Wild and Free

by Kristen Ashley

  Abel looked away first, to the screen, and saw it was Xun.

  He took the call and put the phone to his ear.

  “What?”

  “Problem, brother. We’re on it, but we need you upstairs in Ma’s apartment. Like, now.”

  Wei was talking on his phone, but Abel was out the door and in Jian-Li’s apartment within five seconds.

  He got there and saw Delilah sitting on the couch, wide eyes to him, reacting to his speed and him coming into focus from a blur (something he was able to ignore, seeing as he’d had plenty of experience with that in his life). But one sight of her, his cock twitched, his jaw set, and he forced his gaze to Chen.

  “What?” he barked.

  “One of the waiters noticed them, told me. I looked. Two men outside. SUV like last night, according to Xun. And they are makin’ no bones about the fact that they’re casin’ the place.”

  Chen was at the window, off to the side, peering around the sheers but doing it out of the way so no one could see him looking.

  It was then he noticed that Jian-Li was busy lighting incense. A lot of it.

  Masking his scent.

  He moved with his natural speed to the window and stood behind Chen, who moved out of the way.

  And he saw them.

  Vampires. He knew it because he’d seen one of them last night. The one who was talking with the police officer, not the one talking on his phone who’d seen Abel. But today he had another one with him, big, built, but blond.

  He couldn’t believe he hadn’t sensed them when he was downstairs. Up at Jian-Li’s place with that incense interfering, he could see. But he had a finely honed ability to detect danger.

  Fuck. His need for Delilah was totally fucking him up in a variety of ways.

  He stared through the window.

  They were both in nice suits and they both had eyes trained to the restaurant, the blond one leaning casually against the back of the SUV, the dark one standing on the sidewalk, his frame stiff like he was the kind of guy who had a stick up his ass.

  “You think they caught your scent?” Chen asked quietly, and Abel looked to him.

  “Yeah.”

  “Fuck,” Chen whispered.

  “Language,” Jian-Li warned.

  The door opened and Wei came in. “Covered the grate,” he announced, shutting the door. “Far’s I can tell, no eyes on the alley. But figure they’re here because they caught your scent, so they sniff it out, they’ll find your lair.”

  “Fuck,” Chen repeated.

  “Language,” Jian-Li hissed.

  “Where’s Xun?” Abel asked.

  “In the restaurant,” Jian-Li answered.

  “That’s good, Ma, ’cause they’re on the move,” Chen said. “Headed toward the front door.”

  “Oh man,” Delilah whispered.

  “It’ll be okay,” Jian-Li murmured reassuringly.

  “Chen, cover the hall. Wei, outside. Keep an eye on the alley. One of you tell Xun he just became a server and his only table is the one they’re seated at.”

  “On it,” Wei said and moved out.

  Chen said nothing, he just moved out.

  “Jian-Li?” Abel called, and she looked to him.

  “I’ll supervise in the restaurant,” she stated.

  He nodded.

  She moved after her sons and disappeared behind the door.

  “Abel?”

  Fuck. Even her voice, low and sweet with a strange husky lilt in it, he felt in his cock.

  He moved his eyes to her.

  He could smell her, even smell the fragrant tang of her cunt, though he knew by her scent she’d taken another shower. She was in more biker bitch gear—sweet jeans, sweeter Harley tee that stretched tight across her tits—her long, dark hair down and wild. She had on maximum biker chick jewelry, lots of silver, leather, and studs, even if she was simply hanging at a Chinese restaurant and doing it so no one could see. Her face was made up, heavy around the eyes, making the light green of her irises stand out so it seemed like it was glowing.

  First time he fucked her, he wouldn’t be able to look in her eyes.

  First time he fucked her, he’d take her on her hands and knees.

  The next time he fucked her, he’d do it looking in her eyes.

  “Uh,” she started, ripping him from his thoughts. “Is there something I can do?”

