“So he really can’t help me find Betsy?” I couldn’t keep the disappointment out of my voice.
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Finding Betsy Vincent was suddenly of paramount importance. I’d love to say it was because I was that goal-driven, but it would be a lie. The sooner I put my hands on my target, the sooner I could deal with the overflow issues unfolding around me.
“No, sweet lioness, I’m afraid Todd cannot help you hunt your prey. And before you ask, my father is the last soul you need to even consider utilizing in your search.”
Sometimes I wonder if I’m that transparent or if he just knew me that well. Luke took in a deep breath and that’s all that kept me from jumping when he rejoined the conversation.
“You think your father is behind the woman’s abduction, don’t you?” Luke didn’t even try for a neutral tone. His voice was full of accusation and an undercurrent of pure aggression. I saw Marcus’s temper immediately soar to meet the fight, and interrupted.
“Luke, shut up and drive. Marcus and I are trying to figure out what’s going on. One day in town doesn’t make you an expert on the local population so please let us work through this.”
He growled, but didn’t fight back. I was glad because the last thing I wanted was the two of them fighting, even verbally, while Luke was behind the wheel. He simply wasn’t a good-enough driver for that. Unfortunately, I thought less of him for it. Having a man around who required less maintenance than Marcus might have been a refreshing change, but not if he wasn’t strong enough to stand up to me. I’d make him a lion-skin doormat in no time flat. I put another mental tally mark against him.
What was I thinking? Betsy Vincent waited for me out there to find her, and I mulled over my choices for a bed warmer?
Shaking myself, I turned my attention back to Marcus and gave Luke a bone.
“What he said. That’s what you think, isn’t it?”
“It would be the logical conclusion.”
The tension level in the car was too high for him to make it sound as casual as Marcus probably wanted. It left me more questions, but I wasn’t sure how to ask them diplomatically. An hour ago, I’d have played the hard-ass and tried to bully it out of him, but now I wasn’t sure about my present company—either of them—enough to do it that way. Funny how lust managed to creep up and complicate every aspect of your life when you least expected it.
After a moment of contemplation that yielded absolutely no results, I asked the obvious question.
“So if I can’t track down the next lead in the case since every contact seems to be suicidal, what do I do now?”
“Do you really want the answer to that, Destiny? Are you ready to dance the dance at my father’s lead? I can guarantee you that it won’t be pleasant. Exhilarating, maybe, but definitely not pleasant.
My father comes from an age where you were born to power and respect is reserved for those of the nobility. Everyone else is a pawn to be used.”
I watched his hand tighten on his knee. It was the first outward sign of how much this was affecting him. “Do you think we can set the tune?”
Marcus’s laughter eased some of the mounting tension as Luke turned onto my street. As he pulled up to my building, I released my seat belt and got ready to make my escape. “Thanks for coming along, Luke. I’ll see you at the rehearsal dinner tomorrow night.”
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Marcus opened his door, stepped onto the sidewalk and moved away from the car. As I turned to slip out to join him, Luke’s hand snaked across the seat to grab my arm. I instantly stopped under it and fought not to snarl at him to let me go.
“Destiny, you can’t keep running from me. He may not be classically dead, but he’s still not a fit mate for you.”
I tugged my arm free and got out without saying anything. His gaze followed me and I moved to the other side of Marcus before I looked back to meet it. There was something dangerous lurking deep in his eyes that made the lioness in me perk up with interest.
It made me wonder if I underestimated him. In fact, it made me sure of it. There was more to Luke than I knew. It made me wary of him on a new level. What, if anything, was he hiding?
After a moment, he pulled the car out onto the street and drove away. There wasn’t any traffic at half past three in the morning. Marcus and I stood on the sidewalk for a moment and watched his taillights turn the corner.
“May I offer a word of advice?” Marcus waited for me to nod. “Even the tamest animals can be riled with the proper motivation to revert to their instincts. Be careful of that one.”
