King of Darkness (16 page)

Tyra’s responding head shake was probably a little more emphatic than necessary. “Nope. Sorry. I really don’t think we know each other.”

“I’m sure you’re right.” His deep scowl showed that he didn’t feel as sure as he claimed, but he seemed satisfied enough to let the subject go for the time being. Thank goodness. “Well, thank you for your help. I guess I’ll see you around soon?”

Tyra nodded a good-bye, twisted the knob, and inched her way out of the small room. The desire to be polite was warring with her need to speed-walk the hell away from the ambiguously homeless hunk who was apparently lusting after her. Perhaps telling him she wasn’t going to be around might help cool his jets.

“Actually, I’m planning to take a little vacation after tonight. As soon as I’m sure you’re all squared away, I’m heading out, in fact.”

She hadn’t expected him to jump up from the bed like his ass was on fire. “I could walk you to your car, if you like. It’s late, and this isn’t a good neighborhood.” Bless him, he seemed genuinely worried about her safety. Little did he know.

“I’ll be fine, but thank you so much for your concern. You get some rest, K?” A final quick step back had her out in the hall, pulling the door shut behind her. She indulged in a self-directed eye roll and a slap of her palm against her forehead before turning on her heel and hightailing it back toward her office. Anton Doe—or Anton Smith, or whatever the hell his real name was—made her extremely uncomfortable.

He was out of her head by the time she had sped back to her office and pushed the door shut behind her so she could teleport home to where they had real problems: wizards and humans and prophecies.

Oh, my.

Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shitshitshitshit… shit!
Isabel’s wet palm smacked against the tile.

While the steamy hot water sluiced over her body, she tried to put recent events into perspective and only succeeded in scrambling her brain. When the knocking in her knees got to be too much, she decided to sit down but wound up bonking her head against the bath spout. Good grief, she was clumsy. Then the water was too cold so she had to turn it up. Damn, she couldn’t even collapse gracefully. At last, she eased back against the tile.

The cold ceramic at her back brought a new awareness: that patch of skin near her tailbone didn’t hurt anymore. Yeah. Huh. The niggling ache she’d felt for days was totally absent. Had that happened sometime while they were making love, just like Thad’s power? No, no. No. Not making love. The sex had already thrown a big, giant monkey wrench into things without adding
feelings
to the whole mess.

Man, Alexia would totally bitch her out over this. Poor Isabel had a hunky, rich king come track her down and fuck her into next Tuesday, and waaaah, she was supposedly destined to be his mate.

“Aaargh!” Maybe there were worse predicaments to be in, but damn. She was just plain not queen material. That she was sure of. And it sure as hell hadn’t occurred to her that sex with Thad would be the thing to kick this whole prophecy business into high gear. But it must have, right? Somehow the sex had unlocked Thad’s power. Or the feeding. Or both?

Now that she thought about it, though, maybe this had been a good thing. Since Thad now had his power, maybe the whole joining-for-eternity part didn’t have to happen. Her longest romantic relationship had been for like two hours, for crying out loud. She did not do long term; she wouldn’t begin to know how. Even if she tried, someone was bound to get hurt. This way, Thad could find himself a more suitable mate and she could go home.

As soon as she turned the steaming water off, her shivers began again with renewed vigor. Isabel felt both physically weak and totally psychotic at the same time. She still couldn’t believe she had smacked Thad while they were making lov—fucking.

Shit. The robe was out in the room with Thad. And she was freezing. Isabel grabbed a towel and wrapped it around herself, still shaking despite the warmth and softness of the luxurious bamboo fibers. Wow, she really loved these towels. Too bad that alone wasn’t the basis for a relationship.

She grabbed a glass from the counter and filled it, looking around the elegant bathroom with its gold-accented etched mirrors and marble countertops. She couldn’t see herself living in a place like this.

Isabel tipped the glass to sip her water, but nothing came out. She must have been further out in orbit than she’d realized. She could have sworn she had filled it. Isabel reached for the tap again—and dropped the glass.

