The males nodded.
“If there are no further questions, I think that we can close this meeting,” Brant concluded.
Zane folded his arms. “Everybody out. I want a word with Lance. Titan?”
The big male turned back.
“Three o’clock. Be here.”
“Yes, my lord.” He looked nervous. Like they were sending him to hell instead of to work with a bunch of pussy humans.
Griffin gave him a slap on the back as he walked past. He didn’t deserve such friends as these.
Titan was the last to leave; he closed the door behind himself.
“Do I also have to leave, my lord?” Brant growled.
“Fuck you,” Zane retorted. “Just because someone calls me the king doesn’t mean they are forgetting about you. So damned dramatic. You can stay, my lord.” He barked out a laugh.
“I have better places to be.” Brant gave Lance a dirty look. “For the record, I was against this decision as well. I gave Zane the benefit of the doubt…not you. Don’t make me regret it.” The male put his jacket back on and fastened the buttons. He pulled his tie tighter, gave Zane a nod and left.
Zane sighed. The male ran a hand over his face.
“Forgive me but you look really fucking tired.” Lance had to smile.
Zane yawned. He yawned some more. Not something Lance ever thought he would see. After he scrubbed his face for a second time, Zane looked him head on. “Please, please…by all that is fucking red…don’t fuck this up. The human females are important. If anything goes wrong…”
“I’ve got this.” Lance meant every word.
“I would prefer it if you were on this twenty-four seven. The scent of a human is all over you but I’m assuming that if I pull you from The Program that you’ll be okay with it. Our Public Relations Consultant, Alex…you’ve met Lazarus’ mate?”
“Yeah, we’ve met. She did that misleading piece on me in the Sweetwater paper.”
“Yeah, her. She mentioned that you might want out. I want to pull you, is what I’m trying to say.”
“No.” It came out more harshly than he intended.
“I didn’t realize that you were seeing someone.” He narrowed his eyes. “Is it serious?”
“No, but I’m not ready to end it yet.”
Zane looked confused, his nostrils flared again. “I don’t want you fucking around with a whole lot of humans and causing shit. Part of the reason Brant and I decided on you was because you’ve been keeping your nose clean on the human front. Hell, as far as I can tell, on every front. Am I wrong now?”
“Relax. It’s only one female. We have an agreement.”
Zane grinned. “Interesting. One female. I’m shocked.”
Lance scowled. “Well don’t be. We fuck…often. End of story.”
“Did you get my invite?” His king leaned forward.
Lance nodded. The invite. It was how it had all started. Amber had brought the thing to him after he’d dropped it, trying to keep those males from fighting over her. Idiots.
“Good. Did you see that it’s plus one?” The male smirked.
Lance had to work not to roll his eyes.
Zane sighed. “It would be good if you took this human female. You have my permission to include her.”
“Are you sure? Because I don’t think your guests would like it when I hitch her skirt. We’ll try not to make too much noise but I think they would notice my dick inside her. We don’t date, neither do we make small talk. We just fuck.”
Zane smiled. “I get it. Are you sure you don’t feel something for her?”
“Yes. Very fucking sure.” Lance sighed. “What is it with you and Griff? You’re both on me about this. It’s not exclusive. It’s not a real relationship.”
Zane raised his brows. “Yet you’re not fucking anyone else?”
“There hasn’t been much of a chance.” Right now, there was no one else he wanted more but he wasn’t about to tell Zane that. As it turned out, the male was a hopeless romantic and would take it the wrong way.
“Sounds exclusive to me.” Zane shrugged.
“It’s not,” he bit out, feeling defensive. “I’ve had enough of that word for one fucking day. I don’t do exclusive.”
