Mia's Return (8 page)

“You always carry a knife up your
sleeve?” she asked Alex.

“Always,” he said. He hesitated.

“What he wants to tell you and won’t,
coz he’s so practiced at not telling you, is that there’s a war
on,” Wyatt said.

Alexander expelled a sharp breath. Was
it in relief, or unhappiness?

“There’s fucking demons after her,”
Wyatt snapped at him. “You wanna protect her into her grave?”

“A war? Between whom?” Mia asked,
bewildered.

“
Oy vey
,” Wyatt muttered.

“You can’t tell her everything,”
Alexander protested.

“Why not?” Wyatt demanded. “She’s a
member of the club now.”

“Because a demon wants her? Perhaps he
just wanted her because she was with me. We don’t know!”

“You afraid she’ll hate you if she
finds it all out, vampire?”

Alexander fell silent and Mia knew that
Wyatt had touched a raw nerve in him, one she didn’t know he had.
She caught at Wyatt’s sleeve. “Don’t,” she said quietly. “Leave him
alone. You don’t understand.”

Wyatt turned to look at her, glaring,
as if he were about to snarl an equally pithy comment at her but
stopped. He brushed her hair aside. “Damn, you’re beautiful,” he
said, his voice rough.

She found herself caught by his eyes,
snagged by the beauty of them. It was quite uncanny the way he held
her gaze there. Such strength. That was the overwhelming impression
she had of Wyatt.

Mia realized her breath was speeding up
along with her heart rate.

And her clit was throbbing.

She gasped as she recognized that she
was responding to Wyatt.
No, this was impossible!
She had
only ever responded to one man….

“Alex!” she whispered, focusing on
Wyatt’s face. She noticed his lips which were full, even when
compressed in angry lines.

“Oh god, the dream,” Alexander said to
himself with a tone of stunned amazement. He shifted on the bench
to face them both properly. “I can feel your need, Mia,” he told
her in a murmur. “I can see it in your face. Kiss him.”

Wyatt blinked, straightening up his
spine in a stiff, defensive posture. “
What
?”

“Kiss her, Wyatt. I know you want to,”
Alexander said.

“What is this bullshit?” Wyatt said
roughly, looking at both of them. But he made no move to shift Mia
from his knee and his hands were still around her waist.

Mia slid her hands through Wyatt’s
rough, unruly hair and slowly brought his head to hers and kissed
him. His lips were quite different from Alexander’s and at first,
they were frozen in shock. She explored the shape of them with her
tongue.

Wyatt groaned and grabbed her head and
kissed her back. His tongue probed her mouth and swept against her
lips.

He was hot, hard and male and Mia could
feel her clit swell and throb and her pussy cream in response.
Tears pricked her eyes. How could she do this to Alexander, who sat
right there? But there was an erotic wickedness knowing that Alex
had told her to do it. Was he enjoying it?

She pulled away from Wyatt, her breath
uneven and glanced at Alexander. He seemed unmoved but his eyes
were very blue in the lamplight. Wide and dilated.

Wyatt wiped the corner of his mouth
with a shaking hand. “Perhaps Mia isn’t the only one who doesn’t
understand what is going on. What just happened then? That was no
ordinary kiss. I felt…I can…
feel
…you.” He was looking at
her. “I can feel your arousal.”

Alexander nodded. “So can I,” he said.
“That’s what the demon wanted. He wanted to stop the bonding.” He
reached into his jacket and pulled out a cell phone. “We’re going
to need help and I know just the people.”

Wyatt shot to his feet again. “Hold it.
You’re telling me the bonding is
permanent
?”

Zachariah didn’t flinch. “That’s
right.”

“It changes you?”

“Yes,” Seaveth responded.

Mia shivered.

“All in order to fight the Grimoré, who
haven’t actually shown their faces yet?”

“They have, as it happens,” Lindál
said, from across the room.

Mia found Lindál the most fascinating
of all. He was an elf. An
elf
. He had been born elvish.
Vampires, she could get her mind around with a bit of juggling and
thinking. Even hunters and, well, demons. But she kept finding her
gaze drawn back to Lindál, to the sheer perfection of his skin and
the glow that came from it.

Seaveth also glowed. She had explained
the glow had come from the changes that had occurred as a result of
the bonding process.

