by Zoe Forward
She spoke to Lexan. “Dominic knew he probably killed my mother and, yet, he betrothed me to the bastard.” She’d kill him again if she could. “He threatened Trace’s life to keep his secret.”
“We must go,” Blay announced.
“What’d he say about Carol?” asked Trace.
“She’s in one of the interrogation rooms. Ask him which one.” She nodded to Hsu-Li. “I think she’s okay, but you were right. He used her as bait and planned to kill her.”
Eric entered holding his cell phone up. He was also soaking wet. “It’s important, sir.”
“A moment.” Lexan said to Eric. He faced Trace. “We’re about to be on opposite sides of a global conflict.”
“I understand.” Trace glanced to Dominic’s body and then over to Hsu-Li. He met Lexan’s gaze again. Something passed between them but Vee couldn’t decipher it.
Eric freed TC. “What of this one?” He hauled Hsu-Li to his feet and put the vamp’s hands in the same cuffs that had bound TC. “He’s killed many of our kind.”
Trace moved in front of Lexan. “You can’t have him. He’s mine to deal with.”
Lexan gazed at Trace in silence for several long, tense seconds. He nodded. “If he hunts our kind again, we won’t show mercy twice.”
“Vee…” Trace’s voice tapered off. “I wish you weren’t…”
“Good-bye.” She longed to hug her big brother, who she might never see again, but glanced at Hsu-Li, reluctant to hurt Trace’s future. She whispered. “Take care of Carol. Tell her I love her.”
Trace’s eyes flickered with sadness. It’d been fleeting, but it communicated a huge I’ll miss you. He cleared his throat. “You need to go with them.”
“Are all vampires here dead?” asked Trace.
Lexan looked up from his cell phone where he’d been typing. “Only a few. Most are tranquilized. In a few hours, they’ll feel like the night after a long party.”
“We’ll give you an hour’s head start,” Trace said.
“Good luck on any of them out there being ready in an hour.” Lexan shoved his cell phone in a jacket pocket. “We’re leaving,” he said imperiously as he accepted the phone from Eric, speaking rapidly in a foreign language she didn’t recognize all the way to the waiting SUVs. A dozen wolves dressed in tactical gear surrounded them.
She was herded though pouring rain into a car, Lexan beside her, still on the phone. Eric was also now speaking nonstop in what she thought was Spanish.
TC looked up from a tablet he’d been handed by Eric when he got in the car. He met her gaze. “All hell’s breaking loose—attacks, bombings, and a call for regional meetings.” He shrugged and resumed typing on the tablet.
When Lexan’s call ended, Eric said, “Michael needs to talk.” He passed his phone back.
Lexan took the cell, this time speaking French. She understood some, but it wasn’t a strong language for her.
She couldn’t reach Lexan telepathically to explain what happened. The ride ended at an airport.
Blay met them as they were climbing out of the car. “I need to know where Ambrose is to take care of this tonight. Do you think he’d take your call, Vee?”
“Maybe.” Like hell she wanted to see Ambrose tonight or ever.
“Let’s try. Let’s get him to meet with you.”
“She’s done with being the middle of your vendetta,” Lexan said. “We’re leaving this country. Feel free to go after Ambrose on your own. Duties call to organize in Europe and Asia.”
“We do this now, or he’ll be warned we know he killed Arie.” Blay’s cell dinged. He glanced down. “We get him during the day today, before sunset. The moon should be up in three hours. I want him surprised.”
“You’re not in charge of my guys, nor will she be forced to help you. It’s too dangerous.”
Vee wedged herself between Blay and Lexan. “She is standing right here and can answer for herself.”
Both males gazed down at her, astonished. She wanted to scream it was the twenty-first century. Males shouldn’t make decisions for females without consulting them.
Blay said, “I need your help, Vee. I need this ended.”
“I’d like it over, too,” she said softly. “I’d love to see him pay, but I’d prefer not to see Ambrose again. Maybe I can find out where he is for you. If you want to involve me in the plan, then I’m not the pawn. You will tell me everything that’s going on.”
