Deadly Is the Kiss (11 page)

“How…interesting.”

Knox gave her a slow smile as he snatched her hand, placing a lingering kiss on her knuckles. “Aren’t I just?” he drawled, before arching a dark brow at Ashe. “And I have more charm than you, you witless clod.”

“God, don’t start,” he said with a heartfelt groan, jerking Juliana’s hand out of Knox’s grip…and keeping it in his own. “I can’t take your shit tonight.”

Knox narrowed his dark blue eyes. “Yeah, now that you mention it, you do look like shit. There’s something grim around your eyes.”

Lowering his voice, Ashe said, “You’re going to have that same grim look when I tell you we’re searching for information on the Delacourts.”

Knox whistled softly, then suggested they take the conversation to one of the tables in the back of the room, away from the staff, who were now cleaning up after what appeared to have been a rough, bacchanalian kind of night, several pieces of broken bar stools still littering the floor, as well as some racy lingerie hanging from the overhead light fixtures. At a signal from Knox, the blonde behind the bar brought them each a tall, icy bottle of beer. Knox took a long drink of the dark brew, then looked at Ashe. “What’s your interest in the Delacourts?”

Ashe briefly explained the situation, relaying what Juliana had told him, and Knox listened with keen interest, his dark eyes sharp with intelligence. He didn’t come right out and call her a liar, but she had the uncomfortable feeling that he thought there was more to the story than what she had shared, the same as Ashe did.

As he wrapped up his explanation, Ashe’s deep voice took on a raw edge. “So we have reason to believe the Delacourts have taken out assassination orders against Juliana and her family in order to…keep the whole thing quiet.”

Knox gave another soft whistle as he leaned back in his chair, lacing his fingers behind his head. “If anyone has the kind of money to fund an operation like that, especially when the targets are inside the Wasteland, it would be the Delacourts.”

Sprawling sideways in his chair, Ashe thumped his knuckles against the scarred surface of the table. “That’s what I was thinking. Raphe’s drug money has given the family a substantial bankroll for the past decade.”

A stunned sound slipped past her lips. “That long?”

“Easily,” Knox replied, locking his dark gaze with hers. “Ashe could tell you more about it than I could, but Raphe got started when he was little more than a pup. You can guarantee that if it’s illegal and it makes money, then he’s got one of his sticky fingers in the pie.”

“Wow.” From the corner of her eye, she caught the intense way Ashe was looking at her, and quickly said, “I’m just surprised. I mean, I knew he was considered a criminal back then, but I’d always thought that until recently he was into more…um, gentlemanly crimes.” Whatever those were.

“Gentlemanly crimes?” Knox gave a low laugh, flashing Ashe a smile. “I like this girl, Granger.”

“If we can get back on topic,” he muttered. “Have you heard anything that could be useful to us?”

Knox lowered his arms, scrubbing one huge hand across the auburn stubble on his jaw. “Actually, there’s a lot of talk going on about Raphe at the moment.”

Ashe leaned forward, crossing his arms on the table. “What kind of talk?”

“His mama’s always been powerful. You know that as well as I. But the rumor going around is that her son is forcing her to make some kind of monumental power play within the Council. One that will shake the foundations of clan society.”

“Anything specific?”

“You know ol’ Selingham?” Knox asked, reaching for his beer again.

Juliana was familiar with the name, recalling an old, decrepit vampire who had served on the Deschanel Council for centuries.

“I know him,” Ashe replied with a nod, his voice getting rougher. “What happened?”

Knox tilted his bottle to his lips, taking a long swallow, then wiped the back of his wrist over his mouth. “He turned up dead a little over a week ago.”

“Natural causes?”

Setting his bottle back down on the table, Knox snorted. “Hardly. He was supposedly mauled to death by a rogue Lycanthrope while at the Deschanel Court in Rome.” The Deschanel courts were where all the high-ranking officials within the Deschanel clan lived and worked, as well as the Council. There were several official court compounds scattered across Europe, the court itself moving from one location to the next as the mood struck them.

Ashe’s breath hissed through his teeth in response to Knox’s news. “Like hell that would have happened. The courts have some of the most stringent security there is. No way could a rogue have gotten inside without it being a setup. Is there an investigation?”

“That’s the thing,” Knox murmured, shaking his head. “The whole case was apparently wrapped up within a few hours and judged a freak accident. One of those momentary lapses in security, if you can believe that bullshit.”

“Christ,” Ashe muttered, leaning back in his chair, his expression as dark as the look in his eyes. He had his hands fisted at his sides. “The Delacourts must have them by the balls.”

“I’d say they’re holding on tight, and any second now, they’re going to just rip the damn things off,” Knox drawled.

Flinching from the gruesome image his words put in her mind, Juliana looked at Ashe. “What does he mean?”

“He means they’re going to destroy the Council,” he grated, the lines of strain around his eyes and mouth getting deeper. “Then dissolve the Court…and put
themselves
in power.”

