by Jessie Lane
Elena was pushed out the way, and then Chloe stood there.
Kent had to hold in the groan he wanted to let loose as he took in what she was wearing. Designer jeans that molded to her lush curves, a halter top, and killer high heels that he really wanted to feel digging into his back while he fucked her.
“Are you done staring, demon?”
He snapped his eyes up to her face, managing not to blush at being caught daydreaming about her. He could do that later. That was not what he was here for now.
“Can we talk?”
“Like I told you before, now’s not a good time.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, just talk to the man, you uppity bitch!” Elena shouted from behind the door.
Chloe turned her head to glare at her sister before stepping outside and slamming the door behind herself.
Crossing her arms over her chest, she turned her glare on Kent. “What? What do you want now? I can’t possibly imagine, because I could have sworn we worked me out of your system last night.”
“Last night was more than sex, and you know it, Amazon.”
She snorted. “The only thing I know right now is that Delta is missing and has supposedly been turned into a vampire. My other sister was told this morning that she’s going to lose one of her babies, and I’m pretty sure, by the way she’s acting, that she’s in denial. Oh, and let’s not forget that Lulu’s life is still hanging perilously in the balance because some asshole on your council wants to pin his brother’s murder on her. And that’s not counting the new stepfather and half-brother that’s just come into my life. So, as you can see, I have a ridiculous amount of shit on my plate and can’t fit you in right now.”
Frustrated that she was using every excuse she could find to push him away, Kent snapped, “Too bad, because I’m going to make you fit me in.”
“Again, didn’t you get your fill last night, Kent?”
He stepped in closer, caging her body against the door behind her. “That’s what you’re not getting, woman. I’m starting to think I’ll never get enough of you.”
A look of vulnerability flashed over Chloe’s face, surprising him. Then she whispered, “Don’t play with me right now, Kent. I’m not a piece of fluff for you to fuck around with. And, to be honest, I can’t take it at the moment. All you seemed to want from me before was a one-night stand. I gave it to you.”
Kent shook his head as he dropped his forehead to hers. “I don’t know what it is about you, woman, but you drive me crazy. Listen to the words that are coming out of my mouth. I. Want. More.”
“More?” she whispered uncertainly. “How much more?”
If he told her now that he was pretty sure she was his mate, he could see Chloe running for the hills. She wasn’t ready to hear that sort of thing from him. He needed to take it slow and work himself under her skin the way she had worked herself under his.
“Let’s take it one day at a time. Just know that one night isn’t enough. I want more with you. For us. And if that means helping you find Delta, I will. I’ll help you protect Elena and Lulu, too, if I have to. Tell me what you need from me, and I’ll give it to you. Right about now, I’d give you almost anything, but walking away from you. It’s the one thing I can’t do.”
Chloe lifted a hand and traced her fingertips over his chest. “You seem almost too good to be true right now, Kent, and I learned a long time ago that things that seem too good to be true usually are.”
She was on the edge; he could see it. He just had to sway her over to his way of thinking; prove to her that he was being honest and sincere.
“Tell me how to help take some of the stress off your plate.”
She blew out a breath and ran a hand through her long hair. “There’s nothing to be done about Delta right now. I’m not even sure why I brought her up, just that I’m worried about her. We’ve been told that she’ll come back to us when her sire releases her.” She crossed her arms and shrugged a shoulder as if uncaring. “I’m not even sure why I’m telling you this. These are my problems, and I don’t need your help.”
Kent ignored her verbal slap to push him away, and instead nodded as if he understood. She was a woman on the mental ledge, and if he had to guess, she was just on the edge of jumping over into hysteria, no matter how much she put on a tough woman front for him.
Instead of calling her on her bullshit, he thought over what she had said. It was true that new vampires needed to stay with their sires at all times while they adjusted to their new lives. The temptations to feed on any human walking down the street was hard, and Delta was going to need training so she wouldn’t attack her family on sight, meaning there wasn’t anything they could do for her younger sister right now. That left the other two problems.
Little did she know that he had already been working on Lulu’s case behind the scenes. He would tell her that when the time was right. Now was all about getting Chloe to open up to him.
“Okay, that leaves Elena and Lulu. What can I help with?”
Biting her bottom lip, Chloe scrunched her face up in an unhappy look. “Gage said he wants to take over Elena’s protection. Basically, he wants to lock her up in his house and not let her out of his sight.”
He knew what he was about to say might not be what she wanted to hear, but Kent was determined to be honest with Chloe. “Gage is Elena’s mate. Perhaps you should let him handle the situation as he sees fit.”
Chloe’s eyes watered. “But she’s my sister, and those are her babies.” Her breath hitched as a sob got caught in her throat. “And she’s going to lose one of them.”
Folding her into his embrace, Kent hugged Chloe long and hard. He had a feeling it wasn’t often she let others see the softer side of her. Part of him just wished that it wasn’t under such terrible circumstances.
Holding her tightly, he whispered into her ear, “Let Gage take care of Elena’s protection. I get you want to help your sister, but perhaps it would be best left up to them, unless they ask for help. Besides, I think I know how you can help Gage and Elena.”