Lexan released an agitated sigh and gazed into the distance. “If this is what you want, Vee, then we’ll see this to the end.” He waited for her approval.
Her chest swelled with the level of respect in his gaze. He was trying.
…
Lexan announced, “Vee and I need a few minutes. Alone.” He waved at a small passenger jet, encouraging her to ascend the stairway.
Second guessing a confrontation with Ambrose swelled in her brain. He’d be suspicious if she called him, especially if anyone from the Scarpa compound alerted him of Dominic’s death. She followed Lexan up the steep steps onto the plane.
The moment they were both in a cabin that was far more spacious than she’d anticipated she said, “Trace drugged me and put me in the car. He thought he was saving me…that you guys brainwashed me.”
He ran a hand over his face. “If I’d known he planned to take you, I would’ve gone after you the moment you went back to the house.”
“I wasn’t planning to flee.” She chewed on her lip, unsure how to ask the big what next question. Terror she might never see him again once the plane landed struck her numb.
“What do you want me to say or do, Vee? I’m trying damned hard to say the right thing. I was raised in a time when women didn’t…when men made the decisions. With everywhere unsafe now…” The depth of emotion passing through his gaze indicated his restraint wasn’t easy.
“You didn’t even fight to get me back. You let me walk away.”
“You wanted me to let you walk away.” He worked his jaw back and forth. “But here’s some truth for you. I had no intention to let you go. Then or now. You needed space, which I gave. It wasn’t a good-bye.”
She touched his face. “I did need space after…discovering I could shift and going through it wasn’t easy. For that, thank you. I need you to understand I want to be with you. Beyond that is my need to be useful and not feel like some sort of pampered mistress.”
“You’re not a mistress. That implies this is sordid when it’s not. This is real. My life is dangerous. Everyone near me is in danger. I live with the constant threat of assassination or attack, and it just got a whole lot more dangerous. If you stay, I’ll do whatever I feel must be done to keep you safe. I can’t promise there may be an occasional exclusion of information if doing so keeps you out of danger.”
He took her face between his hands. The simple contact caused her heart to melt and hurt. “We can be so good together. Fate, destiny…whatever the hell you want to call it has thrown us together. You’re the one I want with me in my forever, however long that may be. Life is precious and could be yanked away from one of us at any time, especially with the war now open. Tell me what I can do to make it work.”
She touched his beautiful face and traced the angle of his jaw. “This is overwhelming. I don’t know about you but this draw I have to you, to want to be near you, to want to touch you is like nothing I’ve ever felt.”
“Me either.” He kissed her lightly on the lips.
“If you’re right and this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing, then we’ll always be drawn together even if we go our separate ways. We’ll always have this between us. I don’t really want to live apart. I’ve fought my entire life for a measure of independence, and now I feel like you’re asking me to give it up to choose you, us.”
“Is it so hard to choose this?” He kissed down her neck while his hand rubbed soft circles over his mark, sending chills throughout her body.
“I’m pretty sure I love you, Lexan, but I’m not sure this c
an work. You’ll push to control me. I’ll push back. I need to be me. I need to work and be useful. I need to feel like if I want to do something, whether it’s shop in Paris or run a veterinary clinic, I have it as an option. I promise to take all safety measures that are necessary. I need to trust you’re not going to go all caveman on me and throw me in a dungeon to control my actions all in the name of keeping me safe.”
He rubbed his eyebrows. “It goes against everything I feel I need to do. You have to compromise. Let me protect you.”
“Without being a dictator.”
He removed the flash drive Jacob had given her from his pocket and held it out. Was he offering her trust and giving her freedom to use her training?
“Do you want me to review what’s on there and give my opinion, or can I use it and work with the experts to find the cure?”
“What do you want?”
Oh my God. He was trying so hard. “I want to be part of the cure.”