“Thing is…” Zane looked far too serious for his liking. Shit, the male also looked nervous. “We’ve decided, with my mate’s urgings, to invite the leaders of the other species.” His king gripped Lance’s wrist. “We need to work on relations between the other species. Like it or not the wolf alpha is leader of the shifters. I know that you can’t stand Ward. That you see him as…”
Lance waited for the rage to hit him. He tensed in anticipation for the hot flush, the surge, yet it never came. What the fuck? Maybe he had crossed some sort of line. Maybe he was recovering, after all. No, he definitely was. Though it was still a shock not to react strongly. “I don’t hate him,” he said, shocked to find that he believed it. He didn’t exactly want to sit down and have a pow wow with the motherfucker but neither did he want to beat him to death with his own limbs. Not anymore. He sucked in a deep breath, over the fucking moon that he could really breathe for the first time in a long fucking time.
Zane frowned, a little bit suspicious but gave a nod of acceptance. “Good to know. Stephany and the children will be in attendance also.” His king actually winced when he said it.
But Lance’s blood didn’t pump faster at the mention of his ex-mate. His vision remained clear and his heart didn’t clench painfully. “I’m fine with it.”
“Are you sure? Because you need to be one hundred percent fucking sure. Nothing can go wrong to interfere with species relations. If not, then—”
He clasped Zane by the arm. It wasn’t something he had done in a long while. It might land him on his ass but he’d take his chances. This was still his friend, despite everything. “I’m sure. You can count on me. I am honored that you want me to be your son’s godfather, honored that you still believe in me. I understand the need to build on relations with the other species and why you invited them. I’m good.”
Zane looked him in the eye for a long while. “Well okay then.” He shrugged. “I’m relieved.”
“You had better freaking mean it,” a feminine voice sounded from across the room. “If you are rude to even one of my guests.” The queen pointed her finger at him. “Hell, if you are rude to one of the staff, I’ll crush your—”
“Lance will be on his best behavior, sweetness. I assure you. Where is my son?”
Tanya wheeled the stroller in. She put a finger over her lips. “Shhhh….he’s sleeping.” She smiled.
Females, they were a strange bunch. She just finished yelling at him not a half a minute ago and now she was telling them to be quiet. It didn’t make sense.
“Still takes his midday nap like clockwork.” With that, she wheeled the stroller through to another room.
“Well, that went okay.” Zane sighed. “She was quite nice to you, considering.”
“I heard that,” Tanya said as she walked back in. “I won’t take any shit. I understand that emotions were high. That you had just died and were in a bad place. You know what… I don’t understand. The things you did.” She looked at him with such disappointment. “Awful, cruel, demented.”
“I am deeply ashamed.” Lance bowed his head. “I can only hope that Stephany will be able to forgive me some day.” He meant it. He finally felt free. Ready to face his past head on.
“I wouldn’t count on it.” Tanya pursed her lips for a second. “Zane wants you as godfather to his son. I’ve done everything to try and change his mind. Everything.” She looked at her nails. “He wouldn’t budge.” Her eyes blazed.
“You’re killing me, Ysnaar.” Zane sounded pained. “Please can we move on? Please can you try and understand?”
It was both hilarious and disconcerting watching a grown male, an alpha in his prime, bow down to a small, weak female. It was laughable.
She stared at her ma
te for a second, her expression hard. Then it softened, her whole demeanor softened. “It’s been just as hard on me as well. I miss you.” She sighed.
Oh damn.
This was his cue. Yet again. Twice in one fucking day.
“No…” Zane growled. “I assure you that it’s been way harder on me.”
“You poor baby.” Such a ridiculous endearment. Humans loved it. He’d used it on them himself a few times and they lapped it up.
Tanya plonked herself on Zane’s lap and wrapped her hands around his neck.
“Can I be excused?” Lance stood up. Fuck! He couldn’t just leave. Zane might be his friend but he was still the king. He needed to be dismissed first.
Zane ignored him and nuzzled into his mate’s neck. One of his big hands squeezed her breast. Great. Zane would have his balls if he didn’t leave but he might have his balls if he left without being dismissed. The male was clearly no longer thinking clearly. No longer thinking, period.
“Um…my lady… I know you’re used to a third person in the room at such times but have mercy on me.” Lance growled his frustration as he watched the queen straddle Zane.
