by Cara Villar
Damn Vampires. This time though... this time I only let her because I was lulled by the sound of running water and the soft whisper of splashing…
Felix… Naked… Wet… Bad Kitty.
As casually as I could, concentrating mainly on keeping my heart steady as I wonder up the stairs, passed smiling, laughing meals-on-wheels, following followed Felix’s scent. Something I could probably have done in my sleep. The hall was empty as I approached his door, and my keen hearing picked out the distinct sound of the shower running. Glancing around, cocking an ear to listen to ensure no one else neared, I shifted over to stroll right by, smoothly clasped my fingers around the handle, bent it and silently slipped into his room.
Soundlessly pressing my back to the closed door, I sucked in a sharp breath. The rich, spicy aroma filling the room was heady and almost as intoxicating as the male it emanated from. If I had had the time, I’d bask in the decadent perfume until it was embedded in my skin. The male was very distracting, maybe too distracting, because I’d caught myself wondering as of late what my scent and his would smell like when combined.
And there are only a couple ways to make that happen.
Clamping down on the desire to purr, I scanned the room, keeping a close ear open to the sounds coming from the bathroom. Taking in all the dark cherry wood, casual and comfy furniture, as well as the rich, deep colors of the room, I suffered a stuttering moment of mild surprise.
I had not expected Felix’s room to have shimmering teal silk pillows, a deep chocolate colored faux fur throw, or rich, dark purple velvet curtains against ruby red and gold bed linen. The glossy wood of his slay bed, strewn with luscious materials begging for a feel and surrounded by comfort in all its vibrant glory, brought to mind things that were entirely inappropriate, and I found myself wasting several moments just fantasizing! I could just imagine how wonderfully those bright shades would bring out each iridescent facet of his skin as he sprawled across them… beckoning… provocative... wanton...
Focus! Jeez, short attention span much?
“Red?”
My head swiveled sharply to the bathroom door. It was slightly ajar, and sounds of running water oozed with every gentle puff of steam.
“Red, that you?” Felix’s deep English drawl jacked my heart rate to hyper-speed, my panic quick to follow.
How the hell did he know it was me?
And then I saw the keys, sparkling like a treasure on the large, cherry wood cabinet to my left. Dashing over and swiping them up, I pivoted and raced for the door as I heard the shower trickle off. My heart, stomach and lungs lurched into my throat as I swung the door shut behind me, as silently as I’d entered, and beat feet like an escaped convict down to the foyer.
“Red!” Felix’s sudden growl had me cutting off a squeak of the oh-shits, and for a brief moment I wondered how I had even heard him over the mad rushing pound of my blood in my ears.
The door banged against the wall when I yanked it open and plunged myself into the dark space beyond, descending at warp-speed down the concrete stairs to the underground garage. Halogen lights blinked on when I hit the bottom, and I fumbled the keys in my hand.
Lights blinked again just ahead of me for an instant. My mouth fell open.
A Maserati GTO? Of course. In black, too.
Not giving myself a moment to admire and inspect the delicious beast of modern machinery, I leapt forward, pulled the door open...up?
Oooohhh suicide doors, nice modification!
I slid into buttery soft, black leather seats trimmed in a bright red.
Body says, Can I orgasm now? Mind says, Oh, hell yeah. Libido says, Already there.
Starting the car, it roared to life with enough enthusiasm to make me shiver, and I warily pressed the button remote clipped to the visor, beaming as the garage door started to lift.
“Come on, come on, come on!” I bounced in the seat, part-excitement and adrenaline, part-fear at the prospect of being caught. Felix had sounded pissed and I so-o-o did not want to confront him, especially as I was about to steal his car.
Serves him right, I grumbled inwardly, ignoring me.
Shifting into first, I shot out of the parking space just as he burst from the stairwell. His fingers, I was sure, skimming the back of the car.
Was that a tattoo? Don’t get distracted!
Blazing up the ramp at a speed probably not ideal, the car bounced and skidded onto the driveway. I cringed at what the scraping noise could have been before shifting again and blasting toward the gate in the distance, gravel rattling against the undercarriage.
