by C. L. Quinn
Koen leaned in and placed his fingertips lightly against her lips. The incorrigible man! He’d done the same thing this evening to wake her. Only it had been a different set of lips and had led to a ticklefest followed by serious lovemaking. She was going to tell him tonight that she loved him. That she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. And she was going to tell him how long that might be.
Tonight, she would disclose her secret and find out if he loved her enough to ride through this storm with her. She couldn’t blame him if he bailed. People were wired to protect their hearts. But she didn’t believe that would happen. With every touch, every glance, every word, Koen showed her how much he loved her. Tonight, it would be settled.
Alisa curled her tongue around one of his fingers as she curled her fingers around his hand. Her eyes lifted and captured his. Their eyes locked on each other, unbroken, until a loud voice punctured the moment.
They both looked up at the same moment.
“Hi. Look, can I speak to you? Got a second?”
A stunning woman with perfect features and striking hair stood there, transfixed on Koen. Her sweater revealed half her breasts and her jeans looked like they were painted on. Alisa couldn’t help herself, she knew this woman was interested in her man and she suddenly felt extremely protective and possessive. Where did this woman come from?
Alisa moved her gaze to Koen’s face and was surprised to see he was studying the beautiful interloper. His eyes moved back and forth across her features with a puzzled look.
“Can I speak with you?” The woman repeated.
Alisa waited for him to ask her what she wanted, but he looked at Alisa as he got up.
“Baby, I’ll be right back.”
And he followed her out of the restaurant. Alisa wondered if she should be worried. This was the second weird reaction she’d witnessed with him and another woman. What the hell was going on between them? In truth, although she was in love with him, and really did trust him, she actually knew very little about him. Now, she was feeling uneasy and a little sick.
Koen stopped and turned to Windari as soon as they were beyond earshot of anyone else.
“Tamesine?” He inquired. Then, “No. The other one. From Africa. Right?”
Fuck! He recognized her. He must know her sister well to be able to recognize her face so easily. Well, he must not know what happened in Zambia, he wasn’t hostile or on alert.
Smiling disarmingly, Windari nodded. “Yes. My name is Mercury. I thought I recognized you in the restaurant. Just wanted to say hi. I didn’t know if your companion knew your circumstance.”
He wasn’t on alert, but he was cautious. Slowly, he responded. “No. She doesn’t.” He paused. “Why do you block your lifeforce?”
“We always do when we leave the village. For protection. Or just an old custom from a thousand years ago. I’m not sure. You noticed that the village is archaic in many ways.”
“I found it charming.”
“Yes, of course I agree. Listen, I’m alone here for the first time in this city. I wondered, would you like to come to my dwelling and keep me company tonight?”
He couldn’t possibly decline. Yet he shook his head. No?
“I’m sorry, the woman I am with…”
“Is human,” Windari finished with barely concealed distain.
He saw it, and his expression became guarded.
“Is human. And she is mine. So the answer is no. You would do well to be more cautious in your judgments.”
He was telling her about judgments? He was choosing an insect over a goddess! But it wouldn’t be wise to say tell him that now.
“I apologize. I meant no offense. It’s just, I’m lonely. I need first blood companionship. One night? Please?”
“My woman would take it highly amiss. You,” He began to walk away. “Have a good night.”
If Windari could have done it, she would have knocked him the hell out. But he was larger and likely more powerful than she was. Choose your battles, she reminded herself.
When Koen rejoined Alisa, she was completely immersed in eating her meal that had arrived while Koen was gone. He tried to catch her eye but she wouldn’t look up. She reached for a piece of focaccia bread and he took her hand, so she finally did.
“What do you think just happened out there?” he asked her.
Alisa slowly withdrew her hand, her bright blue eyes pinning him.
“I don’t know. You knew her, I could tell. Like you knew Lauren. How is it you know these women? And why is your reaction to them shock and awe? I mean, I get that you’ve had women in your past, of course, but it’s the mystery around them that confounds me. Should I worry about them?”
“You need worry about nothing and no one. You are the woman, the only woman, that I can see. To answer your curiosity, though, I will tell you that I have had no relationship at all with either of those women. They just weren’t supposed to be where they were. That’s why I seem uneasy. Alisa Ison, I would have chosen a different time to tell you this, but now seems the necessary moment. I am in love with you. I think I was from the first moment our eyes met. Does that answer the question on whether you need to worry about them?”
Alisa closed her eyes. Could there be a more perfect moment in a life? Not that she could imagine. When she opened them, her vision was filtered through a watery mist.
“Never again. You might want a response to that statement, Koen… I don’t know your last name. God, I’ve fallen in love with you and I don’t even know your name.”
“You love me. And that is all either of us needs to know.”
Their eyes locked. The moment had been made. They had both declared their hearts.
“We need to get out of here,” Koen said suddenly, and threw down several hundred dollar bills, pulled Alisa out of her seat and out of the restaurant. Once they passed the door, the crisp air hit them, but Alisa couldn’t feel the coolness. She was only aware of the big man pulling her behind him to his car.
