Bite Me if You Can (30 page)

Lissianna and Rachel had insisted she wear the pink, off-the-shoulder cowl and a pair of cream-colored suede pants. Her hair was in the bob she’d worn for the last two years, but it shone and almost glowed with life, as did her skin. The only makeup she had on was lipstick and eye shadow, and she looked better than she ever had with foundation and blush and all that gunk. She didn’t need it. The nanos made her look like a million bucks without it.

“You look lovely,” Lissianna said, and gave her a quick hug.

Rachel nodded and said, “You’re gonna knock him dead.”

Leigh made a face in the mirror at the prediction. Lissianna and Rachel had just spent several hours enlightening her about things that Lucian neglected to mention. None of it was anything she blamed him for bypassing.

Considering his discomfort at finding himself in the women’s lingerie shop, she wasn’t surprised that he couldn’t bring himself to explain the differences she would find in female topics like monthlies or pregnancies. If he even knew what those were, she thought with amusement. But she was also terribly grateful that he hadn’t told her about life mates, and explained the signs of them and what they meant.

Leigh had listened to Lissianna and Rachel rhapsodize about how wonderful it was to have a life mate, someone meant just for you, who couldn’t read your mind and use it against you, but could project thoughts to you and you could project thoughts back to. Apparently, this was a skill Greg and Lissianna had just begun to develop between them and one Rachel couldn’t wait to have.

Leigh even felt a touch of envy as the women expressed their happiness and pleasure in their relationships, explaining the difference in sex, how powerful it was, how it was the rare time when the minds could merge and that they shared their pleasure, mirroring it between them and bouncing it back and forth, stronger and stronger until it was almost unbearable. It sounded like a wondrous relationship, and she couldn’t wait for it to happen. Then Rachel said, “It already has.”

She had listened blankly as Rachel reminded her that Lucian couldn’t read her, the first and main sign of a life mate. She’d then gone on to touch on things that Leigh hadn’t realized, but that Rachel had worked out from reading both her and Lucian. It seemed her shower sex fantasy had been transmitted to Lucian while he slept... another sign. She was busy being embarrassed hearing that he knew what she’d been fantasizing, when Rachel informed her she hadn’t had it alone, that once pulled into it, Lucian had joined in and taken control. Did she remember a point when her “fantasy lover” had done something unexpected and seemed to have a mind of his own? Well, Rachel told her, that’s because he had.

That’s when her envy and confusion gave way to fear. It was too soon; she hardly knew Lucian. Dear God, she’d married Kenny after dating for only six weeks, and look what a mistake that had been! She’d only know Lucian for a matter of days. Two, that she’d been conscious. That thought had shocked her. Two days? It felt like a lifetime. Lissianna had offered the solution. Just because they were life mates didn’t mean they had to rush off and get married right away. They could date and get to know each other better until she felt secure in the relationship.

Leigh felt as if a huge mountain of pressure had slid from her shoulders then. Dating. Seeing each other. Going out for dinner, to movies, dancing... She could handle that. And heck, she lived in Kansas and Lucian in Canada. It would even be long distance dating. She could cope with that. Feeling better, she’d allowed them to help her dress herself up to go out to the Night Club.

Now, Leigh peered in the mirror at the two women framing her. They were watching her silently, probably listening to her thoughts as they patiently waited for her to decide she was ready.

Giving a nod, she turned from the mirror and moved toward the door, saying, “Let’s go.”

“It will be fun,” Lissianna assured her. “It will give you two a chance to relax and have fun together.”

Leigh murmured something that might have been taken as agreement and tried to squelch the nervousness bubbling toward the surface. Lissianna and Rachel had spent a good deal of time trying to tell her Lucian’s good points and how wonderful he was while they’d helped her get ready, trying to build him up in her mind, but Kenny’s family had thought he was the cat’s meow, too. They hadn’t had a clue. How a man would act as a son or brother or uncle just wasn’t the same as how he would behave as a husband. She’d learned that the hard way.

“They were in the library when we came upstairs,” Lissianna announced as they reached the bottom of the stairs, and Leigh turned that way, heading up the hall. In the lead as she was, Leigh was the one to open the door. She then froze, her eyes going wide.

