Blood Slave: A Realm Walker Novel (13 page)

He snorted a laugh. “Like you’ve ever had to look for trouble, Pup. It shows up gift-wrapped on your doorstep.”

She shooed him toward the portal. “Get out of here before they come after you.”

With one last nod of his head, he stepped through and it snapped shut behind him. Juliana felt utterly alone. And tired. She glanced at the clock again. There were several hours before she had to report to work. What she really wanted to do was crawl into the bed, wrap her arms around the pillow and go to sleep. But there was a case to solve and it wasn’t going to happen while she was asleep.

Instead, she pulled out her phone and called Walker Andrews. He answered on the second ring. “What can I do for you, Norris?” he asked after they’d exchanged greetings.

“What’s the verdict on Blake?”

There was a long pause. “Peter Blake has been charged with seven counts of reckless feeding resulting in death. He is being held by the Kansas City Police Department. I assumed they would have told you that.”

“They did, but that’s not what I asked. What about his alibis?”

“I was ordered not to look into them.”

“And do you intend to follow that order?”

“What do you want from me, Ms. Norris? I live in this town. I work with these people every day. I don’t have the luxury of pissing where I eat.”

“I don’t want anything from you, Andrews. Except maybe for you to fax me that list Blake gave you if you don’t plan on using it.”

There was another long silence. Juliana didn’t blame him. She knew what she was asking him to do, asking him to risk. Her only hope was he was as irritated with his boss as she was with hers. “Text me the number and I’ll see what I can do.”

Chapter Thirteen

“Something going on with you?” Brent asked as he put a round of drinks on Juliana’s tray.

She looked up in surprise. “No. No, I’m fine.” The truth was, her mind was anywhere but here. Andrews had faxed the list as requested but Juliana had thus far been unable to figure out how she was going to follow up on it. Blake’s alibis were thin at best. ‘Spent the night with a redhead from Gluttony’ wasn’t very helpful. If she went to the club and flashed Blake’s picture around she was bound to attract the wrong sort of attention.

Candy hadn’t shown up for her shift and to make matters worse, Thomas wasn’t answering his phone. She’d dropped her shields once to find that his were firmly in place. She had almost resorted to calling Michael to see if he knew where Thomas was but didn’t want to drag her friend into her drama. She was sure he was far more involved in it than he wanted to be any way.

It was becoming increasingly apparent to her that she wasn’t any good at this undercover shit. She was much more effective when she could threaten and intimidate. She delivered the beers to the table with a half-smile. Good thing she didn’t depend on her tips because she couldn’t muster up enough energy to care tonight. While her body got lost in the rhythm of the work, her mind never quit mulling over the problem of what the next step in her investigation should be.

It was near the end of her shift and she was bent over talking to Bobby when the uneasy feeling of being watched settled over her. Keeping a smile plastered to her face, she straightened slowly and cast her gaze around the room. When it found the black leather clad figure leaning against the far wall watching her with his dark brown eyes, she froze. Anticipation and fear warred within her. Michael gave her a slow smile of amusement as he looked at their surroundings.

And if Michael was there… Before she could even drop her shields to check, a warm tendril of comfort wound itself around her and tickled the back of her neck. She closed her eyes and sighed, surprised to find it was mostly in relief. Thomas. At last.

***

Thomas resisted the urge to reach out and pull his bride into his arms. Though difficult, it was slightly easier than resisting the need to cover her scantily clad body. Granted, right up until he arrived in the club, he’d had visions of her gyrating on the stage so to find her like this was a welcome relief. Still, enough was revealed that it drew unwanted attention. All her carefully laid subterfuge would be for naught if he played the overprotective mate in the middle of Morgan’s club, however.

Hello, Joya,
he thought as she turned to face him. Their ability to communicate telepathically would make this a much easier endeavor than it would be otherwise.
Morgan will be here in minutes. We must have this planned before he gets here. It would perhaps be best if you did not look quite so pleased to see me.

I was actually hoping you would never see me here. Or in this outfit.

He smiled at that. “I have been looking for you.”

Confusion flashed through her eyes.

Play along. I guarantee nothing happens in this town without Charles Morgan being involved. You want your answers, you need him.

“How did you find me?” she asked, succeeding remarkably well at putting an undertone of fear into her voice. And oh how he hated it.

