Where he perceived strength and spirit, she spotted weakness and deformity. So her left side was feeble? He was bald and sported pointy ears. No one was perfect. Flaws made people interesting.
If only he could make her understand. Her independent streak was admirable, but would it hurt to let him help her even a little bit? He could have carried her bags to his room, but she had intervened on Stephen’s behalf.
He curled around her, gathering her in his arms. It would have been nice if she leaned on him like the shifter couples did with each other. Silken skin caressed his. When had he last seen her naked, touched her, made love? According to his hardening cock, too long. “Babe, if breaking stuff gets you naked, then you have my permission to destroy anything you like.”
She shook in his arms. Was she crying?
Glancing over her shoulder at her face, he witnessed a marvel.
She was laughing. “I’ll take inventory tomorrow. I’m too tired right now.”
His old heart expanded at the sound of her amusement. He rubbed his cock over her backside. “Tired?”
She gasped. “Already?”
“Yes.” He kissed the back of her neck. “I’m a virile male, and I’ve been lacking attention.”
She turned to face him, caressing his stiff rod with her tiny, delicate fingers. “I’ve been terrible to you.”
He thrust his hips in rhythm with her hand. “Not as terrible as I’m going to be. The things I’m going to do to you—”
A knock interrupted him.
“What?” He snapped the question, making it clear they were busy.
“Night is fading. You can fuck her later. We have business to attend to.” Pallas’s voice carried through the closed door. At least he didn’t barge in. It wouldn’t have been the first time.
Sugar sat up, pulling a blanket over her bare breasts. “Business?”
He tugged at the blanket, but she held it firm. “Pal Robi Inc. shit. Don’t worry about it.”
“Sounds like Pallas is.”
“He worries enough for both of us.” He tried to slip his hands under the blanket but jerked away as Sugar landed a sharp slap on his fingertips. “Fine, if you’re going to be that way.” He rose to his feet, closing his jeans.
She grinned. “I need a nap. Don’t be all night. I’ll be waiting.”
Straightening his T-shirt on his torso, he hid his frown. Of all the times Sugar had to choose to reconcile their differences, she picked now. He needed to focus on his rivals or he’d find a stake between his ribs.
Or worse, between hers.
She’d rolled to face away from the door, such a non-warrior habit. He cherished all of her gentle ways and sometimes wished he could indulge in her philosophies of peace. Experience had taught him the fragile needed protection, otherwise they’d be destroyed.
He should have made her stay in Chicago with the whole pack to guard her instead of a handful. Maybe he was the fragile one and she his guardian.
Outside his room, Pallas leaned against the wall, arms crossed. “That didn’t take long.”
Without breaking his stride, Daedalus swung his arm and connected his fist to Pallas's chin. The knuckles of his two first fingers popped upon contact, but it was a small price to pay.
Pallas landed on his side, blood trickling from his lips where his fang must have gouged it, and he grunted.
“Where are the shifters?” Daedalus loomed over him. His brother had always enjoyed disrupting him during sex. It hadn’t bothered him until tonight. At last, he was tearing down some walls around Sugar’s heart. He feared she would rebuild them in his absence.
Pallas leaned on his elbow. “In the kitchen, jack-ass”
Eating, of course. A sure way to a shifter’s heart was through their stomach. He ignored Pallas’s curse. During Daedalus’s residence in this mansion, he hadn’t frequented the place but recalled the location of the kitchen and made his way there.
Sam stood at the table, preparing sandwiches. “We need to make a grocery run. We just cleared out Stephen’s food for the week.”
“Fine, you can add it to the list of things I need you to do today.” He searched the room for Stephen, but he wasn’t present. Not surprising. The young shifter liked his solitude. Daedalus really should have warned Stephen of their arrival.
The others stopped eating.
“Uh…I thought I should stay here to guard Sugar and Clementine.” Sam set his knife on the table and tossed Robert a questioning look.
