Dark Desire (12 page)

“Christophe,
this is not your fault.”
Tambra
spoke softly as she
moved to stand in front of him. “We will find him.”

His eyes flicked
up to meet hers, surprised to find no condemnation within her deep blue gaze. A
sharp pain stabbed at his gut, as he found her concern and understanding far
worse. Guilt for not being there ate at him. Cody had only turned vampire a few
years ago, a baby really. He was still growing, learning his abilities. In many
ways his friend was as vulnerable as a human.

Unable to stand
still, he paced the length of the room, fingers spearing into his hair with
enough force to bring a tingle of pain to his scalp. “I don’t have a clue where
to look. Without his cell we can’t track him.”

“Perhaps we can
use Zeke’s connections with that trackers guild in Atlantis,” Marcus offered.

Christophe
stilled, a fragile glimmer of hope filling his chest.
Atlantean
trackers were ruthless when contracted to find anything missing. Tegan’s mate
Kyra had firsthand experience with one of them, who had been contracted to find
her. True, the tracker turned out to be a raging asshole whose loyalty could be
bought to the highest bidder. Still, there was a very good chance a tracker
could find Cody faster than they obviously could.

“I’ll call him
now.” Christophe turned on his heel, striding for the door, pulling out his
cell and punching in Zeke’s number as he left.

****

 
Zeke never thought to be so glad to see Tegan
come through his door. It seemed like years, but in reality only hours had
passed.
The longest damned hours of his life.
The
disturbing call he’d received from Christophe made him restless. He should be
out looking for his team member, his friend, but no, here he stood cooling his
heels on some personal quest for revenge. Sadly, he didn’t feel much guilt at
the moment. He gave Christophe his contact information for the guild of
trackers and never gave it a second thought. All of his focus was on the woman
locked behind the bedroom door.

Tegan wrestled a
smaller form inside and shut the door, leaning against it with arms crossed
casually over his chest. He glared at the small woman, snarling out an
introduction with open menace. “This is
Cici
,
Laris’s
roommate and best friend.”

Zeke studied the
older woman. Her black hair was threaded with silver, and her skin, the color
of dark chocolate, held lines around her large brown eyes and mouth. The woman,
barely five feet tall, held an edgy energy of someone half her age. The woman
looked like she experienced quite a bit of life, most of it bad, yet her
fighting spirit could not be denied.

At the moment
all her fire was turned on Zeke. “You got Lori? Let her go now, or you will
regret it.”

“Your friend
lied to you. Her name is
Laris
, and she is wanted for
attempted murder.” Zeke studied her surprised reaction to his blunt statement.

“Your
overbearing lug-head told me she was dangerous, too. I didn’t believe him, and
I sure as hell don’t believe you. If that child hurt someone, then it was
self-defense pure and simple. Lori doesn’t have a violent bone in her body, and
you can’t convince me otherwise.” She snapped back, her chin firmed with
defiance.

Interesting.

He looked up at
Tegan, a small smile lifting his lips. “Overbearing lug-head? It kind of fits,
you know?”

Tegan gave him
the bird before turning his attention back toward
Cici
.
“Tell him what you told me at the club,
Cici
.”

She shrugged her
narrow shoulders and gave a large sigh. “It’s like I said, I found her in the
alley covered in blood and wearing a fancy nightgown. I took her in and helped
her get on her feet. She has no memory of her life before I came across her.”

Zeke’s stomach
dropped to his feet, his head lifting to meet Tegan’s dark scowl. “So
Laris
is telling the truth. She really has no memory of the
events leading to the stabbing?”

“So it appears.
That is, if you believe what this woman is saying.”

Cici’s
spine
stiffened, indignation coming off her in waves. “Why would I lie?”

“Because
someone paid you to?”
Zeke snapped back.

She snorted in
disgust at the accusation. “Oh, right, and I’m living above a strip club
because I like the neighborhood? Please.”

Put that way
Zeke did feel a bit foolish for thinking it, but what other reason could there
be? “Are you being threatened? We can see to your protection if you tell us the
truth.”

“Boy, you’re
desperate to believe the worst. What’s so hard to accept here? Lori has no
memory of anything beyond the last seven months. It’s just that simple.”

“
Nothing
is just that simple,” Zeke bit
out, throwing her words back at her. He rubbed at the scar on his chest, his
fingers tracing the small irregular pucker of skin, a reminder of
Laris’s
treachery and his misplaced trust. “Put her in the
bedroom on the right and lock her in, Tegan.”

“Whoa, now are
you kidnapping me, too?”

“I can’t have
you running around right now, knowing where I live, now can I? I’ll let you go
once I know what is really going on here.” Zeke dismissed her, nodding at
Tegan, who with a growl of annoyance led
Cici
to the
bedroom and locked her in.

“Are you out of
your mind?” Tegan demanded with more than a bite of anger. “What the hell are
you thinking, keeping
Laris
and her friend hostage?
Marcus will go ballistic when he finds out.”

“Thank you for
your help, Tegan, but I’ve got it from here.” Zeke moved to the window, turning
his back on his friend.

“You got shit.
You’re losing it, Zeke. You need to take
Laris
back
to Atlantis to stand trial. If what
Cici
said is true
and
Laris
really has no idea of who she is and what
she did, your lawmakers are the ones who can determine that. Not you, and
certainly not this way. Take
Cici
back, and I’ll take
Laris
myself. Listen to reason before you do
something stupid you’ll regret later.”

Zeke spun to
face Tegan, and the air crackled with Zeke’s barely leashed anger. “I am aware
of the fucking consequences of my actions.
If
and that’s a big if,
Laris
had her memory wiped,
whether against her will or not, we need to find out who and why. Releasing
them could make them a target by whoever is behind this.
Whether
it’s an accomplice or not.
Guilty or innocent is beside the point if I
can’t find out who was behind the attempt on my life. Not to mention the
assassins on her tail. What do you think will happen if they catch up with her?
Think they will care if she has no memory of the crime she committed?”

