The Billionaire's Heir (Sucubus For Hire Book 1)

by Michael Don Anderson

  “Having sex with the vampire—assuming a fertile vampire existed—could lead to a child if another man were there. Human. Alive at least. Donating his lifeforce.”

  “You make it sound like he’s giving away an old set of golf-clubs.”

  “I was trying to be delicate.”

  “Better than sucking him dry at the same time as you’re doing a vampire?”

  I glared at him. No smile on my lips. He didn’t even squirm.

  “I couldn’t resist. You said ‘kink.’”

  I sighed. “I did. So, Oliver, tell me about Killian?”

  “He’s smart. Less brutal than some. Punishes rebellion harshly, but doesn’t bully for the sake of bullying. Incredibly homophobic. Been in charge since Thrace’s time.” He shook his head. “I don’t see him giving a toss about Anton Thrace otherwise. Out of sight, out of mind.”

  “How do they support themselves?”

  “Government funds the land. Allocates territories in out-of-the-way places. The pack hunts for wild game to supplement their federal food subsidies.”

  “They’re living on welfare?”

  “No one’s gonna hire a werewolf. Gibraltar aside. Only the strongest don’t lose control on the full moon. Not many at all that can stop the change. And they’re pack animals. They need a family. It’s almost pheromonal.”

  “Thrace is that strong? He stays human on the moon?”

  Paul nodded. “He’s gay but the man’s got preternatural game. I don’t know how he does it. He’s not an alpha. Too submissive for that. If he wasn’t, he could probably take on Killian.”

  “Would the pack tolerate a gay alpha?”

  He laughed. “I haven’t a clue. Maybe as long as he didn’t try to bugger the rest of the males, they’d live and let live. It’s all one-on-one challenge. If he could kick Killian’s ass, he could beat them all.”

  “All of this is interesting. But not especially useful. What happens when we enter their land uninvited?”

  Paul’s smile grew serious as he studied my expression. “Depends on how you do it.”

  “Suggestions?”

  “Stop at the gate to their place. Outside the line. Wait to be invited in.”

  “They’d just walk up to me and say, hey, since you’re stalking us, why not come in for a cup of tea?”

  “I would. If a beautiful preternatural woman like you showed up, I’d be damned curious.”

  “Did you just sneak in another compliment?”

  “I didn’t think I was being sneaky. Outright brazen that was.” He smiled. No lechery in it.

  I realized that I felt uncharacteristically relaxed around him. Too comfortable for my own good. It made me nervous. Yeah, I know. Oxymoronic to say the least.

  “Can I carry my guns onto their land if they invite me in?”

  “You can. They won’t consider them dangerous.”

  “Even with silver tipped ammo?”

  He twisted in his seat, restricted by the seatbelt. “Why in the bollocks are you loaded with silver ammo?”

  “Same reason I’m loaded with wood-tipped bullets. A girl can never be too careful.” I smiled sweetly.

  He scowled and faced away. Staring through the passenger window. “Don’t take the silver inside. They’ll smell it. Treat you like a threat instead of something more pleasant.”

  I gave him a look. “Like dessert?”

  “Maybe.” He didn’t smile. I think he might’ve been serious.

  “What’ll they do to you?”

  “As long as I act submissive to you, they’ll discount me.”

  “You have it in you to act submissive at all?”

  “Depends on what you have in mind!” He caught himself and raised his hands in surrender. “Sorry! That wasn’t me being ‘Paul.’ Not exactly.”

  “What, a spy who likes to be dominated? Now isn’t that a hoot.”

  “You Americans and your funny words. What does it mean to be a ‘hoot?’”

  “Funny. Hilarious. I guess ‘hoot’ is a type of unexpected bark of laughter. Instead of a chirp or guffaw.”

  “You’re making that up.”

  “No. I’m guessing. There’s a difference.”

  We drove a while in silence before Chandler spoke softly, staring out the window. “Would you consider going out with me?”

  I turned to him, certain I’d misunderstood. “Pardon?”

  “You heard me. Don’t make me ask again unless the answer’s yes.”

