Another shake, sharper. “No can do, Eric. Crime scene’s off limits. It’ll be hours before it’s cleared, maybe days, especially with Willow gone. Sheriff’s already got an Amber Alert out on her.” Owen’s expression turned apologetic. “I gave him one of the framed pictures from the living room once it was dusted for prints. Hope you don’t mind, but in child abductions, every second counts.”
“It’s fine, man,” Jason said softly. “Whatever you need.”
“You guys need clothes or…” Owens voice trailed off and his eyes focused on something behind us, widening into shock. “Holy shit. Is that your dog?”
I glanced back. A black wolf with Darien’s icy stare came to a stand beside Eric, gazing calmly at Owen. The top of his head reached nearly to Eric’s waist. His body was thickly muscled under his fur.
Eric casually dropped his hand to the top of Darien’s head. “Not ours. Alice is pet sitting tonight. We didn’t want to leave him alone while we were gone.”
Darien bumped his muzzle against Eric’s hip in a gentle chide.
Owen’s eyes widened. “There’s a leash law. County ordinance.”
Alice stepped forward and smiled sweetly at him. “In all the rush to get here, we forgot all about his leash and collar. Perhaps Jason and Gregory could take Darien for a walk and then tuck him away in the car. Would that be acceptable?”
“Um, yeah. Sure, ma’am,” Owen murmured. “He won’t bite anybody, will he?”
“Not unless they deserve it,” Eric said.
I was pretty sure that wasn’t the reassurance Owen was looking for. Thankfully, he let it go. Jason and Gregory set off in a wide circle around the crowd, Darien trotting between them, and Alice and I huddled together as Eric followed the off-duty police officer to a place where he could give a statement.
“She’ll be ok, Gianna.” Alice rubbed her hands over mine, warming us both in the rapidly cooling air. “We’ll get her back. You’ll see.”
Of that, I had no doubt. It was everything that had to happen first that worried me.
Chapter Two
Alice and I moved to the edge of the crowd, our gazes following police officers and other officials in and out of the house. I’d threaded my fingers through hers, more to comfort her than myself, and now, we clung together, two young vampires standing too near a tempting crowd of humans.
Not too tempting, though. The shadows and fury mingled into a dark mix in my blood were uninterested in mere humans. No beacons appeared among the mass of concerned onlookers. The blood of any other human would be too weak to satiate my appetite.
A keen yearning to drink deeply from the one responsible for Willow’s disappearance snaked through me and my fangs descended abruptly, forcing my jaws slightly apart. The tips of my fingers tingled painfully and, oddly enough, itched. I glanced down. What appeared to be claws were where my fingernails used to be, and they were cutting into the tender skin of Alice’s hand.
I let go of her hand and whispered, “Sorry.”
Alice brought her hand to her mouth and lightly sucked the cuts I’d made, sealing them. “Restrain your beast until it’s needed, else sweet little Officer Medders will be distracted from his task.”
Her words startled the fury into dissipating. The shadows went with it, receding into the corner of my mind where they belonged. I slammed a mental cage around them and locked them tightly away. Alice was right. I needed to retain my control. When we found Willow’s kidnapper was soon enough to loose them.
“You’re attracted to him,” I said softly, the words tinged with mild accusation. “He’s not even a beacon.”
“Yes, he is, darling. He simply hides it well, unknowingly, I’m certain. Gregory’s not ready to accept my need for other blood yet, so I shall leave the yummy Owen alone.” Alice draped a slender arm across my shoulders. “He’s coming this way. Do you think you could act like a grieving mother instead of a vampire anticipating the taste of her enemy’s blood?”
I snorted out a laugh in spite of myself and turned it quickly into a sobbing cough, not an easy trick with fangs protruding from your gums. Wouldn’t do for the yummy Owen to see those. I covered my mouth with both hands and channeled the all too real grief lying just inside my heart, allowing it to engulf me. The shadows clamored within their cage. They were as eager for blood as I was. Not yet, I told them, and to my surprise, they subsided.
