Out for Blood (45 page)

One side of her mouth curved up. “I like the people here. I’m not happy Argent died, but I am glad for the promotion.”

“I can’t say I miss Argent.” He slanted his eyes at her. “You going to say anything about what happened to him?”

“I have to. But I know how to report his death in a way that leaves you blameless.” She smirked a little. “I wouldn’t want to do anything to get on your grandmother’s bad side.”

“That’s very… nice of you.”

Her smile increased. “I’m not so bad.”

He sat back. “Why did Argent have such a hard-on for making my life miserable?”

“I’m not allowed to discuss other KM personnel with you.”

He nodded. “No, I guess you’re not. Sorry.”

“If I were, I might tell you that Argent couldn’t get past your criminal record.”

“He
knew
the circumstances that brought that record about.”

“And he didn’t care.”

Creek let that sink in for a long second. “You don’t seem to have a problem with it.”

Her head dropped like she was looking at her hands. “I understand the importance of family. Of protecting them.”

“Thanks, by the way.” He canted his head toward the house. “For everything with my grandmother.”

Annika lifted her head. “If she were a younger woman, I’d try to recruit her.”

“She’d turn you down.”

Annika laughed. “Which makes me like her that much more.”

“So.” Creek took a deep breath. “The mayor. What are the KM statutes on a thing like this?”

“You know them as well as me,” Annika said. “The moment she endangers human life, she becomes an enemy.”

It didn’t surprise him that the mayor killing Mal didn’t count. “And until then?”

“Until then, we wait. And watch.”

He nodded and stood. “Then I know what I need to do.”

Chapter Forty-Two

I
f the rise in his temper was any indication, the ketamine was leaving Doc’s system. At least his office was soundproofed. “How can the marks not be noticeable when she was basically drowned in silver dust?”

“They were both covered in sand. And now they’re both covered in abrasions from it. There’s very little difference in the marks from the sand and the silver. Plus, with Heaven now permanently in her animal form, they’d have to know what they were looking for to find it under all that fur,” Barasa answered. “The real damage happened internally.”

“Then what if they do a necropsy?”

Omur shook his head. “They won’t. Her father might not care enough to pick her body up himself, but I guarantee he won’t want her cut up like that.”

“You’re still making assumptions. I’ve called São Paulo twice and both times they’ve told me he’s not available. Rodrigo Silva is either too busy to take my calls or he doesn’t recognize me as pride leader. Either way, we could have a problem. I’m
not
telling him his daughter is dead by leaving him a message.”

Barasa nodded. “I agree.”

“You might have to go to him,” Omur said.

Doc stared at the man. “Are you insane? Talk about walking into the lion’s den.”

“Jaguar,” Omur corrected.

Doc pushed to his feet. “Dammit. We have to figure this out before it gets any worse.”

Someone knocked at the door. Doc glanced at Omur and Barasa, but they clearly had no idea who it was. “Come in,” he called.

One of the guards opened the door. “There’s a visitor for you—”

“Move.” A wide, squat beast of a man pushed past the guard. He locked eyes with Doc. “Are you the new pride leader?” he asked in heavily accented English.

Doc squared his shoulders, prepared for anything at this point. “Yes. And you are?”

“Rodrigo Silva. I’m here to see my daughter.”

The minute Tatiana left, Dominic and Katsumi joined Mal.

“What was that about?” Dominic asked.

Mal snorted softly. “More insanity. She’s planning to put together a team of loyal nobles to go after Chrysabelle. The best part is Tatiana thinks I’m dead. I guess good news travels fast.”
Too bad it’s not true.

Dominic looked around before speaking. “Things are bad enough with the mayor now. We can’t have a horde of nobles infesting our city.”

Mal shook his head. “We won’t. I know how to work her. I convinced her that I was the right noble for the job and that she should give me a shot at it before telling anyone else about her plans. It was pretty easy, actually.” His mouth hitched up on one side as memories of his past life with her resurfaced like dead fish. “Same old Shaya.”

Katsumi made a dismissive noise. “If you’re done reminiscing, can we move on?”

Mal stifled his anger. “What did you find out?”

She nodded toward the dais. “The woman who was seated beside Octavian is Daciana.”

“The one who was in my hold.”

“Yes. If Tatiana doesn’t have the baby, one of them will or one of only two servants. A wet nurse, Oana, and the head of Tatiana’s staff, Kosmina.”

“Either of the servants seem like they could be flipped?”

Dominic shook his head. “I don’t think so.” He looked past Mal. “Carissa is coming.”

Mal turned to see Chrysabelle approaching. She dipped her head and did a brief curtsy, a show of respect for the eyes around them. “You talked to Damian?”

As she rose from the curtsy, her disguise couldn’t mask the anger in her eyes. “Yes and he’s on board.
She
has him drugged. Drugged,” she growled softly. “She doesn’t deserve a comar.”

Katsumi frowned. “How can she feed off him if he’s drugged?”

Chrysabelle looked away, checking the crowd. “She’s using Daciana’s comar.”

Mal wanted to take her hand, reassure her in some way, but in this setting, that wasn’t allowed.
Good
. “We’re going to get him out of here. It’s going to be okay.”

She nodded, her jaw tight.

“How soon?” Dominic asked.

“Soon,” she answered, repositioning herself so they could all see the dais. “You should get closer to the doors.” She gave Dominic a little smile. “We’ll see you on the other side.”

“On the other side,” he agreed. “Be safe.”

Or die.
“You too,” Mal said.

