Deuces Wild (Gemini Project Book 3)

by Bianca D’Arc

  “Possibly,” she allowed. “I’m not getting any bad vibes off them, but I could call Johnny. He could tell us more, maybe.”

  “Let me meet them first. Then, later, perhaps you can call your brother, with my compliments. If he can add any information, I will be in his debt.” Hiram walked over to her and offered his hand. She took it, and he politely helped her rise from the couch.

  She slipped her shoes back on while he waited. It was a good thing he was so tall. They fit together nicely, even while she wore heels. Come to think of it, Jeff and Marlon were just as tall and much more muscular than the Master vampire, who was more lithe than bulky. She had felt almost delicate standing between Jeff and Marlon, which was a new experience for her. Not that some of the bears she knew in Grizzly Cove weren’t giants in their human form, but they knew she was a huntress, as well, and they didn’t necessarily treat her with the same…finesse…as the human males had. It had felt nice to be escorted by two men who didn’t know anything about her ferocious side.

  Maybe that’s why she was so attracted to them. Maybe it was the novelty. Maybe it would wear off in time, but she would enjoy it while she could, she decided suddenly. Hiram was the perfect gentleman, but though she was posing as his date, there would never be anything between them. Shifter blood was very potent, and there were all sorts of prohibitions against shifters mating with vampires. Besides which, she felt not even the slightest tug in his direction. He was handsome and polite, but he didn’t light her fire…or interest her inner bear. Not at all.

  Not the way the two human men did. Which was still puzzling, but she’d go with it and see where it led. A girl only lived once, after all. And she only met two handsome studs like Jeff and Marlon once in a very long while.

  She didn’t know how she would work it if she wanted to take things a little farther with either one of them. Ostensibly, she was here for Hiram. But, if she wanted to, she was sure she could find some way around that little obstacle. She knew Hiram wouldn’t mind, as long as her playtime didn’t interfere with his business interests. Maya would make sure it didn’t…if she got the chance.

  Hiram escorted her out of the suite, leaving his entourage behind. The rest of his staff would get a little time off now, while Maya was on duty, and Hiram—at night—was more than able to take care of himself in most situations. Still, having a bear shifter like Maya at his side assured his safety from almost anything that could come at them.

  They walked down to the library together, and when they entered, Mark Pepard and Nick Balam were already there, with their mates. Maya greeted Nick, introducing him to Hiram, and then, Nick made the rest of the introductions.

  “I’ve taken care of the surveillance in this room,” Nick said. “They can see us, if they care to, but there will be no audio record of what we say in here for the next thirty minutes or so. The remaining functional camera is in the corner with the Greek statue, so just face away from that if you don’t want your lips read.” Nick smiled as he issued the warning, and Maya had to chuckle at the Beta’s ingenuity.

  “The jaguar people do things a little differently than other shifters,” she told Hiram, carefully keeping her face turned from that statue. “While Mark is the Alpha of the Clan, Nick is his Beta, and security specialist. Their ancestors set up a system where the Alpha oversees the health and welfare of the Clan as a whole while the Beta keeps it as safe as he can.”

  Mark nodded to Maya, acknowledging her summary. “Well put, Maya. Please send my greetings to your brother. I know you bears don’t have as tight a hierarchy as some of us, but your brother is quite special among bears, by all indications.”

  It was Maya’s turn to nod politely. “I’ll pass along your compliments, Alpha. As you know, Master Hiram is the first of our allies in the region. We are united in our fight against evil.”

  “Yes, I’ve heard good things about you, Master Hiram. We should talk more about possible future cooperation, but I think we’re expecting two more to this gathering, right?” Mark asked, looking at Nick for confirmation.

  “Two humans. Both Special Forces trained. Probably still active and, I suspect, here on a mission,” Nick confirmed.

  “Oh,” Maya said, surprised a bit by Nick’s information. She shouldn’t have been, she realized. After all, he was the head of security for his entire Clan. “I was going to call my brother later and see if he knew them.”