“What he means is that you told us you didn’t want help.” Robert rubbed the back of his neck. “Don’t get me wrong, we want to assist, but we should define our roles here first.”
“I’m not denying Sugar protection. She’s your first priority. But since you’re here, I’ll use you where I can.” Daedalus grinned at the shifters. “Like daylight espionage.”
Esther finished her last bite. “What do you need?” Color had returned to her face.
“From the information Clementine provided, I’ve narrowed my list of suspects to five people. I have their current addresses and want to make sure they’re still residing there. Get as much intel as you can gather in one day.”
“So you haven’t been mooning over your human all this time.” Pallas entered the room, placing the table between them.
Daedalus sighed and shook his head. “Once you confirm their residence. I’ll pay them a visit and destroy them. All the ring leaders have to die. I don’t want any loose ends escaping, so we have to make a surgical strike before they get wind of my return.”
“Are all five definitely guilty?” Clementine tried to meet his stare but failed. She’d been his subject for too long to break such habits quickly.
“Does that matter?” Pallas glanced at her.
“Killing innocents is tyrannical. I want my people loyal, not terrified.” Daedalus frowned at his brother. He’d never been able to lead well and why Daedalus shouldn’t leave him in charge of Pal Robi Inc.
“Fear is a good motivator.”
“But it doesn’t breed loyalty. I don’t coerce my people to follow me, but I haven’t any problem destroying those who threaten me and mine.”
Clementine nodded as Daedalus finished the statement. “I’m here of my own free will. Though I’m not sure what I can do to help.”
“You’ve done enough.” Clementine escaped Pal Robi Inc.’s grasp a few months ago and she ran to Chicago to give him a list of possible traitors. Daedalus had taken all the shifters but Spice and Sam on a quick recon mission. It had almost proven fatal for all of them. Sam had really proven his worth to the pack that night.
Robert pursed his lips as he scrolled something on his cellphone. “How do you know they’re all guilty? The information Clementine brought wasn’t completely conclusive. It narrowed down our search, but I’m not comfortable playing executioner without irrefutable proof.”
“First, I will be the one doing the executing. Second, I don’t mind your help in the periphery, but it will be seen as a weakness if I attack their homes with shifters.” Daedalus tapped his head. “Third, my Jedi mind trick will show me their guilt or innocence, but I need to be within the same room to scan their minds properly.”
Sam stiffened next to him. “You can read our minds? Dude, you should have mentioned that before.”
“I don’t have any desire to be within your thoughts, Sam.” One couldn’t disinfect memories. Tiptoeing within a person’s head could be sticky. He didn’t care to do it unless forced.
Robert rose to his feet. “We’ll separate in three groups. Esther will go with Sam, I’ll take Stephen, and the three vampires stay here with Sugar.”
Daedalus quirked his eyebrow at the mention of Stephen. “Uh…did he offer to help?”
Robert shrugged. “Esther convinced him.”
“Like you said.” She grinned. “Your people are loyal. Once I told him why we were here, he agreed to assist.”
“Will you show the traitors any mercy?” The council chose
well when they picked Pallas to coerce Daedalus into action. His brother knew how to push his buttons.
“No.”
“Good, if you do, I’ll be forced to kill you, and I wouldn’t want to make Sugar cry.”
Chapter Seven
For years Sugar had been nocturnal so she could spend more time with Daedalus, but her recovery had required a daylight schedule for rehab, so her internal clock still woke her with the sunrise.
She stared at Daedalus’s profile as he rested at her side. If she shook him, he’d wake. He said younger vampires like Clementine would remain unconscious, but his clan required the ability to fight if needed.
Even after thousands of years, his face remained that of a twenty-year-old’s. What had his life been like before he was taken by vampires? He would have been considered middle-aged. Had he left behind a wife and children when he’d been changed?
He used to own wigs to hide his pointed ears so he could pass for human. Now with vampires and shifters as legal citizens of the world, he’d thrown the wigs away. She ran the back of her finger over the smooth skin of his head. He complained that she had shut him out, but had he ever truly let her in?