“How?” she mumbled into his shoulder.
“By helping clear Lulu’s name.”
Pulling back, Chloe wiped the tears from her face. “He sort of already asked me to help with that. That’s why you found me on the casino boat, talking to Romano. I was trying to charm some information out of him.”
Kent nodded, then took a gamble. “Let me help you, Chloe.”
She shrugged. “I figured you already have. And the way you helped, it cost you so much. I know you didn’t want to be on that council. If you had, you would have taken your seat years ago.”
“I’m there now, sweetheart; we might as well make the best of it.”
Kent saw a mask fall over Chloe’s face and knew he was losing her to the side that didn’t trust men. Somehow, he had to prove to her that she could trust him.
With a delicate sniff, as if in disdain, she said, “Perhaps I don’t want your help, Kent, ever think of that?”
Tired of her games, Kent called her out on her man-hating attitude. “Sweetheart, this is no longer a game of cat and mouse. First, I’m no fuckin’ mouse. Second, you might have a fine pussy, but you’re not a cat. So, drop the act and just let me help you.”
Chloe stood there silently for a long minute before she finally nodded. “How do you want to proceed?”
Breathing a sigh of relief, Kent said, “How about you get whatever information you have about Lulu’s case and bring it over to my place? We’ll go over it and come up with a plan on how to tackle this situation.”
Nodding again, Chloe gave him a small smile. “You’re not who you seemed to be, demon.”
Kent returned her sentiment and smiled. “Neither are you, Amazon.”
With that comment, the vulnerable Chloe disappeared, and back in her place was the woman with the cunning glint in her eyes. “Ah, that’s where you’re wrong, Kent. I’m exactly who I appear to be.” She ran a hand over her hair, smoothing it back a
s she shot him a winning smile. “With great hair comes great responsibility. Not to mention, the rest of me is just as fabulous. What you see is what you get.”
Kent would have called her on her bullshit, but he was stuck on just one thing.
“Did you just use the quote from the Spiderman movie about your hair?”
Chapter
16
Chloe
They walked back into Chloe’s house to see Elena and Gage quietly talking just outside the living room entrance. Upon hearing them, Elena looked up at her sister with a determined face, then quickly looked away. Gage then said something low to her, and Elena turned to walk past Kent and Chloe as she exited the house without saying anything to anyone.
Gage walked over to where they stood and sighed heavily. “She’s in denial.”
Chloe nodded. “I could tell.”
“She thinks there’s some way she can prevent losing one of the babies.”
“Is there?” Chloe asked hopefully.
Gage ran a hand over his weary face. “If the witch was legit, then no. What’s been seen can’t be unseen, and you can’t change the course of fate.”
“What are you going to do now?” Chloe asked.
“Take her home. If I know my mate, this is going to be like going through the emotional stages of dealing with a death. She’s in denial now, and anger will soon be following. I need to make sure I keep her away from the flamethrower or anything else that she could accidentally hurt herself with while she’s not herself. This means I probably won’t be around to help you with Lulu’s case. I’m trusting you, Chloe. My sister’s life is literally in your hands now.”
Chloe reached over and patted Gage on his shoulder. “Kent is going to help me. Don’t worry; we’ll get this figured out. You just concentrate on taking care of Elena.”
Gage nodded solemnly, then walked away and out the front door, following his mate.
Kent and Chloe watched him leave without saying a word. What could she possibly say? I’m sorry? That seemed inadequate and might only make things worse. The only thing she could do right now to help her sister and Gage was to solve Lulu’s case.
Looking back over at Kent, she waved him toward the stairs. She caught the curious look on his face, but Chloe didn’t stop to tell him a thing. He would figure it out once she showed him the files in her bedroom. She was about to take a huge leap in trusting Kent, and only time would tell if it had been a wise leap.
He followed her up the stairs and down the hall to her bedroom door, but as she placed her hand on the knob, she heard him clear his throat nervously.
“Sweetheart, nothing I want to do more than to see your bedroom, but do you really think this is a good time and place?”
She turned her head to look at him from over her shoulder. “Don’t worry, big boy; I’ll make sure you don’t scream too much. I need to show you something.” Chloe gave him a mischievous wink then pushed her bedroom door open.
Stepping into her little sanctuary, she flipped the light switch to illuminate the room and let Kent take in their surroundings as she walked to the far side of her bed where the files she kept were on her nightstand.
Kent was still standing nervously by her door. She held up her hand and crooked a finger for him to come closer. Her big, strong demon gulped then slowly walked her way. However, he decided to stop on the other side of her bed, facing her, instead of coming to stand beside her. If she were in a better mood, she might have laughed at his reluctance to stand beside her, but her spirit was still heavy from Elena’s news. Instead, she threw the files on the bed between them and waved her hand at them.
“This is what I have on Lulu’s case. I figured, if we are going to help each other, it might be time for us to share what we know,” she quietly stated.
Kent gave her a brilliant smile, as if Chloe had just given him some gift, and it melted something inside her. She wasn’t going to examine that feeling right now, though. Honestly, she was feeling too raw about everything and the word “vulnerable” didn’t even begin to cover her emotional state.
