Before they could continue talking, the door leading into the house opened. Kavan came out. He walked with his shoulders wide and that careful way of placing his feet that told Valerie that his wolf was very close to the surface. Her stomach twisted as she hurried over to him.
“What happened? Everything was fine five minutes ago!”
“It was,” Kavan agreed, “but a lot changed in that five minutes. We have a situation now.”
Valerie cupped his face in her hands, keeping him from looking at anything else. As long as he focused on her, she knew everything was going to be okay. “What happened?”
Kavan calmed as he stared into her eyes. He let out a heavy sigh and gestured back to the house. “We have a couple of unexpected visitors.”
Valerie frowned, her gaze trailing to the back door, which Kavan had left open. There was still a murmur of voices coming from it, but unlike before, it sounded nervous and subdued. Camille rose to her toes, peeking over their shoulders. Valerie hesitated a minute before she nodded and led the way back inside. Kavan held her hand tightly, and she wasn’t sure if he was hoping to prevent her or himself from doing something stupid.
As soon as she walked into the living room, she saw what the problem was. Wayne Jonston and Samuel Carter lounged on the couch, plates of appetizers balanced on their knees and a glass of orange juice in hand. Both of them smiled and lifted their glasses when she came in.
“And there is the blushing bride-to-be herself.” Samuel tipped back his glass, finishing it in one swallow. “When we heard that congratulations were in order, we had to stop by to acknowledge our former employee’s good fortune.”
His smile was still there, but there was a hard layer to his words. Former employee was right. Kavan had quit when he found that Jonston and Carter were replacing the diamonds in several pieces with lesser quality ones. The case was currently sitting before a judge. Even though it looked like they were going to get off without much more than a slap on the wrist, the vampires had been quite offended by him daring to take a stand against them.
Philip moved from the corner to stand with Kavan, his lips pressed together and his eyes flashing. “What are you doing here?”
“We wanted to congratulate the happy couple,” Carter said. “And speak to Judge Gilson alone.”
“No,” Kavan said at once. Everybody shifted nervously.
Camille put her hands on her hips and glared at the vampires. “You have no right to be here. You should both just leave. If you want to talk to the judge, then you can stop by her office.”
“We’ve tried that,” Jonston countered. He looked Camille up and down with a gleam in his eye. “You haven’t let us in. How else are we supposed to speak with the judge, then?”
“You only stop by when she’s busy. Make an appointment!”
Valerie sighed. This was starting to be a scene, and not the kind that she wanted at her engagement party. “I will talk with you. Let’s go into the office. It won’t take long,” she promised her guests. “In the meantime, Camille, why don’t you set up the, uh, slide show that you prepared?”
She led the vampires down the hall, into her home office. Kavan followed after, tense, with his lip curled back. The vampires hadn’t threatened either of them, but Valerie knew Kavan well enough to know he wasn’t going to be taking any chances. Not where she was concerned. His concern would have been exasperating if it wasn’t so touching.
As soon as they were in the office, the friendly smiles dropped. Kavan bristled, and this time Valerie took his hand in hers, to hold him back from doing something rash. He remained tense, but he didn’t lunge for them. Valerie could see he wanted to.
“What’s this about?” Valerie asked, keeping her tone civil but firm. “You know you’re not supposed to have contact with Kavan or me.”
“This isn’t about the… incident,” Carter started, speaking slowly as though fighting to keep his temper in check. He shot a poisonous look, not at Kavan, but at Jonston, as though it was all his fault. Valerie made a note of that; it might prove useful later. “Actually, we’ve come for a different matter altogether. You see, there’s this bill currently in—”
“I know all about that.” Valerie didn’t need to be told which bill or where it was. Everybody already knew about it; it had come out with this investigation into their finances. They were trying to sneakily pass a bill that would make it easier for them to pull things like this, replacing diamonds with cheaper versions. “What, do you think that you’re not rich enough? You have to cheat and lie and steal in order to get more?”
Jonston waved a hand, rolling his eyes. “What we want and what we do is our business, isn’t it? But anyway, we want you to just… work some of your magic. Grease a few wheels—”
“Why on God’s green Earth would I do that?”
Jonston looked put out by her interruption, but Carter only smiled. “Because if you don’t, then we will challenge your mate. And if he loses, everything he owns will belong to us. Including—”
“If you try to say that Kavan owns me, I am going to shoot you,” Valerie said bluntly. She’d bought a gun after taking down Lancaster, in case anybody tried to come after her at night. “You came into my house uninvited, so don’t think that I won’t get away with it.”
Jonston snickered. “I like them spicy.”
“We weren’t going to say you,” Carter snapped, grabbing Jonston and yanking him back. “But half of what you own is his, right? How are you going to pay for your wedding when your bank account is halved?”
***
Kavan burst out laughing. All of the others looked at him. Carter with amusement, Jonston with annoyance, Valerie with concern. He waved a hand, brushing off her unspoken concerns. Really, this was just too funny. They come here wanting special favors and think that a weak threat like that would get them anywhere?
“You two are really… kinda dumb, aren’t you?” Kavan continued to chuckle. “I mean, really? Did you really think that would make a difference? Make your challenge. I don’t give a flying fuck about your vampire traditions. You can challenge me until you’re blue in the face, I don’t care.”