He swallowed hard. “Swear you’ll use all safety precautions and not get exposed.”
“I will.”
He closed her palm around the flash drive. “You won’t get mad when one of my boys is with you all the time?”
The thought of being watched… She could live with it. “Okay.”
His hands wound around her, pulling her into him. His eyes darkened with an almost frightening intensity that was completely focused on her. God, she loved his face with its hard angles and planes…his sensual mouth, straight nose, and the goatee. His lips skimmed hers, but didn’t dive in for a deeper kiss. She moaned disappointment. His lips drifted down her neck, grazing his teeth on her skin. She held his head to her and stroked his hair.
She jerked when his hand pressed over her shoulder where Dominic’s knife hit. Surprisingly, she hadn’t bled much. Either Lexan’s blood or the shifting of forms gave her extra healing capacity.
Lexan pulled away. “What’s wrong?”
“Bit sore. Dominic got me, but it’s already better.”
He pulled up the borrowed shirt and ran his fingers over the area. “You’re right. It’s healing fast. You won’t even have a scar in a few hours. Incredible. Your body is settling into its real form. Soon, you won’t feel weakness like you have been. Most females would complain about the pain, but not you. You have the soul of a true warrior.”
His long lashes lifted and his pale blue eyes locked onto her. He made her feel sexy, beautiful, and so wanted. At the same time, she was desperate for his hands and mouth on her.
“I’m fine.”
“I’m in love with you, too. Every part of you. I think I fell a bit the first moment you entered the exam room and told me you’d send me to Animal Control if I bit someone.” His smoky voice wrapped warmth around her.
Her heart did a funny little twist in her chest.
He leaned in, his lips teasing hers until she opened. His tongue pressed between hers, deepening the kiss. He stopped without warning.
“What? Why stop?” she asked.
“I may have let you walk away when we were in Canada, but I never intended it as an ending.”
“I don’t remember exactly what I said. I was scared.”
“I know. I tried to help as best I could, but I made a mess of it.” His tone reflected honest regret. “When this is over, are you going to accept us as together?”
“According to you, we’re already in this forever.”
“There’s more to it than me marking you.”
“Blay told me I have to bite you back.”
“You’re not answering me. Bite or not, are you going to commit to me? I need to know you’re mine. That there’s no doubt we’re together and we belong. I don’t want to be without you. No matter what happens, we’ll face it together. So tell me.”
She kept her gaze on his face. He sounded so tough. So inflexible. This was the hardened warrior protecting himself. He’d gone very still, as if nothing she said could hurt him. But the emotion swirling in his eyes said differently. He was waiting for her.
“I want to be with you, but don’t bully me. I’m not afraid of you. No one pushes me around. So, yes, I’ll marry you when this is done. That is what you’re asking, isn’t it?”
He nodded.
She said, “I have no idea what kind of future we’ll have. But—” She pulled down his T-shirt to expose his shoulder and struck, full teeth.
He gasped. “Oh, Christ.” His body trembled. “You’re pushing me beyond control. We can’t finish this with everyone out there waiting on us.”
She licked the area free of blood.
“Give the word and I’ll tell my boys to forget this plan with Ambrose. If you want to go through with it and help Blay, then back a few steps away. I…can’t. My wolf is fighting me. He wants out, and he wants you.”
She loved that she could make him this wild for her. “I want it all. A home, you there as much as possible, and kids.”
“Kids…I hadn’t thought about having more.”
“You have to be okay with all of that.”
He paused for a few endless seconds, searching her gaze. “Yes.”
“I also want a traditional ceremony. I don’t need a big wedding, but we need this to be formal in front of your people. Plus, I’d like to see you in a tuxedo.” She grinned when he blinked as if she’d laid down a request worse than death.
“A tuxedo? That’s…pure evil.” He glared. “Only dead men wear suits.”
“I just want you to realize what you’re in for.”
His glare deepened into a scowl. He stepped forward to tower over her. “You put me in a tux and I will retaliate.”
