by Donna Grant
It was after noon, and already, the bar was busy. The sound of music thumping could be heard even from outside. It wasn’t until customers walked from the bar that she recognized Godsmack playing.
Skye glanced at her reflection in the window before she stepped inside Gator Bait. As soon as she entered, she stopped and looked around.
The place was welcoming with its wood floors and highly polished bar. Hundreds of pictures of celebrities who had visited lined the walls. There were also alligator jaws of various sizes hung here and there.
All in all, it looked like Court.
“Court said you would come?” Riley said as she walked up with a smile.
Skye returned her grin, intrigued that Court would know her well enough to announce what she would do. “Did he?”
“He’s insufferably right most of the time,” Riley said with a wink.
Skye laughed at the remark. Whatever she might think of the LaRues, they were obviously a close-knit family.
“You hungry?” Riley asked as she motioned Skye to follow her. “We’ve got the best gator in town.”
“Sure.” Skye’s stomach rumbled, reminding her the banana she’d had for breakfast was long gone.
Skye took a seat at the bar and watched two men playing pool. Riley wasn’t the only waitress at the bar. There were three others, and all were busy.
A man with ash blond hair walked out from the kitchen with papers in hand and a pencil in his mouth. His blue eyes, as well as the shape of his face, reminded Skye so much of Court that she knew this had to be another LaRue brother.
He walked to a woman with jaw-length champagne blond hair and took the pencil out of his mouth to whisper something in her ear. She laughed and gave him a quick kiss.
“That’s Addison.”
Skye jumped at the sound of Riley’s voice. She turned and found a glass of beer in front of her.
“Addison and Myles are engaged,” Riley continued.
Skye tasted the beer and nodded in approval. “Does she know everything?”
“Yep.” Riley grinned. “It’s a long story. Suffice it to say, Addison had a crash course in it.”
“Ah. I’m surprised it’s not kept more secret.”
Riley tucked her hair behind her ear. “If people want to know the truth, they’re going to go looking for it whether we want them to or not.”
“Are you...?” Skye asked, not quite able to spit it out.
Riley chuckled and pulled at her black shirt with the Gator Bait logo. “Nope. That’s contained to the LaRues. I’m just a normal girl who keeps the supernatural in line. My brothers live a couple hours away.”
“But they know?”
“Of course.” Riley walked around the bar and came to sit beside Skye. “I’m going to just put it out there because you obviously want to know. The Chiassons, my immediate family, came to Louisiana from France with a stop in Nova Scotia. They were hunters of the supernatural. The ones that kill innocents anyway.”
Skye was listening raptly.
“There were two brothers and one sister. The sister came to New Orleans and married a LaRue. One brother chose to go west, and the other settled in Lyons Point, outside of Lafayette, which is a hotbed of supernatural activity. All of us, both the Chiassons and LaRues, are raised to protect the innocent and kill the monsters.”
“But the LaRues are werewolves.”
Riley lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “That they are. If you want that story, you’ll have to ask Court. The point is, the LaRues have always kept the peace in New Orleans. Before they were cursed and after. That’s never changed.”
“Nor will it,” said a voice behind Skye.
She turned and found Court. If she’d thought him handsome by the light of the moon, he took her breath away in the daytime. He was startlingly good-looking. The kind of gorgeous that left a woman speechless.
His chin-length hair was parted down the middle, the butterscotch blond strands having a slight wave as they framed his face. His brilliant blue eyes were just as powerful as before.
Skye glanced down and saw that he was wearing a pair of jeans, slung low on his narrow hips, and a cream henley shirt with a big bronze fleur de lis on the upper right side by his shoulder.
“I told you she’d come, Riley,” Court said without taking his gaze from Skye.
Riley slid off the barstool and paused beside Skye long enough to say, “He’s conceited. Feel free to bring him down a notch or two.”
Skye couldn’t help but smile. Court was self-assured. It showed in the way he held himself and how he greeted the world. Conceited? Skye didn’t know him well enough to say, but she could see it was a possibility.
“Why did you think I’d come?”
Court took her beer in one hand and grabbed her hand with the other, pulling her off the stool. He led her through the doorway into the back, but it wasn’t the kitchens he brought her to. It was an office.
“You’re curious,” he said. “I knew you would want to know more.”
He wasn’t wrong. Apparently, she was easy to figure out. Skye frowned. That wasn’t a good thing, was it?
Her thoughts stopped when she was shown a chair and given her beer. Court took the seat next to her the same time Myles walked in reading over some papers with the pencil once more in his mouth.
He didn’t look up at them even as he sat behind the desk and keyed something in the computer. A few minutes later, Kane and another man entered the office.
So, these were the four LaRue brothers.
Court hadn’t lied. She was up to her neck in werewolves now.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Court watched Skye carefully. Her entire body tightened when Kane and Solomon entered the room. Solomon ran a hand through his dark blond hair as he leaned against the corner of Myles’s desk.
“I’m sure you’ve done some checking on us, but I’m Solomon,” he said. He motioned with his thumb over his shoulder. “The one buried in the computer doing the accounting for this place is Myles. You’ve already met Kane and Court.”