The men were in the center of the library, Lucian holding Thomas in the classic dance style and Greg holding Etienne in the same way as the two “couples” rotated around the room. Greg was humming some waltz or other, and Lucian was murmuring “One two three, one two three” as he watched his feet and woodenly steered a miserable-looking Thomas around the room.

“I can’t believe you guys were teaching him to waltz.”

Rachel’s words brought the memory to the front of Leigh’s mind, making her smile with amusement. She’d done a lot of smiling in the three hours since they arrived at the Night Club, she realized as she looked around. In her opinion, it was a surprisingly pedestrian dance/lounge bar. It wasn’t that she’d expected stuffed bats on the walls or posters of Bela Lugosi everywhere, but she had expected something unusual to mark it as a vampire bar.

Oops, immortal bar, she corrected herself.

Anyway, there wasn’t any of that. It was made up of two rooms: this lounge area, with the music at a level where they could actually talk and hear each other; and a larger room with a dance floor surrounded by booths, where the music was several decibels louder. The two bars were separated by a swinging door, but the walls between them were soundproofed glass. Leigh and the others had chosen to sit in the lounge, but made forays into the dance area when a good song came on and someone felt like dancing.

All the men had taken a turn or two on the dance floor, but only Thomas went every time the girls went. Lucian had proven himself a pretty capable dancer for someone the men had thought they should teach. He seemed to have a natural sense of rhythm.

Her gaze slid to the bar, where Lucian, Etienne, and Greg were gathered around Bricker and Mortimer. The women and Thomas had returned from their last excursion to the dance floor to find the men had abandoned their table for the bar.

“Seriously,” Lissianna said, smacking Thomas in the arm. “What were you thinking? They don’t waltz here.”

“I was thinking I didn’t want my uncle clasping my butt, and our chests rubbing together as he stepped on my feet while trying to shuffle me around the floor,” Thomas answered dryly.

Leigh nearly choked on her drink as she burst out laughing at the image he’d just put in their minds.

“Yeah... laugh,” Thomas said. “You weren’t the one dancing with him. You have my sympathies, Leigh,” he teased, reaching out to pat her hand.

“He dances just fine,” she said firmly, then scowled and added, “Now will you guys stop that.”

“Stop what?” Thomas asked with genuine confusion.

“Stop talking like Lucian and I are a couple.”

“You are.”

“We’ve just met,” Leigh protested, but he just shrugged as if that meant nothing.

“Doesn’t matter whether you’ve known him five minutes or five millennia, you’re life mates. He’s yours and you’re his. The only question now is when the two of you will get past your fears and claim each other.”

Leigh arched an eyebrow. “What if I don’t want to claim him?”

“Forever is a long time to be alone,” Thomas said quietly. “Hell, two hundred years is a long time. Trust me. I know.”

“Yeah, well, I could choose to be with someone else,” she pointed out. “I might find contentment, at least, with someone else.”

Thomas’s eyes widened incredulously, then he turned to Lissianna and Rachel. “Before we went over tonight, you two said you were going to get Leigh alone and tell her everything. Didn’t you do that?”

“Of course we did,” Rachel began, then stopped when she saw Lissianna’s wide eyes. Frowning, she asked, “What did we forget?”

“I think we just neglected to clarify something,” Lissianna said with a sigh, and turned to Leigh. “Do you remember the tale of my mother and father?”

Leigh nodded. Marguerite Argeneau and her husband Jean Claude had, apparently, not been true life mates. He’d been able to read and control her... and had. It made for a miserable marriage for both of them. Marguerite had been little better than a puppet that he posed and did with as he willed. Even worse, she’d been aware of it, but unable to stop it, much as Leigh had been aware and able to think, but unable to stop Morgan from controlling her own body and actions. Marguerite had—understandably—resented Jean Claude for it.

“Well,” Lissianna said, “any other relationship, but Lucian, would be like that for you. You won’t be happy with anyone else.”

Leigh shook her head firmly. “I would never do what your father did.”

“Do you think my father intended to when he turned and married her?” Lissianna asked quietly. “Do you really think he didn’t feel guilt and self-loathing over it? Why do you think he became an alcoholic and ended up burned to death? It was as good as suicide.”

“Besides, who says you’d have the stronger mind?” Rachel pointed out. “Whoever you choose for a mate might do it to you.”

“What?” She stiffened.

“Father was stronger minded because he was so old,” Lissianna said. “But there are new turns who have displayed stronger minds than most immortals have. Greg, for instance.”