The expensive-looking tumbler shattered into a million pieces when it hit the sink, along with the frozen chunk of ice the glass contained. A sudden light-headed feeling swooped down over her like a swarm of those freaky winged-monkeys from
The
Wizard
of
Oz
, and she backed toward the door.

She needed to find Thad.

Isabel stumbled bleary-eyed into the room, and her heart sank. The rumpled bed was empty. His clothes were gone. Making her way to the bed in a somewhat herky-jerky fashion, she fell onto the sheets and flopped over, curling into a ball. She couldn’t deal with this now.

She needed to get more sleep. As soon as Alexia was better, they needed to find a way to leave. She couldn’t handle any of this, and she damned sure couldn’t handle the fact that her only connection to the outside world had left her here alone.

***

Thad stormed down the hallway. His footsteps pounded heavily against the diamond-patterned carpet runner. A deluge of emotion poured over him, but rage prevailed. At the moment he was so livid that his vision was blurry and he was ready to jump the hell out a window. His fists clenched and unclenched by his sides, desperate to grab something long enough to hurl it across the room.

So, okay. He had upended Isabel’s world with the whole destiny business, but he had thought that the passion between them had meant something. It had to him. Shit, even if it didn’t mean anything more to Isabel than what she’d done with the humans at the club, she could at least have had the balls to stay, not skitter off to the bathroom like a frightened bunny. The fact that he had developed a power while they were together meant something, dammit. Meant
everything
. Didn’t she see? It was proof they belonged together.

Thad stopped near the main foyer to collect himself, but frustration swamped his senses until suddenly his fist hit the wall and sank deep into the plaster.
Fuck
. A rumble of laughter from the doorway made his head spin, and he pinned Lee with his best don’t-say-anything-if-you-know-what’s-good-for-you stare. Turned out Lee didn’t know shit about what was good for himself. Or if he did, he sure didn’t care.

“Jeez, buddy, what’d that wall ever to do you?” Lee’s laughing eyes regarded Thad, clearly unaffected by the waves of nastiness Thad was trying to project at the older male.

Thad exhaled heavily, shaking dust off his hand and forearm. Huh. The scar on his arm didn’t hurt anymore. Didn’t feel like much of anything now, as a matter of fact. Perhaps that was fitting.

“Ivy!” Thad bellowed toward the west hall, expecting that she’d be in her office. He was surprised when the answering jog of her footsteps came from the direction he’d just traveled, but then he remembered that Brayden had tasked her with keeping tabs on Alexia.

“What’s up, Thad?”

“How’s the human?” Ivy seemed to flinch. The staff wasn’t used to seeing him in fuck-off mode. Frankly, he was a little put off by it himself.

“Actually, she’s good. She’s conscious but really confused. Brayden gave her a sedative, and she’s gonna need a little more blood soon probably. Well, that and someone to explain to her what’s going on. She kind of panicked when she came to.” Ivy swallowed.

“I’ll take care of it,” Lee broke in. “Let me know when she’s awake again. I’ll talk to her.” Ivy’s nod reminded Thad just a little of a bobblehead doll. She had been raised old-school and was a little too agreeable for her own good.

Thad gave his fist a final shake. “You sure you’re the one to play welcome wagon, Lee? You’re not exactly known for the warm and fuzzy.”

“Fuck you.”

“Again with the fuck you,” Thad muttered. He gestured to the wall. “Get someone to fix that,” he said to Ivy. “And find some clean clothes for our guests. Shoes, too.” He remembered that Isabel had still been barefoot when they made the trip from Florida.

Ivy remained, staring at him like a puppy waiting for the tennis ball to get thrown. “That’s all,” he said tersely. She nodded once more and scampered off.

Thad didn’t bother to apologize. He was king now. He needed to grow a set and get used to handing out orders.

God, he was so freaking tired of himself.