Skye held Solomon’s gaze. “I have done my checking. I know that you’re the eldest, followed by Myles, Kane, and then Court. You four have owned Gator Bait for years now and are upstanding citizens in all ways. And you have a very big secret.”
“Everyone has secrets,” Kane said, eyeing her. “Everyone.”
Skye crossed one leg over the other. “I do have a secret. I shared it with Court last night.”
“He told us,” Myles said as he set aside his pencil. “That’s one hell of a story.”
Court’s balls tightened when Skye glanced at him. Damn but she was a beautiful woman. It wasn’t just her beauty that drew him, it was her courage and nerve – even if she had been foolish to go into the Viper’s Nest.
“It is.” Skye licked her lips and let her gaze land on each one of them. “I told Court last night, but I want to say it here. Thank you for helping me. I thought I knew enough to handle myself. I was wrong.”
Court didn’t know who was more surprised by her words, him or Kane. He merely smiled at Skye because the woman was good. The fact that she could admit she was wrong, right after thanking them meant there was no way any of them was going to get on her case now.
“My editor called me into the office this morning,” Skye said. “She says the police are calling Matthew’s death a homicide and saying that he was killed with a knife.”
Solomon rubbed his chin as he considered Skye. “I saw Matthew’s body myself. There was no denying the holes in his neck, or the fact that all his blood was gone.”
“We’re not the ones lying here,” Court said.
Skye’s dark brown gaze turned to him. “I know. It’s just a lot to take in. I assumed every human was innocent.”
Kane snorted but didn’t make a comment.
Court could only imagine how she felt with her world turned upside down. “The witches are human, and not all of them are innocent.”
“Minka is,
” Myles said.
Court nodded in agreement, even as he saw Solomon’s jaw tighten at the mention of the witch. Court really hoped his eldest brother could get over whatever was eating at him when it came to Minka. Having a witch as an ally was something Court didn’t want ruined.
“This is my job,” Skye said. “I’m paid to write these articles, and the only way to do that is by gaining information.”
Myles made a face. “Not if it means your death.”
“We’re trying to keep you alive,” Court said. “You have to choose what to do. If you go back to the Viper’s Nest, we may not be there next time.”
She squared her shoulders. “I understand. I also came here because I think I remember something about what happened last night.”
Court sat forward. “What?”
“I told you I guard my drink well. I also know never to look a vampire in the eye in case they use their mind control.” She paused for a moment. “What I do remember is one of the vampires touching me. After that, my memory is blank until I woke up at Minka’s.”
Court got to his feet and paced. “They touched her. No way a vamp can use their mind control that way.”
“They have to make eye contact,” Myles added.
Solomon’s hands tightened on the desk. “Someone has to be helping the vampires.”
“Just what we need,” Kane mumbled.
Court stopped beside Skye’s chair and squatted. “What did the vampires say to you exactly?”
“I don’t remember,” she said with a shrug. “I’ve been thinking about it all night.”
Solomon straightened. “It doesn’t matter. We have what we need. We must find who is helping the vampires. It’s never a good thing when two factions align.”
“You knew it would come to this,” Kane said.
Court stood and put a hand on Kane’s shoulder. “We had to get the witches to help us.”
“Addison’s life was at stake,” Myles said sharply. “I would’ve welcomed anyone’s help. We’re lucky the witches agreed to join forces with us.”
By the way Skye looked between them, Court knew she was going to ask about it later.
“What can I do to help?” Skye asked.
Court was as taken aback by her offer as the rest of them. “I don’t know if that would be a good idea.”
She raised a brow and speared him with a look. “You said yourself they’re after me. If they see me again, they’ll come for me. Let them. It’s your best bet to finding out who is helping the vampires and discovering what is being done.”
“No,” Court stated.
The same time Solomon said, “That could work.”
Court looked askance at his eldest brother. “Have you lost your mind?”
“He knows it’s the best way,” Skye said.
Court looked at Myles for help, but Myles was looking at Skye as if she could be the answer for them. Court turned to Kane.
Kane threw up his hands. “Don’t look at me. I don’t think she should be out there either, but Solomon has the bit between his teeth now.”
Court turned back to Skye. “Don’t do this.”
“I have to.” She smiled up at him. “If I don’t, they’ll use whatever they’re doing on an innocent. That blood will be on my hands because I could’ve stopped this and didn’t.”
“They would’ve used whatever this is regardless. You didn’t start it,” he argued.
“How do you know that?”
Court opened his mouth to dispute her question when he realized he had no ground to stand on. “You barely escaped last night with your life.”
“I’ll be fine if you’re there.”
Court looked into her eyes. Since the first moment he saw Skye, he felt the attraction. Strong. Undeniable. So far, he had been able to hold it at bay.
But with the way she was looking at him now, as if he alone could keep her alive, Court knew his ironclad control would shatter the first moment they were alone.
“What do you say?” Skye asked. “Will you help me?”
Court found himself nodding, even though he knew it was the worst idea they’d had in a long history of bad ideas. If Skye were taken...
