Entangled

by Olivia Stocum

  “Yeah, warm showers are kind of nice,” she said awkwardly.

  Smiling, he continued. “There must be a guest here about your size.” He looked her over, this time to gauge her.

  “You’re going to break into a room and steal someone’s clothes?”

  He went into the bathroom, asked from behind the door, “Do you have a better idea?”

  She followed, pushing it open. Kendra was a fascinating mix of shy and bold, private but curious. No wonder he couldn’t control her. There was more than her self-control at work. It was her very core personality.

  “What if you get caught?”

  “Me? Caught?” He laughed. It echoed in the little room.

  “I guess not.”

  Alessandro turned on the water then lifted his brows at her. “Were you joining me then?”

  She backed away. “No.”

  Chapter Five

  The sun had set, and the darkness that had previously existed from the shut blinds and drapes were now her world. It felt so final to her, like a heavy stage curtain had been drawn on her life.

  But no, this was temporary, right? After this mess with Theron was finished she’d go back to her diner, back to her life.

  Back into the light.

  Kendra rubbed her arms, pacing, wondering where her vampire was. He’d said five minutes. She checked the clock. It had been seven. What if something had happened? What if the Slaves had found him and were dragging him back to their Master? What if they came for her next?

  Sitting down, she picked up her fork, poking at her chicken dinner, more interested in taking out her frustration on it than eating. Without Alessandro there to distract her, her anxiety was kicking in. Stephanie and Greg would know by now that she was missing. So would Lothar and Danielle when Greg told them.

  Good Lord, what if Lothar sent the wolves out to kill Alessandro? He had said the local pack knew that he had her, but how did they know? Did this mean they were actually okay with her being alone with a Master vampire? It seemed unlikely, but what else was she supposed to think?

  She needed to ask Alessandro. He’d been honest with her so far. She had no real reason not to trust his answers.

  Other than the fact that he was a vampire. And that her brain got all fuzzy around him. Because he was a vampire. She’d be lucky if she remembered to ask him at all.

  She stood, going back to her pacing, feeling edgy without him. Before, all she could think about was leaving him. Now she was afraid that he might not come back for her?

  “Get a grip,” she told herself, looking at the door. “Wait.” Could she? Shoes or not. It being winter or not, this might be her only chance.

  Cautiously, as if he could detect her every move from wherever in the hotel he might be, she crept toward the door. Five more steps, she estimated, and then freedom. Sort of. Assuming the Slaves didn’t capture her. Assuming she could find some help, because the risk of frostbite and hypothermia were just as real as the vampires.

  Another step closer to the door. She reached out as if to force herself to continue—

  And then it opened too fast, closed, and clothing appeared on the bed for her. Alessandro stopped, coming into full view. When he moved like that he was more blur than man.

  She shook her head in awe of him.

  Brows drew together as he looked at her. “I’m late,” he said.

  “Well, yes.”

  “You don’t like the clothing?”

  She hadn’t even looked yet. Thoughts of leaving slipped from her grasp. What bothered her most was that she didn’t even try to catch them.

  “How fast can you move?” she asked.

  “I should have known you wouldn’t ask the normal questions.”

  “And I should have known you’d try not to answer,” she snapped. It was rude, sure, but her mouth was the only defense she had against him—his face, his hair, the sound of his voice, and of course, his scent.

  He ignored her attitude, so it seemed even her mouth was losing its usefulness. Alessandro walked over to her food. “You didn’t eat.”

  “How could I eat until you got back?”

  His confused expression was classically male.

  She sighed. “You could have been dead for all I knew.”

  He smiled, stunning her senses. “I am dead.”

  “Yeah, that’s really funny. Not.”

  “It won’t be funny soon, habibti. Shower and change. We will stop and buy you some clothing in the city, and then we drive.”

  “To where?”

  “You’re navigating.”

  That was not comforting. “You’re just making this up as you go along.”

  He gathered up the clothes and shoved them into her hands. “Go quickly and we’ll get you something to eat on the road.”

  “You’re really demanding.”

  “Keeping you alive requires it.”

  Kendra went into the bathroom, making a point to lock the door loudly. She swore she could sense him grinning through it. He probably thought it was hilarious. It would take almost nothing for him to come in there, lock or no lock. She turned on the water and stripped out of her borrowed shirt and her pajamas, feeling downright, well, naked without her clothes. Kendra, you need to get some sleep...

  She took a deep breath and got into too hot water, fumbling with the knob until she got it right. Washing quickly, unsure whether or not she’d actually shampooed her hair, she got out and dried off. Shaving? Nope. No razor. Besides, she couldn’t risk cutting herself with him around. Maybe modern hygiene could take a temporary hiatus from her life. It wasn’t like she didn’t have a good reason for it.

  Kendra decided she’d just finger comb her hair, which may or may not have been clean, in the car. The room came equipped with a cheap toothbrush in a clear plastic wrapper. Still swathed in a towel, she brushed her teeth.

