The Better to Eat You With: The Red Journals

by Cara Villar

  “Like all your females?”

  “Like all my pack members.”

  I wedged my arms between us and crossed them. “I’m not a pack member.”

  His grin turned wicked. “That is easily remedied, darlin’.”

  “Being a brood mare appeals to me no more than having an Alpha, Cujo.”

  Vince laughed. “You don’t have to submit, Red.” His fingers linked together at my spine. “Just—”

  “Just bow and scrape whenever you give a command?” My chin went up, even as the narrowing of his eyes made the heat in my belly flare outwards.

  “If I didn’t command, Red,” he told me softly, leaning down, coming nearly nose to nose with me, “I wouldn’t be Alpha.”

  He’s got a point. Whose side are you on? Libido’s. I hate you.

  “Y’know,” I huffed, “I suppose I could do worse.”

  A blond brow arched. “Don’t hold back, tell me what you really think.”

  A red brow arched. “Do you really want me to go there?”

  “Uh…”

  “Because if I do…”

  “Well…”

  “I might not be able to stop.”

  A heavy sigh.

  “But the bonding could be fun.”

  Vince stared at me with a look that said ‘are you quite done?’ while I looked back in wide-eyed innocence, saying ‘not likely, mate’.

  “Live.” He said.

  I frowned. “Sorry?”

  Vince rolled his eyes. “You get to live, Red.”

  “How magnanimous of you.” Thank bloody fuck for that!

  “You are now a member of October Moon Pack.”

  “October Moon?” I frowned. “As in…Hunter’s Moon?”

  Vince released me, one hand on his own hip, the other rubbing his eyes, like I was causing a head ache or something. “Yes, Red.”

  “I’m surprised you didn’t pick January, since that’s the Wolf Moon.”

  He dropped his hand with a sigh and chose to ignore me. “You’ll meet the council, as they’ve already made known their interest in you.”

  My turn to heave a sigh. “They know about me already?” I asked.

  Vince nodded.

  I winced. “Jeepers…definitely haven’t got any anonymity now.”

  “Losing it was inevitable.”

  “Says you.”

  “Says commonsense.”

  I gaped. “How do you know what that is?”

  He snorted. “Des.”

  I squinted at him. “You lie.”

  He smirked. “You’ll also need to get inked.”

  I blinked up at him.

  “As in, tattooed, darlin’.”

  My mouth dropped open, and he grinned.

  “It’s part of the initiation ceremony.”

  “Is that entirely necessary?” Tattooing for an Immortal was never fun, I’d heard.

  “Oh yes.” He slid his hand up to my hair and fisted my braid on the crown of my head, tilting my head back to meet his icy gaze. “Welcome to the family, Red.” He pressed my body flush to his. “Try not to kill any of my Lieutenants.”

  He was asking a bit much, wasn’t he?

  I stared up at him. At the harsh, undeniably masculine lines of his face. He was fierce, powerful and…oddly composed for a Were. Most werewolves tended to be ruled by their inner beast. Many a claw-slice has been received from those unreasonable creatures who couldn’t see sense, their tempers flaring before their brain could engage. Weres were inherently feral. Vince…wasn’t. If I didn’t know better, I’d have thought him mortal. But his musky scent mixed with that enticing sea salt and sunshine aroma was enough to get my nose twitching on the hell-no’s.

  Among other things.

  “Why?” I asked suddenly, before I even realized I wondered.

  “Because I’m rather fond of them.”

  I smacked his chest.

  Vince’s head tilted in that habitually wolfish way of his, and eyed me back for a moment. He knew what I was really asking. “Because cold-blooded killers don’t go into shock at the sight of a tortured body.”

  The blood drained from my face, ran cold in my veins. I swallowed, opened my mouth to speak. Nothing came out. Such an obvious show of weakness, and this Alpha had noticed, bore witness. The shame of such a thing struck me like a blow to the gut, leaving me winded. A warm hand cupped my cheek, my eyes locked with icy blue again, the outer edges of my vision tinted gold.

