2
T
he corner booth was hidden in shadows, the tiny bar a perfect meeting spot for Jac Martine to hand over the name of the next victim to the Brothers. He was more than eager to help take down Ethan. Hungry to cause him pain. To force him out of the city. Because Ethan would leave before he’d allow innocents to die on his behalf. Another victim, and Ethan would know that all the women dying were linked to him. Ethan would know, without a shadow of a doubt, that his lovers had become targets.
Jac had come to Vegas knowing Ethan preferred to hire his own kind within his inner circle. For a year now, he’d worked as Head of Security for Ethan, feigning loyalty when all he wanted was the opportunity to cause him pain. He, himself, might not be a Brother, but his father had been. And his father had died at Ethan’s hand.
Jac watched as one of the Brothers slid into the seat across from him. “You got it?”
With a nod, Jac slid an envelope toward him. The Brother inspected the contents and then smiled. “Our leader will reward you well.”
Jac let the words fill him with pleasure. Once Ethan was gone, Jac would take over his financial empire. He could almost taste the power it would give him. He reveled in the bitterness he knew Ethan would feel to know someone so close to him had taken what was his.
Death was too good for Ethan. Jac wanted him brought to his knees. Ethan would be given an option. Give up the city to the Brothers or more will die. But not yet. First, Ethan needed to feel some pain. He needed to know they meant business.
He needed to know he had caused the death of innocents.
Two days after her encounter with Ethan, Kayla eased her way past the entrance of Secret Sins—one of seven men’s clubs Ethan owned. And this one happened to be where the last murder victim had worked.
Coming there had been a tough decision, but a fourth woman had died the night before, and she couldn’t hide the situation from the Council much longer. The police had kept this under wraps, but there were those in the paranormal world that knew who was responsible. It’s how Kayla had found out. And if the Council found out she knew about this and didn’t tell them, she’d be in hot water. Yet, she still felt her best path for solving this was Ethan. The Council would work against him, not with him.
But she couldn’t hold out forever in silence. She had to stop the Brothers or request help from the Council. That meant she had to enlist Ethan’s help and do it fast. So she had come up with a plan. And that plan had led her to Secret Sins.
Kayla had been prepared for how the club would affect her. Already, she could feel the lust around her: pressing on her mental barriers; burning for recognition and attention; burning to take control she wasn’t willing to give. Absorbing and controlling the emotions around her were part of being a Watcher. Often, in battle, the malice of those around her became fuel for her own blows, for her own ability to defend against that which would destroy her.
And though she knew coming there, being surrounded by so much lust, would beat on her defenses, she also knew she had no choice. Her first meeting with Ethan had gotten her nowhere fast, and after working her underground resources, she was quite certain one of his two top security men had betrayed him to the Brothers, intending to help them take down Ethan.
If she got up close and personal with Ethan’s security staff, she’d know which one was bad. She’d feel the malice. Then, she could go to Ethan and they could use that person to lead them to the Brothers’ main operation.
A wall of mirrors behind the cash register captured her eyes, and she barely recognized herself. Dressed in a short black skirt and a skintight tank with a deep V, she’d completed the outfit with “fuck me” spike heels, a long blond wig, smoky eyes, and glossy red lips. She looked like a walking invitation.
Kayla smiled flirtatiously at the brawny male taking her money and looking at her with more than a little interest, noting the lack of malice in him. He wasn’t who she sought. She’d know the enemy when she found him. She’d sense the danger, sense the bad intentions.
And she’d find him, whoever he was.
No doubt, a female alone in a men’s club would draw attention. Which was what she was counting on; the more the better. That would make it easier to find who she sought.
Rounding the corner, Kayla entered the main club, dim lights and sultry music closing in around her, waves of lust and desire rushing at her like a wave crashing into her body and mind. Kayla worked to block out the emotions flogging her from every direction. She drew on her training, on her discipline.
Her eyes went to the stage as heat rushed through her limbs, lust becoming a second skin. Topless women worked the horseshoe-shaped stage, moving to the beat of the sexy song, teasing the men who gathered nearby. And Lord help her, she could feel the power they felt. Feel the arousal of knowing those men were hard and hot because of the way the woman looked, the way they moved.