Once they arrived, he turned around and pushed her against the passenger side door, an arm on each side of her, and leaned into her.
“I love you. You know what that means? No more talk of leaving me. Understand?”
“I couldn’t now. You’ve weaved yourself into my heart and leaving would rip me apart. You’re inside me.”
He lowered his head and nuzzled in under her hair, nipped at her neck.
“No more than you are for me. And I don’t use a last name. You’ll understand why that is soon. For now…”
His lips found hers and he kissed her slowly, as if he were making love, lingeringly, his fingers threaded through her hair, his body pressing her into the cold frame of the car. Her hands were threaded into his belt, her fingers sliding past the zipper she’d pulled down, across smooth skin, to his cock, feeling it respond.
Would she ever get enough of him? She knew the answer to that question was “never.”
Suddenly he groaned. “We need to be home. Now.” He looked into Alisa’s eyes with his heart in his.
“Now,” he said more urgently.
They got into the car and the tires squealed as he sped out of the lot.
Once they hit her apartment door, Koen swept her up into his arms, shoved the door closed with his foot, and rushed her into the bedroom beyond human speed.
But once he had her undressed, he stopped to watch her every movement as she undressed him, her hands sliding sensuously across his skin.
They made love slowly, aware of every touch, every sensation. When he entered her, she lifted to him and saw the sky overhead, stars blinking at her, as if they were outside under the canopy of the black sky. She felt connected to him through so much more than just their bodies. Like the universe itself carried them to pleasures beyond anything possible on this small planet.
It seemed Windari stayed furious these days. She arrived back to her warehouse dwelling and fucked Number One so hard that she was afraid she broke him. She’d always
had to remember to be careful with her strength with humans. It had just been so long since she’d actually fucked a man, she’d forgotten that.
But he lay on his side of the bed moaning, his hand wrapped around his penis. She compelled him to forget her brutal treatment and sent him away.
She just could not believe that first blood male chose the human over her. Pacing back and forth in front of her mirrors naked, she watched herself. How? How could he? This was the last straw. Ahmose choosing that small unremarkable vampire over her. Now Koen choosing the human female.
Their race was getting weak!
Well, it wasn’t her problem anymore. She was unattached to the first blood community now. Still, such an offense. Nothing would give her greater pleasure right at this moment than to subdue that vampire and fuck him till the new moon. Show him how wrong he was. If there had been any way, she would have. But none of her powers would work on him.
Windari knew she would just have to accept it. She would never have a first blood male again. Staring at her naked image, she shook her head. What a waste. He would never know what he was missing.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, gloriously naked, Koen was still, his eyes searching the air as he listened to someone on his cell phone. Alisa could tell it was serious as she came back into the room from the bathroom after her shower.
She sat beside him, pulling her hair to her other side away from him, since it was still wet enough to drip water from the ends, and slid her hand into his for support.
He finished the call with a clipped, “Thanks. I’ll let you know.” Then he shut the phone and threw it to the end of the bed.
Looking down at the damp, naked woman who held his hand, he rolled her into his arms and pulled them both back down onto the bed.
“That was a close friend in South Africa. The woman you met last night, the one who asked to speak privately with me?”
“I remember.”
“She tried to murder his wife.”
“Oh, my God, Koen. We need to call the police. This city has a lot of cameras, they may be able to track her.”
“Yeah, we’re on it. Jake already has a team assessing feeds, and he’ll have another team on the ground within eight hours. Damn it! If someone had just let me know sooner, I could have taken her last night!”
“Koen, it’s best to let the authorities handle things like this. Chicago has an excellent police force. Obviously, she is highly dangerous.”
“That’s not how we do it where I’m from. We take care of our own,” he said, almost under his breath like he wasn’t really even talking to her. But Alisa understood.
“I don’t want you to get hurt, “ she said suddenly, worried that fate wasn’t through with her yet.
“No, it’s okay. Really, we know what we’re doing. We come from a long line of enforcement.”
“Oh, you’re in law enforcement! That makes perfect sense.” She paused. “Is your friend’s wife all right?”
“She will be.” He continued a moment later. “She is with child.”
“Oh, Koen, how awful. I assume the baby is okay, too?”
“Remarkably, he is. Alisa, when night comes, I’m going to need to leave you for a few hours.”
“I understand. Do you need help from Chicago’s detectives? I know several in homicide.”
He didn’t like that, but tamped down the jealousy gene that was too dominant in vampire DNA. He trusted
this woman who he would make his mate soon.
“Thank you, but no. My team will handle everything.”
“Are you sure you have jurisdictional clearance?”
“We don’t need it. In my world we clean up our own messes. She’s from our community. We will deal with her.”
That sounded like vigilantism to her, but she needed to stay out of his business. She trusted he knew what he was doing. Besides, if someone had tried to murder someone she cared about, she would feel the same way.
“Okay. Percy has been asking me to meet him for dinner, so I think I’ll go while you’re out.”
