by Diane Darcy
“Ow,” Felix’s mouth opened wide. “That hurts!” The smaller man screamed and folded in on himself as he tried to escape William’s grasp.
“And do ye think I care about that?” William growled down at the man on his knees in front of him. “I come in here tae find ye’ve yer hands on my mate!” His beast, which was slowly subsiding, rose to the fore once more.
Felix cringed backward. “You don’t understand. I wasn’t hurting her. I … I just needed her to help me and she wouldn’t. It’s not my fault!”
Felix’s head dropped and he started to cry.
Lena took a few tentative steps forward, stopped, and lifted the coin to display it between thumb and index finger. “What is it?”
William looked at the silver dollar, his brows coming together. “Lass?”
She tossed it in the air, and when it landed in her palm, she blew on it.
Felix tried to struggle to his feet to see, but William wouldn’t let up on his wrist so the man subsided with a rumble of frustration.
Lena tilted her hand forward so William could see the coin, a golden color flaring for a moment, bright and shining, before it settled once more into a silver dollar.
Chapter 19
Felix let out a sound of anguish. “That coin is mine! I’ve earned it, and it belongs to me!”
William’s face clenched into a snarl. “How, exactly, did you earn it?”
Felix tugged ineffectually against William’s grip. “That’s none of your business! Give it here, it’s mine!”
William’s grip tightened, his claws digging further into Felix’s arm. “Did ye perhaps commit murder for it? Did ye perhaps shoot at my mate? Spread wolfsbane about the property?” His voice roughened once more as he remembered the shots fired.
Felix was down on his knees now, his head bent forward as he started to sob. “They were just vampires! How is it fair that they were so young and carefree and had everything, when I had nothing?”
William shook him. “What do you mean?”
Felix just sobbed, saying nothing more, and William gave him another shake, and he seemed to gather his rage once more, his face contorting. “I needed him dead for this to work, okay? I knew if Emilio was killed the car wouldn’t be released. You don’t know how hard I’ve worked, for so little over the years. The sorcerer's coin was my chance to score big!”
“Sorcerer’s coin?”
Felix seemed to come to himself, and shot William a wary look.
William shook him again.
Felix tried to free himself, and when he couldn’t, he let out a breath, sank to his knees, and bent his head. “Why did it have to happen this way?”
“Talk.”
Felix’s breath came out in heavy bursts. “I’d seen Bianca pull the coin out and show it to Emilio. I knew what it was, of course, because I collect coins.”
He started to cry again. “Only, it just kept going wrong, all the time.”
“So, you started killing more and more people? For money?”
Felix shot William a look of hatred. “Of course, for money. What else?”
Lena moved forward and William tightened his hand on Felix, but the fury in her eyes had Felix shrinking back.
“Why would you do that? They had lives, families, people they loved.”
Felix shot a resentful glance between William and Lena. “Well, good for them. As I said, why should they have everything, and me nothing?” He shot William a venomous look. “Even you ended up soulmated. What do I have?”
Lena was shaking with anger. “That’s no excuse. We all have to work hard for what we have. You have a job. If you have nothing you have no one to blame but yourself!”
Pride for his soulmate welled within William as he kept his grip tight on the shifter. Lena was kind, caring, and would never understand someone like Felix. He was a regular at the tables, and, just like everyone else, he lost more than he won. “He’s a gambler, lass. Though I’d say this is his last gamble once Dorinda finds out what he’s done.”
Felix’s eyes flared with panic and he fought harder than ever, though it did him no good.
William wrestled him to the ground, held his arms behind his back, and put a knee to the base of his spine.
William just shook his head. “You used the love potion on Thorne. Sent him the free night’s stay.”
Felix’s mouth tightened.
“Where did you get the love potion from? The invisibility spell?” Lena wanted to know.
Felix hesitated, then finally said, “I had nothing to do with any invisibility spell.”
“And the love potions?”
He shot Lena a glare. “Easy enough to find in Las Vegas. Paying for them, however, wasn’t. I had to sell some of my Star Wars collection,” his voice broke. “If I’d just had that coin, everything would have been all right!” He expelled a sharp breath and bent his head. “Why couldn’t you have just let me have it?”
“Lass, if ye’ll run and get the real Quinn, we’ll get this man locked up, and put away for a very long time.”
“You know I won’t last that long.”
Lena, already partly across the room, stopped and turned back. “I’m sure that you’re going to get exactly what you deserve.”
With that, all the fight went out of Felix, and he seemed to melt into the carpet, on a sob. “That’s exactly what I’m afraid of.”
It didn’t take long for Quinn and Caleb to take Felix away. The man had tried to shift several times, but once they got the handcuffs on him, he hadn’t been able to anymore. “Please! I’ve worked here for years! I’m begging you to show me mercy! This was simply an error in judgment.”
“Two dead? My mate shot at? Good luck with the judge.”
“You know I’ll never make it that far once Dorinda knows about this.”
William simply shrugged. The man didn’t deserve his mercy, and he would show him none. “Take him away.”
Lena slapped the coin onto the table in front of Heath and Bianca.