Sighing, she rolled away and sat on the edge of the bed. Things would have to change. Enough hurt feelings lay between her and Daedalus. He wanted their relationship as it was before her injuries, but that was impossible. They had to forge ahead into uncharted waters and find new ground to build their relationship. She had to break down the walls she’d built between them, and he would have to open the door to his past.
Her stomach growled. She would find something to eat and waste a few hours before trying to nap once more. Flipping back to night hours would take time.
With practiced ease, she dressed then exited the bedroom, cane in hand. The Vasi should be around, or maybe the strange Stephen, to point her to the kitchen. Each of her cane’s clicks echoed in the silence. She didn’t remember the mansion being so big and…empty.
The mahogany walls reflected the lamp lights as she flipped the switches on her journey. If someone wanted to find her, they would only have to follow her trail of illuminated fixtures. She hesitated by a set of iron doors, but they were locked. It wouldn’t surprise her to find an armory on the other side. She continued her search, and after the third turn and a staircase, she discovered the front foyer but no kitchen. She perched on the edge of a decorative chair and caught her breath. Her days of jogging were long gone.
“Hello?” she called out and listened to her voice ricochet through the halls. Where were her friends? She’d brought them to help protect Daedalus, but she wouldn’t mind a little company at the moment.
Her stomach snarled this time. She glared at it. “I’m doing my best.”
“Who are you speaking with?” Pallas ducked around a corner, sending a sharp shiver of fear over her limbs.
Her appetite vanished. “N-no one.” His gaze didn’t carry any warmth. Where her lover was hot with passion, Pallas seemed cold with death. “Do you know where the Vasi are?”
“Running errands.
She blinked. “What are you doing awake? The sun has risen.”
He shrugged. “I’ve slept enough these last centuries. Daedalus’s home is shielded quite well from sunlight.” He held a television remote in his hand. “Would you know how to work this thing?”
She gave him a weary smile. “Sure.” What would it be like to awaken hundreds of years in the future? “When did you go to, ah, sleep?” She followed him into the den and studied the remote. It was standard cable, so easy to work.
The television came on with a flash. Some documentary on the herds of the African savannah played. “What do you want to watch?” Twisting her head, she started at Pallas’s expression.
Eyes wide, he stared as if mesmerized, a childish smile on his face. “This is fine.” He sat in the armchair, leaning forward. “The sky is so blue.”
She returned her attention to the TV so he wouldn’t see the tears in her eyes. She couldn’t imagine never seeing the sun again or feeling its warmth. She cleared her throat and pointed at the remote. “If you toggle this button up or down, it will change the channel.”
He nodded as she set it by the armchair, his gazed fixed on the screen.
“Can you point me in the direction of the kitchen?”
“Left out this door, take the hall to the end, then make a right.”
She limped to the door.
“Why aren’t you asleep with your master?” He tossed this question almost absently, but after living in close quarters with his brother, she knew such things were never innocent.
“I don’t know who you are speaking of. I have no master.” She could see his grin before he twisted to face her with it. Jerk.
“Stay and entertain me.” He gestured to the chair next to him.
“I’m hungry.”
“I’ll retrieve some food for you.” Before she could decline his offer, he vanished in a blaze of speed, sending her long hair fluttering in his wake.
She thumped her cane against the hardwood floor. The last person she wanted to spend time with was Pallas. She settled in the other armchair, her cane easily accessible, and watched a lion snare a gazelle by the throat. Too bad the gazelle wasn’t better armed to defend itself.
Was she capable of fighting off a Nosferatu? No. She didn’t think any of them could, even with all the training Daedalus drilled into the Vasi. Pallas’s little display of speed proved her assumption.
A breeze tugged at her hair once more, and Pallas set a tray of cheese with crackers, an assortment of fruits, and a full glass of red wine. “I recall these being a popular combination.”
It was early for wine, but what the hell. When in Rome… She took a sip while watching Pallas channel surf. “All this technology must be odd.”
