by Katie Reus
Straightening her clothes, she nodded at Niko, who looked as if he was deciding if he should stay or go. Aldric simply watched the vampire with pure death in his gaze.
Clearing her throat, she tugged on Aldric’s arm. Blinking, he focused on her. “We need to work,” she said. “We need to find out who killed Dawson.”
He looked as if he wanted to argue, but nodded, his jaw tight. “This isn’t over,” he rasped out at a subvocal level she was certain even Niko couldn’t hear. His words were just for her.
Yeah, she hadn’t thought it would be. Everything else aside, she simply couldn’t come second to a dead woman. A woman who was apparently sweet and submissive.
Nothing at all like Natalia.
The thought was a slap of ice water in her face. She turned away from him, stepped a couple feet away toward the whiteboard. “You find out anything useful tonight?” she asked Niko.
Aldric moved with her, placed a possessive hand at the back of her neck. The action was so unexpected she nearly jumped from the contact. When she looked up at him, his expression dared her to pull away.
Liking the feel of him touching her so possessively and unable to deny her hunger for that contact, she stepped a few inches closer. Her emotions were running haywire but she simply couldn’t pull away from him, not now. The way he was holding her soothed all the jagged edges inside her. Even if she was terrified of the future between them, if there would ever even be one, she couldn’t force her feet to move away. Because when he touched her like this, it felt right.
“I just left Ferguson’s club. He’s been there all night. I don’t think he’s involved in this,” Niko said, keeping distance between them as he stood in the entryway of the study.
Before either of them could respond the front door opened again. Natalia scented Jayce and Kat before they appeared in the entryway next to Niko.
Jayce’s gaze immediately went to Aldric’s hand still set possessively on Natalia, but he didn’t comment as he stalked into the room.
“What’s going on?” Niko asked at the same time Aldric said, “What is it?”
“Word’s already spread throughout the Clifton coven about Leigh’s murder. Every home we stopped at already knew about Leigh’s death. I knew word would spread, but now the vampires are talking about Darius and Arthur’s disappearances. And…somehow they know it’s Constance’s scent at the house.”
“Who recognized it?” Natalia asked. Because there hadn’t been that many people at the crime scene.
“I don’t know.” Jayce’s jaw tightened as Kat leaned against the entryway frame, her arms crossed over her chest.
“Now that Ivonne knows whose scent is at her home, she’s demanding blood. She says her mate’s death won’t go unpunished. She’s demanding an immediate execution.” Kat’s voice was tight.
Niko snorted. “Ivonne doesn’t give a shit about Leigh.” He said the words offhandedly. “The only person she ever cared about was her first mate.”
The room went quiet as everyone turned to look at him.
He lifted an eyebrow. “What?”
Aldric tensed next to Natalia, but didn’t drop his hand. His thumb was idly brushing against her neck. “She was mated before?”
Natalia frowned, desperately trying to ignore the pleasurable sensations coursing through her at Aldric’s touch. That tidbit hadn’t been in their file on Ivonne. It hadn’t even been in the info Ryan had sent them.
Niko nodded. “Yeah. Few hundred years ago. She just married Leigh because of his wealth. She never got over the death of her first mate—who was a poor fool who couldn’t keep any of his money. Gambling problem, I believe. And those two did not have an open relationship. She was wildly jealous of him, as he was of her. Their relationship was…toxic at best. But they stayed true to each other. I assumed you guys knew that.”
“It’s not in the file on her,” Aldric said.
“It probably wouldn’t be, considering vamp records. I’m not sure how he died. One of his gambling debts, maybe?” Niko lifted a shoulder. “It was so long ago and I’m not tight with anyone from this coven. I just remember she lost her mate, then later when she got mated again, many in the coven whispered about the reason behind her mating, considering she didn’t stay faithful to Leigh.”