  I stared straight ahead at the road. The thought of touching a man. Kissing his lips. My hunger rose like some biological imperative. Just at the thought of something that could lead to sex.

  Thankfully he was a blank spot. A void my power spilled around, finding nothing to feed from. I didn’t call it back. I let it fill the car with need. Testing the totem’s potency.

  “Can you feel that?”

  He turned to me. Vulnerability in his eyes. No mask. Unless he was that good. I didn’t think he was. No one was that good. Not after as many decades of deceit I’d learned to survive through.

  “Feel what? Cool indifference?”

  I laughed. Surprised. “No, CIA man.”

  “What then?”

  “You plan on wearing that totem forever?”

  He frowned. His eyes narrowing with thought. He hadn’t considered that. The problems of an actual future with me. My spark of tentative interest in the handsome man died. He’d thought about sex with me. Not about anything beyond. Typical man.

  “No.” He seemed to come to the same conclusion as I had. “Sorry. I didn’t think.”

  “Nope. I guess not.” An anger kindled where hope had flared. He worked with preternaturals. He should’ve known better. No. Maybe not. Maybe he knew vampires. Very few people knew anything about succubi. Other than that they could kill us if we broke the laws. And that we sucked the life out of men when we had sex.

  The rest of the drive was quiet. He didn’t even try to teach me anything more about werewolves. The first man I’d ever met who knew when to shut the hell up and stay that way.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  I pulled onto a dirt road that looked like every other dirt road since we’d left the Twentynine Palms Highway. We were just north of Joshua Tree. A sprawling desert community. A lot of roads weren’t paved beyond the three mile mark. Some of the scraped paths could’ve been driveways on private parcels. Street signs weren’t an indicator. People had put up their own. Corrals were visible everywhere. Often times no houses went along with them.

  “How do we know this is the right way?” I finally asked Chandler. He was no longer Oliver. I’d lowered my guard for Oliver. Not anymore.

  “GPS says so.”

  He looked at his phone. The real phone. A GPS app indicated our location. Indicated a lot more information than should’ve been available. Probably not legal. Spy stuff.

  I frowned. “I see Joshua Trees. Small shrubs. And lots of open space. Nothing that would suit werewolves.”

  “There’s a buffer of unoccupied land around the pack’s territory. Helps keep people from living too close to unsettling sounds and sights.”

  “So keep going?”

  “Another, what, hundred meters.”

  I drove, straining to see a change in scenery. The road sloped so slightly that I almost didn’t notice. Then it curved and a rocky outcropping rose from the desert like a secret art-installation.

  “Stop just there. The rocks mark the official boundary. Park next to that stick in the ground.”

  I eyed the stick dubiously. “Not much of a warning that you’re about to trespass on carnivorous lycanthropes.”

  “There aren’t any herbivorous lycanthropes. Vegans don’t stay vegan as werewolves.”

  “I’ve always wondered about that. Guess it takes a bite or blood on blood to pass it along.”

  He took a breath to say something then paused. Finally he continued. “My interest in you wasn’t casual. That mind of yours impresses the hell out of
me.”

  I didn’t look at him. I could see him staring earnest at me from the corner of my eye. Didn’t matter. I wrapped anger around my heart like a shield.

  “Water under the bridge. This is business.”

  He was silent for a few seconds. Then opened the car door. “If you say so.”

  I got out of the car a little more slowly. I’d automatically let my hunger spill out away from us. Toward the rocks. Finding lizards. Rodents indigenous to the region. And one human watcher. Young. Female. My power brushed over her but found nothing it wanted.

  She sensed it. Me. I felt her rush away. Out of range.

  I could’ve tracked her with a surge of need. Followed a good distance, in fact. I wasn’t sure how far. I’d never fully tested it. Not since I was a child. Back then, I’d been running through the woods. From men who’d wanted to rape me. Wanted to keep me like some pre-pubescent sex-slave. Back then my power, meager as it was, had reached out to find them. Keep track of them as the one being hunted. Now I was the hunter.

  “They know we’re here.”

  He stared at me. “How’d you know? Secret preternatural handshake?”

