Blood and Destiny (13 page)

“He has spies. He’s been waiting for centuries for this. I took everything away from him and now he has the chance to do the same to me.” He held up a hand to halt the protest I wanted to make.

“Whatever you decide, I hold you dear to my heart, whether you’re in my bed or not. That puts you on a level no other woman has reached and my father knows it.”

“Fine, we’re beating a dead horse. Let me ask another question. Why Betsy Vincent?”

“Because she’s barren and looking for an escape from the hand that life dealt. He’ll woo her with acceptance, compassion and promises of immortality. When she’s aged to the point he finds her unattractive, he’ll throw her away like countless others.”

There was bitterness and sadness prevalent in his tone, but his expression never changed. Without thinking, I set my glass on the end table and rose up on my knees on the couch, catching my balance with a hand on his shoulder. At my touch, he turned his face toward mine. The despondence in his expression made my heart stutter. He didn’t move forward to meet me as I leaned in to kiss him lightly on the lips, but he didn’t stop me either.

He was still as stone and I thought he was going to reject my advance after all, but he softened.

The kiss turned hungry and my body responded to the promise. He tugged me forward and I straddled his lap without breaking the kiss. I pressed into him eagerly. He seemed more than happy to have me there. My hands fell on the buttons of his shirt only to be caught by his. Pulling back, I expected him to take over the task himself.

I was disappointed.

Instead of undressing, his gaze was heavy as his hands held mine. It took a minute for me to realize that we weren’t going to be heading to the bedroom so I could make up for the fact I’d kicked him out the day before.

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

Tension of the entirely wrong sort mounted as we stared at one another. The sound of his phone beeping in a text broke the spell. He let me go to fish it from the holster on his belt. With a glance, he put it away and turned that inscrutable face back to mine.

“The car is here. I sent for it before I joined you and your new pet.”

And the world came crashing down around me.

Marcus had a previous engagement…for dinner and so much more.

“You’re leaving.” My voice was soft and full of the pain I wanted to hide. Sliding off his lap, I did my best to shake it off. I couldn’t have it both ways. Either I was willing to play his game or he was going to play mine. It was a sour taste to swallow.

Marcus let me process the information in no apparent hurry to rush off to his date.

“Nothing would please me more than to stay and see this to completion. However, ask yourself why you are so quick to agree to something you were adamantly against not a full day past.”

I raised my gaze back to his, wanting to argue, even knowing he’d see the lie all over my face.

“Consider your options, Destiny. Tonight you offer what you denied me yesterday with cold logic.

You say you want a man who will be true to you? If so, why are you so eager to fall back into the comfort of my embrace when the lion is all too willing to negotiate his case? Then ask yourself if you’ve found what you think you want with your lion? It’s no more in his nature to be faithful than it is possible for me to be. Shapeshifting lions live much like their feline counterpart. One or two males with a harem of females are the norm. With me, you know I would be true to you if I were able. But it’s impossible. With him, it’s simply against his nature to be content with a single lioness.”

He stood up and offered me a hand. Even though I didn’t need it, I took it for the olive branch it was and let him pull me from the couch. I expected him to release it as soon as I steadied on my feet, but he tugged me closer instead. Gently, he brushed my hair back from my forehead and placed a gentle kiss on it. Maybe he was trying to take the sting out of his words and the gesture did soothe the blow to my pride a little.

“When you’re ready to make the same offer, when you’re not running from another man’s attention, I’ll still be here waiting.”

With that final whispered word, he turned on his heel. I heard him unarm the alarm and set the delayed rearm before the back door opened and closed with a finality that seemed to echo through the apartment.

Part of me couldn’t believe he had left me standing there burning for him. The rest understood it all too well. Hadn’t that been what I had done yesterday? With a frustrated curse, I snatched up my wineglass along with Marcus’s from the other table and stomped to the kitchen to dump the remaining wine down the drain.

The window over my sink looked out over the small lot and I found myself watching the vampire walk away. Just when I was calling myself all kinds of a fool, he turned to look back toward my window. Even knowing he couldn’t see me watching, I pulled back and glanced away.