“We need to talk to Ivonne again.” Aldric’s voice was tight. “Her mate was killed in their bed and didn’t put up a fight. All those claw marks were post-mortem. According to the security records, the security system was turned off by someone inside the home…” He looked at Natalia and she could tell he was going to ask her to stay put. There was something about the look in his eyes.
She snorted. “I’m going.”
“Aldric and I will take point with Ivonne,” Jayce said, no room for argument in his voice. “You, Kat and Niko will stand guard around her home in case she tries to flee.”
Natalia nodded, as did Kat. Even if she’d wanted to argue there was no point. Not with these two alphas in charge. And the truth was, Ivonne was old and likely more powerful than Natalia and Kat. Probably not Niko, but still, it would be smarter to let Jayce and Aldric go into her home and subdue her if necessary. Maybe Ivonne had nothing to do with her mate’s murder, but his death was so damn suspect.
Natalia couldn’t imagine killing a mate, or killing anyone other than in self-defense. What if Ivonne had killed her first mate and now her second mate? She could have wanted to make it look like someone else did it, tried to frame Constance. Okay, maybe that was a bit of a stretch, even in her own mind, because she couldn’t figure how it tied into Darius and Arthur’s disappearances. Gah, this investigation was frustrating.
Aldric leaned down, brushed his mouth against her ear, jerking her from her thoughts. “When this is over, you’re mine.” His voice was a mere whisper but she felt the words all the way to her core.
A shiver racked through her. She wasn’t sure what to do with what he’d just said. She wanted him, had for so damn long. But…his words could mean any number of things. He just said she was his, which could mean he wanted sex or a mating. He hadn’t even bonded with his dead mate. And Natalia wouldn’t settle for anything less. It was the way she was wired. When she committed to a mate it was going to be forever.
Chapter 18
Aldric moved quietly down one of the hallways in Ivonne’s home. His claws were extended. Tonight he wouldn’t bother with any other weapon. Ivonne might be older than him and Jayce but they were powerful and trained. Unlike his brother, he preferred to go wolf when he was fighting, rather than use blades.
There were too many scents in the house to get a pinpoint on her. The place was huge and it naturally smelled like her, her scent having infiltrated every facet of the home. The scent of death still lingered in the air as well. It was subtle but it seemed to stick to the walls. He still wasn’t certain how Constance’s scent had ended up here if she’d never been in the house. It was a mystery he planned to solve.
Ivonne hadn’t responded to a call from either Jayce or her coven leader. Which could mean nothing, but they weren’t taking chances. The fact that she hadn’t responded to a call from Elian wasn’t exactly suspect, but after just losing her mate, she should be available to her leader. Combined with what they’d just learned about her, Aldric wanted to make sure she was located. If she was the one behind her mate’s death, she wouldn’t blink at hurting anyone else. That bond was supposed to be sacrosanct. Even if she hadn’t loved Leigh, they’d still been mates. Aldric wouldn’t allow her to hurt someone else on his watch.
Part of Aldric didn’t want her to be guilty, didn’t want to think that someone could have killed their own mate. Even if he knew it did happen.
He didn’t want to be here at all. He wanted to finish what he’d started with Natalia at the B&B. She’d tried to pull away from him when they’d been interrupted but something primitive inside him had refused to let her.
It didn’t matter that he’d told himself to go slow, that he’d planned to
rebuild their friendship first—and he still planned to do that—he hadn’t been able to keep his hands off her. He’d needed to make it clear to Niko and any other male, including his happily mated brother, that Natalia was off-limits.
To everyone.
She shouldn’t even be here, but he’d learned that trying to argue with her, especially when she and Kat were together, was a fruitless effort. Still…if Ivonne was a murdering psychopath, he didn’t want Natalia anywhere near her. Which was why he’d been insistent she stay outside with Kat and Niko. He and Jayce could take care of one vampire.