  “Yeah, that’s it.” I finally returned his gaze. His attempt to be funny unsuccessful. I asked a hard question. Wanted to see if he’d be honest with me about something impersonal. “Why the interest in an English vampire who’s been here for years? Unless he’s planning on going back home, he’s not your problem anymore.”

  “Can’t say. MI-6, remember? Official Secrets Acts and all.”

  “But it has nothing to do with Vincent’s abduction?” Just because Chandler had been watching Chilton for some time didn’t exclude the possibility. A long-game machination to hurt Henry Gibraltar. The vampires could’ve even been involved in the killing of his children for all I knew. That’s how devious and patient the undead were.

  “No. That was a surprise. The vampires weren’t in on it.”

  “How can you be sure?”

  He opened his mouth to answer when I felt the prickling of energy along my skin. I raised a finger and he closed his mouth. Waiting. Not even asking what. Maybe he would make a good submissive. Not that I was looking for one. I wasn’t looking for anything. I don’t even know what kind of man I’d want if I could safely date.

  “Our friends are coming to investigate. Not a bad response time.”

  “You know they can probably hear you.”

  Werewolves had superstrength, super-hearing and an incredible sense of smell. That’s really all I knew about their powers. But I’d chosen my words for their benefit. “Of course. You didn’t think I was talking to a beta little boy-toy like you, did you?”

  His face twisted up in a mixture of delight, annoyance and confusion. I’d hit a nerve. He hadn’t been lying. Chandler liked to be dominated. How did that make for a good secret agent?

  “Sorry.” He looked down at the ground. But I saw intent in his eyes. This wasn’t a real reaction. He was playing it up for the werewolves.

  A man strode around a huge rock. Overly muscled. Broad and powerful. He wore jeans that were cut off just below the knees. They hung onto his lean, narrow waist with the help of a frayed belt. He was barefoot and shirtless. A diamond-shaped patch of chest-hair and dark line of it down his belly into his jeans.

  “You should be,” growled the man, threateningly.

  “I assume I’m speaking to Killian? Alpha of this pack?” I stood up, off the hood of my car. “I’m not wasting my time with anyone insignificant.”

  I smiled. Hoping it was unnerving to him that my tone didn’t match the smile. I’d seen a lot of powerful men confused by the dichotomy. And werewolf or not, he was still a man.

  His frown deepened. He glanced at Chandler. The Englishman kept his eyes averted. His energy anxious. Hunger bubbled under my skin at the presence of the werewolves. Fighting to escape. I let it loose, just enough that I could sense them all. Even those out of sight.

  Two men and a woman waited behind various boulders. Close enough to close the distance between us before I could stop them. Even silver ammo wouldn’t be enough.

  I could discern their emotions. Tasted it along with their lifeforce. Excitement. Intrigue. No anger. Nothing that suggested my presence was a threat to them. Or that they knew what I was.

  “I’m Killian. Who the hell are you?”

  I bobbed my head, removing my beret. I tossed it into the cab of the car through the open window. “Bianca Savage.”

  Displaying my tail would’ve involved getting practically naked. Not the only reason I didn’t show it off. But the main one. The horns and my name were all he was getting. The name might mean nothing. If he hadn’t spoken to Thrace the past few days it shouldn’t. The horns, however, that should be a conversation starter.

  “I heard of you.” His grey eyes flickered to my hair. A subtle nod as if it had confirmed what he’d been expecting. No surprise at all.

  “What did Anton say exactly?” I watched him closely.

  His mouth twitched but his eyes stayed disinterested. I was right! He’d spoken to the gay man. But why? According to the Amperdyne files, Thrace had cut off ties with his pack years earlier. Killian had no tolerance for homosexuals. Typical of lycanthropes.

  “Don’t know what’cha mean.”

  “Did you know that Anton was kidnapped yesterday?”

  He nodded. No pretense. “The Feds called. Asked if we knew who might’ve done it.”

  “Or why?”

  A noncommittal grunt. “That, too.”

  “What’d you tell them?”