  “I am a killer though, Vince.” It surprised me that, despite the softness of my voice, it came out stubborn and not tremulous. “It’s part of the whole bounty-hunter gig.”

  He rolled his eyes, his hand shifting from my cheek to the nape of my neck. “I know that, but there’s a difference between ruthless and psychotic, darlin’.”

  “A very fine line.”

  “Some would think so.”

  “But you’d know if I was on the down-slope?”

  “I’d know.”

  “How?”

  “Well,” he all but purred, leaning in close, “you wouldn’t smell like orange chocolate, for one.”

  I tried to scowl at him, even as my body shivered at the intensity in his eyes and the suggestion in his voice. It all said he wanted to gobble me up and I’d be egging him on while he did.

  I’m starting to think that smelling edible is so-o-o not in my favor.

  I jerked when a knock came from the door, and the handle jiggled. A disgruntled sigh sounded from the other side, and a sour sounding Des mumbled, “Time to go, V.”

  My lips twitched.

  “So put the hybrid down.”

  My brows shot up in surprise.

  “She didn’t call me wolf-killer!” I whispered, grinning and practically bouncing on the spot, my excitement over being rid of the awful nickname ridiculously overwhelming.

  Vince grinned and called out, “Be right out.”

  “You almost sounded sincere.” I smirked.

  “I was telling the truth.”

  “Yes, but are you now?”

  “I haven’t decided yet.”

  “You think too much.”

  “And you don’t think enough.”

  I frowned. “I don’t think that’s entirely accurate.”

  “Please,” he snorted. “You have the attention span of a gnat.”

  “If I do, how come we’re still talking?”

  He grinned wickedly again, “Because I’m also as captivating as you think I am.”

  Arrogant dog. “’Captivating’ is generally used to describe women.”

  “Fascinating, then.”

  “No, no.” I grinned. “Let’s stick with captivating. Then I can think of you as my bitch.”

  Vince’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t push, darlin’.”

  I gave him the innocent look again. “Why, I don’t know what you mean, Cujo.”

  He heaved another sigh, shook his head, and turned for the door. “Pack your heat, Red. We’re moving out.”

  I watched his ass the whole way down the hall.

  21

  Ambrose was due to arrive at Emerald City in fifteen minutes.

  Jade was out on the main floor catering to the Vampire’s entourage.

  Lydia, the snake Shifter, was due out on stage in twenty minutes. Being an exotic creature, and going by Ambrose’s profile of biting anything unusual and living, we knew he’d make a bee-line for her stage. The whole idea of it gave me the heebees.

  Vince was conferring with his lieutenants and the security staff for when the ‘event’ happened, making sure everything ran like clockwork. His clear cut focus on making sure it all went smoothly was bordering on military, maybe even obsessive compulsive, but I wasn’t going to argue. There was this weird charge in the air, a shimmer of unease. My gut instinct was saying that something was going to happen and it wasn’t going to be good. I think Vince felt the same. The moment he’d stepped into the club, he’d tensed right up.

  I didn’t have the heart to tel
l him that there were some things you just couldn’t plan for.

  Felix was in the room next door, scrutinizing all the monitors for first glimpse of Ambrose, his coffee and ice aroma steadily filling the room and providing an unrelenting source of comfort to me.

  I didn’t analyze that too closely either.

  I was currently perched on the arm of Fletch’s super computer, watching him enthusiastically try to break the code on Natasha’s clever USB, my mind contemplating that damn Vampire. My heart still ached from the things he’d said after I danced, healing from wounds akin to being dragged across gravel behind a horse cart. And yet, he’d been so careful with me since, so warm. I thought once I saw regret in his eyes, but I wasn’t sure. All I knew for sure was that his scent was all around me and his blood tingled in my veins if I concentrated hard enough.

  And that I kind of wanted a hug.

  I briefly heard Jade’s voice in the next room with Felix, and then my Blackberry vibrated in my back pocket. Grinning, I pulled it out and opened Jade’s message.

  Jade: So which one did you dry-hump? The wolf or the vamp?

  Me: The vamp.

  I smirked. The reply came a few minutes later, and I couldn’t suppress the giggle that bubbled out of me when I saw it.