“That’s good. And don’t worry about me.” His hand slipped down her side toward her thighs.
“She won’t even know we’re coming after her. It will be too late by the time she does. This will be a piece of cake. And speaking of dessert…”
His fingers arrived at her thighs just as he slid down to cradle them in his hands and lift her up. From that vantage point all she could see was the top half of his head with eyebrows raised, mischief sparkling from his emerald eyes.
“I’m messing up another shower, sorry,” he whispered, and dived in, making her twist her body upward, but only so far, because he still had her thighs trapped in his powerful fingers. Her hands shot behind her to grab the iron bedpost. It reminded her of that night in Paris when she should have known this man would never let her walk away. She succumbed to the moment then, and, swept into ecstasy, her body clenched, and as she came back down, she wondered if they would do this every night for the rest of their time together. She couldn’t think of a better way to die.
Koen came back up to her and pulled her against him, ready to sleep. She pushed back, her butt curved into his manhood, which poked at her, and she wondered if he wanted to make love again. But she could tell he was already asleep, his face buried in her hair. She had discovered that when he fell asleep, it was quick and deep, almost as if someone gave him a sleeping pill that worked instantly. She lay awake listening to him breathe for another half hour before she let herself fall asleep with him.
She’d intended to go down to her office while he slept this morning, and she still would, but for this moment, she couldn’t bring herself to leave him.
Samson whined on the floor beneath the bed, and she pulled out of Koen’s arms long enough to lift him into hers. He nestled against Alisa under Koen’s arm, and the three of them, curled together, fell asleep.
When they rose, Koen kissed Alisa thoroughly and told her he needed to go.
“That’s fine. I wish you luck. Percy can’t join me tonight, so we’re meeting at Mama Giovanni’s tomorrow night. I have a story I wanted to finish, so I’ll work on that while you’re gone.”
He held her face in his hands and looked into those blue eyes he loved so much. “Tomorrow night, when Jacob and Ahmose take over the search, I need to talk with you. There’s something important I want to tell you.”
Koen looked serious. So did Alisa when she nodded. “I have something I need to talk with you about, as well.”
“Okay. Tomorrow night, we’ll meet back here as soon as things are settled with this search and you finish your dinner with Percy.”
Was she finally going to tell him what was wrong?
EIGHTEEN
“Mistress Mercury?”
Windari yawned. What the hell did Number Two want now? He took care of all the details of her life now. Number One took care of sex, and any heavy lifting. But sometimes Number Two just got on her nerves.
“What?” she called from her bed, since it was just past dawn and she had been nearly asleep.
“I wanted to show you something I found. It’s the surveillance you asked me to do.”
Pushing up from the bed, Windari let the sheet drop. So did Number Two’s eyes.
“What is it?” She asked impatiently.
“Someone is looking for you. I was downtown tonight, making arrangements for your second residence, and a young woman came up to me with a photograph. It was you, but with blonde hair. She asked me if I’d seen you around. I followed her and she met back up with that big man you came out of the restaurant with two nights ago. He looked upset.”
Well, no surprise. Windari had expected that eventually someone would let him know what happened in the village and then they would know she was here. That was why she’d had Number Two setting up a second residence. In Los Angeles. She just really wanted to be somewhere where things were happening. She liked these big cities full of busy people and exciting events. The
architecture alone was worth the visit.
This would change that for the time being. If they were this close, they had a better chance of tracking her down. Fucking Koen! She would have to disappear, and not just to L.A. She’d have to leave this country. Which pissed her off, because she really liked it here. Someone as magnificent as she belonged here with what people called movers and shakers, people who shaped the world. Windari wanted these people to see what she was capable of. But now she’d have to consign her gorgeous self to some lousy bug-infested town in South America. The last place they might look. Ahmose knew she hated obscurity. She’d complained enough about it around eight hundred years ago when she tried to convince him and the other first bloods that they were superior to the human race and should rule them.
“We are Gods to them,” she’d argued.
But Ahmose swayed them all to his way of thinking.
“Vampires are honorable, gentle. We have always known we are here to protect this world. The Mother Earth needs allies, and that is why first bloods have the power that we do. Not yet, but someday, the Mother will need us to intervene. We must protect the Mother and all of her children. We are not Gods. We are sentries. We are the just.”
He had turned to Windari. “Sister, you are confused. See with your heart, with the light from the moon. The humans are our brothers and sisters, and children of the Mother, as are we. What can I do to help you see this?”
Windari knew she must submit. She could see in their eyes, the others were with Ahmose. His power and words were strong, and even she was in awe. That was when she first realized he must be hers.
And now, all these centuries later, he hunted her. Well, she’d vanish like smoke on the wind.
“Well, Number Two, it looks like I’m fucked. Get me a vehicle, a common one no one would look twice at, and bring it under the building. No one must see me enter it. No camera must capture my image now. We will leave at nightfall. Pack everything you can into the vehicle. Especially the clothes Number One bought. As soon as I