Bitten (The Graced Series Book 2)

by Amanda Pillar

  The baby was swaddled, her little bald head the only thing visible. Her eyes were shut, and she made little grumbling noises. Fin couldn’t help but think that if his daughter had survived, he might have had a moment like this with her. But he couldn’t change the past, no matter how much he wanted to.

  A chill spread through him.

  He hadn’t worn a sheath when he was with Hannah. Hadn’t even thought about it. She could get pregnant. Pregnant. He couldn’t go through that again. Not the fear, the pain, the dread. He wasn’t normally so stupid. Not since Karly.

  She’s a vampire, you’re a human, it won’t happen.

  But she is Graced, and you are half-Graced...

  No, she was a vampire. And vampires didn’t get pregnant except to other vampires. The risk was low. He shouldn’t worry. There was no way Hannah could be pregnant. Not from him.

  “You just gonna squat there?” Byrne asked.

  Startled, Fin ran a gentle finger over Rena’s downy head, and then stood up. He got into bed and rolled to face the wall. The sheets were clean and fresh, and he hoped that any bed bugs would decide to nibble on Byrne rather than himself. He slowed his breathing, pretending to fall asleep; he didn’t want Byrne asking questions, because he didn’t believe in lying to the were. Byrne had had enough deception in his life, he didn’t need Fin to add to it.

  *

  Byrne wanted to ask why Fin smelled of water from the stream, but the human was pretending to sleep. His friend was lying on the opposite side to his injured ribs, the blanket pulled up to his chin, his damp hair a dark burnished gold. Normally, Fin was more than happy to share his misadventures, but he’d clearly not wanted to discuss his dip in the stream.

  Mayhap Hannah had dunked him in the creek for getting a bit too handsy? Byrne smiled at the thought. Although, to be fair, Fin only propositioned the woman in a joking manner every couple of days, which was the equivalent of him not hitting on the vampire at all. Hannah also had no trouble ignoring all Fin’s sleazy comments. But if she hadn't dunked Fin in the stream, why had he taken a swim? Maybe he fell in?

  Perhaps Byrne shouldn’t have sent Fin out to check on her. The human was weak-willed at the best of times when it came to women, led around by his cock more than his brain. But Byrne had thought Fin respected Hannah enough to leave her be.

  Maybe you’re just jealous.

  Rolling onto his back, Byrne tucked his hands under the back of his head and stared up at the plastered ceiling. He wished that he could respond to the annoying voice in his head with a negative, but he had a sneaking suspicion it was right. Byrne resented Fin’s easy way with women, but he wasn’t a ‘bang ‘em and leave ‘em’ kind of guy like the human.

  It wasn't like Fin ever questioned Byrne’s choice to keep to himself. Sure, he gave him shit about it from time to time, but that was fine. The human had seen the dank cell in which Byrne had been kept, and had spoken with those who had kept him prisoner, so he had a fair idea of what had been done to Byrne in that bloody place.

  It was too late for the were to wish it otherwise.

  Chapter 53

  Pinton City

  Elle had never imagined that she’d be sitting at a table at the Crystal Palace with the king, a viscountess, her fiancé, Dante — AKA, the Creep — the coroner and Captain Mikael.

  Then again, she’d never imagined she’d be Chosen, never mind survive the process. Graceds weren’t meant to. That’s what she’d been always taught. But if you had Hazel eyes, apparently that meant you could break all the rules. And she liked breaking rules, unless she was on guard duty. Then she had to enforce them.

  “What can you tell me about this killer?” the king asked into the quiet.

  Elle said nothing. She wasn’t even the primary guard on the murder investigation. In fact, she was only here because Misty wanted her to be, and because she wanted a reason to get out of the house. Dante’s mother had been visiting when the request arrived, and the duchess made Elle’s skin crawl. Not because she’d tried to kill Elle yet — although she didn’t think that it was completely off the cards — but because there was something so alien about the woman it set Elle’s nerves firing. Even Clay had refused to shift out of his wolf shape whenever she was over. And that make her edgy, too.

