glass and some wire can fool me into ignoring your natural beauty, you are as deluded as your Dr. Novaks.”
“He’s not my Dr. Novaks.” The protest was firm.
“That will not save his life if he persists in his ill-fated scheme to capture a vulfen warrior in order to become one. The man is quite mad.”
Angel sighed. “He’s human, like I was.”
“You were never human.”
Angel pulled away. “My point is, he won’t know that it doesn’t work like that.”
“It doesn’t matter what he thinks he knows. He is trying to catch a supernatural creature that his culture tells him is evil so that he can become one himself. He isn’t even that particular about what type of creature he becomes as long as it grants him some kind of power beyond the normal human state. How can you defend him?”
“I’m not defending him. I don’t even like him. I just think we should have some compassion.”
Valeri straightened to his full height and bared his teeth. Angel’s wolf wanted to back down in the face of his aggression, but she held her ground and tucked her cold hands into her pockets.
“The man shot me. I will happily attend his funeral and show all the compassion you could wish, but I will not allow him to continue with his mad ideas. He is not rational. How do you imagine he will react when he realizes that he cannot succeed?”
Angel shrugged, but the question bothered her. What would the man do? He didn’t even
take no for an answer in the regular context of dating. She had a feeling that he would be persistent.
“You can’t see it, or perhaps you just can’t admit it? I will tell you how he will react. He will not accept the truth if it denies him what he wants. He will escalate his mad behavior. He will end up killing some poor creature that he has captured, perhaps a young witch, or a vulfen child he has stolen. And how do we know that he will leave humans alone? He couldn’t even identify the difference between a lonely human girl and a vampire. It ends here, Angel.”
His eyes were hard, and the air around him warped with his anger. It was hard to breathe with such a force in the room.
“It may not be me who ends it, but it will end here. If not me, then another Cadre member, or the Alpha himself will stop this threat to our people’s safety. It cannot be allowed to go on. Don’t look at me as if I am a monster. We both know who the monster is.”
Angel hated to admit it, but she understood. Her wolf stirred.
“I would kill him myself to save a child,” she said. She sat down at the kitchen table and put her head down on her arms. It was a hard realization. She had been taught all her life that it was wrong to solve conflict by physical means, wrong to kill. But in certain circumstances, she saw the necessity of it.
Valeri’s hand came to rest on her back, and the contact comforted her. The tension in the room dissipated with the discharge of his anger.
“Angel, I am sorry. I know this is all new for you. We do not have to discuss and agree on every point.”
There was a silence where the only sound was the whisper of his hand over her spine, back and forth, soothing her spirit and creating comfort and an ache of passion that was never far away.
“The Cadre will take care of this threat, in any case. I will be able to stand aside and just let the situation play out if that is what you desire. It won’t be that way every time, because I am a protector of my people. I stand in defense of those who cannot defend themselves. But for you I will make an exception in this case.”
Angel sighed and rubbed her forehead on the scratchy wool of her sleeve. He was giving her an out if she needed it. And maybe it would be easier that way for both of them, but it wasn’t realistic.
She understood very little about Valeri’s life, about the vulfen life, but she knew Dr. Novaks. He was driven by some internal force and wouldn’t stop until he got what he wanted. He needed to be stopped before he really hurt someone.
“Just do what you need to do. I’ll try not to hold it against you. I don’t want you or anyone in danger because of me. I don’t want you to hesitate in a critical moment because you’re wondering if I might be upset. I’ll deal with it, whatever comes.”
Valeri pulled her up and into his arms, and she went willingly. She snuggled her face into his soft shirt and felt his head come to rest on top of hers.
“I have been granted an exceptional mate. I love you, my Angel. Love you.” He kept whispering the words with little kisses pressed into her hair and down until his mouth rested over his bite on her neck. A tremor of lust went through her. Every time anything brushed against the sensitive bite, her nipples drew up tight and her pussy awakened.
She wanted him.
She reached up and tugged at his hair until he raised his head then kissed him with all the heat he inspired.
“Well, now this is interesting. I see why you didn’t want to call me James.”
Dr. Novaks’s voice trickled like ice water through her blood.
Chapter 16
Valeri tried to shove her behind him, but she resisted. She turned slowly and couldn’t stifle her cry of fear and anger.
Dr. Novaks was standing looking in the open screen door, and held to his side was a disheveled and sagging Gracie.
“What did you do to her? Let her go!”
Valeri grabbed Angel when she would have run forward.
Dr. Novaks gestured with the gun in his hand.
“May I come in?” His smile was pleasant, but the gun made it a threat.
Valeri squeezed her arm then let go.
Angel wasn’t sure what he wanted, but thought she should play along with the doctor. For the moment. Her wolf wanted to leap and bite, but Angel didn’t want to risk Gracie.
“Come in,” she said and stepped back.
He shook Gracie once and then again harder, and she opened the screen door. When the doctor dragged Gracie through it, she stumbled a bit before righting herself.