Kayla forced herself to inhale and focus on blocking out the environment, exhaling as she regained a bit of her composure. Again, she repeated her actions. Inhaling. Exhaling. Drawing on her well-practiced mental control.
Though she wasn’t a drinker, one seemed in order now. Kayla needed to dull the impact of the heat pounding at her. She eyed a bar in the back corner, gladly taking the retreat into the shadows. The bartender, a young blond hunk of a guy, set a napkin in front of her. “What can I do you for?”
“Cosmopolitan,” she said, noting the way his gaze swept over her breasts, lingering like a touch, making her nipples tighten beneath her silk top.
She eased around to rest her elbows on the bar, giving him her back as she fought the urge to reach up and touch her aching nipples to ease the pain. She focused on her next move and noted an empty table in the center of two rather rowdy groups of men who would make good targets for her attention.
Kayla’s drink appeared and she downed it, avoiding the gaze of her hunky attendant, desperate to dull her senses. Though she needed to be sharp to sense danger, she needed to calm the lust enough to feel anything but fire.
“Another one?” the bartender asked.
She nodded, scooting the empty glass across the bar. One more and she’d get this party started. She’d sit smack in the middle of those men and draw enough attention to create a stir. Then, she’d scream for help and security would come. And the security team was her target.
It wasn’t the best plan, but it was all she had.
Four women who’d seen his bed had died. Not even recent bedmates, but all women who, at some point, had found their way between his sheets. He knew what was going on. The Brothers wanted him gone, so they were making him feel pain.
If he stayed, people died. But if he left . . . if he left, the city would be taken over by the Brothers. A reality that would be far worse than a few deaths. And Kayla. Kayla would fall to the Brothers. She would stand alone and she would die.
“Damn it.” Ethan cursed under his breath, the sound echoing in the small video room in the back corner of his personal suite. For the fifth time, he hit
REPLAY
, watching the video of the most recent victim of the Brothers departing his club, Secret Sins, and going to her death. He was looking for a clue as to who might have followed her, to which one of his trusted staff members had turned on him.
Because someone had. Without a doubt, someone from his inner circle had become the enemy. That he didn’t know who ate at Ethan in a huge way. Few knew Ethan’s personal matters. Few were allowed inside his personal affairs.
Which meant only a handful of suspects existed, all men Ethan considered loyal staff members . . . until now. Someone close to him had betrayed him.
A knock sounded on the door behind him, and Ethan turned to wave Rigo V. forward, noting the urgent look on his face. At well over six feet tall, he was broad and muscular, a true warrior of their race’s Secret Services Agency. Unable to trust his staff, Ethan had called upon the SSA for added support, asking for Rigo and several others by name.
Though Ethan had long ago left his position inside the government of his people, disagreeing with some of their king’s ways, he still respected his leader, and he’d remained a part of the SSA. And though most believed he’d fled to Vegas, turning his back on his people, the opposite was true. He’d come to protect it from the Brothers. They would not take this city as long as he owned it.
And that would be a long damn time.
“We have a problem,” Rigo said, entering the room and shutting the door firmly behind him. “You were right about the Watcher getting into trouble. Our man just followed her into Secret Sins.”
Ethan cursed under his breath, knowing his reasons for having her monitored had been proven correct. Kayla wasn’t going to let this thing with the Brothers alone, and if she wasn’t careful, she’d get herself killed, an outcome Ethan wasn’t willing to entertain.
Since the first moment he’d laid eyes on Kayla, he’d felt protective, even a bit possessive, a dangerous combination in his race. To desire a female was part of a vampire’s richly sexual nature. To feel possessiveness came only when a male began to bond with a female, which was crazy because Kayla wasn’t even one of his kind.
“I know I don’t have to tell you this,” Rigo said, breaking into Ethan’s reverie. “But if anything happens to her inside that club—”
Ethan finished for him. “The Council would blame the vampire world, and we’d be in deep shit. Yeah, I know.”