Bianca immediately reached for it, but her hands were chained to the table and she could only reach so far, stopping short of her actual goal.
When William growled, she pulled her hand back and closed fists and eyes tight.
The other woman looked agonized. “Did you show this to Dorinda?”
William slid it off the table and began twining it in his fingers in a magician’s trick that Lena hadn’t realized he knew how to do.
“Should I?”
After all that had happened, Lena wasn’t feeling very sympathetic toward the duo. “So… What is this? And why shouldn’t I go downstairs right now and put it in a slot machine? From what I can tell, if I did, I just might win something big. Like, say, a car, maybe?”
“What about Dorinda?” Bianca asked again.
Lena gave a slight shake of her head. “We haven’t told her yet.”
Bianca slumped forward at that, but nodded a moment later. She glanced at Heath, who gave her a slow nod in return.
“None of this is Heath’s fault, I just want to say that up front. Everything he did, he did for me.”
“Go on.” William said. Still playing with the coin.
“He doesn’t even know what it is,” Bianca admitted.
Heath shot her an adoring look, no doubt her standing up for him only cemented his love and loyalty.
Bianca continued. “It’s my future.”
When she didn’t say anymore, Lena raised an eyebrow. “And…?”
“It’s a sorcerers coin.” The words seemed forced from her, something she obviously hadn’t wanted to admit.
“We already know that.”
Bianca’s mouth fell open. “How?”
“I have my ways.”
“But that isnae all that was going on, is it?” He gave Bianca a knowing look. “Someone was tryin’ tae steal from me. Something that I dinnae take lightly, as it happens.” He slapped the coin down on the table in front of him.
Bianca’s start
led glance went to the coin, and back to William. She licked her lips, took a breath, and said in a rush, “It wasn’t like that. I … I mean, it was, but I swear we weren’t thinking of it that way.”
Lena shook her head. “And what about the invisibility spell? The two of you were not innocent in all of this, were you? Care to explain that?”
Lena had to admit she was having fun. Now that the actual danger was over, William letting her sit in on this, allowing her to confront the perpetrators, was something she could get used to.
She shot him a glance, stifling the urge to take his hand, as that hardly seemed fair to do in front of the couple sitting across from them. “And what do you mean, it’s your future?”
“With it, I can free myself from Dorinda’s rule, and start my own nest.”
Lena tried to hide her fascination. “How can you do that?”
“The coin is infused with magic. I’ve had it for a very long time.” She flashed William a glance. “I won it in a poker game in a back room at Salon de Paris from a sorcerer who’d had too much to drink.”
William’s lips quirked up in a smile. “Ye dinnae say.”
Lena looked between the two of them, wondering what was so funny. “What about the love potions? Were they really for your queen?”
Heath lowered his head. “Bianca’s planning to start her own nest. She’d chosen Emilio, and Dimitri and I were hoping she’d take us as well. We were giving her gifts. The love potions, perfume, blood wine. Trying to win her affections.”
Lena was startled. “You mean like all of you together as partners?”
William cleared his throat. “Aye, lass. Vampires only have one queen in a nest.”
Lena’s brows raised. Okay. Something to think about another day.
Heath drew in a breath and let it out in a rush. “Was I to go too?”
Bianca nodded, her gaze suddenly shy. “You, Emilio, and Dimitri. I know I hadn’t asked you yet, but I was hoping you’d say yes.”
“Yes!” Heath’s hands reached for her once more, before getting stuck in place by the handcuffs. “I swear my fealty to you. Now, and forever.”
Heath lost some of his fire and they both looked suddenly devastated.
Lena knew what they were thinking. If they got out of this, if they had the coin, if their friends were still alive.
Sudden pity welled up within her. To have such big goals come crashing down around their ears in such a horrible way, especially when they were here, trying to have fun on vacation.
How sad.
William snorted, obviously not overcome with pity. “So, back to the car. Emilio cheated tae win it?”
Bianca looked away, fresh tears filling her eyes. She nodded, and then hung her head. “It was so foolish. My future for a silly car? But I was tipsy, Emilio was cute and fun and flirty, and the thought of winning and riding around Las Vegas with the wind blowing in our hair and … I just … I did something stupid and I’ve regretted it with everything inside of me ever since.” Her lips twisted, bitterness etched on her face. “Believe me, I’ve more than paid for my mistake.”
“Mistake she calls it,” William’s tone was acid. He tossed the coin in the air and both vamps watched it flip, and then fall into his hand once again.
Pity welled within Lena.
“Ye flat out tried tae cheat me and in the process managed tae get your friends killed. Ye conspired tae drive me mad, and almost got my mate shot!” William yelled the last.
“We never shot at your mate!” Heath, broken and angry now, tried to free himself. “And none of this was Bianca’s fault! I thought the invisibility spell would distract you long enough so we could break into the car and get the coin!”
“We were told a woman bought the spell.”
“No, it was me.” Heath sounded defeated and he looked over at Bianca. “I’m sorry, love.”