My eyes found something darker than shadows lurking against the building on the far side of the lot. Curiosity piqued my interest and I stared at the dark shape until the form of a man separated from the familiar outline of the building. The height and build gave him away and I wondered how

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

comfortable that worn leather was against the night air.

My temper ignited the frustration burning through me. Snatching up the phone, I punched Yasmine’s cell number by heart, ignoring the staccato beep that told me there was voicemail.

Yasmine’s sleepy voice answered the phone with a curt, “Do youknow what time it is? There had better be a body we need to hide or I’m hanging up.”

Kale’s voice was sharp in the background, but I launched into my tirade.

“Do you realize your lion is playing stalker outside my building?”

“Is that the body we need to hide or did you call to be obnoxious because the man’s into you?

Wait. Why is he outside your building instead of inside? Didn’t you two have a late-night date or something?”

Her wits were sharpening as she woke. Without losing track of Luke in the shadows, I turned my attention to Marcus as the car door closed behind him. I couldn’t help but wonder if Marcus had picked up the scent of the lion because the driver, a man I didn’t recognize from that distance, paused before getting into the car and closing the door behind him.

“We did,” I told her while I watched the car glide out of the cramped parking lot. “And it was a bust. He got a little miffed that it was the vampire who walked me up instead of the lion. Go figure.”

“Vampire? Wait. Give me a minute to catch up. When did you run into Marcus and why is Luke stalking you?”

The car carrying the vampire in question began to carefully navigate the alley toward the street as Kale’s voice came over the line making me jump.

“Destiny.” Kale’s voice definitely didn’t sound sleepy. “Are you okay? Who’s stalking you and what is going on with Luke?”

I would have loved to demand he give the phone back to Yasmine so I could vent but knew it was too much to hope for. Just one of the reasons I’d stopped calling at odd hours. There was no getting around the man.

As quickly as I could, I gave him the condensed version of the night. While I talked, the lion melted deeper into the shadows of the building across the way. I knew without straining my eyes that he was gone long before I finished telling Kale what had happened. Of course, getting the story out in the open made me feel better, even if it wasn’t to Yas. Kale, as much as I liked to pick at what he represented, was a good man for a werewolf.

“Do you need me to send someone out?”

“I wouldn’t need any backup if you hadn’t sent the blasted man after me, Kale. But no, I’m fine.”

It was snippy, but the heat of my temper washed away in the tide of my story. Even though it was kind of Kale to offer, it rankled my pride that the thought of accepting actually lingered. He must have sensed it or knew me too well after the seven years he had spent chasing Yas, because he countered with laughter lacing his voice.

“Don’t blame me. That was your sister’s doing. I’ll talk to him, though. Let him know that you’re not without your own pride at your back. Family is family no matter what form it’s in.”

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

It was his way of reminding me that the day where it was me and Yasmine against the world was over. The final throes of my temper washed away under his compassion and it left me tired.

“Thanks, Kale. That means a lot. Can I talk to Yasmine? I promise not to keep her up too much longer.”

“Well, since you were kind enough to wake us up early, I fully intend to put the time to good use, so hurry up.”

The love and affection in his tone made me smile and envy my sister a hair more than I should have. She came back on the line in a rush.

“Destiny? Cut that out, Kale.” Laughter bubbled up in her voice.

“It’s okay, Yas. I take it you heard the story?”

“Yeah. Watch yourself, Destiny. I’m not sure I trust either of them at this point. You and your taste in men are going to drive us both to an early grave.”

“Oh, and yours is so much better?”

“I heard that.” There was no reprimand in Kale’s voice, only amusement and determination.

Yasmine’s sharp intake of breath told me why. Rolling my eyes at them, I shook my head.

Somehow, it seemed cruel that I was denied the very thing Yasmine was fighting off at the moment.

“Yeah, yeah. You two have fun. I’m going to go to bed. It’s been a rough night. I’ll call you tomorrow when I wake up. Promise.”