He wiped drywall dust from his hand onto his pants and walked past Lee. “Come with me,” he growled and headed toward the elevator at the rear of the mansion. They made the descent to his father’s old study in silence. When he closed the mahogany-and-glass double doors behind both of them, Thad noticed that the humor hadn’t left Lee’s face.

“What?”

“Nothing,” Lee said as he dropped into a large wingback chair by the empty fireplace. His conversational tone feigned casual innocence. “It’s just that usually when I smell blood and sex rolling towards me, the individual on the other end is in a much better mood.”

Thad pointed a finger at him. “Don’t start with me.”

“O-kay. So what’s up, my man?”

Thad gestured around at the walls of bookcases and file drawers. The flowery photographs on pastel-colored backdrops. “I want to go ahead and clear my father’s stuff out. Make it my own space.” With his hands on his hips he surveyed the room. The decor was far too dainty. He’d never given it much thought before, but his mother must have done this. “Maybe get some new furniture in here.”

“So you’re finally moving in?”

Thad stared at the fluffy beige carpet for awhile before nodding an affirmation. With or without Isabel, it was time to figure out how to move forward. “It’s about time I get my ass in gear. I’m still acting like a guest in this house, even though my dad’s been dead for months.”

Leaning back in the chair, Lee crossed his left ankle over his right knee. “Letting go is hard, buddy.”

“Yeah, well…” Thad swept his arm out dismissively. “It’s necessary.”

Lee sighed and uncrossed his legs, ready to stand. “Just lemme know what you need.” He rolled his neck around on his shoulders a few times before he stood up. “So. You wanna talk about it?”

Thad scowled. “About what?” Well, that was the no-shit question of the year, wasn’t it?

“Come on,” Lee scoffed. “You think I want to know your feelings on pink being the new gray? What’s going on with you and your female that’s got you throwing out pissed-off like beads at Mardi Gras?”

“I don’t think pink is the new gray, and I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Sure?”

“Very.”

Lee shrugged. “Fine.” He stood and crossed his arms over his chest. “So this all you wanted then, to announce you’re branching out as an interior decorator?”

Thad made his way to his father’s Victorian-style desk, easing one hip to sit on top of it. The groan of protest from under his ass confirmed that he needed sturdier furniture. “You talked to Siddoh, right? Give me a status report.”

Lee grumbled and seated himself in the chair again. “No news is good news, apparently. He said it’s been pretty quiet the past few weeks, aside from a couple of suspicious human deaths. No conclusion on those, though. Thing is, he also thinks maybe the wizards have some new moves, and he thinks they’re reorganizing—maybe even using some undercover tactics. He wants to get Tyra to nose around during the daytime.”

Thad’s head snapped up and his eyes narrowed to scrutinize his best friend’s face. “You told him no, right?”

Lee grimaced. “Initially. Thing is, she might really be able to help. His theory involves stemming their supply of new blood by hitting them where they grab their women and their offspring. It’s…” He sighed, running his hands over his almost military buzz cut.

“I hate to say it but it’s a reasonably good idea, if we can work it carefully. We’ve never known for certain how they reproduce, but putting a little time and recon into it could be a good thing. I told him I’d talk to Ty about it. We agreed to stick with early evening so she’s not out there without backup for long.”

Thad’s lips pressed together. “An hour. She goes out an hour before dusk, tops. No earlier. She can change her volunteer schedule accordingly. Lately, she’s there nights mostly anyway. Have her stay off patrol duty for awhile. If she does run into a wizard out there during the day, we don’t want her to be recognized as one of us.”

“I’m actually a little concerned that they already know who she is, based on our encounter with that wizard in Florida.”

“Be that as it may, I’d rather not take chances. We don’t know if it was just the one guy you dusted, or if the whole clan knows. They’re selfish and secretive enough even with their own, so either is possible.”

“True. Anyway, I’ll talk to her when she gets in.” A small vibration on his hip had Lee tapping out a text and holstering his phone within a few seconds. “Speak of the devil; she’s on her way over.”