Watching Out For Fangs (The Cloverleah Pack Book 7) (11 page)

Chapter Fourteen

Vadim was beyond furious. As soon as he’d left his guests in the dining room he had run through the entire house, faster than could be seen with the naked eye.  To his relief most of the house was as he had left it – rooms immaculate and fully made up although he didn’t usually have guests, the kitchen stocked with more food than he could ever eat, but tidy. His private library hadn’t been touched thank goodness, or he would have torn out Ivan’s throat. But it was in his office where he found clues that Ivan was looking to pad his own nest, all with Vadim’s money.  Vadim had never been silly enough to allow anyone access to his personal bank accounts, but the huge list of charges that had been ticked up against the household credit card was ridiculous.

Trying to get a handle on the burning sensation he felt in his gut, Vadim picked up the house phone and tapped for an outside line.  Moments later the voice of one of his closest friends came through over the line.

“Listen, Ivan, you little shit. I’ve already told you I have put a stop on the household credit card. For fucks sake you have racked up a year’s worth of expenses in less than a week. Until I hear from Vadim personally…”

“And hello to you my friend,” Vadim said, pleased to see his faith in Max had not been misplaced. Max had been looking after his accounts for decades, and protected his investments wisely. They had been friends for a lot longer.

“Vadim? You’re home. Thank the Fates. Do you have any idea what that fuckwit of yours has been doing?”

“Ivan? Yes, I had the misfortune of walking in on him in my bed, with friends. I take it he has been just as liberal with the household accounts?”

“It’s not only that, my friend,” Max said seriously. “When you disappeared he was in here trying to get access to your fucking Last Will and Testament. Claimed you had left him substantial funds, and the house should anything happen to you. Payment apparently for years of faithful service. You and I both know that’s bullshit and I told him so.”

“Yes, well I do plan to make some changes to my Will strangely enough, but it won’t be in Ivan’s favor. He’s no longer in my employ. Can you send him a month’s wages along with a check for five thousand dollars?”

“You can’t tell me he earned a bonus, Vad, I won’t believe it.  He’s racked up over a hundred grands’ worth of stuff just in the last week. I haven’t had a chance to see the accounts yet, but I know for a fact he won’t have spent that on groceries and cleaning products.”

“I had him removed from the property, sans clothes. The five grand is to replace anything he might have had of personal value, that’s all. He won’t be stepping foot inside of this house again.”

“Glad to see you’ve finally come to your senses, old friend. Now tell me what’s going on?  Last I heard, you had attacked your brother and his wife, and were chained up in the basement.  Then just as suddenly you disappeared. Not behaviors I would expect from you.”

Vadim quickly filled in his friend on all the basic details – meeting his mate, trying to stop Ermine from hitting on the Cloverleah pack and then getting saved from a couple of unlikely Fae.

“So one of the oldest vampires in existence is running off to live in some tiny little wolf pack in the middle of nowhere?”

“After I’ve stopped Ermine from targeting Cloverleah.  What sort of support do you think I would get if I planned to take back the Regency?”

“You’ll make that wolf of yours really unhappy – he’s not going to want to live among all the shit that goes down in a coven.”

“I have no intention of actually ruling,” Vadim assured his friend. “In fact, I plan on handing over the reins to you. Ermine is too stupid and to invested in keeping his wife happy to worry about coven members, and I have to stop that. I have to take the Regency first, but then, as Regent, I can assign you as Regency Proctor. Interested?”

For a long moment there was silence on the other end of the phone, but Vadim was happy to wait. He and Max had been friends long before he’d even met Edward and one of the things that Vadim liked about Max was that he never jumped into anything without thinking things through. Caring, strong, and only two hundred years younger than himself, Max would make the perfect Regency stand in.

“You would definitely have the support my friend,” Max said at last. “Despite your surly attitude and the fact you have mated with a shifter. Word around the coven is that Lorraine is stirring up shit faster than anyone before, inciting problems that currently don’t exist. Most of the coven are happy with the territory we have and the links we have with our donors. Lorraine wants the donors sent back into slave status, and is trying to gain more land. A takeover is definitely needed and you are probably the only one who can do it.”