Officer Medders drew near, leading a middle-aged female detective wearing a flat expression under the severe bun she’d pulled her golden hair into.
Willow, I thought, and the grief rose swiftly, clogging my throat. Tears threatened and I let them fall. What if whoever had taken her hurt her? What if we didn’t get to her in time?
I reached out for her, knowing it was futile, and searched for the fragile bond we’d begun.
Where are you, Willow? I thought, and hoped that wherever she was, she was safe and sound and whole.
* * *
Jason and Gregory came around the far end of the house toward us in the middle of Detective Ward’s questioning. Darien veered off toward the limo, still in wolf form, his tongue lolling as he trotted along the sidewalk, looking for all the world like a friendly, oversized dog. Owen claimed Jason before he reached us, but Gregory came to stand on my other side.
I dabbed at the tears pooling in my eyes, choking out an explanation of my relationship with Willow. Yes, I was her biological mother. No, I hadn’t known her long. I’d been very sick since her birth. Cancer, Alice added, and even I felt the extra oomph behind the word.
Detective Ward’s empty brown eyes flicked to Alice and away, dismissing her without a single word issuing from the hardened woman’s mouth.
Where was Eric? I was pretty sure the detective wouldn’t ask pesky questions of him, let alone ignore him, and if she did, Eric would delve into her mind and deflect it gently away from us and onto finding Willow.
At last, the tenacious detective flipped her notebook closed, issued a terse warning about staying where she could find me, and turned sharply on her heel, marching toward the crime scene with the firm, measured walk of a former soldier.
Alice nudged me. “Darien,” she whispered.
“I want to find Eric first.” My throat was a little raw. I swallowed and lowered my voice to a less painful level. “Maybe he’s learned something.”
Gregory draped an arm around Alice’s shoulders and they walked off together, murmuring in hushed tones to one another. I slipped through the thinning crowd and walked along the line of police tape, stepping carefully along the sidewalk. In our rush to get here, not one of us had taken the time to change. We must’ve looked strange to the people standing idly by, wondering what had happened, and to those tending to Cassie’s body. Tuxes and formal evening wear weren’t exactly the norm in suburban Georgia.
It’s not that I felt out of place. I didn’t, or not any more than usual, but I wasn’t comfortable and I wanted to be. My clothes were an unwelcome distraction and I needed the ease of movement jeans and a t-shirt afforded.
It took me a moment to make my way to Eric, long enough that I had time to study him as I approached. He had his hands tucked casually into the pockets of his pants. His shoulders were down, his feet were firmly planted on the sidewalk, and though his gaze was fixed on some point along the ground, he seemed comfortable in his own skin, a far cry from the man I’d met while jogging a couple of years before. There was no rocking onto the balls of his feet, no fingers idly jingling change, just the steady demeanor of a man confident in his own abilities.
A tiny pang of nostalgia flicked my heart. When had he become so certain of himself?
He glanced up and met my gaze, then held an arm out for me, drawing me close. I sank into him, drawing comfort from his quiet strength, and buried my face in his throat.
His mind brushed mine. They think it’s an animal attack of some kind.
Werewolves?
Darien will probably know.
The police officer who
was taking Eric’s statement said a polite farewell. Eric turned me toward the limo, directing me with a warm hand at my waist. Jason’s found something.
I lowered my face, hiding it from the gazes of curious onlookers. Why does he always tell you first?
Warm humor filtered through our bond. Because I’m the boss.
I glared at him from beneath lowered lashes. Why did he always have answers you just couldn’t argue with? Eric had been the leader of our tiny family since we’d married. Jason and I always deferred to him. Maybe we shouldn’t every once in a while, just to stir things up a bit.
Eric’s hand tightened on my skin and one corner of his mouth turned up in a small smile. “Mutiny?”
“Mischief,” I corrected firmly. “You’re getting the big head.”
He huffed out an exasperated breath and drew me to a stop beside the limo. “Not with the two of you around. Did you get anything from the detective?”
I dropped my voice to a near whisper and deliberately put my back to the crowd some fifteen feet away. “She’s too closed off. I couldn’t break through her guard. Alice might’ve learned something, though.”