I couldn’t disagree. Instead, I took him by the hand and led him to my front door.
There was a little light on my phone that indicated voicemail. It blinked at a slow, steady pulse which I ignored as I reset the alarm. Whoever left the message would have to wait because I had faced the last truth I wanted to face for the night. There wasn’t a need to invite Marcus to join me, but I held out my hand to him anyway.
We didn’t bother to turn on the lights as we went upstairs. We both knew the way.
I tried not to think about what bringing him to my apartment meant. The conversation could have taken place in my office, but I wanted the comforts of home around me.
Closing the door behind us, I took a deep breath and let it out as I flipped the lock. Yes, I was being paranoid, but I was feeling a tiny bit freaked over the ease in which Marcus’s father had done his Houdini.
When I turned around, Marcus stood cloaked in shadows. Even with my night vision, I couldn’t see his face. He stood pensive and waiting. The set of his body broadcasted it. For a second, I wondered what flashed through his head, but then I let it go.
I strode past him into the living room and turned on an adjustable lamp as low as the setting would allow. Walking over to the wine rack, I pulled out a bottle of my favorite Australian wine. I loved the flavor and it was perfect for my pocketbook, cheap, exactly the mood I was in tonight. Cheap, easy and available. It didn’t say much about me, but at least it was honest.
He followed. I expected him to crowd and pressure me even if he wasn’t going to feed on me tonight. Part of me was counting on it—praying for it.
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Handing him the bottle, I took the glasses from the hanging slots above the rack and moved to the couch. Mustering all my grace, I flounced onto the couch and hoped my ending pose was worth the effort. His gaze followed me as he worked on the wine seal and his breath hissed as the blade slipped and nicked his finger. Slowly, he raised it to his mouth and sucked the blood from it while I watched with a fascination that wasn’t feigned in the least.
The atmosphere ripened with tension and possibilities. Was it only last night I’d turned him down?
What had I been thinking?
“Start talking about vampire babies, Marcus.” My voice was husky and did more to disclose my desire than any amount of flirting could have. The knowledge flared deep in his eyes and he popped the cork on the bottle without even glancing at it. Let’s hear it for talented hands.
“Hollywood has broadcasted the basics about created offspring. Most of it is accurate with the a few notable exceptions. The only way to become a vampire is to have a master whose magic is strong enough perform the rebirth ritual.”
I waved my hand to move him along. “Know all that, Marcus. Give me something new.”
“Oh, demanding, are we?” His tone teased, but there was an edge under it. I was obviously pushing a topic he didn’t want to talk about. I had a moment of sympathy, but it passed.
“Start sharing since I’ve shucked my clothes without a care for birth control more than once because I was naïve. Enlighten me, please, especially if you ever plan to get the opportunity to go there again.”
Our gazes locked across the room and he prowled toward me. Wereanimals have a certain grace even in our two-legged form, but in that moment, Marcus was the greater predator. The potential for speed and strength made my body tighten as he came to me to pour my wine with another glass for himself.
I expected him to take the line I’d given him, but he surprised me.
“In order for a vampire to sire or carry a vampire child, they have to be born of a vampiric union.
It doesn’t have to be two pure vampires. In fact, the odds of conception are higher if one of them is not. Vampires have long lives, the born more than those created for companionship.”
He sat on the couch beside me, closer than he should have, but not nearly close enough. I capped my impulses. There would be time for that later. He paused as he picked up my legs and pulled them across his lap.
“Vampires have bred themselves to the brink of extinction. More and more of our born offspring are too weak to hold our magic and do not share our needs. Others still cannot carry a child to term when they can conceive. Entire bloodlines have become extinct.”
He stared at his wine and finally took a long drink, savoring the full flavor of it. I used the opportunity to ask a question.
“So, you’re saying that you’re practically sterile?”