  Oh, and Mikael, had said that he didn’t believe in taking one for the team without having someone else to suffer with him. There was no way Dinya was going to go — she didn’t particularly like vampires all that much — and they would never send Kyle to the palace, even if he had been working on the case with Alice. Bulls and china shops and all that.

  So that just left her.

  Elle studied the monarch. He was normally so attractive that even she got a little tongue-tied around him, which was saying something because she got to have sex with Clay on a regular basis. And Clay was hotter than hot. But now...

  ‘Does the king seem unwell to you?’ Elle thought the question at her fiancé. His yellow gaze remained where it was focused on Dante. They seemed to be having a staring contest.

  Again.

  Morons.

  Elle sighed. Dante and Clay were having dominance issues at the moment. Clay was clearly an alpha wolf, but he was also a loner, so that didn’t really matter normally. He didn’t need to be in charge when in a group of people, because he rarely stuck around groups long enough for it to be an issue. But Dante — even though he was odd, deranged, and a bit sociopathic — was also a dominant personality. They’d been competing to see who was the more ‘alpha’ since they’d met.

  At first, it had just been a little physical fighting, which she could totally get behind. Now it had progressed to mind games. It wasn’t winning them any favors with her. After all, anyone with half a brain could work out she was the queen fucking bee when it came to the three of them.

  ‘He did look peaky when he was talking to his boyfriend. Jerk-something-or-other.’ Clay’s mental voice was like his speaking one: low, rough and sexy.

  There was no jealousy in Clay’s dismissive comment; he was glad the monarch had focused his lovesick eyes on someone else. The were had just decided the object of the king’s lust was a dick. ‘Guy’s name is Lance,‘ she thought at him.

  ‘Lance?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘That’s a stupid name.’

  ‘Be sure to tell his parents then.’

  ‘Maybe I will.’

  Elle smothered a snort.

  Captain Mikael cleared his throat. “The killer appears to be a human male, although we cannot be one hundred percent sure.”

  King Johan — or King Jo, as Elle called him — linked his hands together on the metal table. He was wearing a shiny black suit, and his dark hair was smoothed back from his forehead, but left out and long. Vampire hair grew fast, but seemed to stop once it had reached its natural length. For King Jo, that was around his butt. For Elle, it was about the same. Unfortunately. She missed her short, copper-colored hair. Since she’d been Chosen it was dark red and far too long. She actually had to do her hair in the morning, rather than just run her fingers through it and call it ready.

  Elle’s eyes swept around the table. Dante didn’t return her gaze, but he would have been aware of her look. He kept staring at Clay. Captain Mikael was looking rather dashing in his formal suit, and next to him Alice the coroner was wearing a burnt orange gown that showed all her amazing — and maybe a little envy-inducing — curves. Misty was wearing a lilac-colored dress that was all clean lines. Not a ruffle or piece of lace to be seen. Very elegant for the viscountess. She rarely wore anything other than white, but as purple was mourning for vampires, the viscountess had changed her wardrobe.

  “What makes you think the killer is male? Or human, for that matter?” the king asked.

  “The sperm.”

  All the attention in the room switched to Alice.

  ‘Did she just say ‘sperm’?’ Dante’s mind voice was slightly warmer in tone than his
speaking one. But he was curious. And for someone who hadn’t really felt emotions before he Chose her, that was interesting.

  ‘Yes.’

  Then Clay thought at her. ‘Are you and Dante chatting?’

  ‘Yes. Now I can’t concentrate on what people are actually saying, so shut it.’

  Clay sat back in his chair. ‘Hah. Means I win this round.’

  ‘How? You were talking to me before. Technically that would be a win for him, then.’

  ‘Humph. Stalemate then.’

  Just like every other time.

  Alice’s face flushed, but she spoke clearly. “I think the murderer is a male, because all the victims had consensual sex prior to being murdered, and semen was left behind. I also believe the killer to be a human because I studied the samples left in all the victims. I don’t have a were sample to compare to, but I did check it against vampire and human. It’s a perfect match for the human. I would ideally need a larger sample size to be one hundred percent confident, but at this stage, I feel I am correct.”