Tanya broke the kiss. “Why are you still here?”
“Go away,” Zane growled. “We’ll chat later.” He added between sloppy kisses.
Thank fuck. He high tailed it out of there, glad he was no longer a Royal Guard. Standing outside those double doors could be pure torture.
Chapter 12
“How long have you been a part of the Elite Team?” Amber gave a shake of the head when the waiter tried to put a dessert plate in front of her. “No, thank you.” She added the last with a smile.
“It’s a dark chocolate torte and coffee ice cream with a caramel brittle. It’s the chef’s specialty.” Brynn smiled.
“I can’t believe how much you guys eat,” she said. “I really thought that you were all on liquid diets only.”
“Nah, we eat. Some of us more than others. We only really need a small amount of food but we wouldn’t be able to cope long-term without blood. Those of us that train daily and have higher muscle mass need more food, and more blood as well.” He paused, thanking the waiter as he put down a piece of pie. It looked amazing but she stuck to her guns. All of these three course meals were just too much. She didn’t need dessert every day.
“Vampires have ultra-fast metabolisms,” he added, as he picked up his fork.
“I noticed,” she mumbled, feeling a little envious at the narrow hips and lean physiques. They were pure muscle. Not an ounce of fat on any of them.
Brynn laughed. “It can be a bit of a pain. Blood both feeds and helps to slow down our metabolisms enough so that we can absorb the food we eat. If we don’t feed regularly our systems go into overdrive.”
“Bloodlust becomes a problem.”
He looked at her sideways. “They did a good job in training I see. Yup, bloodlust would become a factor.”
“They covered the most important things.” She gave a small shrug. “So, how long have you been an Elite?”
He looked shy for a moment, looking down at his plate instead of at her. Then he forked off a piece of chocolate tart before looking back at her. “A few weeks.”
“New then, wow, and you made The Program?” She was impressed. Brynn did strike her as a bit younger than the rest. “We were told that only the strongest, most badass vampires make it.”
He blushed. What a sweet guy. “Yeah well, I was involved in an incident some time back. My right arm was blown off and I lost part of my face.”
Amber gasped. She could feel that her eyes were wide. “That can’t be.” She touched his arm and it felt completely normal.
Brynn laughed. “My arm is real, I assure you. We have the ability to regenerate lost limbs, teeth, hair.” He paused. “Didn’t they teach you that in training before coming here?”
She shook her head. “No, that was not part of the curriculum.”
“Yup. The vehicle we were traveling in was hit by a short-range missile. I was lucky to be on the passenger side in the front because the vehicle was hit on the left.”
“Where did it happen? Why on earth would someone do that? Were they found? The guys that did it, that is.” She sounded like a blithering idiot but that couldn’t be helped.
Brynn held up a hand and smiled. “Um… I can’t tell you where it happened or why it happened. That’s classified.” He turned his eyes to the ceiling for a moment. “I probably shouldn’t even be telling you any of this; but it’s a bit late now, so I might as well finish. The guys who shot us were found, and that’s all I can say on that.”
“Good, I hope they’re rotting in jail.”
He lifted his eyebrows to signal that he couldn’t speak about it.
“Sorry, I’ll stop asking all these questions.”
“Thank you.” He smiled, looking relieved. “I’ll tell you what I can. The missile hit. It blew the vehicle up. We rolled a number of times. The SUV caught on fire. It was bad.” A haunted look crossed his face. “I managed to kick out the front windshield, which was surprisingly still attached. Badly broken but there. The smoke was thick. I could feel my skin burning… I’m sorry, are you very squeamish?”
“I’m glad I didn’t take the dessert but no, I’m not squeamish.” She shook her head. The poor guy. It sounded horrific. “Please, continue.”