Instead of responding he stepped closer to her.
Morgan dislikes me. He will do much if he thinks it will injure me. He must think this is about possession, not that I actually care about you.

“I’m going to ask you to step away from the lady now,” a voice said from beside them and Thomas glanced to the side. A large, red-headed man stood glowering at him. Even as Thomas watched, the man seemed to increase in size. Interesting.

“I don’t believe this concerns you. This is between me and my property.”
What is he?

Bouncer. Leprechaun.

The man in question stepped between them and Thomas took the opportunity to look him over. It had been many years since he’d seen one of the Irish fae. “Mr. Morgan is on his way. He requests you await his arrival in his office.”

“I think I’ll stay where I can keep an eye on what belongs to me.”

“You’re causing a scene,” Juliana said, dipping her head. Her shoulders hunched forward, as she tried to disappear, her body language screaming shame and embarrassment. Thomas’s fingers twitched as he fought the urge to comfort her. While he knew that it was an act, she was damned convincing.

Thomas arched a brow. “As I believe is my right. Unless you wish to argue with me?”

“No. Of course not.” Her voice was low, barely audible over the noise.

He cast a glance around them. All eyes were turned in their direction. Even the dancer was barely gyrating as she watched with wide eyes. Fantastic. A room full of strangers watching him berate his mate. He clenched his teeth and turned back to the bouncer. “I prefer to keep my business private.”

The Leprechaun crossed his arms over his chest and muscles bulged, straining the fabric of his shirt. “As does Mr. Morgan which is why he asked you to wait in his office.”

***

Cullen didn’t actually end the statement by calling Thomas a dumbass but it was certainly implied. Juliana kept her head down to hide the smirk.

“Let’s move this to the back but the girl comes with us.”

“No,” Cullen said. “She’s working.”

“Then we can stay here all night, friend. I have nowhere to be. I’m sure my presence will not interfere with Morgan’s business in any way.”

The bouncer jerked his chin toward the rear of the club. “Jennifer, you go first. I’ll be right behind you. Mr. Kendrick and his associate here can follow along behind.”

You just spread sunshine and joy wherever you go, don’t you?
she taunted Thomas, unable to resist.

As do you, Joya. Or shall I call you Jennifer?

She narrowed her eyes at him but turned and headed toward the back hall. True to his word, the bouncer stayed right behind her, not letting Thomas get one step closer to her. The office wasn’t big enough for all of them so they leaned against the wall of the hallway waiting for Morgan to arrive.

Juliana heard him before she saw him. The low thump of the bass reverberated through the wall behind her but over it she heard a faint scratching sound, like a dog walking on a tile floor. She frowned, her brow furrowed, and looked down the long hallway. Morgan came around the corner that led to the back door. His face was drawn into a scowl, the features looked pinched. Fury darkened his eyes. It was what stepped into the hall behind him that took her breath, made her chest tight. Shit.

Wights. Two of them, and old ones by the looks of them. Little more than skeletons with sunken pasty flesh, they looked like mummies fresh from an Egyptian tomb.

Why didn’t you tell me he had wights?

I didn’t know. This is the first I’ve seen of them.

Wights were mages that signed a contract before their death. Whoever held that contract had the right to bring the mage back to life, to have them bound for whatever term the contract stated. It was rarely done, both because of the shady moral issues involved and because it took an enormous amount of money. It took a powerful necromancer to do the spell properly and powerful necros didn’t come cheap.

The wights' feral appearance came from the spell that brought them back to life. Like her father, necromancers dealt in death magic. They could bring the mage back, but in a purely undead state. They could delay the decay process, but they couldn’t stop it completely. The older a wight, the more skeletal they looked and the more feral they became. The oldest, stopped using their magic completely and became little more than teeth and claws. Not to say they weren’t still useful as they guarded their masters ferociously.

The two accompanying Morgan might have been old, but they weren’t feral. Not yet anyway. There was too much awareness in their eyes, too much life. The fact that Juliana had never seen them before meant that Morgan didn’t usually travel with them. This meant they were here because Thomas was here. It took a lot of effort for Juliana to keep the smirk off her face at the evidence that her mate scared the shit out of Charles Morgan.