Vadim hadn’t known about the slave status issue and he felt his anger boil at the thought. He had always valued the humans for the life giving blood they freely gave in return for some security in their lives. While some covens still treated humans as second class citizens, or slaves, Vadim had made sure when he had been Regent the last time, that donors were valued for who they were and their importance to the vampires they served. Suddenly just threatening Ermine wasn’t enough.  The man had to be stopped permanently. But Max had made a good point – Josh couldn’t live in the coven, it would break his wolf’s spirit and Vadim refused to have that on his conscience.

“I can take the coven, but I can’t keep it, Max, not with Josh in my life. I made a promise to return to Cloverleah and I intend to keep it. If I take the Regency I need to know I can pass it on to someone I can trust. I want that person to be you.”

“I’ve never let you down before,” Max assured him. “I’ll gather the support we need. What time are you going to confront your brother?”

“The man is never up before noon. I plan on being at the coven at 10.30 a.m.  Is that enough time?”

Clicking the phone off after hearing Max’s assurances, Vadim dialed another number as Josh came through the door.  He gave his mate a small smile, and indicated a chair, but Josh came around the side of the desk and perched behind him, his hand a comforting warmth on Vadim’s shoulder.

“Mother, how are you this evening?” He said when his mother’s refined tones responded to his call.

“I am well, Vadim. I trust you have made amends with your mate?”

“I have,” Vadim said, “and I need to speak with you, and would like you to meet him. Is it possible for you to come to the house tonight?”

“Is this about that wolf pack, Cloverleah?”

“In part, but I would rather speak to you in person, and,” Vadim broke off, looking over his shoulder at Josh’s smiling face. “I really want you to meet my mate, mother. It would mean the world to me. I won’t be in Atlanta for very long.”

“I understand. I will be there in one hour.” Vadim let out the breath he didn’t know he’d been holding at the calmness of his mother’s decisive tones. The hour would hopefully give him enough time to bring Josh up to speed and get the other men settled in the house. He concluded the call and spun around in his chair, wondering how to broach what would be a difficult subject.

“I already know, my mate,” Josh said, fixing him with those bright blue eyes. “You have to take the Regency. You plan to give it to someone I presume is a trusted friend. I understand it might take a bit of time, and that we’ll have to stay in the meantime. Oh, and you want me to meet your mother.  Does that cover it?”

“How did you know?” Vadim said, totally surprised at how calm his mate appeared to be. Josh grinned wider and tapped his ear and then his temple. 

“Wolf hearing and our mind link, sweetheart. The others are already settled in what appear to be guest rooms. Aelfric and Fafnir cleaned up the mess left in the dining room with their wavy hands mojo. The orgy ladies were picked up about an hour ago, all very thankful to still have their heads attached and I have found a room for us to use until you sort out what you want done with your own room. It’s not as sumptuous as yours used to be, but it will do for us.”

“Damn it, you are truly amazing.” Vadim tried not to notice how his heart fluttered again, as unusual feelings of gratitude flowed through him. His mate had done so much – not just in getting the other men sorted from the pack, and arranging for the cleaning of the dining room. No, it was far more than even the calm acceptance that Josh showed in the change of plans, and the prospect of meeting his new mother-in-law. Josh cared about him, and Vadim didn’t think anyone apart from his mother had ever truly done so. In that moment he wanted nothing more than to grab his mate tight and never let him the fuck go.

“I think I need to show you which room I’ve arranged for us,” Josh said, the heat in his eyes growing as he stared at Vadim’s lips. “After all, we do have an hour until your mother gets here.”

Stunned at his good fortune, Vadim let Josh lead him from the room. He was so sure that he could never love his mate, but if his heart flutters were anything to go by, he was definitely feeling something unusual. Could it be love?