“It’s ok, sweetheart.” He cupped my face in both his hands and brushed his mouth over mine, the fleeting kiss sweet and soft. “I don’t expect you to’ve mastered the whole vampire thing yet.”
“You have.”
“Not yet,” he said gently. He kissed me again, then opened the door for me. “In you go.”
I ducked and caught sight of Darien curled up on the floorboard, head bowed, his nude mostly-human form covered in sweat. Harsh, gasping breaths rushed out of him in irregular bursts. I glanced at Alice. She placed a single finger across her lips and shook her head slightly.
Ok, then. No talking.
I slid into the car, careful to keep my feet well away from him. His hand shot out, latching onto my ankle through the thin material of my gown, and I froze.
“Willow,” he gritted out in a guttural near-growl. His eyes rose slowly and a soft breath snuffled out of him. He swung his head from side to side, less like a man shaking his head than a confused animal in a great deal of pain. And he still looked like an animal, at least in his face. His brow protruded slightly, his jaws were elongated into a sort of muzzle. His back hunched in a painful twist, bones popping, skin stretching, and he gasped, revealing long, sharp canines.
I eased back onto the seat as far away from him as I could get, dropping my eyes away from his oddly human ones. There was something there, a hard dominance that demanded submission, and I was no match for it.
Eric crawled into the car behind me and shut the door gently. Let him find comfort in you.
My heart jumped in my chest and restarted with a thudding boom. Are you nuts? He’s still in the middle of transforming.
I’d never let him hurt you, sweetheart.
The calm certainty behind the thought didn’t quite sway me. Darien scooted forward along the carpeted floorboard and buried his face in my lap. He was shivering now. His hand released my ankle and drifted up my leg under my dress, his palm so warm I flinched under the heat. He grunted, inhaled sharply, and I stared helplessly down at him.
Werewolves are affectionate creatures, Gigi. Eric’s hand grasped mine and lifted it from the seat. Touch him. Soothe him.
I glanced upward. Why me? Why hadn’t he turned to Alice or Jason or anybody else but me, the weakest of the group and the least able to help anyone, let alone a man becoming himself again.
Eric placed my hand gently on the back of Darien’s head and I took the hint, petting his surprisingly soft hair in long strokes.
The car door opened and Jason slid in holding a solid blue microfiber lap blanket. “Owen lent me this. Told him it was for the women.” He draped the blanket over Darien, then slid one arm behind me along the top of the seat. “We can go now.”
A few moments later, the limo’s engine turned over and it began to move. I tucked the edge of the blanket closer around Darien’s shoulders. His hand tightened on my thigh and his other hand slid onto the seat beside me, curling into a fist next to my hip. I was afraid to touch his skin directly. His hand felt like a furnace on my leg and he was still shivering. Maybe his skin was sensitive, like someone’s with a fever is. He grunted a final time and his head drove hard into my lap, then his breath left him in a hot burst of air and he collapsed onto me.
Eric touched the back of my hand. “He’s fine now.”
I nodded and gentled my strokes over Darien’s head. “Feel better?”
“Mmm.” He turned his head and rested his cheek on my thigh, and when he spoke, his voice was rough and low. “Smelled three female werewolves, human form, and a pet, maybe another vampire or pet. Hard to tell the difference.”
“Perhaps a pet on the verge of turning?” Alice suggested.
“Or a weak vampire,” Eric said. “You’re arousing him, sweetheart.”
I jerked my hand away. “Make up your mind. Either I’m soothing him or arousing him. It can’t be both.”
“Can.” Darien pushed himself unsteadily away from me. The blanket fell off his broad shoulders onto the floorboard, leaving him nude in the dimly lit interior of the limo. He ran a shaky hand over his face. “Help if I could hold you.”
I glanced at Eric, who shrugged. With a resigned sigh, I maneuvered myself onto Jason’s lap while Eric pulled Darien onto the seat between us. I climbed carefully across his lap and settled onto him with my head on his shoulder and my knees curled up. Eric draped the blanket over us. The heat boiling off of Darien was trapped underneath and warmed me to the core.