  “Sit and be quiet,” he replied curtly, looking back to the window to see the SUV there but both vampires not, at the same time attempting to open his senses so he could detect further danger, or any at all.

  “Well, I mean something else.”

  “No,” he said shortly, not looking at her.

  “You—” she began, and he knew through sound and smell she’d moved from the couch with the intent to come nearer.

  He could not have her nearer.

  “Don’t get near me,” he gritted through his teeth, sensing her stopping, also sensing her mood turning, and not to a good one. “Gotta focus,” he finished on a lie for there was really fuck all he could do. He had to stay hidden. She had to stay hidden. And they had to hope like fuck those vampires couldn’t smell him through the incense and make their play, because Jian-Li didn’t need carnage in her restaurant and he didn’t want to lose any of his family.

  “Okay,” she whispered, sounding confused, a sound that did not make his dick twitch; it made his heart hurt.

  He moved from the window and started pacing like the caged dog he literally fucking was, thinking of his family, thinking he was hungry, thinking her blood probably tasted fucking brilliant.

  He closed his eyes tight, opened them, kept pacing, and started thinking of puppies. To be precise, cute, wrinkly baby shar-peis.

  The door opened, he stopped pacing, and watched Jian-Li walk through.

  “They’re leaving,” she said in a voice he did not like after she shut the door.

  He moved in a blur to the window and saw she spoke true.

  “The boys are staying in position,” she went on.

  He looked back to her. “Why do you look frightened?” he asked.

  “They asked to speak to the proprietor of the restaurant, and when I came to them, they asked for you directly,” she answered.

  He felt his throat get tight.

  “By name?” he pushed.

  “No.” Jian-Li shook her head. “The blond one asked for the vampire.”

  “Fuck,” Abel snarled. “To you?”

  She nodded. “To me.”

  “And you said…?”

  “I acted like he needed to see a doctor and told them I had no idea what he was talking about.” She took another step into the room, her eyes going to Delilah, who she gave a soft smile, before they came back to him. “I don’t know, but when the blond one asked this, the dark one appeared annoyed.”

  “This means…?” Abel prompted.

  “I really don’t know, tian xin,” she said softly. “But I got the impression the dark one wished for this contact to be a little less aggressive.”

  “That’s good, right?” Delilah asked.

  Jian-Li looked to her. “I have no idea, but I hope so.”

  “And that was it?” Abel called her attention back to him. “They asked, you said you had no idea, and they left?”

  “Yes, they left, but not before the dark one gave me this,” Jian-Li told him, moving toward Abel, holding up what appeared to be a business card.

  He took it and saw it was. Cream. Thick, expensive stock. Printed in bold, script letters was:

  Gregor

  Councilman

  Dominion

  This meant nothing to Abel. Then he looked to the back and sucked in breath.

  On the back, written in pen, it said:

  We mean you and your mate no harm.

  The Biltmore. Suite 1013.

  His mate.

  His mate.

  He looked to Delilah.

  She was his mate. That was what his kind called them.
/>   Something settled in his gut that Abel didn’t trust because it felt good.

  But even so, his throat tightened further because they knew he had a mate.

  “What’s it say?” Delilah asked.

  He shoved the card in his back pocket. “Nothing that makes sense.”

  Having followed his movements, she looked from his hip to his eyes and he knew she didn’t believe him. There was only a hint of hurt in her face, but it was a definite indication she didn’t like shit kept from her.

  He ignored this and looked to Jian-Li. “I gotta finish downstairs and then I gotta run.”

  “Of course,” she said with soft understanding.

  “Take care of Delilah,” he continued.

  “You don’t have to ask,” Jian-Li replied.

  He knew he didn’t.

  “Sorry about lunch,” he muttered, moved to her and leaned in, sliding his temple across hers before he headed to the door.

  “Abel?” Delilah called.

  “Later,” Abel replied without looking back.

  Then he shut the door.