  After she spat and rinsed her mouth out, she happened to catch her reflection in the mirror. She looked tired. No surprise there. With her fair complexion it didn’t take much to make her under-eyes purple. She swore she had aged a few years since Jason’s death. To deal with the void he’d left behind, she’d worked a lot, running her diner. The most popular diner in town; it was a small town. But she was still the best cook in it. At first, Jason’s death had made no sense at all to her, until Danielle had fit the pieces together.

  Danielle. Yeah, Kendra had come to love her like a sister even though she was a werewolf. A monster. She and her mate Lothar took down vampires like they were candy.

  Theron was after Kendra because of them. She was their weak point. The mortal human mixed up with werewolves and vampires.

  Kendra set the toothbrush aside, realizing with alacrity that she couldn’t risk running away from Alessandro and right into Theron’s hands. He was right. They needed each other right now. She would just have to resist his… manifold attractions.

  She took another look in the mirror, dismissing her bruised nose and forehead. They would be fine in a few days. She swept her damp hair aside to see her neck. Frowning, she looked a little more closely. The bruising was completely gone. She touched the marks. They were still scabbed over, red and raised against her skin, but there was no other discoloration. She rubbed her finger experimentally against one and worked the scab off.

  Beneath was fresh pink skin. She rubbed off the other scab. How on earth could they have healed so quickly? That just wasn’t possible.

  A knock at the door startled her.

  “Yes,” she managed, her heart in her throat.

  “Past time to go,” he said. His sexy voice seemed to reverberate through her and she closed her eyes for a moment to catch herself.

  “Yeah, I’m coming,” she managed finally.

  Giving one last look in the mirror, she nodded. “You can do this. You can survive him.”

  She pulled on the clothes he’d brought her. Jeans, a pink t-shirt with butterflies all over the front, and a nondescript tan sweater. At least it was warm. Brown
oxfords that were just a tad too big were next. It would do for stolen clothing.

  Kendra opened the door to Alessandro, who was standing not two steps away with his bag slung over his shoulder, looking completely hot, and more than ready to leave.

  “Not a perfect fit,” he said, checking her over. A slight smile appeared. “We’ll find you something better.”

  He handed her his jacket and she slipped on the heavy black leather. Kendra freed her hair out from under it. Then she moved it all to one shoulder, exposing her throat.

  “How did this heal so quickly?”

  “It doesn’t take long,” he said, in his low, smooth way he used when he seemed bent on taming her. “If it did, the discomfort would be continuous.”

  Continuous. As in drinking from the same host repeatedly.

  He reached cautiously for her. She should have backed off. Didn’t. Damnit, but she wanted him to touch her. He brushed his fingers, still warm, over her throat. It felt good, and a lot like he was doing something else to her entirely. Her breath came hard beneath his hand and she bit back a moan as he smoothed his fingers lightly over the scars.

  “Some of us are messier than others,” he said, lowering his head as if by instinct. “Some are discreet.”

  “I guess I should thank you then,” she breathed, fingers curling around his wrist. She swayed, her head whirring, held onto him to keep on her feet. She heard a low hiss from him as he backed away, nearly knocking her over in the process.

  “We better go now,” he said.

  ***

  Alessandro wasn’t entirely comfortable about stopping, even if it was in a busy shopping center, not because he worried he’d be found out; he could blend in just fine, but because of his son’s Slaves. It seemed unlikely Theron could be careless enough to release vampires onto the public like that, but one could never be entirely certain.

  He had decided that bringing Kendra out was a risk he’d have to take though. Females had needs to be met, especially if they were to be… He caught himself mid-thought. Be what? Happy? Comfortable? Pleased.

  He’d been right, earlier when he’d compared her to Sha’re and Tessa. He was doing it again. His curse was influencing him into taking unnecessary risks with himself just to make sure she was happy.

  The destruction of his son, and keeping Kendra mortal, were his primary concerns. Needed to be his primary concerns. Now, if he could only reprogram himself into remembering that.

  He’d fed her before shopping had commenced. Steak and potatoes. It hadn’t been her idea but his, and he’d had to all but threaten her to eat it. Now, he waited outside a dressing room, wishing she would be a little faster so they could get back on the road.

  He had checked the enclosed area to be sure it was safe before she’d gone in there. There were Masters like himself who could mask their scent.

  The female shopkeeper hadn’t liked that, him snooping around. He’d subdued her with a few words, and she’d crept off to help another customer, glancing at him now and then like he was public enemy number one.

  Most women were all too willing to obey him, and if he wanted, he could use mind control on her, but it was better everything appeared normal, including her behavior. She seemed to have a surly demeanor by nature, so he left her exactly the way she was.

  Alessandro knocked at the dressing room door. “Just buy everything,” he told Kendra. “We’ve been here long enough.”

  She opened it hard, banging it off his head. Belatedly, he remembered to pretend it had hurt. He heard the shopkeeper muffle a laugh over the exchange.

  “Oh, sorry,” Kendra said, not sounding sorry. She pulled her hair around to hide her scars as she stepped out, wearing skin-tight jeans, leather boots up to her knees, and a sky blue flounced top over some female accoutrement that pressed already proud curves into stretchy fabric cut to show more skin than he liked seeing. In public. Private was another matter entirely of course.