Darien’s arm tightened around my back. He leaned his head back against the top of the seat and closed his eyes. “Thanks. Had to rush through it.”
“Did you recognize the scents you picked up?” Jason asked.
“The females, yeah. All part of mine. The pet was Zane. Got his scent down cold.”
Eric shifted on the seat behind me. “And the other?”
Darien hesitated for a long moment. “It seemed like an older scent, not quite as fresh as the others, anyway.”
“Stop stalling,” Jason said flatly. “I smelled him, too.”
Curiosity prodded me into blurting, “Who?”
“Devin,” Jason said, and Darien added, “Elizabet’s favorite in training.”
Silence fell over us and carried us all the way home.
Chapter Three
Darien went home as soon as we arrived at Elizabet’s, though not before promising to return to Eric and Jason’s house the next day and follow the scent trail as far as he could. Eric kissed me and Jason, then went in search of Elizabet, and the rest of us trudged wearily up the stairs toward our respective rooms.
I tucked my hand into Jason’s and leaned into him as we walked. Numbness radiated from his mind in short bursts. I reached out, hoping to comfort him, and hit a wall of disbelief. It stunned me for a moment longer than it should’ve. He was our rock, our strength, and we relied on him so much. He seemed to’ve finally hit his limit. That wasn’t such a good thing, not now when we needed him more than we ever had.
Alice and Gregory split off toward her room. As soon as they were out of earshot, I whispered, “I know you miss her, Jase.”
Jason’s hand tightened on mine. “I never thought I’d love anybody as much as I love her.”
The quiet despair in his voice twisted through me, a thin bladed knife scoring into an already tender wound. “But you have so much love to give.” Hadn’t he given me enough to last a lifetime, then turned around and given Eric an equal measure? “And she loves you. Even I could tell how much.”
He huffed out a short, harsh laugh. “Love isn’t enough, Gigi. I wasn’t there when she needed me.”
“None of us were.” I rubbed my cheek against his arm. His tux jacket was stiff and smelled of dry-cleaning fluid, not the dark, masculine spice he normally exuded. “How could any of us have known she was in that kind of danger?”
; “Eric did,” he said flatly. “He suspected anyway, but the possibility was so remote, we thought. So few people had the opportunity…”
“Too many people had motivation,” I countered. “Still, what kind of monster targets a baby?”
“The kind that wants revenge. Maybe the kind that wants us out of the way. I don’t know.”
His voice sounded so tired, as if he’d used the last of his energy simply stating that ugly truth. We finished the walk to my suite in silence, an increasingly common commodity, it seemed. Between the shadows pacing relentlessly in one corner of my mind and the aching loss pinned deep within my chest, I had no room for other thoughts. Maybe the silence was good. Maybe it kept us from going insane mulling over what ifs and why didn’t wes.
Jason took the bathroom first. I stripped down, hung my gown up, tucked my shoes away, and slipped into a faded John Deere t-shirt, one he’d outgrown a long, long time ago. It was thin and faded, and just pulling it over my head wrapped me in the unwavering fullness of his and Eric’s love.
I needed that so badly.
When Jason came out, I slipped into the bathroom and readied for bed on autopilot. Use the toilet, wash my hands. Brush my teeth, cleanse my face. Shut the light off.
Stand there in the dark, mind reaching futilely for a child who couldn’t feel me.
I sniffed back the tears scratching at me and hurried out of the bathroom. Jason had already cut the light off, but I didn’t need it. It was eight short steps from the bathroom door to the edge of the bed. A quick dive under the covers he held up for me and I was safe, wrapped in the steady warmth of his embrace.
He brushed a kiss over my forehead. “You need to feed.”
My stomach flipped over and clenched into a sick knot. Blood and sex. I couldn’t face it, not tonight. “Not hungry.”
“Do it anyway. I’ll help you control the need.” He cupped the back of my head and pressed me gently toward his chest. “Eric says if you don’t feed, he’ll force you to when he comes to bed.”
The New Vampire Page 22