Her heart jumped. She liked the ferocious animal side of him, the one that always tried to intimidate her into submission. She grinned. “Whatever you do, I think I’ll end up enjoying it.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Lexan marched off the plane, frustrated by the need to finish what Vee started, but without the time to do so. And, furious he had to put Vee into the line of fire to end this with Ambrose. He wished he could send an assassin to take out Ambrose and be done with it, but they needed to know more about the modified virus, which he had a strong suspicion lay in Ambrose’s hands.
He snapped at Eric, “She called Ambrose. She set up a meeting him at his place north of Charlotte. We plan with that in mind.”
Eric’s gaze bounced to Vee as she sauntered off the plane. “Did you two resolve things?”
“We did.” Vee smiled.
“Almost,” Lexan said.
Her smile went straight to his groin, which hardened further and, damn it, he was already so hard that walking hurt.
He thought to her, “Tuxedos have to be optional.”
“Nope. It’s a package deal.”
“Fuck.” He scratched the roughness of his chin.
Eric laughed. Respect for her glimmered in his gaze.
Blay emerged from an SUV parked nearby. Several of his guys followed.
“What do you have?” Lexan asked Blay, hoping he’d provide a reason to prevent Vee from meeting Ambrose like identifying someone else had the viral technology.
“Ambrose has been busy… All that time in California was with a biotech company.” He turned to a wolf of Spanish descent on his left. “Tell us what you found.”
The Spaniard nodded and in a thick accent said, “He’s had fifteen meetings with RenCorp over the past few weeks. They specialize in medication trials, but they have a level three biohazard facility, which means they can work with lethal microbes.” He rotated his phone to show a photograph of Ambrose outside a concrete bunker shielding his face from a sun glare.
Now they had to talk to Ambrose. “Who’s paying for all this microbe work?”
The Spaniard said, “We don’t know. The accounts we can access that are his are relatively static. They pay for expenses but no significant deposits or purchases. I heard Viktor cut him off some time ago when he found out about some of Ambrose’s appetites.”
>
“He’s gay. Do you have a problem saying it?” Vee asked.
“No. I didn’t know if you knew and since you were betrothed to him…I didn’t want you embarrassed.” The Spaniard shrugged.
“I knew.”
Blay said, “Yet you agreed to marry him?”
“Agreement wasn’t a part of the arrangement. I was told it was what I was going to do. I lifted the fact he was gay from Ambrose’s mind.” She tapped her head. “I used it as leverage to keep my employment. I kept silent, and he continued whatever he did in California, which seems to have been far more than getting busy with his boyfriends.”
Blay cleared his throat. “I think he has offshore accounts, or the funders do, but it’ll take time for us to determine where and get details. It’s probably Viktor, and the whole cutting-off thing is cover. But being covert about the viral technology won’t matter anymore.”
Lexan asked, “Do you have someone who can go out there and find out what they’ve already done? Maybe we can get our hands on the raw virus and do some work on it.”
“I do.” Blay gazed at Vee. “I won’t lie. The virus part of this is important, but I want to know why he killed Arie. I don’t want you hurt in this, but I need to know.”
She addressed Lexan. “I can do this. Ambrose would love to have what you want under his control, which means he’s less likely to kill me until you’re watching. He’s got a crush on you, and I bet he wants you to see whatever he does with me.”
“Put this button in your pocket. It’ll allow us to track you.” Blay handed her a metal button the size of a quarter.
She tucked it into her jeans. “Let’s find out what Ambrose is up to.” She smiled at them when both glared. “We can do this.”
Lexan caught her by surprise as he took possession of her mouth. There was no hesitation on her part. She kissed him back, melting into him.
…
Vee stood at the corner of Seventh and Church Street in downtown Charlotte.
How long since Lexan drove away? One minute? Four?
Had Ambrose meant to meet here at this time, before dusk, during rush hour? She reviewed details of their brief conversation in her mind.