He couldn’t even finish the thought. She wasn’t going to be taken.
Court slowly released a deep breath. “All right. But only with the condition that you do as I ask,” he hurried to say when she smiled.
“Agreed,” Skye said.
Myles lifted the phone receiver on his desk. “I’m going to call the NOPD. Perhaps our contact there can help turn the attention away from Skye in Matthew’s murder.”
“Good idea.” Solomon slapped Court on the shoulder as he passed by. “Let’s roll on this tonight. As soon as you have a plan, Court, we’ll call another meeting.”
Kane nodded to Skye and turned on his heel to follow Solomon out of the office. Court fidgeted. He looked at Myles to see his brother giving him a grin that said he knew exactly what Court was thinking – and feeling.
“What do I need to do?” Skye got to her feet and squared her shoulders. “I want to help, Court.”
His gaze lowered to her lips. Full, dark pink lips. It was a mouth he pictured wrapping around his cock. He barely bit back a groan at the image that flashed in his head.
Those tempting lips parted slightly. Court jerked his eyes back up to her face, his blood heating when he saw the blatant interest reflected in her gaze.
Damn, he was in trouble.
“What happens when this is done?” he asked her.
A small frown appeared on her forehead. “What happens?”
“Yeah. Are you going to keep on exposing the supernatural? Are you going to expose me and my family?”
Her head nodded in understanding, but a furrow formed between her brows. “Oh. You think I would do that?”
“I think what my brother wants to know,” Myles said, “is if your need to find answers will be satisfied.”
Skye’s dark gaze held Court’s. “My roommate was killed by a vampire. I thought I knew how to protect myself. It’s a truly horrific feeling to realize that I’m as unprepared and naïve as I was back in college.” She paused to swallow. “I want a family one day. I want to be able to focus my worries on normal things like who my kids are texting and what they’re watching on TV. I want to have my concern focused on their grades and teaching them the right things.”
Court wasn’t sure how he felt about the warmth that spread through him when she spoke of children. He could easily imagine her as a mother. She would look even more beautiful with her stomach swollen with child.
He halted his thoughts right there. What the hell was wrong with him? Pregnant women weren’t sexy.
No, but Skye sure as hell would be.
“You know what’s out there. There’s no going back from that.” Court fisted his hands so he wouldn’t reach out and touch her. “There are things you can do to protect yourself, your family, and your home. We can teach you that.”
“After all I’ve done, you would do that?”
“Yes.”
God, he would do so much more if she only asked.
Screwed. That’s what he was. Royally, totally screwed.
Myles cleared his throat and got to his feet. “It might be better if you stayed here, Skye. Between the police and the vampires, no one will look for you here.”
“Thank you,” she said with a smile directed at Myles.
Court could have punched his brother. Her sweet and sexy smiles should only be directed at him. Certainly not at Myles, who was engaged to Addison.
Myles chuckled. Court shifted his gaze from Skye to his brother to see Myles looking at him. Court flipped him off. He didn’t need anyone else noticing that he was becoming tangled in all that was Skye Parrish.
Addison poked her head around the door of Myles’s office, her jaw-length blond hair drawing his brother’s gaze. “Hey,” she said with a smile full of love, happiness, and desire, all of it directed at Myles.
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“Hey,” Myles replied as he came around his desk. He held out his hand for her. “Come meet Skye.”
Addison walked to Myles’s side and wrapped an arm around him. She gave a welcoming smile to Skye as Myles did the introductions.
“Damn,” Riley said when she came in. “You beat me to it, cuz,” she said with a wink to Myles.
Myles laughed and pulled Addison close. “Skye, I think you’ll find you fit in quite well here. Riley already thinks she runs things.”
“Because I do,” Riley interjected.
Addison rose up and kissed Myles. “Riley and I thought we’d take Skye off your hands for a bit. We can show her around.”
“Show her around?” Court knew exactly what his cousin and soon-to-be sister-in-law were going to do. Talk. “The bar isn’t that big.”
Riley rammed her hip into his. Her sly smile said she also recognized his attraction to Skye. “Worried?”
“No,” he mumbled. It was a lie, and they all knew it.
Skye grabbed her purse. “Show me the way, girls. Looks like I’ll be here all day.”
Court watched Skye walk out with Addison on one side of her and Riley on the other. He was glad Skye was making friends. Both the women would watch over her through the day. But he could do a better job.
“You got it bad, bro,” Myles said as he walked up beside him.
“How screwed am I?”
Myles rubbed his chin. “One hundred percent. Don’t bother fighting it. Just go for it.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Just go for it.
Those words reverberated in Court’s head for the next four hours.
It was nice to look up from the bar to see Skye. She had put on one of the Gator Bait shirts and was waiting tables with Riley and Addison. Skye had said she couldn’t stand to sit around, so she began to help the others out.
The more Court was around Skye, the more he found he liked. She might have originally caught his attention by the article in the paper. Her beauty might have kept his interest. But it was the warm, intelligent, friendly woman who drew him in deeper.