My heart was still hammering, my breath sawing in and out of my mouth till my lungs burned, and my hands clenched the wheel. I kept looking in the rear-view mirror, checking to see if Felix was racing down the drive after me. I felt a brief pang of regret about what I was doing, and doggedly reminded myself that, however much a guest I was treated as, I had still been a prisoner. I couldn’t handle the confined space, and I had tried to speak with them about it, and they had brushed me off. What did they expect me to do? Sit around like a meek little kitten? I’m a wolf!
They had this attempt coming, and like hell was I going to make my re-acquisition easy for them. I’m not an unreasonable person. All I wanted from any of them was an explanation for why I had to stay locked up and hidden away like some dirty little secret. Instead, I was treated like…like…an outsider.
Ouch.
Yes. It hurt. It surprised me how much it hurt. My pounding heart squeezed in my chest at the thought that, though I had been welcomed with open arms, I was held at arm’s length, never fully embraced. But then, wasn’t that exactly what I had given them? A distant acquaintance? I’d made no attempt to become anything warm with Porcia, Osiris or Frost. Why should I have expected the same from them?
“I don’t need them.” I told myself sternly, teeth clenched. “I only need me.”
Resolve renewed, I shoved away all guilt at having gone back on my word with Felix and left the house. As the gates came ever closer, the flare of freedom was so close —my home, my bed, and my clothes—that it burned hot and insistent. A smile was just spreading over my face, my foot easing down on the throttle to go faster, when the car jolted to a stop, throwing me hard against the steering wheel. It was wonder the airbag didn’t blow up in my face!
A flash of furious green-gold eyes and suddenly the whole vehicle lurched. I screamed as the car flipped upside down, sending me tumbling hard onto my head, the sound of the roaring engine carrying on running with no purchase for its tires.
What the royal fuck? He just lifted the goddamned car!
Righting myself, I clambered for the door handle, my hands trembling with the new rush of adrenaline thrumming through me at the break-neck speed my heart was going. I shoved open the door, which was so-o-o not easy with a suicide door, wedging it in the ground. I toppled out of the car as it came to a gentle rest on the grass lining the driveway, then popped to unsteady feet and took off running. A quick glance over my shoulder showed me a glaring Felix hot on my tail.
It was a tattoo! Something to trace with my tongue?
Concentrate!
“Red!” I heard Felix shout after me as I took off running. “Stop!”
Hell, no. Do I look a couple sandwiches short of a picnic?
I ran faster, bursting into the trees, reckless with my need to get away. I dodged trees, shrubs, wildlife, hearing nothing but my heart beat, my panting breaths, and Felix shouting after me. My mind screamed at me that if I just kept going, I’d get away eventually.
But how long could I last?
I was already flagging, and he was faster. My Vampire speed and wolf endurance couldn’t last long at that velocity. But if I slowed down, Felix would catch me. Gritting my teeth, I pumped my arms and legs harder, plowing through the pain starting to burn through lungs to limbs.
“Red!”
WTF?
Slam!
I cried out, and was bouncing right off it an
d onto my ass before I even registered what it was. When a hard-as-steel hand clamped around my upper-arm, yanking me back, I finally looked up.
How the hell did he get in front of me?
Bright green and gold eyes blazing with ire glared down at me, heat radiating off a half-naked body.
Damn, he’s fast.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Felix snapped, both his hands on both my arms, giving me an infuriated shake.
All I heard was the throbbing of my blood in my ears as I stared into his harsh features, my own anger rising, along with a hefty dose of unwanted liquid fire. I ignored the latter and went with the former. Who the hell was he to demand answers from me when I never got any in return? I was no more than a kept pet in that house, kept ignorant of anything and everything, whether it concerned me or not. I felt my face scrunch into a furious expression as gold began to sparkle in my vision.