“Kendrick,” Morgan said, his voice clipped. “I don’t appreciate you showing up in my territory unannounced and causing a disturbance in one of my establishments. Nor do I believe the Council will approve.”

“This visit has nothing to do with you or them, Morgan. I’m simply here to collect my property. The sooner we can resolve this, the happier we will all be I believe.” Thomas’s ability to look absolutely bored with the entire proceeding astounded her. She knew for a fact he was stewing about the wights if nothing else, though it was evident that he did not care for Morgan in the least.

The man in question looked between the two of them before turning his attention to Cullen. “We’ll be in my office. See to it we are not disturbed.” Turning to the wights he gestured to either side of the door and they took up position. A shiver of revulsion crawled up her spine. She hated wights. Not only could they be a bitch to deal with, they were just cursed creepy. Morgan opened the door to his office and stepped to the side so Thomas could precede him. He turned to look at Juliana. “You might as well join us since this concerns you.”

Doing her best to look scared and concerned, she stepped past him and into the office. He followed her in and shut the door before Michael could join them. She was certain he’d be just thrilled to hang out in the hall with the corpses. Thomas took a seat in front of the desk and she pressed herself into the corner, playing the beaten down girl that wanted to do nothing more than disappear.

I hope this works, Thomas. I don’t play weakling well.

You’re doing beautifully. Morgan will keep you, if for no other reason than it will piss me off.
Juliana felt a brief pang of sympathy for Charles Morgan. It wasn’t that long ago that she’d done things just to piss Thomas off herself. She was fairly certain a love affair gone bad wasn’t Morgan’s motivation, however.

“She is mine,” Thomas said the moment Morgan sat in his chair.

The man pursed his lips and looked Juliana over from head to toe before flicking his eyes back to Thomas. “She has a life here. A job. An apartment.”

Thomas sliced his hand through the air in dismissal. “She has her own duties at home. This is hardly what I would call a step up from her previous employment. Though I suppose that depends on your point of view. As for her apartment, her mutt has been sent packing and her belongings have been gathered. The apartment is no longer at her disposal.”

Her mouth dropped open and this time she wasn’t faking anything. Fan-freaking-tastic. Of course, it was probably Ben that kicked her out of the loft without warning. She snapped her mouth shut but she didn’t miss that the action had drawn Morgan’s attention. That was fine. The more of a surprise this all seemed to be to her the better.

“What do you have to say, sweetheart? Do you belong to Thomas Kendrick?”

She resisted the urge to arch a brow at the sweetheart comment even as her mate’s irritation came through their link. “I belong to no one.”

Morgan leaned back in his chair and laced his fingers together over his stomach. “You heard the lady. She says she doesn’t belong to you.”

Thomas reached back and jerked her arm forward so quickly that Juliana didn’t have a chance to react. He pulled out a switchblade and flicked it open. Morgan sat up in his chair, eyes narrowed as Juliana twisted her wrist in an effort to escape from her mate.

Forgive me, Joya. I will fix it.
And with those words he turned her hand so the inside of her wrist was visible and sliced through the laces of her bracelet. Her heart constricted with the action. She’d worn the bracelet every day since Thomas had given it to her and now he was destroying it. He put the knife away as quickly as he had pulled it out then removed the cuff from her wrist. The vibrant purple tattoo glittered on her skin.

“I say she does,” Thomas said and tossed her arm away from him now that his point had been made.

How in the hell had he even known about the tattoo? She’d take it up with him later. While they could communicate telepathically, she seriously doubted her ability to keep her emotions off her face during the course of that conversation. Instead, she played her part, jerking her arm up to her chest and covering the tattoo with her other hand.

A muscle ticked in Morgan’s jaw. “Branding your people now. Kendrick?”

“Just the ones that tend to wander.”

“Gods, you are a bastard, aren’t you?”

Normally, Juliana would take offense at someone insulting her mate but he was playing his part well and even she had difficulty remembering he wasn’t the asshole he was pretending to be.

When Thomas didn’t answer, Morgan looked at her again, his expression softening. “Do you want to go with him?”

She shook her head. “No. Please…please don’t make me. If I can’t stay here, I’ll go somewhere else, but please don’t give me back to him.”

Thomas snorted. “As if I wouldn’t find you anywhere you tried to run.”