The bonding that Mia now faced…if Wyatt
cooperated.

Lindál straightened from his lean
against the window. Snow was sliding down the glass just on the
other side, melting and dribbling tiny rivulets of water down the
pane before them. He had been watching the snow splat against the
window as they talked. “Seaveth spoke to an agent of the Grimoré
this morning,” he told them. “He wanted to make a deal. She told
him to go to hell.”

“You mean we had a chance to stop the
war altogether? Why didn’t you take it?” Wyatt demanded.

Seaveth held up her hand. “It wasn’t a
deal any of us could stomach. Even you, Wyatt. Could you have stood
aside and let the Grimoré harvest humans while you turned a blind
eye?”

Wyatt grimaced.

Seaveth said softly, “These trinities,
Wyatt, are our key to defeating the Grimoré. The prophecy tells us
so and the first trinity—Zack, Lindál and I—has proved to be far
more powerful against the vampeen than any other vampire or elven
force put together. If I am right, then three trinities are the
key. You, Alexander and Mia make up the second trinity. You need to
allow the bonding to go ahead.”

Wyatt crossed his arms. When they had
first arrived at Alexander’s apartment, he had removed his overcoat
to reveal a sleeveless shirt and tight black jeans molded over
thick thighs. The shirt displayed his well-developed, tanned
shoulders and neck. The flesh covered fighter’s muscles and showed
many faded scars. Wyatt kept his body conditioned.

Now he looked at Seaveth. “With all due
respect, ma’am, I’m a hunter, not a warrior.”

“Really?” She smiled. “To look at you,
with your scars, one could argue that you’ve been fighting a war
already. The demons you hunt have been recruited by the Grimoré.
They used the demon to attack Mia, knowing we would not expect an
attack from such a quarter. Your quarry has become ours. You have
been included in the war whether you like it or not.”

Wyatt frowned. “I don’t hunt in
teams.”

“Once the bonding has been completed
and the war is over, you can go your own way once more,” Seaveth
responded calmly. “You may find you no longer wish to. I’ll be
frank, Wyatt. The bonding will change you in ways you cannot
predict.”

Wyatt rubbed the back of his neck. “I
really don’t have any choice about this?”

“None of us do,” Lindál said. “The
bonding process is a mystery to us all. Why it chooses who it does
is unknown to us. There are ancient forces at work, is all that we
can tell you. Call it fate, if it suits you better.”

“Fuck fate, if it decides I have to
bond with a fucking vampire!” Wyatt railed.

Everyone seemed to recoil a step at the
fury in Wyatt’s voice. Mia realized that most of the people in the
room were vampires. Both Zachariah and Alexander were. Seaveth had
bonded with one. Diego was not an elf so therefore must be a
vampire too. Only she and Wyatt were fully human.

Mia realized that Seaveth was looking
at her. In her mind she heard a quiet whisper in Seaveth’s
well-modulated tones.
Talk to him
. Seaveth turned her head
to look at Wyatt once more, where the man stood with his fists
clenched, anger pouring off him.

Mia shivered. How was she to speak to a
man so wrapped up in his own rage?

Zachariah cleared his throat.
“Alexander, I need you to come over to our place to pick up that
stuff.” He dug into his pocket and pulled out keys, heading for the
door. Alexander followed him.

Seaveth turned to Mia and kissed her
cheek. “I’m so pleased to meet you. Here’s my cell phone number.”
She pressed a card into Mia’s palm. “I’m heading home with Zack and
Alexander but Lindál can have me here inside a heartbeat. You know
about elves, don’t you?”

Mia shook her head.

“Teleportation.” Seaveth smiled.
“Better than Zack’s Maserati if you’re in a hurry.”

Diego, Lindál and Seaveth left, leaving
her alone with Wyatt.

Mia went to him and took his fist in
her hand. “Sit, Wyatt. Sit down.”

“You sent them away, somehow.”

“Seaveth did.”

He took a deep breath and folded onto
the couch. He put his elbows on his knees and rested his forehead
on the base of his hands. “Fuck,” he muttered.

She realized that he was trembling.

“What is it about vampires?” she asked.
“Why do you hate them so much?”

“Ancient history,” he whispered.