/~/~/~/~/

Josh wasn’t keen on the butterflies in his stomach, but he kept a firm hold on Vadim’s hand as he led his mate upstairs. Aelfric and Fafnir had totally cleaned Vadim’s room, complete with a new bed, with just a few flicks of their hands. Josh just hoped their efforts were appreciated.

As they came to a stop outside of Vadim’s door, the vampire tensed.

“I don’t want to go in there.” Oh, his vampire sounded so sexy when he was being firm.

“Yes, you do,” Josh said just as firmly. “It’s your space, your room and…just give my friends a chance, okay?”

He pushed open the door, pulling Vadim inside the room, his nose sniffing wildly. There wasn’t a hint of blood or anyone else’s scent in the room, and Josh let out a small sigh of relief.  He knew he wouldn’t have been able to sleep if Ivan’s stench was still permeating everything. But Aelfric and Fafnir had done a thorough job.

The big four-poster bed had been replaced with another similar, but darker wood model. The hangings, coverings and pillows, that were dark reds, purples and black, were now pristine white, almost romantic. The dark carpet was now a soft blue and in complete contrast to the way it had looked just a couple of hours before, the room was clean, the only scent evident was Vadim’s from his clothes and possessions that were scattered around the room.

“Oh babe, you have no idea how much this means to me. Thank you.” Vadim’s soft words caressed Josh from the inside out.

“It wasn’t me, sweetheart. You have a couple of generous Fae to thank for this. But you can do that later.” Josh tugged Vadim to the bed. “I think, now we are in your space, in your home and with your mother due in just under an hour, that you should claim me. Properly, in the way of a vampire. If you want to, that is.”

Vadim didn’t speak, well not with words. But his thanks came through loud and clear with the passion he showed with his mouth, while his hands had Josh undressed in mere seconds. Josh let himself be pushed back onto the mattress, caught up in the maelstrom of emotions pouring from his mate. Not only hot hands, hard mouth, harsh breath and the urgency in every move.  The emotions streaming through their mind link were just as overwhelming. Josh felt consumed, both inside and out.

Not one to be a passive lover, Josh gave as good as he got. Vadim’s skin called to him on some primitive level, its marble sheen at odds with the heat, power and strength that resided beneath it. The need to touch, inch for inch, as much as his mate’s body as possible was all Josh could think of. He let his hands fly over the wide expanse of back muscles, the trim waist and that delectable ass currently humping the mattress as Vadim broke off kissing long enough to hunt in his bedside cabinet drawer. A short cry of victory, and Vadim was back, his tongue plunging in and out of Josh’s mouth showing all the promise of things to come.

Letting his legs fall open, Josh felt Vadim take full advantage, his fine long fingers tracing and then breaching his hole with little warning. Josh would have yelped if his mouth hadn’t been full of his mate’s tongue. He settled for a heartfelt moan instead. He could feel the sticky lube on Vadim’s fingers but it had been a while since he’d had anything inside of him.

Apparently his mate got the message. Despite his intensity, Vadim’s fingers, because now there was more than one, slowed.  Josh got the impression his mate had a single-minded purpose, one that involved getting in his ass in the shortest time possible. Josh distracted himself with other things – the hardness of Vadim’s body under his fingers, the taste of his tongue and lips.  Flicking out his own tongue, Josh ran the tip of it over one of Vadim’s retracted fangs and from the shudder he received, he imagined they were sensitive. Something else to remember when they had a bit more time.

A third finger pierced his hole, and Josh stiffened, flinging back his head and letting out a long breath to relax himself.  Above him Vadim stopped, his fingers still wedging his ass cheeks apart.

“I’m sorry, I’m not normally this clumsy,” Vadim said and Josh could see the normally stoic vampire did look a little embarrassed. He grinned through his relaxation breaths – in someone who was marbled perfection, Josh liked Vadim’s flashes of humanity.

“I’m good, just been a while. Keep going.”

“I should…” Vadim looked down at Josh’s cock which was hard and leaking on his stomach. As much as Josh would love the feel of his mate’s mouth around him, he knew it would be too much.