“Me?” I screeched, shoving him hard enough to make him stumble back. “What about you? I’ve been stuck in that house for three days and not a single one of you will give me any answers!” I shoved him again, but this time he didn’t move. My hands simply hit rock-hard flesh with a stark slap of skin on skin. “How could you think I wouldn’t try to get out? Hmm? I’m not a fucking house cat! I’m a fucking person!”
Is he barefoot?
“Dammit, Red.” He gripped my wrists and jerked me forward, pinning my arms behind my back and effectively pressing me flush to him. Liquid fire became molten lava. Instantly, the heat pouring off him seeped into me, warming me in places he had no goddamned right to touch. “You need to stay here for your own protection.”
“Bullshit!” I snapped. “Bullshit! I spent over three hundred years living with who and what I am with no interference from anyone else!” I tugged at his grip on my arms, needing to get away from him, needing to not be pressed up close to something I wanted to ravage with my tongue. “I survived on my own with no one else to help me! Why the hell would I need protecting now?”
“Three hundred?” Felix snarled. “You led us to believe you were nothing but a sprog in the Immortal World!”
“So that gives you the right to confine me like some pampered tabby with nothing but tidbits of information as treats for good behavior?” I yanked at his grip. “Fuck you, Felix! You and your coven took away my decisions.”
“And you let us!”
“As if you had a right to! Without even asking me! And without even giving me the courtesy of answering some of my questions!” I rammed my knee up, but he shifted sideways and tumbled me to my back. Easy as that.
Gah! Damn Vampires!
I was barely able to grunt at the impact before my arms were pinned above my head and Felix was straddling my hips—in nothing but sweat pants and a big-ass tribal tattoo that beckoned my tongue like the biggest of chocolate fudge sundaes.
Down girl.
I glared up at him and said, “Your obsession with pinning me down is unhealthy.”
A smirk, “But the view is spectacular.” His gaze dipped to my breasts and my skin flushed.
Dammit!
When all I did was glare some more, Felix heaved a dramatic, put-out sigh and replied, “I’ll have you know, pet, that not all females are treated thus by me. I’m actually one of their favorites.”
Arrogant gutter shite!
“Ah,” I snorted. “I forgot. I’m special.” Whether he took that to mean his treatment of me or that he was not one of my favorites, I didn’t care.
He leaned down towards me, his nose bare inches from mine. “Red. Why did you run?” His voice was so low, so smooth, whispering over my skin like a caress that brought every membrane up in gooseflesh. Yet, his tone was hard, uncompromising. I hated it.
Tilting my chin up defiantly, I replied, “What does it matter? I didn’t get away.” My eyes narrowed. “How did you know I was in your room?”
“I smelled you.”
He what now? “I’m sorry?”
“You’re forgiven.”
I scowled. “I didn’t think Vampires’ sense of smell was that good.”
“It’s not,” he answered, without elaboration.
“Then how did you smell me? You were in the bloody shower!”
Jesus H Christ, his hands are like vices! Want to be free…to touch him? Bad kitty.
“You have a very distinct aroma, pet.” As if to emphasize his point, he dipped down and nuzzled my neck. Again. I shivered despite myself. Then he murmured, his voice smoky-rich and drugging, “Like Trinitario cacao and orange groves in summer...”
His nose and lips brushed my skin. Soft, intimate touches that had my nipples popping up with a determinedly perky, hallo-o-o!
“Earthy spice and citrus….”
I could feel my pulse hammering in my throat, and my breath was coming faster. His lips were so close, his body pressing down, the heat of him lapped at me in the most divine of waves. I couldn’t think, could only imagine. All this sensation was enthralling, and no matter how much I tried to remember, I simply could not recall why I had ever wanted to get away from him.
“Felix?” Barely a whisper, and yet all I could manage. My skin was smoldering, liquefying, ravenous. I didn’t know what to do about it, so I just let myself burn. It felt too good, too unnaturally, unwelcomingly, decadently good.
“Hmm?” His breath swept my skin as his lips moved up to the sensitive spot below my ear.