  “I liked the pajamas better,” he said.

  She narrowed eyes that matched the color of her shirt. “Figures.”

  He had no idea what that was for. He checked her pile of clothing and then grabbed everything. “Please tell me there is something in here that can cover your nudity while we’re in public.”

  “My what?”

  He made it a point to direct his gaze to said exposed skin.

  “You have got to kidding. Really?”

  He bent his face closer to hers. “Do I look like I’m kidding?”

  “It’s not up to you, now is it?” She walked right past him.

  “I am paying,” he said, following. “That should count for something. You need a coat too.”

  “I’m getting there.” She turned to a rack and started picking through.

  While she was occupied he took up a sweater that looked a size or two too big for her and added that to the pile. Maybe he could convince her to wear it.

  She pulled out a black wool coat and tried it on.

  “It fits,” he said. “It looks warm. Let’s go.”

  The shopkeeper came by, giving him a dirty look. She smiled at Kendra. “Are you finding everything all right? Can I help you with anything, honey?”

  “Nothing you can help me with, no.” she glared at Alessandro.

  The woman nodded knowingly. “Just come get me if you need anything.” She made it a point to frown at him, then continued on her way.

  Kendra took the coat off, eyeing it critically.

  “Just get it,” he said.

  “I don’t know.”

  He lowered his voice and tried to influence her to hurry it up a bit. “You will like the coat.”

  She shoved it at him. “Nice try.”

  “But effective.” Perhaps mesmerism had no use on her, but there were other ways to persuade her. Ways he had not applied in years. He smiled to himself, enjoying the challenge. Taking up everything, he put it on the counter before Kendra had time to change her mind.

  The shopkeeper came around, scowling at him, even after he’d pulled out his credit card. It occurred to him then that she might have thought Kendra’s bruises were a result of his carelessness. That would explain her hostility.

  He handed the plastic over. “Every time you see her smile, you will sell her anything she wants, at cost,” he said quietly. The subtle subliminal message wouldn’t hurt the woman in the least, and Kendra could benefit from it in the future.

  The shopkeeper looked at Kendra, blinking. “Every time,” she said in a monotone. Then, as if it had never happened, she glared at Alessandro and rang up their purchases.

  Kendra frowned the whole time so he would have to pay full price.

  He walked out of the store then down through the shopping center with her, heading like a man on a mission for the glass doors and the darkness beyond.

  “You mesmerized that woman,” Kendra said as he opened the door for her.

  “I’m just trying to be helpful.”

  “I never shop there anyway.”

  “Better put on your coat. It’s cold out.”

  She grabbed one of the bags, took out the coat, and put it on. “Better?”

  “Almost.”

  She lifted her brows in question as they stepped off the curb. “Yes?”

  “I would prefer it if you’d cover yourself better.”

  “You may be my bodyguard, but that doesn’t mean you get to make those kinds of decisions for me.”

  “Then what would it take for me to make those kinds of decisions for you?”

  “It would never happen, bud, so forget it. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m all grown up here.”

  “I noticed.” He grinned.

  “Whatever.” She shook her hair out, the blonde locks spread, satin over black wool. It made him want to gather that hair into his hands, to let it slip through like grains of fine sand. “I decide what I wear and where I wear it,” she finished, breaking the illusion.

  And breaking the illusion.

  She wa
s mortal, excruciatingly fragile, and mixed up with werewolves and vampires. How could it not end badly for her? He’d left the monastery because of Theron, but also because he knew he couldn’t hide forever. Wandering with no goal but to feed himself was no life either.

  He needed something more.

  Maybe there really was a reason behind everything that happened. Was he destined to be Kendra’s guard? Was this his penitence for past sins? What a nice penitence. This, he could do. He could provide for her, share his essence, and give her the kind of life she could only dream of. With him, she’d live like an heiress.

  Kendra glanced at him, looked again, and then sighed. “We need to talk.”

  “We are taking.”

  “Not this kind of talk. That kind of talk.”

  He beeped the remote on the Porsche. She reached for the door, but he was faster. He held it for her while she got in and then closed it behind her. Alessandro put the bags in the trunk and went around, aware of everything in the dark parking lot; the people wandering about, the rat skittering through a crevice and into the sewer system. There was no sign yet that they were being followed.

  He got in and started the engine, enjoying the way it roared to life. Why had he not opened his mind to such a marvelous invention sooner? He pulled out, handing Kendra his phone. “Decide how far we can get before dawn, find a city, and get us a room.”

  “Yes, sir,” she said.

  He picked up on her mood. It would have been easy enough even for a mortal. “This is about the coat?” he asked.

  She was frowning at the phone, pale light making her skin look even whiter than usual, like ivory and snow. Like a queen. He beat back the sudden instinct to inject her with the venom that would make her immortal. No. How could he even consider? He wouldn’t do that to her.

  “It isn’t about the coat,” she said, reminding him effectively that Hathor was still angry with him.

  “My suggestion that you cover yourself more appropriately?” he asked.

  “Getting warmer.”

  Getting warmer? Was that good, then?

  “Go ahead and get on the highway here,” she said. “How are we on gas?”