Just like Natalia, Aldric had been bothered by Ivonne’s reaction. He hadn’t been able to put his finger on it, but his senses had been on high alert when questioning her. Natalia was right—there was no rulebook for grief. Even so, her reaction had been almost too perfect, as if it was scripted. Of course he could just be reading into things because he didn’t particularly like the female. He tried to stay objective, was very good at it for the most part. However, he could admit that there were things he might never be objective about.
Her grief had been real when she’d talked about her mate though. He ran over the conversation they’d had with her and realized she’d never said Leigh’s name. Just “my mate.” An effective way to cover up her true feelings about her current mate, if she’d been intending to lie to them.
There were only a few hours until sunrise so if she had left the premises, she wouldn’t have gone far. Before he’d left her home earlier she’d been insistent that she would stay here because it made her feel closer to her mate.
That was one thing Aldric didn’t understand. He wouldn’t have been able to stay under the same roof where his mate had been murdered.
Ivonne had said she didn’t want to be around anyone else, wanted to grieve in peace and be near her “heart.” Fucking bullshit.
When he heard a faint heartbeat a few doors down, he slowed until he reached the wall directly outside it.
Jayce was on the first floor, doing his own sweep, so it wasn’t him.
Listening carefully, he heard only a shuffling. Dim light streamed through the half-opened doorway.
Retracting his claws, he gently pushed the door open a few inches more so he could slip inside.
With her back to him, one of the females he’d interviewed at the house before was packing a small black canvas Chanel bag. He recognized it from Ivonne’s closet when he’d swept the crime scene earlier.
“What are you doing?”
The blonde jumped, swiveled to face him with wide green eyes. She had a similar look to Ivonne, tall and willowy. Just like Crystal, the other female Ivonne seemed to like fucking. It was a little strange how she liked to sleep with females who looked so much like her. This one…Hilary, was much younger than the other two. He knew that not only from her file, but by the low level amount of power she radiated.
She looked around, panic in her gaze, before settling back on him. “I should ask you that,” she snapped, her voice trembling.
He tilted his head slightly to the side, not responding as he let his claws extend.
Fear rolled off her in sickening waves as she watched him. With some beings he didn’t have to use any sort of violence to get the answers he wanted. Sometimes the threat of it was enough. After interviewing Ivonne, Crystal and a whole host of others, this female included, he’d noticed that most in this household were afraid of shifters.
“I’m just packing a bag,” Hilary finally said into the tense silence. “That’s not a crime!”
“Didn’t say it was.” He stalked toward her in a way he knew would frighten her. “Where’s Ivonne?” He eyed the contents of her bag. Not clothes, but various knickknacks from around the house. Some he recognized from the last time they’d been here just hours ago.
She shrugged jerkily, her body trembling. She didn’t step back from him, he’d give her that. Even shaking, she stood her ground next to the end of the bed. “She said I could take this stuff.”
An acidic stench filled the air.
He lifted an eyebrow at the evidence of a lie.
“Fine! But I’m not going down for that bitch. She doesn’t know that I know, but I saw her headed to Leigh’s room. I…don’t know if she killed him. But when I saw Crystal in the hallway, headed to get blood for them, I got…upset that I wasn’t invited to play. So I went to talk to Ivonne. But she wasn’t in the playroom.” The words poured from her like machine-gun fire, the truth clear. “I don’t know if she killed Leigh, but I know she wasn’t in the playroom the whole time. And she’d been acting odd lately.”
“Why didn’t you tell anyone this before?” Aldric was texting Jayce as he spoke.
“Because she’s a powerful member of the coven. And who would believe she’d killed her own mate? I was too afraid to ask. If she said no and I smelled her lie…she’d probably just kill me. She’s terrifying.”
“Then why do you sleep with her?”
The female blinked in surprise at the question. “She’s rich and takes care of me. She takes care of all her staff.”
Okay, then.
“That doesn’t mean I’ll sacrifice myself for her,” Hilary continued, shaking her head.
“Where is she right now?”