Tegan’s dark
brows arched high in surprise. “So you believe
Cici
then?”

“Let’s just say
her arguments are very convincing.” Zeke hedged, unwilling to give
Laris
over to the Enforcers’ protection. For some reason he
refused to analyze, the thought of her being at HQ or even Atlantis alone and
in custody, brought a surge of protectiveness through him that he couldn’t beat
back with logic.

“At least let me
take
Cici
to Marcus,” Tegan reasoned.

Zeke struggled
with the unreasoning anger gripping his gut, threatening to shred him. “Fine,
but
Laris
stays here … with me. Are we clear?” he
growled. He could expect that type of behavior from Tegan, being a panther
shifter. He knew the animalistic urges the man combated daily, yet here he
stood, growling like some damned animal.

Christ, I am losing it, big time.

“Like crystal.”
Tegan backed off.

Smart man.

“I’ll just get
Cici
and we’ll get the hell out of here, all right?”

Zeke knew he
should feel guilty as hell over his behavior, but right then, he couldn’t give
a fuck
who
he pissed off. He just nodded, not trusting
his voice to come out normal, and turned back to the window, pinching the
bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger in a vain attempt to still
the pounding headache, which took up residence between his eyes.

He had a sinking
feeling in the pit of his gut. Things were only going to get worse from here.

Chapter Thirteen

“That’s
bullshit, and you damn well know it.” Temple’s low growl filled the room, his
knuckles bone white on the cell he held to his ear. The newspaper lay across
his desk, his face splattered all over the front page. He paced his office,
feeling caged with no exit to safety in sight. “When did your paper start
running conjecture? You’re just like those gossip rags reporting Bigfoot
sightings.”

“Are you denying
Mr. Pope’s claims that you’re one of the dark breed freaks?” The voice at the
other end held a sneer of superiority.

He fought the
urge to hang up on the SOB, but he needed to do damage control. His call to the
damn editor in chief of the newspaper, Roger Ashton, was not going as smoothly
as he hoped. The story of a wolf in CEO clothing amongst the poor, unsuspecting
humans was selling papers like it hadn’t in years. His jaw ached from grinding
his teeth together in an effort to keep from shifting.

“This is a witch
hunt, and you know it. There is nothing to substantiate this claim. It’s just
the word of one man.
A man who admittedly wants to purify the
world of dark breeds.
What’s next,
people
with
brown hair, or better yet anyone who is taller than five-eight?”

“You’re still
not denying the claim, Mr. Fox. Are you or are you not a dark breed?”

“Would you print
a retraction if I said no?”

“Not without
irrefutable proof. A blood test, DNA, you know.” Now it was Ashton’s turn to be
evasive.

“And you have
irrefutable proof I
am
a dark breed?
Let me see your proof, Mr. Ashton. The next call is to my lawyer if you don’t
retract your story.” Temple spoke softly, a dangerous sign to any who knew him
well.

 
“Let’s not be hasty. I can scan over the pics
I have of you turning wolf, and then you tell me what you would think.”

“I’d think
Photoshop. Surely you’ve heard of the process of image manipulation?” Temple
drawled out, sarcasm dripping from every word. “You have twenty-four hours to
retract your statement. If I don’t see it, you will be talking to my lawyer,
and I can assure you, Mr. Ashton, you will wish you cooperated with me once he
is done with you.”

He thumbed his
cell off and cocked his arm to throw the damn thing against the wall when it
sounded with a loud chirp. His wolf howled with rage as he ripped control from
it, tethering it on a tight leash. The bitch had him between the balls, and he
knew it. Worse, Amari played her hand with the precision of a born strategist.
He never saw this coming. What would she gain from exposing him to Pope’s
little army of humans?

“What?” he
snarled as he connected to the caller.

“We have a …
situation downstairs.” Lucien’s gravel deep voice could barely be heard against
a backdrop of angry shouts and threats.

“I can hear,” he
retorted. “Lock the fucking lobby down and meet me in my office.” He cut him
off, this time setting his cell on the table, and shoved his fingers in his
hair as he paced in front of the windows of his high rise.

“You need to
leave.” The soft accented voice stroked over his skin, a soothing balm.
Calming his rage.
How Leola could calm his wolf down with
just her voice was a mystery to him.

His head turned
toward her, hunger sharpening to near pain as he stilled, his gaze raking over
her slim body dressed in form fitting jeans and a tight low scooped sweater of
deep blue. Her dark skin shimmered as the sunlight touched her, and he suddenly
envied the light wanting his hands where those rays were flowing over her. The
sway of her hips as she moved mesmerized him, and his hands itched to grab
those hips and pull her up flush to his hardening groin.

“Leola.” The
reality of the situation slammed into his gut with the force of a sledgehammer.
“I need you to go. I have a place in Washington State…”

She stopped in
front of him, placing one slender finger to his lips to still his words. “Not
without you. Don’t ask this of me.”

He gently took
her hand in his, turning her palm up for his kiss, his gaze snared by the
glittering moisture of unshed tears in her dark eyes. “I can’t do what needs to
be done when I’m worried about your safety.”

“I am not
without resources, love. I must be by your side. Turn me away, and I will just
come back.” Her chin lifted with stubborn defiance.

His argument
died on his lips as Lucien charged through the door with as much elegance as a
bull in a china shop. “We
gotta
go now. They broke
through the lobby. I locked the elevators, but it will be only a matter of time
before they burst through the door to the emergency stairwell.”