He regarded her for a second, as though to make sure she was willing to hear more before resuming. “My first instinct was to get the hell out but then I remembered my teammates. Harris and Ben were good males. I couldn’t leave them…or at least…what was left of them.” His jaw clenched and she watched him take a deep breath as he composed himself. He put his fork on the plate in front of him. “They were in bad shape. Ben was…” He paused and blew out a puff of air. “He had taken the brunt of the explosion. I knew he was gone so I looked back at Harris. The male was seriously fucked up…like, seriously.”
Brynn had said that he was the lucky one and his arm was missing, part of his face gone. She couldn’t imagine how bad the others must have been. She didn’t really want to.
He gave a flat laugh. “I only realized that my arm was missing when I tried to grab Harris. I finally managed to get the male out and went back for Ben. I had to go back three times.”
“Why would you have to go back three…sorry—” Shit! His teammate had been in pieces. He had to go back so many times to bring everything back. The horror of what Brynn had suffered settled on her. “I understand,” she whispered, feeling a little light-headed.
Brynn nodded. “I got them out but sustained first degree burns across seventy percent of my body. If I want to get technical, I would say eighty percent since I was missing about ten.” He smiled. “My king named me a hero. Zane was proud; he said that I could’ve died trying to save the others.”
“I take it that they didn’t make it?”
Brynn looked away. His throat worked. By his reaction, she could see what the outcome had been and felt terrible for asking. “No. I had to try though. I know that both of them would have done the same for me. Any male for that matter.”
“You are a hero.” She touched his arm.
Brynn smiled. “I had already made the Elite Team and was awaiting transfer. Zane knew my feelings about human females and wanting a mate, so he offered me a place in The Program as a reward for my bravery. He said that I had proven myself as one of the very best.” His chest puffed out. It was so cute.
“And here you are.” Amber smiled.
“Yup. I almost didn’t accept the position. I felt guilty but Zane talked me into it and I’m glad he did.” Brynn sat back. He looked her in the eye. “Here I am. The luckiest male in the room because I’m sitting with the prettiest female.”
“I’m more than just a pretty face, you know?” she teased.
Brynn grinned. “For sure. You also happen to have a banging body.” His eyes drifted down.
“Hey.” She could see that he was teasing h
er but gave him a slap on the arm anyway.
“I’m only joking.” He laughed. “Okay maybe I’m not joking. You are pretty and you do have a banging body but there is more to you. So much more. I really like you, Amber. I’m hoping you’ll let me walk you back to your suite today. That you might let me in this time.”
She couldn’t do it. There was no way. The plan had been to take Brynn up to her room but not to let anything happen between them. In the hopes of Lance becoming jealous but now she realized she couldn’t use Brynn like that. Give him false hope and hurt him.
“I can see that you’re thinking about it, but I can also see that my chances are not very good.” He pushed a hand through his hair. “We don’t have to rut. I mean, we can if you want but we don’t have to. We could fool around a bit. Hell, we could just talk if it would make you feel better.”
“Look, Brynn…”
He made a groaning noise and scrubbed a hand over his face. But he smiled at her, giving it his best. Such a cutie. If it weren’t for Lance… It irritated her to even think it. He was nothing to her. He never would be yet here she was, unable to date the others because she was sleeping with him. Thing was, she wasn’t attracted to the others like she was to Lance. It was a dilemma. It sucked big time.
“Okay,” Brynn said. “Let me have it.” He squeezed his eyes shut.
Amber let out a nervous giggle when he cracked open one eye. Then he opened them both and was serious again. She licked her lips. “I just don’t feel that way about you. I want to, I really do, but I don’t. I don’t know what to say. I wish it were different.”
“Give it more time. We’ll—”
“I don’t think it’s going to help. I like you, Brynn, but more as a friend.” Amber couldn’t string him along. “It wouldn’t be right. There are others that might—”
“I’m not interested in anyone else.” He grabbed her hand and squeezed but then immediately released her. “I’m not giving up just yet.”
She shook her head. “You’re wasting—”
“No, I’m not.” Brynn leaned over and kissed her cheek. “It’s my decision to make. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He stood up.
A Mate for Lance (The Program Book 5) Page 12