He looked at me with an expression so full of affront that I very nearly cringed. He replied in an equally indignant tone. “I’m more virile than most of my kind, Destiny. It’s only timing and fortune that made our union fruitless.”
“So you have children out there in the world?”
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“No.”
It was a short answer and obviously something he didn’t want to talk about. Curiosity made me want to pry, but I resisted the urge. Instead, I filled in the blanks from our night, hoping for clarification.
“Your father has come to town to see you or just to be a nuisance?”
Marcus considered the question while idly spinning his glass. I took the moment to appreciate the fine bones of his profile.
“My father and I parted under quarrelsome circumstances. He could be here because he happened to find himself in the area or he could have intentionally come to bring me grief. My leaving the tribe cost him the kingship, so there is no love lost between us.”
There were a lot of clues in that simple explanation, but little actual information. I opened my mouth to question the circumstances when he leveled those baby blues at me.
“Destiny, it’s an old story that still brings me pain. Suffice it to say there are several things about Betsy Vincent that will appeal to him. He likes his mistresses fashionable, but it’s her barrenness that most likely attracted him. He has no desire to breed bastards on the world because I will not fight for the succession of his power. He knows that if he breeds another son, I will abdicate my birthright as soon as the boy comes of age.”
“You’re his only son?”
“Only surviving one, yes.”
“Tell me the story.” My voice was soft and it came out more of a request than a demand. I was getting more information from him now than ever before. My curiosity tingled like Spiderman’s spidey senses and I feared he’d realize how forthcoming he was being.
“I was the second-born son of a pure vampire union. My brother was my idol. He taught me to fish, hunt, live and laugh. He was there to help me learn to control the bloodlust when it rose in me and gave me the direction I needed to become the man I am today. He was everything to me.”
“You actually fished for food?”
He looked at me and smiled. “It’s not until we hit our full growth that our needs change. As we mature, the need for blood slowly replaces the need for food.”
“I’ve never seen you eat, just drink wine.”
“I’m not to the point I exist solely on blood as yet. I enjoy wine and a few other delicacies. The more dependent we are on blood, the more the other weaknesses offset the benefits of age.”
He settled back against the couch and swirled his wine in his glass. From the look on his face, he was light-years into the past. I sipped my own wine and waited him out. It didn’t take long.
“My father never noticed me until the summer my brother and I journeyed to the accompanying village to petition for the chieftain’s daughter. Xavier had been courting her for years, but it was me she had her eye on. I bowed out and respected my brother’s claim, but our father decided we should fight for the right to her. Her father thought my refusal was an insult and they reached an agreement that the surviving son would wed the girl. Xavier and I wouldn’t fight. My father stepped
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in and challenged him in my stead. It wasn’t a worthy match. While Xavier was still bleeding out on the ground, my father pledged me to the girl. I wouldn’t honor it. He thought he could force me into it. Had he not challenged Xavier first, I would have been the one dying on the ground. But, as it goes, I survived, if barely. He lost face that day and the tribe ousted him in favor of a more tolerant chieftain shortly thereafter. We’ve run into each other over the years, but we’ve never made peace.”
“So what does this have to do with your father’s aversion to fathering another son and Betsy Vincent?”
His gaze rested on me and sharpened. I had all the pieces but they didn’t fit together.
“I am the last male heir to one of the only remaining vampire families. The one thing he has over my head is the reality that I will not let that line die with me. Up until now, I’ve avoided significant entanglements and refused to give him the satisfaction of an heir. Until you.”
And the reason for the mysterious visit became clear. “So how did he know that we were dancing around the proverbial family tree?”
By admitting that much, I conceded the point of our relationship. Children or not, an actual committed relationship or not, we had a life together even if it was only as friends. There was too much history between us. What I had said to Luke in the car rang true.
Lion or vampire…choices, choices. Right now, the vampire was winning, but was that because he was the warm body curled up next to me on the couch? It didn’t say anything good about me.