Well, it was only sensitive when he was sniffing me, and I shivered anew, my body doing a little ripple beneath him in response. My nipples brushed his bare chest, and tiny zings of holy-crap-do-that-again whipped through me, making me arch up for more.
“Let—”
Suddenly he sat up, still and tense, a predator on the lookout. His head turned towards the house a split-second later, and Osiris appeared almost instantly. I sagged onto the ground, cheeks burning for a whole different reason and wishing to hell the ground would just open up and swallow me already.
Well, shit…is that my arousal scenting the air? Sniff, sniff… Yep. Awkwa-a-ard.
“Felix,” Osiris said, his tone maddeningly calm as he arched a brow and pressed his fingertips together, regarding us. “Why is the Maserati on its top on the lawn?”
With his hands still gripping my wrists to the ground, Felix replied calmly, “I had an altercation.”
Wow. Anyone would think Osiris had just asked him if he thought it would rain today.
Black eyes turned to me next, and studied me like a bug, or prey.
“Red, where were you planning to run to?” he asked. The calmness in his tone, and the unfailing grip in Felix’s hands, doused all thoughts of half-naked men, and fired up my previous ire at my own situation. Granted, I may have accepted that I was no longer alone, but like hell was I accepting that I was nothing but a freakin’ prisoner.
“Home!” I snapped loudly, yanking on my arms. “To get my own clothes! And my own toothbrush! And to check my goddamned emails!” Felix was frowning down at me. Osiris was staring impassively. I snapped my teeth at both and bucked. “Some of us do actually have to work, and my clients have expectations for what they pay me!” Unable to buck Felix off, I leaned up as far as my neck and shoulders would allow and barked in his face, “Just like the people who provide my electric, gas and water expect to be paid on time!”
I flopped back on the ground, breathing hard. The silence following that was profound, and absolute. Both men had obviously expected my escape attempt to be something nefarious. Neither had expected it to simply be because I was going out of my goddamned mind.
“I’m a nester, dammit! I need my things. I’m bored without my own stuff.”
Felix released me. The instant my hands were free, I shoved him off, and was mildly gratified when he stumbled back, surprised, and landed on his butt.
“Why didn’t you just say so?” Osiris asked me calmly, and my mouth fell open. Literally, the shock at his response left me making like a fish for several moments
before I finally popped to my feet with an indignant screech.
“I did!” I squawked again. “Every bleedin’ hour for the past two days!”
A fine brow arched up on his tanned face, but he made no response to me, merely turned his to Felix. “Take her home, help her pack whatever she requires, and then return. Vincent is due this evening.”
I made like a fish again. Home. My stuff. Home. My stuff. Can I get a woop-woop?
“Osiris.” Felix halted the other Vampire as he went to turn away. Osiris blinked calmly as he waited. “I have news for you.”
A thrill of excitement reverberated through me, stretching a smile across my face as I thought about fresh underwear and my—now favorite—orange scented shampoo, my coats, tops, skirts and jeans, and my DC footwear collection. Oh! And my iPad and DVD’s too! I could almost squeal.
I wonder if I should raid my weapons stash to bring back with me.
“You have made progress in your hunt?”
Hunt? That one word alone jolted me from my mental packing. I tilted my head to listen, to clarify their conversation as the two Vampires turned to walk back to the house.
“Yes. My lead proved true. Chicago is the next stop.”
“Who’re you hunting?” I asked casually. Both men looked at me. I gave them my most winning smile.
Felix frowned. “Red, why don’t you go on up to the house.”
“Nuh-uh.” I was already shaking my head. “I do this for a living. I can help.” They both looked skeptical. “I can get references if you really need them, but I’m pretty sure a copy of my bank statement will prove more telling.”
They shared a glance. Felix looked reluctant, but Osiris was staring at me as if I was the newest bug in his collection. Again. I squirmed. The idea of a hunt, any hunt, after several days of physical but mental idleness, was enough to make my adrenaline surge with excitement. My mind was already turning with wonder at whom they could possibly be chasing, mentally scanning through my last couple of emails, wondering if any of them were from these guys.