  The king thought about this for a moment. “Right.”

  Dante sat up straighter in his chair. “What kind of magnification did you require to see the sperm cells? I’ve never actually thought to study that particular body fluid.” He rubbed his chin. “I’ve only ever looked at blood—”

  From below the table came the sound of a foot meeting a shin.

  Dante turned to his sister. “What?”

  “Now is not the time for a medical debate,” Misty told her brother. “You can discuss this with Coroner Alice later.”

  Coroner Alice. Not Doctor Reive, as was her real title. It was funny, Elle thought, how aristos liked to make everything ‘Sir this’ and ‘Lady that.’ Even Alice’s job position worked.

  But Elle had to admit she was impressed by Alice’s work. She’d always liked the coroner, but hadn’t really made any effort to further their friendship beyond a professional one. When you were trying to make sure that your special younger sister was kept out of your psychotic grandmother’s way, you didn’t tend to get involved in extra relationships. It had made for a lonely life, and it was only now that Elle had inherited a crazy family that she could appreciate that.

  “So the killer is human and male. What else?” The king surveyed the rest of the table.

  Alice bit her lip and sat back, as if her knowledge had been exhausted.

  “We believe they are somehow linked to the aristocracy,” Mikael said. “They had to have access to their victims.”

  Elle nodded. “They are either an aristo or someone associated, like a paid consort, singer, or entertainer.”

  “Well, there are very few aristo human families,” the king said. He nodded at Dante. “Your husband’s family is one of the ten.”

  Ten human aristo families. Elle hadn’t thought the numbers so low. But it made sense. Pinton and its surrounding towns were largely vampire run, after all. The were representation was probably similar.

  “So, we can possibly eliminate the aristos? Depending on who is in town at the moment.” That was from Dante.

  “We will need to investigate it further. We have already reviewed the Greystoke family, as they agreed to our questioning without too much fuss.” Mikael nodded at Dante.

  The king was frowning, but what had he expected? Of course Elle was going to use all the resources she had at hand. And every aristo connection counted. Not that she’d had any at the beginning of the year, but it was funny how things could change so quickly.

  Dante’s voice whispered into her mind. ‘Did you see Anton before you left?’

  When she’d first been Chosen, Elle had been able to slip into Dante’s mind with ease, but it had all been at her instigation. Now, their bond had changed. Oh, she could still sneak into his mind, but she was trying to avoid doing that. However, he could now start telepathic conversations with her. He couldn’t reach her mind, but then she had a mental shield and he didn’t.

  She wondered how it would work if both the Chooser and Chosen had shields, but that was something to ponder at another time, when she wasn’t sitting in a meeting with the king and trying to work out who was killing aristos.

  ‘I saw him just before I left. Emmie was holding his hand.’

  Which had been odd, come to think of it. The two of them had been walking down the main hallway. Anton had been holding his cane with one hand, and Emmie’s nut brown palm with the other. Emmie regularly walked around hand in hand with Darla, Anton’s younger sister, but not Anton himself. Elle would have to ask her sister what she’d been up to. The young girl wasn’t meant to use her healing gift, and Elle was aware that Emmie had wanted to ‘fix’ Anton on more than one occasion.

  Dante’s mental voice was thoughtful. ‘I hope she wasn’t trying to heal his leg. I believe that would be far in excess of what her gift is capable of at the moment.’

  Elle sent a mental nod of assent. Then she focused on the meeting. Having people being able to talk to you telepathically sure made things complicated.

  Especially when you were meant to be concentrating on the matter at hand.

  Chapter 54

  The outskirts of Pinton

  Two days later, Fin found himself staring at the back of Hannah’s head as she sat up at the front of the cart, talking softly with Byrne. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, which annoyed him. They could be talking about something super interesting, like when they’d arrive at Pinton, or how good-looking he was. But for some strange reason, he doubted they’d be talking about him. Fin was a fantastic subject for conversation, but they did need to discuss other things. He didn’t want to become a boring topic.