The female shrugged. “How should I know?”
“That’s not an answer.”
She rolled her eyes, sat on the edge of the bed. “I really don’t know. She said she had to run out. I think Crystal might have gone with her. She’s not here either, that’s all I know.”
And clearly this female thought she’d take the opportunity to steal from Ivonne in the meantime.
As if she read his train of thought, she narrowed her eyes. “She won’t notice any of this stuff missing. And she doesn’t need it. She’s rolling in money.”
Jesus, whoever had created this female should be stabbed through the heart. She was the worst excuse for a vampire he’d ever met. And he’d met his share of narcissistic vamps.
“Don’t leave this room. We’ve got the house locked down. If you try to run, you’ll just piss me off.” He let his wolf flare in his gaze for effect.
She flinched and nodded, not moving from her spot.
Still, he didn’t think she’d stay put. Leaving the room, he texted the others, telling them to watch for anyone trying to jump from the second floor. Because instinct and past experience told him that was exactly what she would try to do.
* * *
Natalia watched in fascination as sure enough, a female vampire opened a second-story window. The vamp looked around, paused, then climbed through it, a bag clutched in her hand, and jumped.
Wind whipped everywhere so Natalia had tucked her scarf tight around her neck. Scent and sounds didn’t carry well with this kind of weather. If they hadn’t been watching for the female, it would have been more difficult to track her.
“You two spread out to the other side of the house. I got this,” Niko murmured, moving so fast he was nothing more than a blur.
Letting him take care of the female, Natalia nodded at Kat. They were patrolling the property while Jayce and Aldric were inside. So far nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
Using her supernatural speed, Natalia moved around the front of the house, looping back along the side until she was in the rear of the property.
Kat was right with her, stopping when she did. They both scanned the woods behind the house. Because of the recent snow, the only footprints Natalia could see were the ones they’d made in the last thirty minutes.
“So…” Kat shot her a sly look. “What’s going on with you and Aldric?”
Natalia ignored her friend, continued scanning the woods. There was something in the air that bothered her, but she couldn’t figure it out. “I don’t think this is appropriate patrol talk.”
Kat snorted. “Appropriate patrol talk? I might be new to the pack but even I know that’s not a real thing.”
“I…don’t know.” She glanced at Kat befo
re looking away. “He’s confusing.” That being an understatement. She was still reeling from the way he’d been all possessive back at the B&B. It had been impossible not to ignore that he’d been staking a claim. But seriously, what the hell?
He wanted her, he wanted friendship, he wanted…what exactly? That was the problem. She had no idea. And she wasn’t sure she was willing to take the risk of getting her heart shattered anyway.
“If it makes you feel any better, I think all males are confusing. At least shifter ones. They like to keep us on our toes.”
It had taken Kat’s mate forever to get his head out of his ass where she was concerned. Well, maybe not that long, but Kat liked to call her mate thick-headed.
“Heeell….” A strange animal sound carried on the sharp wind. It made all the hair on Natalia’s neck stand on end.
“Did you hear that?” It was almost like a scream. When the wind whistled again she wasn’t sure if it had just been the wind, nothing else.
Kat tilted her head to the side, then nodded. “Let’s check it out.”
It had come from the direction of the woods and might be nothing, might just be a wild animal. But they couldn’t ignore it.
“I’m letting Jayce know,” Kat added.
Natalia nodded. All bondmates had a telepathic link that let them communicate with each other.
As they moved toward the forest, a familiar lemony scent teased the air. “I scent the vampire employee, Crystal,” Natalia murmured to Kat. “It could be an old scent trail.” But with the weather, she doubted it.
Kat nodded in agreement. “Jayce just told me that they think Ivonne and Crystal left together.”
Natalia and Kat picked up their pace as they entered the woods. There was more than enough moonlight illuminating the snow in front of them. There was also another scent in the air but Natalia couldn’t figure out what it was. It tumbled away in the wind.