CHAPTER SIX

S
ITTING
AT
A
CORNER
TABLE
in Knox’s bar the following afternoon, Ashe took a slow sip of his whiskey, his mind running over everything that had happened since he’d found Juliana…and everything that he’d learned. Someone was going to a hell of a lot of trouble to set this thing up, putting him and Juliana in league together, and he wanted to know why.

Even more than that, though, he wanted confirmation of who was behind the assassination orders against the Sabins…and Juliana herself. Was it really Raphe Delacourt, and if so, why go to the trouble of killing the family now? Was the bastard worried that someone in the Sabin family could pose a threat to him? And if so, then what was the threat? According to Juliana, no one had believed their claims nine years ago that Lenora’s accusations were false. So why the fear that someone might believe them now? And was that someone the person who had plotted Juliana’s escape from the Wasteland?

Or were they being deliberately steered off course? Was it some unknown enemy hiring the assassins, with some unknown grievance against her family?

Ashe didn’t know the answers, and the questions were running his brain ragged. Not to mention the sexual hunger ripping through his insides that wouldn’t ease up. He supposed there was more truth to the old saying
“no good deed goes unpunished”
than he’d ever actually realized. In trying to help the little vampire, he was putting himself through hell. Even Knox had noticed how much strain he was under, the shifter’s crude teasing throughout the day his way of showing concern.

In the early hours of the morning, Ashe had left Juliana upstairs in the room Knox had given them, telling her to get some rest while she could. Knowing he needed to get things moving as quickly as possible, he’d put off sleep and spent the day working with Knox. They’d both met with various informants, setting up feelers across the underground networks that Knox moved in, hoping information would soon start trickling in.

There were still a lot of calls he needed to make, which meant he needed to concentrate, but he couldn’t stop thinking about the female cuddling up in that bed upstairs by herself. Christ, where was his blasted control when he needed it?

For what must be the hundredth time, he wondered if it was possible that she felt the same need that he did. That same inexorable pull. Throughout the night, he’d caught the way she constantly watched him from the corner of her eye when she thought he wasn’t paying attention. And then there was the way she’d reacted to him back in London. She’d been so hot she’d practically singed him. So responsive he’d just wanted to keep pushing her over that sweet, melting edge, feeling her come for him again and again, until he’d laid claim to every part of her.

He wished he knew what was going on in that stubborn head of hers. Hell, he wished he knew everything about her. And he wasn’t above snooping to learn what he could. While she’d taken a quick shower after he’d walked her up to their room, Ashe had looked through the pack she carried with her. He knew money had been left for her in the pack, and that she’d used it to buy some things after her escape from the Wasteland. His mouth curved with a grim smile as he recalled the things he’d found. There’d been none of the frivolous cosmetics that so many women would have seen as a necessity. Instead, Juliana had purchased a couple of romance novels and several self-help books. The romance novels had been a surprise, simply because he hadn’t expected her to be a romantic. He wondered if she read them back at the Sabin compound, and if so, why? Was it because she needed to escape into another world…or did she simply get lonely, even when surrounded by her relatives?

And don’t forget the men who work for them.

He scowled, hating the thought of the brawny males, who had basically served under Juliana’s command, servicing her in more intimate ways. And hating that he hated it.

Throwing off the irritating emotion, he focused his thoughts on the self-help books that he’d found, the titles suggesting they were about grief and guilt. He wished he knew exactly what she felt so guilty about. Did it have to do with her family’s banishment? Despite how intensely he’d searched, he’d never been able to find anyone who could give him so much as a hint as to why the Sabin family was living in exile. There were no records of their punishment in the official Council documents, and no one in the Court had even been willing to discuss the case with him. Not even the old friends of his parents and grandparents, who had always been willing to help him and Gideon in their investigations when they needed it.

A sultry, feminine laugh suddenly drew him out of his reverie, and he looked toward the entrance of the bar, where Knox stood chatting with Ashe’s next appointment, the woman’s gaze glittering with interest as she flirted with the auburn-haired shifter. He wasn’t surprised by her reaction. Knox had the height and build of a soldier, and the air of dominance, as well. In the past, Ashe had seen women fawn over the guy’s tattoos and shoulder-length auburn hair more times than he could count, and had heard dozens refer to the shifter’s face as “wickedly sinful.”

He wondered if Juliana had thought the same thing, another uncomfortable wave of jealousy biting him hard in the ass.

Choking back a sharp curse, he watched as the female—who was a powerful witch, as well as a scientist—eventually made her way over to his table, her shapely figure wrapped in brightly colored swaths of jewel-colored silks, her black hair falling in heavy waves to the small of her back. Her name was Sybil Le Fleur and she worked with a healer Ashe had met in the Wasteland named Gabby Reyker, a quirky little vamp with a talent for concocting antidotes and cures. Gabby was also friendly with Juliana, but then Jules was just one of those women who others found it difficult to dislike, her personality the kind that put others at ease. She was warm and caring, without being insincere and annoying.

At least, that’s how she was with everyone but Ashe. He didn’t know whether he should feel special…or like a total jackass.