  * * * * *

  Abel sat as wolf on the highest cliff at the south end of town, staring down at the lights spread narrow along the bay, his focus on one of the tallest, most attractive buildings in the city.

  The Biltmore Hotel.

  When he’d moved to the Bay a month ago, as a celebration of them all being together again, the entire family had gone to dinner at the restaurant there. Excellent steaks but filled with snobs.

  Vampires stayed at swish hotels.

  He snarled.

  He snarled again, turned, and ran swiftly back toward where he’d leaped out of his clothes, thinking he in no way trusted those vampires did not mean harm to him or his mate. He’d met nine supernatural beings and every one of them had meant him or Delilah harm.

  And he’d left her to put up a fucking door and go run.

  He needed to, that couldn’t be denied. He always needed to run, but when something was troubling him, he needed it more.

  But even though he’d trained his brothers, their skill levels exceptionally high, their sparring partner him so they would in no way be intimidated by the kind of speed, strength, and agility his kind had—in fact, they’d all built defensive tactics that were highly successful, as demonstrated last night—it was his responsibility to look after Delilah.

  And he’d left her hours ago to put up a door and then run as wolf.

  It was late. Running had calmed the urge to claim his mate, so at least that was a positive.

  But now it was time to get home to her.

  He got to his clothes, leaped to man, put them on, forged through the woods to his bike, and jumped on.

  He rode into the city and he did it with his senses open, taking in mostly human and animal, food, trash, and excrement, but no vampires or wolves.

  He saw nor sensed eyes on him as he closed in on the restaurant. Not from cars. Not from buildings. Not from roofs.

  They had to know he had the ability to do this, so he wondered if them retreating so completely was their way of making him trust them.

  Trust them straight into an ambush.

  He knew Chen was in the alley as he parked his bike. His brother moved out of the shadows as he swung off.

  “All clear,” Chen said softly.

  “Yeah,” Abel replied.

  “You okay?” Chen asked.

  “Yeah,” Abel lied.

  Chen stared at him through the dim lights of the alley before he nodded and asked, “You want vigilance?”

  He was asking if Abel wanted Chen to keep his eye on the alley.

  Abel shook his head. “We don’t fight alone, brother. Go inside. Get some sleep.”

  Chen looked to the ground and headed to the back door of the restaurant.

  Abel followed him.

  Chen called, “’Night, Ma,” as he headed up the stairs to her apartment.

  “Goodnight, son,” she called back from her office.

  Abel headed directly there to see her exactly as she was the night before.

  “It’s late,” she stated, not softly, her tone was sharp and annoyed.

  “I have things on my mind,” he explained.

  “And Delilah is downstairs, watching a movie with Xun, having spent a confused and somewhat frightened afternoon and evening with your family.”

  Abel’s jaw got hard.

  “Is there a reason you’ve spent thirty years yearning for her and then you get her and leave her?” she pushed.

  “There is, and these are reasons I’m not gonna share,” Abel answered. “You’re just gonna have to go with it and take my back.”

  She gave him a flinty look.

  He accepted it and said nothing.

  She then emitted a soft huff before she asked, “Are you going to The Biltmore?”

  “No, I’m not.”

  Her head tipped to the side. “This is not wise, my Abel.”

  “You think I should walk into an ambush?”

  “No. I think that I would like to feel the overwhelming gratification of understanding that my family’s nurture is what created a good, kind, strong, wonderful werewolf vampire, suffocating his nature. However, rationally, I feel that cannot be so and there is a good possibility there are beings out there just like you, and by that, I mean the good, kind, strong parts.”

  “How about we know that before I waltz my ass into The Biltmore?” he suggested.

  “How about you consider the possibility that centuries of questions will have answers if you waltz into The Biltmore?” she fired back.

  This was not lost on him.

  He knew one thing for certain about his kind: vampires called their partners mates.

  That was all he knew.

  And he had questions—questions about his behaviors, feelings, instincts, everything. All his life, he’d had questions.