He shrugged. “I’ll adjust as I have in the past.” He paused on a commercial about erectile dysfunction. “It might take a little longer this time.”
“You’ve hibernated before?”
“Yes. It’s not always been by choice.”
“Has Daedalus?”
He raised one eyebrow in her direction. “You should ask him.”
She popped cheese in her mouth and ignored him. He’d stopped channel surfing on a cooking show.
“Why are you still human?”
She gasped, and a crumb of cheese flew into her windpipe. Coughing, she cleared her airway, yet Pallas continued as if he hadn’t noticed.
“Daedalus doesn’t want you to become a vampire?” He leaned forward, chin in hand. “He’s very particular about making fledglings.”
“You should ask him.” She growled out her answer and emptied her glass with a few deep gulps.
He gave her a crooked grin. From under the table, Pallas produced the wine bottle and filled her glass. “You can’t blame my curiosity. I’ve never known Daedalus to fall for anyone, let alone a human. I would have thought he’d change you to vampire after your…affliction.” He gestured to her weak side. “How did that happen?”
She sighed. It used to hurt to speak about it. Memories of that day still weighed heavily on her shoulders, but the sting had faded with time. “A year ago a pack from China came to Chicago, searching for Katrina. She had escaped from them when she was young, and they wanted her back for breeding.”
It had been just after lunch in the brownstone. Eric and Spice were in the bedroom arguing about starting a family. Spice wanted to have pups, and Eric feared bringing children into a shifter world. Why they bothered to fight behind closed doors was beyond her. The neighbors down the street probably could have heard them. The noise hadn’t been loud enough to mask the front door being kicked down though.
After that her memories faded to broken glimpses. A shattered dish. A mix of shouts and growls. Something solid striking her chest then flying through the air. Sharp pain upon impact. Lying on her side as she watched a beast carry a limp Spice out the broken front door. Then darkness.
“Sugar?”
She jumped. “They attacked our home looking for Katrina. When they couldn’t find her, they took my sister instead.” Glancing at her lap, she noticed her right hand had knotted her pants in a death grip. Consciously, she relaxed her fist and smoothed out the wrinkles. “A bride for a bride was their thinking. They struck me as if I’d been a shifter. The hit broke all my ribs on the left side, puncturing my left lung and bruising the right one. The trauma caused a blood clot that traveled to my brain, and it caused the stroke.”
“And Daedalus left you in this state? Are you sure he cares?”
She chewed her mouthful with slow, deliberate motions then swallowed. “He cares. He didn’t leave my side while I was in the hospital. Even bribed the hospital to secure my room from sunlight.” She gave him a sharp look. “You’re awfully chatty all of a sudden. You barely spoke a word during our drive.”
A huge grin spread across his face. “Daedalus wouldn’t agree with you. I reminisced with him the whole way.” He tapped his head.
Telepathy. Daedalus rarely used that talent, so she had forgotten he possessed it.
“Why are you so certain of his affection?” Pallas had the whole creepy serial-killer aura around him. He needed to work on his people skills if he ever wanted to fit into modern society.
“He’s offered to make me a vampire. I refused.”
He sat straighter in his chair and assessed her with incredulity. “Why do you cling to a broken body? Is it to make him feel guilty?”
She made a noise of disgust. “Don’t be stupid. I cling to my humanity.” Let him chew on that while she finished her snack. For a vampire, he’d made excellent choices in food combinations.
Using his unnatural strength, he moved the heavy armchair to face hers. “Why?”
“Uh, I am who I am.”
“You’re quoting the bible. Exodus 3:14: God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM. Say this to the people of Israel, I AM has sent me to you.’”
It was her turn to raise her eyebrow. “And you didn't explode into flames.”
He burst out laughing and leaned back in his chair, legs sprawled on each side of hers. “You sound disappointed. Truly, you have no desire to be one of us? You wouldn’t need this anymore.” He tapped the tip of his boot against her cane.
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