Jonston flashed his fangs in a growl but once again Carter held him back. There was an angry flash in his eyes that Kavan didn’t think was just about Jonston’s continual outbursts here. He waited patiently, a smirk on his lips, while the vampires had a silent argument. Finally, Jonston lowered his head in submission, and Carter turned back to Kavan.
“We did suspect that our challenge was going to be less than impressive for you,” Carter said, sounding surprisingly calm for how angry he’d looked at Jonston moments before. “And that is why we have this.”
He gestured to Jonston, who pulled a file folder from his jacket and handed it to Valerie. She took it with a frown, and Kavan moved closer. His heart dropped when he saw what was inside. Information. Pictures, dates, witness statements. Not only for some of his own illegal activities that had never made it to court but also dirt on Valerie. Nothing illegal, only embarrassing... embarrassing enough to be the death sentence for her career, which was only now regaining the strength it had before.
“If you don’t help us with this bill or accept our challenge, then this gets released. You can go ahead and keep it. See if you can weasel your way out of this one; we have our own copies.”
Jonston looked smug now, and Kavan glared at him. Valerie made a soft noise of disgust in her throat. When Kavan looked, he saw written, Took a bribe from Carl Lancaster.
Following that were details of how they met, how much it was for, and what Valerie had done to get the money. Kavan cursed under his breath. So, this was how they were going to play it? He regretted his earlier choice of words—right now it was him, not them, who was the dumb one. He should have guessed that they had more up their sleeves than just demanding that they accept a challenge like that.
He looked up, glaring, at the vampires. Jonston continued to leer.
“Does everybody
know about that?” Valerie snarled as she shut the folder. “Or is it just billionaires? Did Rainer Weiman give you this information?”
“Weiman knows?” Carter arched a single brow. “Huh. Imagine that. But no, he would never share something so damning with the likes of us. He thinks that we’re bad names in the vampire world. And maybe he’s right. But, that’s neither here nor there.”
Valerie shut the file and glared up at them both. “I’m not going to help you pass the bill. The next thing you’re going to be asking me to do is shut down a women’s shelter so you can build a new parking garage.”
Carter looked amused. “We hadn’t thought of that. Hmm…”
Kavan snarled, knowing he was just doing this to get a rise out of Valerie. That didn’t mean he liked it. At all. The vampires mocking them was one thing but threatening to go after vulnerable citizenry was another thing altogether.
“Got a problem with that?” Jonston mocked him.
Kavan didn’t reply, merely continuing to glare.
The vampires only smirked at the two of them. After a long moment, Valerie put a hand on Kavan’s shoulder. When their eyes met, he saw the plea in them. She didn’t want to have to compromise her standards again. She’d let them release the blackmail first. Kavan’s heart beat faster. If they did that, her career would be well and truly over. But she also didn’t want to ask him to fight.
Kavan shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. “How would this challenge work?”
“Kavan,” Valerie tugged on his arm.
“I know.” He put an arm around her. “Before we decide one way or another, we need to know what the stakes are. How does the challenge work?”
“Normally it would be three fights and whoever wins two of them, or whoever doesn’t die, wins. In this case, though,” Carter continued, glancing at Valerie. “Since you aren’t a vampire, and there are two of us, we’ll have only one fight. You against both of us at the same time, with no maiming or killing allowed.”
Valerie made a noise like she was getting ready to argue, but Kavan squeezed her lightly. He could handle this. Besides, there were ways to get around the whole ‘half of your property belongs to him’ stuff.
“I’ll fight you, then. Both of you.” Kavan stretched out his hand and Carter shook it firmly. Valerie looked distinctly upset but didn’t argue with him. For now, at least. Kavan had a feeling he was going to hear something about this later on.
“This is lunacy,” Valerie burst out. She pulled away from Kavan and glared at him. “You just said that we didn’t have to decide right now. And then you go ahead and make that choice without even asking me?”
“Technically, I didn’t say anything about not having to decide,” Kavan started, but at the fury in Valerie’s eyes he quickly stopped. She clearly wasn’t interested in an argument about semantics, nor was she going to accept any of his excuses. He held up his hands, not wanting to do this in front of the vampires but also not seeing any alternative. “Val, what other choice do we have? If this information got out, I’d be back in jail and you’d lose your job.”
“Probably end up in jail, too,” Jonston added helpfully.
Kavan spared him a quick glare. “We don’t really have a choice in the matter, Valerie.”
Valerie shot a furious glare at the vampires and lowered her voice, as though that would stop them from hearing what she had to say. “If we give in to them now, they’re just going to keep coming back, again and again, thinking they can make us do what they want.”
“What if we promise we won’t?” Carter cocked his head to one side. “What if we promise that this is just a one-time thing?”
“Then I wouldn’t believe you,” Valerie said flatly.
Kavan took both her hands in his and stared intently into her eyes. “Listen. I know this game, and I know how to play it. Trust me, okay?”