  She’d sent me a picture of Felix’s butt as he’d been leaning over a monitor. The tight black jeans did not leave much to the imagination; especially from the low angle Jade had floated her phone at with her telekinesis.

  “You sister is wicked,” I murmured to Fletch.

  His mouth quirked. “I can sense her mischief. And her amusement,” he replied, and glanced at my phone screen. He frowned. “Why did she send you a picture of the vamp’s ass?”

  “Why, indeed?”

  I jerked my phone into my lap as Felix appeared at my side. I scowled up at his enquiring expression even as I flushed. “Ask Jade.”

  “Dry-hump!” Jade’s instant reply came from the other room. Fletch snickered as I dropped my burning face into my hands.

  “Nothing but humiliation since I got here,” I mumbled.

  Felix laughed and slid his warm hand into one of mine, though I tried to resist uncovering my face, and he tugged me off my perch. “Come with me, pet.”

  Seeing the playful sparkle in his eyes made dark by the blue of Fletch’s tech-station, I allowed him to lead me into the other room, past a sniggering Jade, out into the corridor, and then down it to another door.

  “What are we doing?” I asked suspiciously as Felix opened the door and tugged me in. Expecting a supply closet or something equally high school-esque, I was momentarily surprised to find an office. All stainless steel, modern shapes, bright flashes of lime green accents and Jade’s white orchid aroma.

  Then Felix was spinning me to face him, pressing me into his solid body from chest to knee, his scent mixing with mine, producing a perfume that had my senses zinging around in my nervous system like sparks of lightning. I exhaled a shuddering breath as I looked up into his face and saw his pupils blown wide. The bright emerald and lime of his irises ringed in sparkling gold nothing but faint halos. His breath skated over my cheeks, his lips brushing me, and I could barely catch my breath when my heart stopped, then pounded.

  “Felix?”

  “I think there’s something we need to do,” Felix said, being annoyingly vague. Not helped by his unrelenting ability to frazzle my brainwaves when we got that close.

  I hope he sniffs me. Down girl.

  “Oh?” I replied inanely, unable to take my eyes off his, not when his sudden excitement was perfuming the air around me, making my heart pound as my nostrils flared. Jeepers…I can practically taste him.

  “Oh, aye, pet.” His voice dropped to a deep, husky burr, making his east-London accent roll over me like the wicked caress it was intended to be.

  I shivered against him, sliding my hands up his arms to his nape while his burned through the clothes on my back. I curled my fingers into his hair, reveling in the sizzle in my blood that felt better than anything had in years. Decades. Where before even flirting felt like a betrayal to my first love, everything with Felix felt…right. Like this was what I’d been waiting for, saving myself for. The person I am right now, with the right male, felt right.

  “Then what the bloody hell are you waiting for?” I demanded in a breathless whisper, and the gold in his eyes flashed with amusement before his lips claimed mine.

  And, jeepers, did he claim! Right down to my Immortal bounty hunter toes!

  He swooped in and took what he wanted, his lips soft yet firm on mine, demanding and controlling—just like the Vampire himself. He cupped the back of my head, tilted me just the way he wanted, and then slipped his tongue into my mouth.

  My eyes flew wide at the taste of him. Coffee. Anise. Ice.

  It blasted through me, lightning in my bloodstream, coursing through me like a bolt of electricity and making every nerve-ending hum with elation.

  My lashes fluttered closed, and I gave myself over to Felix’s lips, his tongue, and the feel of his fangs scraping against mine. The warm press of his hands at my back, his body at my front, and the cool, crisp feel of his hair in my hands. I pushed up on the tips of my toes to press myself closer, wanting to drown in his flavor, sucking in the scent of him, swallowing the taste, wanting to always not know the zesty essence of this Vampire.

  I sighed against his mouth and felt him smile against mine. His arms slid more firmly around me and held me tight as his lips brushed mine again in a taunting caress.

  “How was that?” he murmured softly, and my eyes peeked open, my mind whirling until my head flopped back, the only thing keeping me standing was him.

  “So worth the wait,” I whispered, then licked my lips to savor him.