  “That’s not a bad idea,” Nick said, nodding. “Big John knows a lot of people. If you learn anything interesting, I hope you’ll let me know.”

  “Of course,” Maya agreed readily. John and Nick had an understanding, and even though they had different animal spirits, they were all shifters and on the right side of the battle of good versus evil.

  “How about the drinks?” Shelly asked, speaking for the first time since being introduced. She was Mark’s mate—a human with magic in her aura, Maya could see. There was more to Shelly Pepard than most people realized. “We ladies could organize that while you men talk.”

  The guys agreed, and Hiram even produced a bottle of fine wine from under his jacket that he’d brought along for the occasion. Maya knew vampires were limited greatly in what they could consume, but wine was right near the top of their very short list. The fermented fruit of the vine was their last link with the sun, and wine was both healing and slightly nourishing to them.

  They still had to drink blood to survive, but wine was a lot more socially acceptable, and drinking it in public allowed them to pass for human, even if they didn’t eat food. Hiram had traveled with a few cases of wine in the private jet they had taken from Seattle to here, and she knew he’d brought most of it to the mansion with him.

  He had a corkscrew in his jacket pocket, which he handed to Maya with the wine bottle. “I took the liberty of bringing this,” he said. “I wasn’t sure what kind of vintages they stocked here, and this way, I’m certain about what I’m ingesting.”

  Nick nodded, looking impressed. “It never hurts to be careful,” he observed.

  Maya took the wine bottle and joined the other women by the small sideboard that held a selection of bottles and crystal glasses. She opened the wine, her nose twitching with appreciation at the aroma of one of Maxwell Vineyards’ most sought after vintages. She’d always wondered what the humans who valued his wines so highly would say if they knew their hero vintner was an ancient vampire. Hopefully, the world would never find out. She agreed with her brother’s assessment that the vast majority of the human population just wasn’t ready for that kind of revelation, yet—if they ever would be.

  “Are you going to have wine or do you want some of this?” Nick’s mate asked, holding up a bottle of spiced rum. She was beautiful…and magical, as well. Sullivan Lane, the hottest actress in Hollywood, now married to Nick Balam. She seemed really nice, despite being world famous. She’d quickly asked everyone to call her Sully when they’d been introduced, her manner open and friendly.

  Maya’s nose twitched happily at the spicy scent. “Oh, the rum, definitely. Are you mixing it with anything?”

  Sully held up a red can in her other hand. It was a soft drink that traditionally mixed well with rum. Maya poured out Hiram’s wine and then accepted a mixed drink for herself from Sully. Each of them had two glasses in their hands as they walked back to the men. Maya was just handing the wine glass to Hiram when the door to the library opened once more. She turned, and then, her inner bear sat up and took notice. Marlon and Jeff had arrived. Now, her bear insisted, the hunt could begin.

  What? Down, girl. She wasn’t here to hunt anyone or anything. She was here to help Hiram and do her job. Fun and games had to take a back seat. No hunting!

  Still, Maya went over to the newcomers, doing her best to control the situation. She brought them both over to meet everyone, noting how the women were sort of detaching themselves from the men. Sully and Shelly had to be in on this. They were going to help her sidetrack the human males while the jaguars and the master vampire
got a chance to get to know each other.

  They wouldn’t be too obvious about it, but after everyone had exchanged a few words, the women would slowly begin to segregate the two groups. They had less than an hour before the poker tournament started. There wasn’t a lot of time to waste, but this was only the first meeting. If all went well here and the cats weren’t spooked by Hiram’s bloodletter nature, there would be more such meetings in the future. So far, if Maya was any judge, things were going well.

  Marlon wasn’t too surprised to find the party had started without them. He and Jeff had been very careful to show up at the library just at the appointed hour. It wouldn’t do to look too eager. However, from the looks of things, the others had been there for a while already, when he and Jeff arrived.