She scowled but, after only a moment’s hesitation, nodded. She still glared at the vampires, but Kavan nodded. He didn’t like giving into their demands, either, but at least they had offered a second way out of this. Maybe it was because they didn’t want to be seen as weak and beating him up for his and Valerie’s failure to crumble before them was a good punishment in their eyes. Maybe they didn’t want to risk Valerie losing her position. Maybe, just maybe, there was some part of them that wanted her to be able to continue fighting the good fight, to help other paranormal beings.
It was a possibility.
There was one thing he had to make sure they understood, though. “This fight does not mean that you’re going to have any right to try to force her to marry one of you. Or engage in any sort of physical intimacy.”
Carter’s eyes flashed like he’d just been insulted, but his expression smoothed out quickly enough. “Of course not. Some vampires might still consider people to be part of the property of their mates, but believe me, we don’t hold to those ways. Besides which, it’s quite illegal these days. No. We will not expect anything from Miss Gilson.”
“Except,” Jonston interjected, a wicked gleam in his eye, “except she has to agree to go on one date with us. Give us the chance to seduce her.”
“I will not,” Valerie snarled. “That’s extortion and—”
“Yeah, we know,” Jonston said. He rolled his eyes “That’s the whole point of this.”
“You can go wait for us in the living room,” Kavan quickly put himself between Valerie and the vampires. He didn’t want to end up having another assault case here. Their little demand would have been amusing if it didn’t make Valerie so upset. He held her in his arms until they left, smirking as they went. Kavan sighed and kissed Valerie quickly on the forehead, hoping that she would understand. “We’re going to have to agree to their terms.”
“I’m not going on a date with them!”
Kavan sighed. “They never said I can’t be there, too, to make sure they don’t try any funny business.”
Valerie opened her mouth but seemed to consider his words more closely. “That’s true…”
“And, they said that it was one date. One date, and they’ll probably treat you to some fancy stuff in an effort to win your desires.”
“I can’t believe it!” Valerie threw her hands into the air. “You think this is funny, don’t you? You horrible, horrible person!”
Kavan grinned at her, too amused by the insult to pretend. “A horrible, horrible person, huh? How very eloquent.”
“Don’t push me.”
“Listen. In this case, I’m certain that those two aren’t after any real blackmailing. They’re just pissed at me and… it might be that they’re pissed at each other, too. I can’t really tell. Carter’s not happy with Jonston. They’re just messing with us because of the investigation they’re facing. And they want to flaunt the rules against us. There’s no way I can beat both of them in a fight, and they know that. Offering that ‘out’ was just a way to try to bluff us out.”
“But if you agree to all their terms and conditions, then we’re going to lose all our wedding budget and half our property and—”
“Except one thing.” Kavan grinned at her. “We’re not married. We’re only engaged, and we’re only living together. New York, unless I’m wrong, doesn’t have common-law marriages. So, your property has nothing to do with me. As for my property, well, sure they’ll clean out my bank account, but it’s not like there is a lot in there right now anyway. They’re welcome to those old ratty towels.”
Valerie’s shoulders started to relax. “That’s true. If they have a good lawyer, which they do, they can argue against it, but you have a point.”
“I know I do.”
“It might be helpful if we sign a prenup, too,” she continued, her brow furrowed, “to make sure they can’t come after you once we’re married.”
Kavan didn’t like the idea of prenuptial agreements because in his eyes, marriage was supposed to last forever. However, he had to admit that there was a logic to them all the same. When it came to humans, t
hey switched out mates on the regular. They didn’t have the lasting bonds that paranormal beings did.
And in this case, it was literally to protect them, and Kavan was fine with that. “Yeah, we can write it up so that everything all belongs to you.”
“Legally,” Valerie was quick to add. “Because everything is ours.”
“I know. Just like I know that they could give you a red carpet entrance, and at the end of the day, you’d come home to me.”
Valerie sighed. “Then I guess I can agree to go on one date with them. But I don’t like the idea of you getting beaten up over all of this, either.”
“Yeah, that is the one downside.”
“The one downside?”
Kavan reached for her. “And on the upside, I’ll have you there to nurse me back to health.” He kissed her gently. “I can’t wait,” he kissed her again, “to play doctor,” this kiss lingered, “with you—all night long.”
***
It took two weeks to beat out all the legal details and seal up the loopholes that the vampires kept trying to slip into the fighting. Valerie insisted a legal document be drawn up and had every colleague she had go over it to point out any vague wording. Once she was satisfied with it, they all signed, and a day was picked for the big fight.
While apparently, these things were normally huge, extravagant affairs that vampires would travel for miles to see, given their rarity, the fact that this wasn’t greatly publicized combined with Kavan being a shifter meant that there weren’t many spectators. A handful of bored-looking women that Kavan figured were supposed to be impressed with Jonston and Carter’s fighting prowess. A few official vampire referees. Valerie, of course, and her parents. Camille, who looked utterly furious.
“Right.” Carter clapped his hands together as he stood in the circle of hard-packed earth. “Shall we go over the rules one last time?”
“No killing, no maiming, no shifting. If you’re down more than three seconds, you’re out. Forfeit is possible.” Kavan rolled his shoulders. “You will both strike one at a time to make it more of a fair fight. What more is there to say?”
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