  In fact, it was a miracle he’d stumbled on how to numb his meal before he drew from them. It had taken him ages. He’d done it at what Mei had figured was when he was eight years old in human development, but he’d been alive for forty years. (Because, apparently, wolves, vampires, or both aged very slowly and then quit aging in their thirties in terms of human development— something else he knew, but only because he’d experienced it.)

  Other than that, he knew nothing of the nature of his kind—either one.

  So the impulse was strong, going to The Biltmore, finding answers. Especially now with what he was experiencing with Delilah.

  It was also foolish.

  “Do I have to remind you what happened last night, sweetheart?” he asked.

  “No,” she replied instantly. “But has it occurred to you that eight people were killed last night and no police officer has shown at our door?”

  His mind consumed with Delilah (amongst other things), it actually hadn’t.

  He said nothing.

  “This occurred on city streets,” she reminded him. “It was in the dark of night, but that means nothing, especially here in Serpentine Bay. Now, Abel, tell me, what could halt a police investigation?” she asked but didn’t give him time to answer. She did it herself. “A powerful entity.”

  “That might not be a good thing,” he noted quietly.

  “It also might mean whatever is befalling you and Delilah, you’ll have mighty allies,” she retorted.

  Shit. But he had to find a way to fuck Delilah so his mind wasn’t consumed with it and shit this simple was not lost on him.

  “I have to focus on Delilah,” he told her, and she nodded.

  “On that I would agree, my Abel. However, you haven’t been doing that either.”

  “There are things you don’t understand.”

  “I know you’ve waited lifetimes for her, and now that you have her, you’re acting surly and impatient. So I assume I can guess quite accurately at what is causing your impatience.”

  Jian-Li, nor any of her line, were stupid. Usually this was good. Now i
t was aggravating.

  “Do you have any advice on that?” he asked sarcastically.

  “She’s here,” Jian-Li replied.

  “I know that,” he bit out impatiently.

  “She’s here,” Jian-Li repeated. “If she did not feel as you do, after the events of last night, would any sane female be anywhere near you?”

  He shook his head. “She doesn’t feel as I do.”

  “Are you certain?”

  If she did, they’d be fucking right then.

  So she didn’t.

  “I am.”

  “Guide her there, tian xin,” she advised quietly.

  “She’s human. She needs time.”

  “Yes,” she stated, still talking quietly. “But I’ll tell you this, she seemed very sure of herself when I saw her come out of my bathroom this morning. She was comfortable with me, Xun, Wei, Chen. Charming. Talkative. Amusing. She has hesitancy, which is understandable, but she was clearly embracing where she was in a way that’s remarkable and gave me great relief. Until you left.”

  Abel’s heart tightened.

  “The longer you were gone, the more confused and unsure of herself and this situation she became,” she continued. “And in the end, my Abel, she actually appeared in pain.”

  Abel felt his spine straighten. “Pain?”

  She nodded. “As if your continued absence caused in her what you’ve been feeling for centuries.”

  “Fuck, I gotta get to her,” he muttered, making a move to leave.

  “Think on The Biltmore,” she urged, and he looked back at her.

  “I will.”

  She gave him one of her satisfied smiles, mostly because he was doing what she wished.

  He shook his head, lifted his hand and called, “Sleep well,” as he moved to the door.

  “You too,” she called back as the door closed.

  He was in his room in a flash.

  “Jesus, brother,” Xun whispered when Abel came to a rocking stop next to the armchair where Xun was sitting. “Freak a guy out, why don’t you.”

  Abel looked to the bed.

  Delilah was asleep in it, not in his tee. She had on something pink and tee-like, but he hadn’t owned a stitch of clothing in two hundred and five years that was pink.

  His eyes scanned the space.

  His boxes from Jian-Li’s place were in the corner by the hutches where he and his brothers kept most of their weapons. His stereo had been set up on the floor, his CDs stacked by it. His books were piled along the back wall at the head of the bed. They’d also brought down his guitar.