She kicked off her boots, climbed onto
the sofa and massaged his neck and shoulders. It was like digging
into iron but she kept at it, knowing that it kept Wyatt’s focus
away from what she was asking.

“Tell me,” she coaxed. “I have so much
to learn. I didn’t know vampires really existed until a couple of
hours ago.”

For several minutes he didn’t speak and
Mia kept silent, knowing that the silence would prompt him.
Finally, he spoke with obvious reluctance. “I had a partner once.
About eight years ago he was turned by a vampire, who fucked off
after that. My partner—what
was
my partner—woke and fed on
the first thing it could find, all animal instincts and no guide to
help it through the waking.” He signed heavily. “The first thing it
found to feed upon was my…my wife.”

He hunched over and Mia wrapped her
arms around his wide shoulders, hugging him.

“She was pregnant,” he whispered and
Mia felt the agony rip through him as he spoke the word.

She breathed in her shock. “Oh,
Wyatt.”

He shook his head, trying to deny her
sympathy, but he didn’t shrug off her hold and after a moment, his
hand caught at hers.

They stayed that way for long moments
then Wyatt straightened up, flexing his shoulders, as if her
sympathy had reminded him he was revealing too much of himself.

“Vampires were taken off the official
prey list eighty years ago. But I hunted it down and made damn sure
it took as long to die as Julie had and then some.” His jaw set
hard and his mouth was a grim straight line. “So much for them
taking care of their own, the fuckers. I can’t believe I’m sitting
in the lair of one of their kind.”

He jerked onto his feet and it
unbalanced her. Mia flailed, knowing she was going to fall flat on
her ass on the floor.

Wyatt reached out and plucked at her
arm. He caught her and lifted her back onto the sofa cushions next
to him once more. Then he frowned. “How much do you weigh?”

She blushed. “Well….”

“No, no coy stuff. I’m strong but not
that strong. I just moved you with one arm. That’s not possible
even for someone as tiny as you. How much?”

She told him her true weight.

“You must have real muscle packed
away.”

“I work out.”

“It shows. Seaveth said her reactions
got faster before the final bonding. Sit up. Remember that kid’s
game of hand slap?” He sat on the sofa once more, but this time he
faced her squarely and held his hand out, palm down.

“I was always very good at it,” she
warned and rested hers on top of his. Her hand looked small against
his tanned one but Alexander’s hand was even bigger than
Wyatt’s.

Wyatt tried to slap her hand five times
and missed. Then they traded places. Five hard slaps later, Wyatt
shook his hand. “Strong, too. Jesus. Hold out your hands.” He
threaded his fingers through hers. “Now push back as I push. Let me
feel how strong your upper body is.”

He steadily began to push against her
hands and Mia pushed back, giving it all she had, staring into
Wyatt’s eyes.

“Strong,” he whispered. “Damn
strong.”

But she didn’t care. She suddenly
wanted him to kiss her. All over. Her pussy crawled, hollow and
achy. She used her grip on Wyatt’s hands to bring him toward her.
“Fuck me, Wyatt.”

“What about your precious vampire?”

“He knows,” she said. “That’s why he
left.”

“He’s…almost human, isn’t he?”

“He was, only ten years ago.”

He stared at her, his focus inward,
then swore. “You knew him then, didn’t you? You thought he had
died.”

She nodded. “I saw him earlier today
and couldn’t believe my eyes. Ten years ago they told me Alexander
had been murdered. My brother told me they had taken him into a
basement, put him on his knees, put a gun against the base of his
skull, told him what his crimes against the commission were, then
pulled the trigger.”

Wyatt kissed her. “He probably was
shot,” he said gently.

She caught her breath in dismay and
retrograde fear. “No…”

“That’s how many of them
are
made. They die and are turned before the spirit is lost.” He cupped
her face, his expression softening. “But he’s giving you to me
first. Do you mind?”

“Alexander left his mark on me a long
time ago. Here.” She touched her heart. “Now I know that I will be
with Alexander again, I can wait. Now I need
your
mark.” She
smiled a little. “Do
you
mind?”

He considered that. “Surprisingly, no.
I feel like I should be pissed about being yanked around by
mystical forces I have no control over, but it seems petty and
distant when you’re sitting next to me.” He grinned. “Women like
you used to have me running in the opposite direction, too.”

She held out her arms. “Come here,
then.”