Bianca hung her head once more. “No, I’m sorry. I really am. If I could go back and do everything, I’d do it. I’d give my life for Emilio’s, for Dimitri’s.” She lifted pink, tear stained eyes and Lena really, really felt sorry for her now. “Was it Dorinda?” Bianca asked. “Did she kill them? Did she know what I was up to and kill my friends? It’s the only thing that makes sense to me.”
Lena could see that William’s expression was hard as granite. He obviously didn’t care about their motivations, and was stuck on the fact that she’d been shot at.
But Lena really did feel sorry for Bianca. She didn’t kill her friends, she didn’t shoot at Lena and William, and Dorinda was a total horror show that anyone would want to get away from.
The fact that she was so young made Lena feel even more lenient toward her.
She sighed and looked at William. “They didn’t kill anyone, nor did they try to. That was the shapeshifter.”
Bianca went from startled, to livid. “What shapeshifter?” She said the words carefully, looking between the two of them.
Oops.
William arched a brow at her, and she sank back in her seat. “Sorry.”
“Who?” Bianca asked again.
William took a deep breath. “Felix. He was in charge of the paperwork for the car and, apparently, he knew what the coin was when he saw ye pull it out. He killed Emilio and Dimitri and tried tae kill us tae get it.”
Bianca tried to stand but the chains yanked her back down. “I will kill him with my own hands! Drain him of blood! Cut out his entrails and hang him with them!” She continued with the inventive narrative.
Lena’s eyebrows slowly rose. She could suddenly see a resemblance to Dorinda.
Bianca yanked at her handcuffs, but then slowly ran out of steam, and leaned her head on her forearm and cried.
Lena looked at William, who still didn’t look sympathetic.
“Oh, come on. Let her have it.”
William’s mouth parted. “Lass? Let her have what? Jail time? Alone time with Dorinda? Punishment for trying tae shoot at ye? Tae steal from me?”
“We didn’t shoot at her!” Heath said hotly, and Lena was inclined to believe him. Felix was no doubt responsible for that.
Anyway, Lena was sympathetic as she’d always been a bit of a con artist herself. “Let her have the coin, and let her go. She’s paid enough of a price for being stupid. More than I’d want to pay in the same circumstances, that’s for sure.” Lena held out her hand. “Here, give it to me.”
William looked torn. “Sweetness, I’m no’ sure ye understand the situation.”
Bianca slowly lifted her head, her tear stained eyes full of hope. “If you do this for me, I … I swear an eternal vow of lifelong friendship to you. You have my word that you can call on me if you ever need anything.”
“See?” Lena said to William. “I can always use more friends.”
William looking at Bianca, his expression slightly cunning. “So ye can, dearest. So ye can.”
And with that, he slapped the coin down on the table, and slid it across to Lena.
She slid it off the table, not sure what the undercurrents were between William and Bianca at the moment, but aware that something was going on. “All right, then.”
Putting her index finger on the coin, she slid it across the table to Bianca, until the other woman snatched it up, handcuffs and all.
“I swear, you’ll never regret this, Lena Murray.”
“It’s Lena Deville, actually.”
Bianca looked between the two of them. “I thought … never mind what I thought. Are you going to release me?” She looked at William, her expression hopeful.
William took a key out of his pocket, and slid it across to Lena. “No’ me. This isnae the decision I would make. But, if this is what Lena wants, I’m helpless tae deny her.”
Lena carefully took the key, rounded the table, and released Bianca first and then Heath.
“Thank you.” They both said, and they were out the door and gone in the next second.
“Thanks?” Lena said to William, unsure of his mood.
They headed down the hallway, and there was no sign of Bianca and Heath.
“Ye know what ye just gave away, do ye no’?”
“Sure, some kind of magical super coin, that would make all my dreams come true.”
“And ye didnae want tae keep it for yerself?”
“Well, it wasn’t mine, was it? Anyway, my dreams are sort of coming true already, right?”
It was a sappy thing to say, but when William looked so happy that she’d said it, she chuckled.
“Aye, they are if I’ve any say in it. But I saw nae need tae give it back tae her. I would have let ye keep it if ye’d wanted it.” He opened his office door, and ushered her inside.
Lena looked around at the desk, the sofa, the view out the windows. It all looked just the same as it had earlier, before Felix had been captured. “She just looked so sad, that it felt like the right thing to do.”
William leaned against his desktop and crossed his arms. He watched her as she walked to the windows, making her feel the slightest bit flustered.
“That was nice of you to let them go. I didn’t think that you would.”
“When my mate asked a favor of me? I am helpless to say nae.”
She chuckled a bit nervously. “Oh, really? I got the impression it was more something Bianca said than what I said.”
William shrugged and looked the slightest bit self-satisfied. “The vow of eternal friendship from a vampire? That’s a long time.”
“Is that so?”
“And a vow like that from a vampire queen?”
“What of it?”
Again, William shrugged, his expression almost gloating now. “I’m just sayin’ that could come in handy.”
She grinned at his avarice. “If you say so.”
William pushed off the desk. “I do say so.”
He seemed to be stalking her now and she backed up a few steps only to find that she had backed herself into a corner.
“You’re acting like this will benefit you somehow? If you wanted to be her friend, then you should have been the one to let her go.”