Ancient Enforcer

by Reus, Katie

  “What?”

  “The fighting? My brothers don’t fight like that so I don’t have a reference if it’s…normal.”

  “It’s more sparring than anything and yes, we spar to keep in shape and test our reflexes. It’s wise for any warrior to consistently practice as we do.” Because an out of practice warrior was a dead one.

  She nodded once, letting the ice drop, but she gently skated her fingers over his forehead again as she inspected whatever wound was there.

  All he could feel was her gentle fingers and he instinctively leaned his head into her touch. He wanted so much more than this, wanted to feel her hands all over him, ripping at his clothes, wrapping her fingers around his cock… Hell, he had to shut this down or it was about to get really uncomfortable.

  When she dropped her hand away he was glad she didn’t get up or leave, even if he was disappointed not to feel her touching him anymore.

  “What are you doing tonight?” he asked. Sometimes she went out and met friends, but usually she stayed in. She’d even taken him and his brothers out, trying to help them get a feel for the city. He only went out if she did, not liking to be separated from her.

  “I was actually coming out here to see if you guys wanted to watch a movie. My brothers are out for the night.”

  “I would love to,” he said. She had introduced him to movies as well. He found that he liked them. Most of them anyway. “Cas and Ivyn are going out too, so it will just be us.” Cas and Ivyn had no plans that he was aware of, but his brothers would hear him, even over their fighting, and if they decided to stay, he would kick their asses for real this time. The chance to spend alone time with Avery? This did not happen often and he would take it with both hands.

  “I hope you’re ready for a superhero movie.”

  He grinned at her, inhaling her sweet scent. “I will get the popcorn ready.” She had introduced him to that as well.

  “It’s a date, then.” She gently touched her fingertips to his forehead again and frowned. Then she looked away from him in his brothers’ direction. “Cas, you need to be more careful!”

  He heard his brother sputter out a response and turned just in time to see Ivyn body-slam him.

  Mikael grinned and stood. “Now I get the winner.”

  “I’m starting the movie in an hour,” she said as she stood. Then she sighed. “Try not to kill each other before then.”

  Chapter 10

  Lindsey took a drag from her cigarette, glad they didn’t hurt her lungs anymore. She just liked the taste, had quit years ago only because she hadn’t wanted them to age her. Her body and looking young were her best commodities. Now smoking didn’t matter so she did it whenever she wanted.

  Darren, the newly turned vampire in bed with her, went to take her cigarette, but she flicked his hand away. “My pack is over there.” Freaking greedy.

  He simply rolled his eyes and grabbed one.

  He’d been annoying when he was a human, and he was annoying now, but he had a big dick. And he knew how to use it. His only redeeming quality.

  “When does he get back?” Darren asked.

  No need to explain who he referred to. He, as in the vampire who had made them. Magnus.

  “I don’t know.” And she was a little worried. Tonight hadn’t remotely gone the way she’d planned. “It wasn’t my fault. The guy was so…powerful.” Mikael no-last-name-that-she-knew-of had exuded a terrifying sort of power. Her maker had ordered her to talk to him—seduce him—but she had no idea why. She just knew that she’d been instructed to approach him and get a feel for what he liked—hopefully her. But things had gone completely sideways. He’d barely looked at her, except when he’d been threatening to torture her and set her on fire.

  She wasn’t used to that reaction from men. Normally they threw themselves at her feet.

  She blew out another puff of smoke as she stared at the ceiling. She wasn’t staying in the city proper, but in a farmhouse in a fairly rural area on the outskirts. A few different farms surrounded the area, but she didn’t know their neighbors, and had been instructed to stay away from them.

  “What wasn’t your fault?” Magnus stepped into the room in dark pants and a long-sleeved dark shirt. He had a slight lilting accent, and she guessed he was from somewhere in Europe. Maybe.