Angel could see the purple swelling at her friend’s temple, and her wolf surged against her control. Valeri growled softly behind her, and she knew he had seen it as well.
Dr. Novaks was watching them, gun leveled on Valeri at all times. He switched his grip to wrap one arm around Gracie’s throat.
“It was you that night,” he murmured almost to himself as he watched Valeri. “I was right all along. You’re the one.”
Valeri straightened and faced the doctor, and Angel’s heart gave a leap of fear. His eyes were almost glowing, and the anger on Valeri’s handsome face was frightening. He was a predator, but his eyes cut toward her, and he held himself in check. Was he hesitating for Grace or for her? Was he worried about what she would think of him?
She felt a hysterical laugh bubble up from inside, and she choked it off so that all that emerged was a strange whimper.
It would be okay with her if Valeri just ended the threat. Her stomach was in knots, and she felt dizzy, like the kitchen was whirling around her. She didn’t know how the doctor could just keep talking. Didn’t he have the sense to realize that he was in danger?
Angel heard a faint sound from the front of the house. She quickly coughed, hoping to cover it. Her other senses told her that it was Valeri’s friend, the charming Frenchman, and he was in her living room.
Good. They needed all the help they could get.
Dr. Novaks was still rambling on about Valeri when his eyes locked on her throat. He stopped and swallowed convulsively.
His eyes darted from Angel to Valeri and back.
“He’s bitten you. It’s the bite, you know, that does it. The bite holds all the power. He bit you, and you’ll become like him. I don’t need him now.”
Valeri bared his fangs.
Angel froze while her wolf snapped and lunged for freedom. Her mate was threatened and the wolf wanted her enemy’s blood. He thought Valeri was disposable, did he? No way was she letting this wacko shoot Valeri again. She needed to think, and the wolf was distracting her. She clamped down and waited for a better moment.
Dr. Novaks licked his lips while he stared at her. The sight sickened her, but she stepped forward and tried to smile.
It seemed to encourage the doctor.
“We don’t need him, Angeline,” he said. “Make me like you, and we won’t need him.” His voice was almost pleading.
“Dr. Novaks. James.”
He smiled and moved closer, but the gun was still steady in his hand.
“Yes, call me James. I love to hear you say my name. Say James while you sink your teeth into me. Make me like you.”
The doctor stank with lust, and Angel tried not to let her revulsion show. Her heart was thumping with nerves.
She glanced at Valeri, but looked back right away. She thought she caught a glimpse of a shadow at the doorway, and she didn’t want the doctor to think there was anything interesting to see over there. She only hoped Valeri understood what she was trying to do.
“Let the others go,” she said. “Let them leave and I will bite you, James. It will be just you and me then.”
He shook his head. “I can’t let him go.”
Angel swallowed her instinctive panic and tried again.
“James, we need to be alone for this, and someone has to help Grace. She can’t make it on her own, and Grace is my best friend,” she said reasonably and felt a wild relief when he nodded.
“Yes,” he said slowly. “Yes, of course, I don’t want Grace hurt.”
Angel frowned at the bizarre statement but said nothing. If he didn’t want Grace hurt, then why had he hurt her?
“You there”—he gestured with the gun toward Valeri—“leave here at once and you can go free. The only condition is that you get help for Grace.”
Angel saw the shadow move again. Did the doctor truly think that he was in control of this situation? He really wasn’t right in the head.
Valeri bowed, and the doctor took that for agreement. He shoved Grace at Valeri, and Grace tripped and fell to her knees.
Valeri moved slowly, helping Gracie to rise. She moaned in pain, and Angel talked fast to distract the doctor.
“You should kneel and put the gun on the floor. I don’t want the power to make you pull the trigger by accident.”
When he swung toward her, frowning in suspicion, she shrugged.
“You don’t know how it burns,” she lied, and the doctor moaned eagerly.
It wasn’t a big lie. Her stomach was certainly burning, but she didn’t think it was from any kind of power. It was plain terror. If the situation didn’t resolve soon, she was going to throw up.
Valeri and Grace were behind her now, and Angel concentrated on Dr. Novaks.
She stepped closer to him.
“James, please put down the gun.”
“It burns,” he said, and his face was alive with excitement.
She knelt on the floor in front of him.
“You must kneel,” she said. She had to keep up the pretense long enough to get him to put down that gun, but he hesitated.
Angel felt her temper spike.
“Look, do you want me to bite you or not?” Her voice was sharp, and for a moment she thought she had lost him, but he knelt slowly and let the gun fall to the floor as he spread his arms out to the sides.
“Give me the bite,” he whispered, and she felt an unexpected surge of pity. The shadows rippled behind him.
“Oh, James.”
He must have seen the change on her face, because his mouth twisted as if he would cry.
The white-haired vulfen man appeared out of the shadows behind the doctor and pulled his arms together behind his back. He strapped both wrists together with duct tape while Dr. Novaks sobbed.