Ignoring the emotions that Kent was stirring inside of her, Chloe sat on her side of the bed and flipped open Lulu’s interrogation file. Inside were all the notes she had written down after Elena had interrogated Lulu Ivanov, plus the pictures of Marissa Holden with her lover, Anthony Romano.
Kent took one look at the open file then sat on the opposite side of the bed from her. His back was resting against her headboard, and it took everything Chloe had not to linger on the sight of how good he looked propped almost lazily against her bed, as if he were relaxing after a round of lovemaking instead of going over a murder investigation.
Kent took the pictures from the file and started flipping through them, examining them one by one. “So why didn’t he leave Marissa if he knew that she was cheating?”
Running a hand through her long locks, Chloe answered. “Andrew told Lulu that his wife was pregnant and he was sure it was his. I haven’t confirmed the pregnancy though.”
Then he put the pictures down and pulled out his cell phone. After pushing some buttons, he handed the device over to Chloe with a picture on the screen.
As she looked down and recognized Marissa Holden and her lover, she took in the way that Marissa was holding hands with her lover, one hand held over what looked like a very small baby bump.
“Pretty sure that rumor is true. Took that picture of them the other day. And if the insinuation wasn’t enough, there was a bit more evidence after they left.”
“What kind of evidence?” she asked, intrigued.
“Someone left a present wrapped in baby themed paper on Romano’s front doorstep.” Kent held out his hand for his phone, and Chloe handed it back to him. He started sliding his finger over the screen, going over more pictures, until he stopped at a video then handed the phone back to Chloe. “Watch that.”
Chloe watched as a man she couldn’t identify walked up to a doorstep with a medium- to largish-sized box in his hands, and then left it in rather a hurry.
Looking back to Kent, she asked, “Do you recognize who that is?”
Kent shook his head. “With the hat and sunglasses, plus the distance away I was parked, I can’t be one hundred percent sure of his identity. I did get a good look at the license plate on the sedan, but it came back as registered to a rental car company. Without a warrant, I can’t go into the business and ask to see the records.”
“And we’re trying to keep everything under the radar,” Chloe murmured back.
“Exactly.”
“Does it really matter, though?” Chloe asked. “So, he dropped off a baby present; what does that mean to us?”
Kent cocked one of his eyebrows. “I think it matters because I’m pretty sure whoever dropped off that box was either trying to kill Marissa or her baby. The thing was full of coral snakes and a silver baby rattle.”
Chloe shrank in disgust. “Who would do that? Can a snake bite actually kill a demon?”
Kent shook his head. “One bite, no. However, several bites from a snake that venomous might make her sick enough to miscarry.”
“Between the snakes and the rattle, they were sending a message. But what is it?”
Kent rubbed his chin. “I think it was someone who knew Marissa, and they’re not happy she’s pregnant, possibly by a shifter. Why else would a silver baby rattle matter? That would only hurt a baby that is even partly a shifter.”
She hissed in disgust. “I can’t believe somebody would go after a baby like that. I still don’t understand why, though.”
“That’s what we need to figure out. Who knows Marissa who would have a problem with her being pregnant by a shifter?”
Like a bolt of lightning, it hit her.
“Someone who knew Andrew and would get angry for him. Maybe his family?”
Kent went deathly still. Chloe could see the thoughts practically swirling in his eyes. Then he whispered practically to himself, “Holden.”
> Confused, Chloe responded slowly. “Yes, we’re talking about Andrew Holden.”
He was shaking his head before she got the last of her words out. “No, I mean Councilman Holden. What if he’s the one behind the snakes in the box? Now that I think of it, that man did resemble him a good bit from a distance.”
“If it is Andrew Holden’s brother behind the box, how do we prove it? And more importantly, should we even bother? We’re supposed to be working on how to clear Lulu.”
Kent leaned over the files until their faces were only a few inches apart. “I’m starting to think Holden might be behind more than we think. I’ve got this sneaking suspicion that Councilman Holden is somehow behind the death of his brother.”
“But why?” Chloe asked, baffled.
“That’s what we need to figure out, sweetheart.”
Chapter
17
Kent
“You want me to go through that dark, icky tunnel, why?” Chloe was looking at the tunnel before them with disgust, and then she looked at Kent skeptically.
“Because Councilman Holden’s house is on the other side. Going through that tunnel will put us in his backyard, where you and I can then attempt to see if we can find any evidence that connects him to the snakes in the box or his brother’s death.”
He watched as Chloe sighed silently then nodded to herself.
“Okay, but if this ruins my Jimmy Choos, you’re buying me new ones, demon.”
Kent chuckled, grabbing Chloe’s hand to lead her through the tunnel. “Remember, when we get into sight of the house, try to stay as low as possible. If you think anyone sees us at all, let me know.”
Guiding her through the tunnel, they slowly made their way to the light at the end and what lay beyond. Anticipation hummed through Kent’s veins as they drew closer to the dwelling of the man he was starting to believe had killed his own brother. But the question of why kept rolling around in his head. He was hoping to find a clue to help him figure it out.