  His golden green gaze dropped to my mouth, and I flinched at the sharp nip he gave my lower lip. “I don’t like to share, Red,” He said, and I slowly brought my head forward to look at him.

  “What are you saying?” I asked him slowly, enunciating each word.

  “If you want to keep getting kisses from me,” Felix purred, his head dipping to tease along the line of my jaw, with the promise of more, “Then you can’t get any more from Vince.”

  I scowled, indignation and irritation flaring up to do battle inside me. “He kissed me.”

  “Like I just kissed you.”

  “I kissed you back.”

  “You kissed him back too.”

  “I won’t next time.”

  His grip on me tightened as he growled into my throat. “Is there going to be a next time?”

  I grinned as I went back up on my tiptoes, tugging him upright by his hair. “Not if I can help it.” I nibbled the enticing corner of his mouth, flicked my tongue out at the flash of a dimple when he smiled. Jeepers, he tastes good.

  “So, no kissing the Alpha?” He pressed.

  I pulled back to look at him. “Not a chance, mate.” Unable to resist, I leaned up and sucked his lower lip, my tongue coated in coffee, anise and ice as fast as that. I practically moaned. “I much prefer your flavor.”

  Give up the wolf’s kisses for the Vampire’s? Shouldn’t be hard. Much. Shuddup.

  Felix was just about to give me another thorough kissing when a knock sounded at the door, and Jade’s voice drifted through, “He’s here.”

  We both froze, all thoughts of kissing, promises, and need falling flat. Thoughts of Ambrose and everything he’d done in the short time I’d been on the hunt were like a bucket of cold water over my head. Felix and I simultaneously stepped away from each other, pulling our game faces on and internally prepping for business.

  Felix grinned over at me, dimples flashing as he held out his hand. “Ready to play, Wendy?”

  As I always seemed to be doing lately, I slid my hand into his without hesitation. “Game on, Alistair.”

  Flicking up my red hood, I move out of Fletch’s control room and out onto the main floor of the club. The electro-beat of the music was a deep
throb rumbling through the crowd and into my body, making my adrenaline begin to rush, my blood sing, and my heart race. The stimuli was intoxicating, and the urge to run, to chase, to take down my prey began to sizzle deep inside me, down in my gut, soul-deep, and almost too good to resist. I inhaled sharply, taking in the flavors on the wind, tasting the heady aroma that the fire of life, alcohol and music could generate.

  I wanted to play.

  The crowd seemed to move in slow motion as my senses heightened, clarified, and took in everything. The music had a violin under-tone, peaking with the bass in my ears and making me want to mingle through the crowd and dance, rub up against, touch and be touched. The humans called to me, their blood, their sweat, their excitement, fuelling the rush of the hunt, calling to the wolf in me. Making me touch-hungry, blood-thirsty…

  But the wolf resisted, searching for her pack.

  Jade was moving around the floor, talking with clients, as expected with the owner.

  Felix was slumped at the bar, apparently nursing his drink, but when his eyes met mine, they were clear and provocative.

  Vince sat alongside a stage, opposite the Vampire, having a five dollar bill removed from his mouth by the breasts of a dancer. He grinned teasingly, then glanced over and winked at me.

  Des and Mark were in a back, in a booth, and the she-man actually looked feminine. She was pawing all over Mark while he drunkenly called for a lap dance. But as I passed, they both met my gaze, and the sharp focus of predators on the prowl was evident in their intelligent gazes.

  In the middle of it all, Lydia was dancing right at the tip of the main stage. Her shimmering snake-skin spine rippled in the disco lights. Surrounded by nearly a dozen Vampires in suits with little com units in their ears, plumes of cigar smoke rising from his private booth, was Ambrose.

  As I got closer, approaching from behind the booth, the scent of the cigar was spicy rich and smoky, blended with the now familiar and revolting scent of pine needles and snow. It was the ultimate in decadent flavors, and it coated my tongue like a silk blanket as I exhaled and looked up at the mountain of a male that was one of his security guards. He stared back at me, his hazel eyes narrowed, his nostrils flaring.