  He didn’t tell them much about his past, or even how old he was. But she could sense that he was powerful. And when he’d asked her if she wanted to be turned into a vampire, it had been a no-brainer. He’d asked her right before The Fall, approaching her when she’d been out on a “girls’ night”… At least that was what her now ex-husband had thought. She’d taken one night a week to go out and do what—and who—she wanted.

  She’d been smart about it, however. She hadn’t wanted to get caught. No, she’d liked her life—liked being able to afford to live. People who said money didn’t matter had never had to worry about things like dental care, or health care—or being able to afford to turn the heat up on cold nights. Or having enough for food. Then when The Fall happened, she’d lost everything, the life of luxury that her ex had given her. She wasn’t going to be stuck with that old bastard for the rest of her life, and her maker had come at the perfect time. So she’d told him yes and hadn’t looked back since.

  Unfortunately she couldn’t manipulate Magnus, but he’d given her immortality and she would be forever grateful. She was also trying to learn from him. The little she was coming to understand about supernaturals was that even though they had immortality, it didn’t mean they couldn’t be killed. And supernaturals could be savage. She would have to be smart if she wanted to survive this new world.

  Clearing her throat, she sat up and set her cigarette to the side. She didn’t bother to cover herself. They’d already slept together a few times, though he didn’t seem interested in fucking anymore, which annoyed her. She was used to men doing what she wanted. She licked her lips, nervous. “I went to see that male, Mikael, like you told me to. It seems…” She cleared her throat again, hating the nerves humming through her. But when Magnus stared at her with those dark, fathomless eyes, she felt as if she was looking into a vast wasteland. As if she could fall into those eyes and never escape. The feeling was…terrifying. “He’s friends with someone from my past.”

  “I am aware of this.”

  She blinked. Oh. But of course Magnus had known. Maybe…that was why he’d asked Lindsey to approach Mikael? Oh God, of course that was why he’d asked Lindsey. It hadn’t been a coincidence. God, she was so stupid. And she’d screwed up. Damn it. “He’s very protective of her. He didn’t have a reaction to me at all.” The blow to her ego still stung. As a vampire, she was even more stunning than she had been as a human.

  “He threatened to kill her,” Darren said, blowing out a ring of smoke. He hadn’t moved from his position except to cover up his dick with a pillow.

  She gritted her teeth.

  “He threatened you.” It wasn’t a question so much as a statement, so she remained quiet as Magnus watched her, the weight of his stare heavy and intimidating, pressing her into the mattress.

  When he looked at her, she felt like prey. Powerless.

  “I gave him my jewelry,” she blurted, even though she hadn’t planned on telling him. She found that sometimes around Magnus she said things she didn’t plan to, they just spilled out. The compulsion was disturbing.

  “Why?”

  She glanced down at the expensive sheets, picked at the material with her fingernail. “Technically the jewelry belonged to my ex-husband’s first wife. She was going to leave it to her daughter, but my ex gave it to me instead. Mikael…ordered me to hand it all over.” The jewelry had been her insurance—before The Fall anyway. Now jewelry didn’t mean shit, couldn’t buy her anything.

  “You already handed everything over to him?”

  She nodded.

  He stepped farther into the room, a wave of rage rolling off him, making the pictures on the wall tremble ever so slightl
y. “It seems I had more faith in you than I should have, you stupid female. You should have waited and spoken to me first.”

  She swallowed back her fear, though he would have to scent it. “Waited for what?”

  His jaw tightened again. “You really are stupid trash.”

  Anger popped inside her as she jumped to her feet against her better judgment. “I’m not stupid! You just told me to meet him and try to seduce him. You didn’t give me any other instructions. He threatened to torture me unless I gave him the jewelry. So I did. If you had other instructions, I would have followed them.” She wasn’t going to tell him about Mikael’s other threat, that he’d told her to leave New Orleans. She…couldn’t. She didn’t have anywhere to go. She wasn’t even sure where she could go as a vampire at this point. There were all sorts of territory rules she wasn’t sure of. She knew there were vampire covens in New Orleans, but Magnus wasn’t aligned with any of them—he was not in this territory legally.