  He was on Rena duty, sitting in the back of the cart with the canvas up. It wasn’t really a duty at all; she was sleeping after vomiting on him, and he was enjoying the down time. But everything in the wagon reminded him of what he and Hannah had done. And that was a bad thing.

  And staring at Hannah wasn’t helping the situation in his trousers, either, although he couldn’t help but admire the shape of her back...

  The morning after he and Hannah had been together, Fin had felt hugely awkward, which was unusual. She’d smiled upon seeing him and Byrne, and held her arms out. He’d almost stepped forward to complete the embrace, but then he spotted she was wiggling her hands; she was waiting for Rena to be handed over.

  Byrne had passed the baby to the vampire, then stopped, his back going ramrod straight. The were’s nostrils had flared, and Fin knew that Byrne had figured out what had happened in the back of the wagon. No other animal had a sense of smell like a bear, and Hannah obviously hadn’t gotten rid of the evidence well enough. Although, why she would be even thinking of hiding it...he didn’t know.

  He just wanted to keep it a secret.

  Part of the reason was because he didn’t want Byrne beating him up for daring to touch Hannah; another part was because this wasn’t about Byrne, or Rena. This was about Fin and Hannah.

  Byrne hadn’t really spoken to him since that morning, just glowered a lot, and humphed. But they didn’t really need to talk to set up and break down camp; they’d done it so many times that it was habit. Byrne had made sure he slept next to the cart, though, so that Fin was on the other side of the fire. Did he think he was protecting Hannah from Fin? Too bad Byrne didn’t know that Fin was probably the one that needed protecting. Hannah had dragged him into the back of the cart, after all. Not the other way around.

  “I’m going to pull over for a few minutes,” Byrne said. “Nature calls.”

  The cart trundled to the side of the unpaved road and then stopped. No other travelers seemed to be out, so there was no traffic to avoid. Baldy was in the harness, and Foxtrot flicked her tail in protest at stopping. The stupid goat, however, seemed to be in her element, quickly finding some grass.

  Byrne climbed down from the driver’s seat and levelled a yellow glare at Fin, as if to tell him to behave. The bear was
just wandering off to find a tree and soil it; like Fin had time for seduction. Any worthwhile seduction, anyway. A thirty second romp with Hannah would only frustrate him.

  After Byrne disappeared behind the oak trees lining the road, Fin scooted forward in the back of the cart, cradling Rena to his chest. The movement hurt, but all movement tended to hurt after you got the shit kicked out of you. Twice. “Hannah.”

  She swiveled in her seat, and looked at him with those impossible-to-read Black eyes. “Fin.”

  “I didn’t wear a sheath,” he blurted.

  “A what?”

  A blush stole up his cheeks. And he didn’t blush. Ever. “A sheath.”

  “Why would you have worn a sheath? You weren’t carrying a sword.”

  Raising a hand to his forehead, he rubbed it. She didn’t know what a prophylactic was. Great. Just great.

  “It’s for my other sword.”

  Now she just looked confused. “Your other sword? Do you even own one sword?”

  Lowering his voice, he hissed. “My penis.”

  “Your penis has a sword?”

  “By the blood. The sheath is for my penis. So when I have sex, my seed doesn’t get inside you and you don’t risk getting pregnant.”

  “Oooooh.”

  “That’s all you’ve got to say?”

  “Well, you’re a human, Fin. I’m a vampire.”

  “You’re Graced. I’m half-Graced.” How was he even managing to speak, the way his jaw was clenching together? He was going to have a headache, he knew it. One was already forming at his temples.

  “But I’m still a vampire. I wouldn’t worry.”

  “Hannah—”

  “I’m coming back,” Byrne’s voice rumbled from the trees, “and if you two are making out, I swear I will punch you in the face, Fin.”

  “I’m not making out with anyone,” Fin called back. Then he muttered, “Unfortunately.”

  Hannah gave him another of her inscrutable looks. Then she turned to Byrne. “What if I was making out with him?”