  That got his attention, but he wasn’t sure what to make of it. Probably, it was just a business meeting, convened prior to the scheduled rendezvous. It wasn’t necessarily suspicious. These were power players, after all. They had many interests they probably wouldn’t want to discuss in front of newcomers. Besides, these people weren’t their mission targets. The commander said he’d be glad of any intel they could gather about their fellow guests, but the real target was someone much closer to home. Someone in the government, not the private sector.

  Marlon allowed himself to be pulled away from the main group by Sullivan Lane, as she dragged him over to the sideboard to get him a drink. He wasn’t completely immune to the Hollywood starlet’s charms. No red-blooded man would be, but he found himself watching Maya more than he should.

  Beautiful Maya… Chatting with Jeff. Lucky bastard.

  Sullivan kept Marlon busy with small talk while she mixed his drink, and eventually, Maya brought Jeff and Shelly over to the sideboard as well. Interesting. The women were in collusion to keep him and Jeff from interacting more with the other men. He smelled a setup, but after all, he and Jeff were extra parties at this get together. He had known at dinner that, if there had been a polite way to not invite them for drinks, it would have been done.

  “Problem?” Jeff asked Marlon silently.

  “I suppose not. These folks aren’t our targets, after all,” Marlon replied. “It’s just… Interesting, I guess. I mean, I know Nick and Mark work closely together, but they’re just meeting Hiram, checking him out. See their leery postures?”

  “We could be witnessing some giant new partnership in the making,” Jeff mused.

  “Possibly,” Marlon agreed. “But my spidey-sense tells me there something else going on here. Something we’ll probably never fully understand. And the women are in on it. Don’t let their pretty looks fool you. They’re deliberately occupying us.”

  “You think I didn’t realize that? Buddy. Give me a little credit. Still, I can’t say I mind. We’ve had harder duty stations.”

  “True that, partner.” Marlon agreed and let the women occupy them for the rest of the short time they had before the tournament began.

  About five minutes before they would have to leave the library, the women guided them back to the other side of the room and the ongoing conversation among the other three men. Marlon knew the topic had turned now that some silent signal had been given to reunite the two groups. They talked of their hopes for the tournament and the rounds they would play that evening.

  That was easy enough. And, Marlon was pleased to find, he was at Nick’s table for the opening round. Jeff would be at Hiram’s table. The ladies were going to sit in the observation area, though they didn’t promise to stick around for the entire evening. There were other entertainments lined up for the spouses while the others—mostly men—played cards.

  Maya fully intended to stick by Hiram, watching the poker games he was involved in all night, but she hadn’t counted on Shelly and Sullivan. Those ladies stayed with her and made a few attempts to get her to check out the other diversions offered at the mansion for the folks not directly involved in card play. She had to decline several attempts to make her leave the viewing area before the first break between games.

  During the break, Hiram came over to talk with her and assured her that she should, indeed, go with the ladies and enjoy herself. She knew that meant he was more interested in her making connections that he might be able to use later with the spouses of the men he’d been most interested in meeting. The thing was, she was supposed to be guarding Hiram, but he only laughed at her concern. Then, he nodded to the corner of the room where Spencer, his security chief was standing, ostensibly watching the play.

  Knowing that Hiram had his own guard nearby, she was more willing to explore the possible friendship she felt forming with the mates of the Alpha and Beta jaguars. The next time they suggested leaving the viewing area, Maya relented and went with them.

  “Sorry. I guess you know I’m working for Hiram, right now. I didn’t want to leave him without his okay,” Maya explained to the women once they were in the crowded hallway. With all the background noise, there was little chance of any surveillance gear hearing their exact words, and she was vague enough that she figured it didn’t much matter.

  “No problem,” Shelly told her as they headed down the stairs. “I understand. Mark filled me in on everyone, and everything he knew, before we got here. Sully, too. Actually, Mark probably got most of his information from Nick, so Sully probably knew before I did.” She laughed, gesturing toward the woman walking on Maya’s other side.