Rigo fixed him in a hard stare. “We should call the king.”
“No,” Ethan said sharply. “You and I both know how he feels about me.”
Ethan had dared to do what no other had. He’d confronted the king on his handling of the Brothers. The king had walked away from a chance at victory one too many times. Why? Because one of his twin sons, jealous of his brother’s role in the vampire government, had left their world and formed the Brothers. The worst enemy the vampire world faced came from one of its leader’s offspring. And their king would do anything for his people . . . anything but destroy his son. It was times like this that he was glad he had no family. He’d take the emptiness over the pain the king’s son had caused him and so many others.
“He respects you,” Rigo said, sitting on the arm of the sofa. “You chose to walk away.”
Ethan laughed, bitter. The king had been quick to approve his Vegas post. He cut a hand through the air. “We aren’t calling the king. I can handle Kayla.” He turned back to the matter at hand. “What the hell is she doing at Secret Sins in the first place?” A female inside a men’s club was like a walking invitation, and Ethan felt the rise of anger. Surely, he misunderstood. Surely, Kayla wouldn’t put herself in such a position. “Are you sure she’s inside the club and not simply nosing around?”
Rigo snorted. “Oh, she’s inside all right, and from what I understand, looking to be a part of the show. She’s wearing a long blond wig and not a whole lot else.”
Ethan ground his teeth. What the hell was she trying to prove? “Well, if it’s attention she wants, she just got it.” He pushed to his feet. “But I doubt I’m what she had in mind.”
This was where he put his foot down. Kayla had no business digging around inside his club. If she wanted to know about his world, he’d be happy to give her a guided tour. She’d already put herself in the line of fire. The Brothers wouldn’t hesitate to take her out if she became a problem. Her present actions considered, someone would figure out she had indeed become that and more.
There seemed only one way to keep her safe and that would be to keep her close to him. A slow smile slid onto his lips. Yes. He’d keep her safe and close. Real close. And he’d deal with the slow burn she’d created in the process as well. Ethan was going to taste temptation once and for all.
Thirty minutes later, Ethan walked through his private entrance to Secret Sins, and he knew Kayla was present. He knew because he could feel her desire, knew because of the primal mating call roaring inside his limbs. Though he’d suspected his primal reaction to Kayla many times, tonight he knew it was true. Somehow, some way, her body called to his. It called beyond race, beyond what should have been natural to him.
Out of respect for his manager, Michael White, Ethan decided to do a quick stop by his office. He took the small hall to the right and stopped in the open doorway, surprised to find his Head of Security, Jac Martine, leaning against a far wall. With the dark, foreboding looks of their race—long dark hair and dark eyes—Jac was obviously a full-blooded vampire.
“Didn’t expect you tonight, boss,” Jac said, crossing his arms in front of his broad chest.
Ethan didn’t miss the defensive body language. Though he had no tangible reason for distrusting Jac, as of late his instincts had bred caution. And when his instincts flared, they were typically on target.
He wasn’t pleased with Jac’s unexplained presence. Ethan had made it clear on more than one occasion he wanted Jac at the casinos on weekend nights. “I could say the same of you,” Ethan commented dryly, resting a shoulder against the door jam.
“I asked him to stop by,” Michael interjected. Short and stout with fair hair, his bulldog features took on a harsher than normal frown, his brows dipping with a deep V. “Some of the girls are on edge and, frankly, Ethan, so am I.”
As with all humans, Michael was easy to read. His concern for his girls was genuine, which was why Ethan liked the man. The last victim of the Brothers had worked at Secret Sins, so that concern had merit.
“We all are,” Ethan assured him. “I trust Jac has shared our plan to add extra security?”
“He has,” Michael acknowledged, “but the girls aren’t satisfied. The murders didn’t happen on the job. They happened after hours.”
If Ethan was right and the women he’d slept with had become the targets, very few of the girls had anything to worry about. None of Michael’s staff would qualify. Still, the Brothers were unpredictable. There seemed only one solution to protect everyone.