  Magnus’s head tilted to the side slightly and she worried she’d gone too far because he was watching her with that predatory gaze again.

  For a moment she thought he would lash out, strike her. He’d hit her once when she’d been a smart-ass months ago. It had taken her by surprise more than actually hurt her, but she thought she understood him better now. He wasn’t a human or some simple male she could manipulate with her body. At least she could respect that.

  “Go find me some humans to turn.”

  She stared at him, wondering if this was a trap somehow. They had a whole coven living here at the farm, though most of his creations were out tonight, hunting. They hadn’t been controlling their appetites either, which was stupid, in her opinion. You didn’t kill your food source. That was how you got food shortages. Stupid.

  She’d been too upset to feed so had crashed back at the farmhouse with Darren. Too bad his dick hadn’t helped her mood much.

  “I’m not angry,” Magnus continued, still watching her in that eerie way of his. “You’re right, I should have given you more instructions. I still need Mikael and you are going to help me. He’s protective of the female? You’re sure?”

  Lindsey snorted. “Oh yeah. He seems obsessed with her.” Granted she’d only seen them together for a few moments, but the way that male had watched Avery—instead of being interested in Lindsey—was disconcerting. She wasn’t used to feeling jealous, but Avery was one of the first females she’d ever been truly jealous of. That bitch had been given everything and people gravitated to her. It was revolting. And now a male had chosen Avery over Lindsey?

  The male nodded as if satisfied. “Good. Now hurry before the sun rises.” Then he looked at Darren, who was still smoking. “You too,” he snapped out. “Two humans each.”

  She hurried from the room, grabbing her discarded dress as she raced out. She wasn’t going to mess this up. Her maker was far too relaxed about her screwup right now—she didn’t trust it. Didn’t think he would let her off so easily unless she did exactly what he asked. Two humans should be easy enough. Who didn’t want immortality?

  Chapter 11

  “It’s time to go home.” Mikael’s quiet voice startled Avery.

  She turned away from the worktable in her job trailer. She shouldn’t be surprised by how quiet he was by now, but it still amazed her that he could sneak up on her so easily—and without even trying.

  “I just have a few more things to go over. You should go home without me.” The last few days had been kind of weird between them.

  Okay there was no “kind of” about it. Things had been plain weird.

  She’d gotten so angry at him when she thought he’d been… When she thought he’d made a move on Lindsey, a red sort of haze had descended. She’d been angry, but also so damn hurt, the pain of it slicing right through every barrier she thought she’d put up.

  Then to find out that he’d threatened to torture Lindsey instead? And gotten Avery’s mother’s jewelry back for her? The jewelry was just stuff—the materialistic part didn’t matter—but the fact that it had actually belonged to her mother did. The fact that Mikael had gotten it back for her mattered as well.

  And then she’d kissed him. Right on the mouth.

  It wasn’t like tongue had been involved or anything but… She’d felt a jolt all the way through her system. One she’d been pretending did not exist for three long days. He’d barely seemed affected anyway, and he hadn’t brought it up.

  She’d thrown herself into work every day, which was normal, but she’d also been avoiding him after work. Holing up in her room after dinner instead of hanging out with everyone. She’d been feigning headaches, then saying she had work to catch up on. Sad, pathetic lies because she was a coward.

  And Mikael had been watching her for three damn days. Every time she turned around there he was. Even if he was working, she knew he was aware of her. He was always in her line of sight.

  It was jarring. She didn’t know what to say to him either. The anger she’d felt… She didn’t know how to handle the aftermath, the fact that she’d been so mad at all. If she didn’t care about him, obviously she wouldn’t have been so angry. So now he knew she cared—and she’d kissed him. Gah. She needed to get out of her head.

  “I’m not leaving without you,” he said. “So you will leave now. You have been working too hard.” The set of his jaw was tense, his gray eyes in full-on dragon mode.