She was still trying to rally and talk when I clicked the phone off. Carrying the cordless phone toward my bedroom, I found myself being glad that one of us was getting lucky.

A cold shower—okay, lukewarm—later and I sat on my bed staring at the phone. I wanted to go to sleep, but the voicemail called to my curiosity. No one ever left me voicemail. My friends generally used my cell if the voicemail picked up at home, which meant the call related to a case or a potential client. Of course, very few potential clients called after midnight, so that limited the choices to one: the Vincent case. It was the only one on my books.

Snatching up the pad and pen from the bedside table, I punched in the code and waited. Milo’s voice sent my pulse racing and not in a good way. His words were low and a little rushed.

“I’ve got your information, Destiny. You’ll have to pick it up in person. It’s not something I’m going to leave on your voicemail and it’s too important to wait. Meet me at one at Carvelli’s. I’ll spring for lunch.”

I frowned as I put the pad, pen and phone on the table. Milo, as far as I knew, never came out of his hole in the wall. Not only did I have no idea what he looked like, I didn’t even know his last name. Carvelli’s wasn’t exactly going to let me stroll through their fancy foyer without a reservation. It made me wonder how Milo could carry that much clout.

Damn, two days in a row that I had to put on a dress and pretend to be civilized. Milo wasn’t going to rate makeup. I was already one over on the men count and I wasn’t about to fancy myself up on the chance to add to it. Of course, I could be overestimating my charm. For all I knew, Milo was some geeky old goat with a sexy voice that had long since passed the point of chasing skirts.

Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

Shaking my head at the thought, I turned down the bed and climbed in. Case or not, I could snatch a few hours of sleep before duty called me to lunch. My last thought before I drifted off to sleep was that at least he had picked a restaurant that I wanted to go to.

In the end, Milo didn’t warrant a dress. Sadly enough, I simply didn’t have one that I felt comfortable wearing to a lunch meeting. Instead, I pulled out the pantsuit I wore on the occasional times I had been called to testify. It was simple basic black, cut to flatter my figure. Adding a vibrant blue shirt for contrast and a pair of low-heeled boots and it set the perfect tone.

The Carvelli valet didn’t even blink when I handed him the keys to my car. He smiled and pressed a claim ticket into my hand. I caught a trace of his scent under his very expensive aftershave and it made my nose twitch. It wasn’t shapeshifter, but it was something.

It told me two things: Carvelli’s obviously paid their valets by the minute and there was a game in town I knew nothing about. Both made me step lightly as I strode toward the door.

The moment I stepped into the foyer and the door closed behind me, I wished I’d come armed.

Unfamiliar odors rode the air-conditioning right alongside the rich and fragrant smell of Italian food.

My stomach gave a rumble and I grinned in embarrassment.

Of course, the man in the black suit standing behind the podium wasn’t so coarse as to comment.

Instead, he studiously consulted his book and nodded in satisfaction. Waving away a man dressed totally in black save the white waiter’s apron, he turned a practiced smile to me and stepped down to floor level.

On the podium, I’d thought he was tall. On the floor, I towered over him by a good three inches.

Being vertically challenged, I felt like a giant and it threw me off my stride mentally.

“Right this way, Ms. St. George.”

He strode away, light on his feet, without waiting to see if I was following. His scent washed back to me in his wake. He wasn’t human, but I couldn’t place what he was. I took a closer look around me as I trailed after him. There was a sense of sameness among the staff that marked them of a kind. Most of them were tall, but even the shorter ones had a certain lithe grace and slender build.

They also had dark hair and deep brown eyes that made their claim of Italian ancestors believable despite the lack of swarthy skin tones. If it was a ruse, it was a good one. I was betting that there was at least a kernel of truth to it.

The little man stopped in front of a booth tucked into the corner of the dining room and stepped aside. Reluctantly, I let my gaze stop scanning the restaurant and brought it to rest on the young man sitting with his back to the dining room effectively leaving me in the secure position of having my back against the wall. I liked him immediately for that alone.