  She was a bit taller than the other two, but nobody really noticed either Shelly or Maya when they were walking with one of the most sought after movie stars of the moment. Sullivan, or Sully, for short, seemed to take her notoriety in stride and even paused, now and again, to sign autographs and pose for selfies.

  “One of these days,” she joked at one point, “I’m going to sign something without looking and find I’ve enlisted in the Navy or something.” The man holding the scrap of paper for her to scribble her signature on laughed and assured her that he was certain she’d be an asset to the service, but that no, he was not a recruiter.

  When they got to the first floor of the mansion, they had their pick of settings. The restaurant was open and serving finger food or desserts. Full meals, too, if anyone was still hungry or on a different schedule. The kitchen, they were assured, would be fully staffed round the clock while the tournament was in progress, since the games were expected to last well into the night.

  There were rooms set up with various musicians—a well-known country artist was doing an acoustic set in one of the rooms they passed. A classic rock band was playing in another. And the grand ballroom had a chamber orchestra playing waltzes while a number of older, and some younger, couples took to the dance floor in sweeping arcs of footwork and style.

  “I’ve never seen a gathering like this before,” Maya readily admitted.

  “Me neither,” Shelly agreed.

  They looked at Sully, and she merely smiled before commenting, “I’ve seen stranger parties, but never quite this eclectic a mix of styles, pastimes or people. I’d say this is pretty unique.”

  “By the way, I love your necklace,” Shelly said out of the blue as they walked the halls, looking for a diversion they could all agree upon. “And it goes so beautifully with that dress. The combination is stunning.”

  “Thank you,” Maya said, her hand going to the gold setting around her throat that gleamed with gray pearls. “I designed it. I have a little shop back home. The dress was actually made for the necklace and earring set. Hiram hired Maximilian to do a complete wardrobe for this trip based around my jewelry designs, so I know exactly what to wear at each scheduled event, and I get to showcase my work.”

  “That was really nice of Hiram. Maximilian is a genius,” Sully replied, eyeing Maya’s dress with a bit of envy. “I had a dress by him once for a premiere. He has a waiting list a mile long.”

  “Not for Hiram, apparently. He designed Hiram’s outfits to coordinate,” Maya said, knowing there was a bit of awe in her voice. Hiram had really gone out of his wa
y to help her showcase her designs.

  “Well, if you want to gain attention for your jewelry, you’re doing a good job,” Shelly said, noting the way some of the women were eyeing Maya’s outfit.

  “I bet we could do something to help, as well, if you’re willing,” Sully added.

  “Seriously?” Maya had never expected Sullivan Lane might offer to help launch her shop into the rarified air of Hollywood elite.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Sully laughed, and several men they passed turned around to look at her. She really was stunning and incredibly hot, right now, since her latest movie release. There was even talk of an Oscar nomination.

  “Well, you’re…” Sully hesitated uncharacteristically. “You’re like Nick and Mark, right?”

  “A wild spirit, so to speak?” Maya knew her expression held the amusement of her inner bear, though she wasn’t sure the human women would recognize it.

  “Yes, that’s it exactly,” Shelly put in. “I mean, we’re not precisely…normal…ourselves, but we’re not like them. Exactly.”

  “Well, neither am I, really,” Maya allowed. “I’m a bit bigger and even furrier,” she said in a stage whisper that only carried to the two women on either side. Shelly’s eyes widened before she controlled her expression. Sully just seemed amused. “But I get your point. We’re more alike than we aren’t.”

  “Nick talks very highly of your brother and his efforts to create his own little haven,” Sully put in.

  “Mark’s doing the same thing, but being Mark, he has to do it on a grand scale,” Shelly said, laughing. “Sometimes, I swear he thinks he’s some kind of super-villain out of a comic book, buying his own private island, complete with a dormant volcano.”

  It was Maya’s turn to chuckle as they walked along the wide corridor of the main floor’s conference area. It was bustling with people, and there was a low hum of conversation that was protective, in its way. She was reasonably sure no centrally placed microphones could pick up more than little tidbits of their conversation over the crowd as they moved along.