  Which just served to get her hackles up. “Are you trying to annoy me today?”

  He gave her a half grin that made something flutter in her chest. A whole burst of butterflies, really. “No.”

  “Then stop being so bossy and go home.”

  He leaned against the open doorway, casually masculine. Everything about him was so sexy and it wasn’t fair. She’d seen women look at him, men too, but he just didn’t seem aware when people did double takes of him. Maybe he didn’t care. She didn’t know what went on in that sexy dragon brain of his. Ugh. “You are always bossy,” he murmured, his gaze tracking her as she moved to the other side of her desk.

  “It’s because I’m the boss.”

  “At work, yes.”

  There was something in his tone that she was not touching with a ten-foot pole. It was wicked, dark and made all sorts of feelings curl in her belly. And it was not good. So, so, so not good. There couldn’t be anything romantic or physical between them. They lived in the same house. He was like…a billion years old, and a dragon shifter. She was human. She knew things didn’t work out the way they should, that happily-ever-afters were a lie. And…there were other reasons. She was having a hard time remembering them, however, when he watched her with those smoky gray eyes.

  She turned away from him and tried to focus on the paperwork in front of her. Maybe Mikael would simply fade into the background. Avery nearly snorted at the thought. Fat chance of that.

  As she scanned the list of plumbing fixtures she’d just received, she breathed out a sigh of relief. At least King had come through like she’d known he would. He’d gotten her every single piece she needed. And they were working on making this place completely solar, which would be a big feat. One she was excited to tackle. But she needed to stop trying to get any more work in now and just go home. She wouldn’t be able to work with Mikael hovering.

  “King’s here,” Mikael said abruptly.

  Surprised, she looked up to find him in the same position by the open doorway, but looking outside instead of at her. “Seriously?”

  He simply nodded and stepped forward, waiting for her. Of course he stepped out first, but she hurried after him into the parking lot to find King and a couple of his people there.

  “Hey,” she said as she reached the other male. “Where’s…” She trailed off as she spotted the dragonling flying in figure eights over one of the other work trailers. “Ah.” She grinned, unable to stop herself. “He’s following you everywhere, isn’t he?” Her friend Dallas had a pet baby dragon, and sweet Willow followed Dallas everywhere
too.

  “He’s impossible. He whined so much last night I had to sleep outside with him in my wolf form,” King muttered, but a smile reached his eyes, taking all the heat out of his statement.

  “He’s adorable is what he is.”

  “Manipulative is more like it. He’s got everyone in the pack spoiling him now.” King glanced over and upward, shook his head as the dragon burped out a small burst of flames that thankfully just sputtered into nothing.

  It was kind of funny to see King like this. The big male was always a little intimidating, the predator inside him clear half the time, but he had a sort of warmth that drew people to him. And he’d done a lot for the city because he cared about it. Like, truly cared about it in a way she’d found that human politicians never had.

  Not all of course, but in her very short life she wasn’t impressed with the people in power who were supposed to make things better for their cities. Instead they mostly seemed to be more concerned with their own power. King…he wore his power like a mantle and he wanted the people of New Orleans to be safe, happy, secure. Which was why she liked working under an Alpha like him. Thinking the word Alpha was still kind of surreal but she was getting used to it.

  “Is everything okay?” Mikael asked, his body tense.

  King gave a brief nod. “Everything is fine. I hear you guys are ahead of schedule and I just wanted to check things out.”

  “Okay,” she said. He didn’t actually need her permission or anything, he ran the whole city—er, territory. “A couple of the bears are on security tonight.”

  He nodded but still stood there, as if this wasn’t the reason he’d come at all. Then he cleared his throat and flicked a glance between the two of them. “Avery, I’d like to speak to you alone.”

  Next to her Mikael bristled. He didn’t actually move, but his body went preternaturally still and his dragon flickered into his eyes as he watched the Alpha.

  Uh oh, this might not be good. She might not understand shifter hierarchies completely but that looked a little bit like a challenge.