With that, Dominic and Katsumi headed toward the ballroom’s entrance so they could move when the opportunity presented itself. Which it should very soon.

Chrysabelle stood at his side, nervousness wafting off her in waves, her body stiffly poised as if ready to leap to her brother’s aid, even though they both knew that couldn’t happen. “You’ll be with him soon.”

Her gaze never left her brother. “I hope so. Otherwise, I—”

Damian got out of his seat and approached Tatiana, who was deep in conversation with a small group of nobles. He leaned in and interrupted. The crowd noise made hearing the conversation impossible, but the change in Tatiana’s expression from politely interested to obvious displeasure said it all.

Beside Mal, Chrysabelle’s breath hitched.

Tatiana glared at Damian, then ignored him and went back to her conversation. He inhaled deeply, then spoke to her again. This time, she backhanded him, splitting his lip.

Chrysabelle swallowed and a shocked silence rippled out from the nobles around Tatiana, spreading through the crowd as those in attendance turned their heads.

Damian glowered at Tatiana but said nothing. She pointed toward the door. “I will deal with you later.”

“No, you won’t,” Chrysabelle whispered.

With that, Damian walked away and the crowd quickly returned to their conversations with a new, hugely interesting topic to discuss, giving Dominic and Katsumi the cover they needed to navigate the crowd and follow Damian out.

“Now we pray,” Chrysabelle said. She glanced at Mal, her calm expression noticeably forced. “Well, I pray.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

Mal watched the crowd around them, but no one paid the unsocial noble and his comarré more than a passing second of attention. Then movement on the dais caught his attention. Maybe this was the start of it. He hoped. Anything was better than the waiting. “Chrysabelle.”

“Hmm?” Her eyes were still closed.

“Octavian’s moving. He has the child and she’s fussing. This might be the opening we’ve been looking for.”

She opened her eyes and turned to see. “Okay,” she said with a nod. “Time to go.”

Still seething from the embarrassment of Damian’s stupidity, Tatiana almost snapped as a hand touched her shoulder. The moment she saw Octavian, she forced herself away from the volatile edge she teetered on. “What is it?”

He shifted a fussing Lilith to his other shoulder, patting her back to no avail. “I’m going to take her to the suite.” He frowned, his gaze roaming her face. “Are you all right? What happened with…” His eyes darted toward the nobles she’d been speaking with. “Perhaps we’ll just talk later.”

She laid a hand on his arm to keep him there, then turned only enough to engage her audience. “If you’ll excuse me, my child and my consort need me.” She didn’t wait for their response. “What’s the matter, my darling?” She leaned in to brush a curl back from Lilith’s forehead. “Are you hungry?”

“She might be. Oana’s in the suite and Kosmina’s already headed there to warm a bottle.” He jounced Lilith up and down a bit. “I think the crowd might be overwhelming her, too.” He shook his head in frustration. “These people. They want to touch her and hold her and—”

“Touch her? Hold her?” Tatiana squeezed his arm as horror gripped her. “You haven’t let them, have you?”

“Of course not.” He pulled Lilith deeper into his embrace. “Let me take her to Oana; then we can discuss what happened with Damian.”

Tatiana shook her head. “Stay with her. I’ll come in a few minutes and we can talk about it in private. I could use a break myself.”

He hesitated. “All right.” He kissed her on the cheek. “In a few.”

As he left, she deposited her half-empty goblet of blood onto a passing server’s tray, then picked up the skirts of her gown and prepared for the arduous slog to the door. She hoped the look on her face would stop anyone from approaching her.

“You’re not leaving, are you, Lady Tatiana?”

At the question, she turned. “Lord Moreau.” She lifted her chin and ignored the spark of unwanted desire his voice ignited within her. “I must see to my daughter.”

He stared at her, pinning her with an oddly familiar look that arrowed through every carefully cultivated ounce of bravado. She hated him for that. And desperately wanted to bend him to her will. He shrugged. “Your consort isn’t capable of that?”

“He’s perfectly capable.”

Lord Moreau barely moved, but he was somehow closer. “Let him handle it, then, as I am incapable of bearing this crush much longer. How soon do you want the issue with the comarré resolved?”

Business it was, then. “As soon as possible.”

“Do you want her alive?”

“Yes.” Even though he was going to help her, she wanted to jab at him. To prove to both of them that he was no one special. “You won’t succeed, you know.”

He smiled ever so slightly. “You should really work on those trust issues.”

She picked up her skirts again. “I have to go.”

“I want all the information you have on this comarré. Unless you want me to fail for a reason.”

She paused, the peculiar feeling of being bested unsettling her. She wasn’t quite ready to declare this battle over. “Fine. You may walk with me, Lord Moreau, and I will fill you in on this rogue comarré. That way when you fail, you will have no one to blame but yourself.”

Chapter Forty-Three

H
ilda was gone. Lola hadn’t seen her since she’d run out of the bedroom. So be it. If the woman couldn’t handle her boss being a vampire, there was really no point in her remaining employed here.

Hector returned from her office and held out the phone she’d sent him to fetch. “Anything else I can do for you, my lady?”

“No, that’s fine.” She took the phone and pointed to the empty end of the sofa. “Come sit.” The den was the darkest room in the house with its north-facing windows sheltered by large palms and overgrown palmettos. The potion Luciano had given her was keeping her awake like he’d said it would, but the sun’s presence still made her skin itch. She shuddered. “Once the helioglazing is done, I won’t be such a prisoner in my own home. I hate feeling so dependent.”