Ashe had contacted Gabby not long after his Burning had begun, swearing her to secrecy before asking for her help, though he wouldn’t even tell Gabby the identity of the woman who’d started the change in his body. She’d told him the same thing that everyone else had, claiming that there was no cure for the infuriating phenomenon. But after he’d practically begged, she’d offered him a new concoction she’d been working on. She hadn’t made any promises, but it’d been Gabby’s belief that the special blend might lessen the effects of the Burning for him, and so he’d been taking it religiously every day.

“Before you think of running off with him,” he advised Sybil, who was currently eyeing Knox’s ass as he headed back to his office, “I should warn you that his longest relationship with a woman lasted little more than a half hour.”

Sybil arched her brows as she settled her onyx gaze on him, sliding into one of the chairs at his table. “So Knox has a short attention span, hmm? Sounds like a typical guy.”

With a snort, he said, “Women are just as bad, Syb. If not worse.”

Her laugh was deep and throaty. “Gods, Ashe. Has anyone ever told you that you’re a cynical ass?”

“Believe it or not, I get that a lot.” Which wasn’t entirely true. Over the past year, he’d actually done his part to ease several misunderstandings between his male friends and their women. Despite his own crap experiences, he’d seen enough happy couples among his friends and family to know that not all relationships sucked. He’d seen love and devotion and happiness. But that didn’t mean he could ever take such a risk for himself simply because of the Burning.

Forcing his attention back to Sybil, he watched as she reached into a pocket in her silk pants and drew out a small glass vial filled with a clear liquid. “I know this isn’t much,” she said, passing the vial to him. “But it’s all Gabby could make on such short notice.”

“Tell her I’m going to need more,” he said, slipping the vial into his pocket. “I’m going to double up on the doses because it isn’t working.”

The witch eyed him with the shrewd gaze of a scientist. “How do you know?”

His words rumbled in his throat like distant thunder. “I know because I still want to get inside the woman more than I want to breathe.” Though both Gabby and Sybil knew that he wanted the concoction to reduce the effects of his Burning, neither woman knew the identity of the responsible female, and Ashe planned on keeping it that way. Which was why he’d warned Juliana to stay up in the room, and had forbidden Knox from mentioning her name to Sybil.

The witch studied him for a moment, her head cocked a bit to the side, her dark eyes swirling with shadows and light that could have made him dizzy if he stared at them for too long. Just when he was about to demand to know what the hell she was doing, she crossed her arms on the table and gave him a careful smile. “Ashe, have you ever considered that your attraction to this woman could be about more than just the Burning?”

Pushing his knuckles into his tired eyes, he growled what he knew was more than likely a lie and told her that it wasn’t. Only, he said it a lot more colorfully.

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” she murmured. “After all, the whole purpose of the Burning is to bring two complementary forces together. It’s meant to be fate’s way of joining two vampires with his and her ideal mate.”

“Not in all cases,” he argued.

Sybil’s smile was knowing. “There are always exceptions to a rule, Ashe. But you’re a smart guy. I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

With those frustrating words, she leaned over the small table and kissed his cheek, told him to give Knox her number, and then made her way out of the bar, leaving him feeling even edgier than before. Taking the vial she’d given him from his pocket, he twisted the cap off and downed two sips of the blend, hoping like hell that it worked.

Scrubbing his hands down his face, he drew in a couple of deep breaths, waiting to feel some relief. But it wasn’t coming. He was just getting edgier…his tension mounting. The crowd in the bar was starting to pick up, the noise growing louder, grating on his nerves, so he used it as an excuse to do what he’d wanted to do ever since he’d come downstairs, and headed back up to see Juliana.

He opened the door to their room without knocking, and found her sitting with her legs crisscrossed in the middle of the bed, dressed in a T-shirt and jeans. Her long hair tumbled over her shoulders as she stared down at the dark duvet beneath her, completely lost in her thoughts.

“I asked Knox to send up some food for you in a little while,” he said, drawing her gaze. He tried to keep his eyes on her face, but failed, his gaze dipping lower, lingering on the way the tight gray T-shirt cupped her breasts, the soft material clinging like a second skin. He knew damn well she wasn’t wearing a bra, the shape of her nipples growing more distinct the longer he stared.

She muttered something under her breath, then crossed her arms over her chest in a nonverbal message he heard loud and clear.

Forcing his attention back on her face, he swallowed the lump of lust in his throat and managed to ask, “Are you hungry?”

* * *

“A
LITTLE
,” J
ULIANA
replied, watching him close the door…and lock it. “Can we leave soon?” she asked, her voice trembling with nerves at the idea of being alone with him. “I’m not comfortable here.”

Which was true. She’d felt ready to come out of her skin ever since she’d awakened from an erotic dream almost two hours ago. One that had her twisting on the bed, a throaty moan spilling from her lips as a stunning orgasm had ripped through her body. She’d felt destroyed, and that was only from “imagining” sex with Ashe Granger. God only knew what the real thing would do to her, and she wasn’t ready to find out yet, too worried she’d do something unforgivably stupid, like fall in love with the sexy vamp.

A much better plan was to get back on the road and out of this room, away from the bed and the disturbingly vivid memories of that dream.