“Lucian’s old, too,” Leigh said with alarm. “Could he—”

“He can’t even read you,” Rachel pointed out. “He couldn’t control you. It’s why you’d make perfect life mates.”

They fell silent as the waitress arrived with the drinks Thomas had ordered. He immediately leapt to his feet to help her distribute the cocktails, then thanked and tipped her.

“That looks familiar.” Rachel suspiciously eyed the glass Thomas placed in front of Leigh.

Leigh smiled at the red umbrella sticking out of her glass. Shifting it aside, she removed the candy heart on the little plastic sword that had been laid across the top of the glass and ate it.

She had tried several drinks tonight, and much to her dismay, enjoyed them all. She liked the energy drinks especially. So much for her belief that she’d never care for the taste of blood. As had happened with the scent smelling as sweet to her as perfume, blood now had an entirely different taste to her, and she wondered how the nanos managed that.

Leigh picked up her glass to try this latest drink, only to find it snatched from her hand by Rachel as the other woman turned a glare on Thomas. “It’s a Sweet Ecstasy!” she said accusingly.

“Yes,” Leigh said, confused. “Thomas said it was good.”

“Oh, yeah?” Rachel continued to glare at him. “If it’s so good, why don’t you drink it, Thomas?”

He made a face. “I don’t know what your problem is. It worked for you and Etienne. It’ll work here to speed things up, too.”

“I don’t understand. What’s going on?” Leigh asked. “What exactly is a Sweet Ecstasy?”

“It’s chock full of the pheromones and hormones of sexually excited mortals.”

Leigh raised her eyebrows.

“You’ve heard of Spanish Fly?” Rachel asked.

“Yes,” she said with a frown.

“Well, I don’t know if that really exists, but this is the immortal version, and I can guarantee you it does work.”

Leigh turned a horrified gaze on Thomas, and he quickly said in his own defense, “I was just trying to heat things up for you.”

She gave a short burst of disbelieving laughter. “Well geez, Thomas, I don’t need that. I’m already having waking wet dreams. Give it to Lucian instead.” She snapped her mouth closed on the last word as she realized what she’d said, turned on Thomas herself and said accusingly, “I thought you said there wasn’t much alcohol in those drinks.”

“You won’t have the same tolerance you used to have,” Lissianna explained soothingly. “And don’t be embarrassed about what you said. It’s all right, Leigh. We’ve all been through the madness of finding a life mate and all said or done stupid things in the midst of it. Well, Rachel and I have.”

Thomas almost seemed to flinch at her words, and Leigh realized he wished for a life mate of his own. Lissianna seemed to realize it as well, for she patted his shoulder and added, “And Thomas will soon enough, too.”

“Right.” Thomas didn’t sound as if he were likely to hold his breath waiting for it. Then he snatched the drink from Rachel and said, “But Leigh’s right. I’ll give it to Lucian instead.”

Getting to his feet, he turned away to cross to the bar before anyone could speak.

“He won’t really?” Leigh asked with alarm.

Neither woman answered. They all watched Thomas approach the bar and tap Lucian on the shoulder. When his uncle turned, the younger man said something and gestured back toward their table. The moment Lucian looked their way, Thomas traded the glass he held for the one that sat on the bar in front of Lucian.

“Oh God, he did it,” Leigh said with dismay.

“He certainly did,” Rachel agreed dryly, then added, “You’re in for an interesting night.”

“No, I’m not,” Leigh said firmly. “I couldn’t possibly take advantage of Lucian that way.”

“Considering the thoughts I’ve seen floating through his head, I don’t think you could call it taking advantage,” Lissianna assured her with a small smile.

“The men are coming back,” Rachel announced. “And they’re looking pretty serious. Bricker and Mortimer must not have had good news.”

Leigh noted that Lucian’s face did indeed look grim. He’d told her on the way to the club that they suspected Morgan and Donny were headed north to Canada, following her. She found that hard to believe. If they’d thought it was because of Donny, she might have agreed it was possible, since Donny was the one who’d wanted her turned, and he’d gone on about being eternally happy and so on. But they seemed to think Morgan wanted her, which made no sense to her at all. She wasn’t some great beauty who could enslave men with a smile. She was the kind you found attractive as you got to know her better, and Morgan hadn’t known her more than a matter of minutes.