  “Same thing I’m telling you. I ain’t seen or talked to that faggot since we threw him out of the pack. Now get off our land and get the hell away.”

  “Technically I’m not on your land. And no one tells me what to do.” I chose those words to play up my dominance. But it was also true. Granny Oglethorpe had said I got my stubbornness from my real parents. She was wrong of course. I’d learned it from her. I just usually kept that part to myself.

  “You want us to hurt you, Girlie?”

  I tilted my head for effect. “Girlie? Really? You get satellite up here? Binge-watching fifties black and white movies?”

  “What?” He shook his head, trying to understand what I’d said. He’d expected fear. I’d practically laughed. He hadn’t really been listening to my words.

  “I’m not with the government, Killian. I’m just a fellow preternatural trying to do a job. Find a missing boy. Figure out what happened to Anton. He may not be your favorite person, but he’s still one of us.”

  Chandler glanced up at me, despite himself. Surprised. Calculating. Was I being intentional with my language? Or did I consider myself more like werewolves than humans?

  He was smart. Those questions would raise others. How much could he trust me? Worse, had he made a mistake coming here with me? I could practically hear his mind at work, but no time to allay his fears. Or even acknowledge them.

  Killian grunted again. “Not like us.”

  “You don’t think the people that took him wouldn’t do the same to you? Or anyone else in your pack?”

  “Depends on why he disappeared.”

  Disappeared. He hadn’t said ‘taken.’ Or ‘kidnapped.’ I smiled pleasantly, lifting my glasses. I let him get a peek of my eyes. “Good point. Why do you think he disappeared?”

  He stared at my face. Several long seconds and I dropped the glasses back onto my nose. Pushed them slowly back into place. His hands trembled and he shook himself off. Like a wet dog. Trying to shake off my power now that my eyes were hidden again.

  “What’d you do to me?”

  “Nothing. I showed you why I keep my eyes covered.” I took a step toward him, hands at my sides. Open palmed. “A sign of good faith.”

  “What for?”

  “I just drove four hours to meet you. The least you could do is invite me in for a more relaxed conversation.”

  Killian motioned toward Chandler. “What abo
ut him?”

  “Just someone to kill time with in the car. He doesn’t need to come.”

  I didn’t look at Paul. Didn’t care if he wanted to protest or object. He didn’t matter. I was dominant. That was the performance. If he screwed it up, I’d be more than just angry at him.

  “Fine. I suppose a cup of coffee and thirty minutes to shoot the breeze ain’t unreasonable.” He stared at my breasts. Then down to my hips and legs. Not interest. Attraction, sure. He’d have sex with me if I let him. But he already knew I was dangerous. He didn’t want to die. Or even gamble that his werewolf strength was enough to survive my hunger. But he was tempted. Just a little.

  I turned to Chandler then. “Stay with the car. And don’t change my fucking radio station, again.”

  He ducked his head in obedience. Frowning as I walked away. “Call if you need me.”

  I smiled without looking at him. Killian didn’t see but the watchers would. “I won’t.”

  Killian led me around the cluster of boulders, through narrow passages formed between them. One of the men slipped out of hiding. Following. I could feel his eyes on my ass. I paused and turned abruptly. He actually jumped back.

  “You keep staring at my ass like that and I’ll show you why people don’t survive sex with a succubus.”

  He paled. I resumed walking and could feel him hesitate. He didn’t follow quite so closely after that. Killian paused to glance back, but he only laughed. Disgusted. Not at me. At the man I’d cowed.

  “Won’t ever be alpha if you let a little girl scare the pants off you.”

  I started to call him out. To point out that he hadn’t been willing to risk it either. But I stopped myself.

  The man behind me was thick with muscles. Not oversized like Killian. But definitely not weak. Killian probably didn’t understand that being smart wasn’t the same as being weak.

  “It takes a certain kind of man to lead.” My words were ambiguous. He took them as a compliment. I figured he would.

  “Damned straight it does. I’m not a bastard, mind you. I only beat ‘em when they get out of line. But they know better than to cross the line more than once.”

  “Did Anton cross the line?”