by Tara Sampson
Chapter 15
Tatiana bounded into the dining room, a tight bundle of nerves and tension. She was looking for one person in particular—Ric. It was there that she found him, standing demurely by the window staring out into the night.
“Have you heard anything?” she asked anxiously.
She wrung her hands in front of her and waited for his response. It had been almost twenty-four hours since they had last heard from the shifters they had hired and with no word, she was beyond getting antsy.
“No,” he said quietly, shaking his head. “At least not from them directly,” he added and turned around so that he was facing her.
He was momentarily struck still by Tatiana’s ethereal beauty. After a long pause, he blinked and forced himself to continue, “I did make a phone call to their alpha and he pointed out that it wasn’t unusual for the two of them to lay low after a job. So,” he left off with some resignation, “I guess all we can do now is continue to wait.”
She frowned at him.
“I hate waiting,” she grumbled. “That half pint is nothing but a fledgling, Ric. She should be easy pickings for two shifters. Why haven’t we heard anything yet?” The worry was clearly written all over her face.
“Their coyote’s, babe,” he stated as if that should have explained everything. “Who knows how their tiny little brains work. I’m sure we’ll be getting word anytime now that our little problem has been taken of.”
Tatiana rolled her eyes.
“You sound so certain about this.”
Ric gifted her with an easy smile.
“That’s because I am.”
She didn’t feel quite as confident as him. If anything, she was certain of Leo’s persistence and it seemed like when it came to his new pet, he had that in spades. If Leo knew what they were planning he would waste no time in tearing out their hearts with his own bare hands. Crossing her arms over her chest, she shuddered at the image.
“What if he finds out, Ric? What if he finds out that we are the ones that ordered her death? What then?”
Ric crossed the room in half a second and pulled Tatiana in his arms. She looked up at him, uncertainty glimmering in her eyes.
“He won’t find out Tatiana,” Ric assured her, his dark eyes flashing with conviction.
“I’ve covered up all connections to us with those shifters. I promise you that he will never know.”
“But-” she started and was soundly shut up when his lips descended on hers. At first, the kiss was soft and tentative but it quickly heated up into a fiery passion. She wrapped her hands around his neck and pulled her body more in line with his. His hands covered her back and she was utterly lost in the sensations that he was igniting in her system.
“Now, isn’t this interesting,” Leo remarked coolly.
Tatiana heard the accusation in his tone and guiltily jumped away from Ric. Her lips were still pulsating from his kisses when she turned to face Leo. It was at that very moment that she truly despised the man. Looking into his pitch-black eyes, she hated him with such vehemence she could almost taste it in her mouth.
He had everything that she wanted: social class, wealth and power. Without him, she had nothing and that was more than enough to set her ire to light. For now though, she would suck it up and play her role. She had to stick to the plan—their plan. The plan that would get her that wealth and power that she so greedily hungered for.
“It’s not what you think,” Tatiana sputtered, her eyes flying wildly between both Leo and Ric.
Leo arched an angled brow.
“Really now,” he drawled and tilted his head to the side. “Let me guess…my servant here,” he said, gesturing towards Ric, “was just giving you mouth-to-mouth for no apparent reason.”
Tatiana sucked on her bottom lip and innocently batted her lashes.
“No, it wasn’t like that,” she said petulantly. “He was…he was…”
“Out with it woman!” Leo bellowed impatiently, throwing his hands on his hips.
She glanced in Ric’s direction and was peeved to see that the coward had shrunk back into the shadows of the room.
Figures.
“Answer me,” Leo demanded once again, taking a smidge of satisfaction when she startled.
“Fine!” Tatiana snapped, “If you must know, Ric was just giving me some lessons.” She folded her hands over her chest and faced off with Leo.
Leo furrowed his brows.
“Lessons? What in the hell kind of lessons would you call that?”
Tatiana let out an exasperated breath.
“Wasn’t it obvious?” she asked. Leo stood in place, staring back at her looking befuddled. “Come on,” she cried, “Do I have to spell it out for you?”
Leo continued his blank stare not having the faintest idea of where this conversation was headed.
“Men,” she grumbled and slowly started to saunter up closer to Leo. She stopped in front of him and placed her hand on his arm. “He was teaching me the ways to please a man, Leo.” She trailed the tip of her fingernail down his bare arm, digging it just deep enough in his skin to raise an angry red line. “More precisely- ways to please you.”
Leo grabbed her hand and promptly threw it away from him, hating the way her touch felt.
“I do not need you to please me,” he growled.
Tatiana, offended, narrowed her eyes on Leo.
“You might as well face it now Leo, I will be your bride. That little pet of yours will never survive in our world and I’m your best match. Besides,” she said, sidling up against his side once again, “I want to please you.”
Leo sucked in a slow deep breath in an effort to calm himself. His stance was as rigid as a two-by-four.
“Tatiana, I am only going to warn you once. Back the hell off!”
Determined to press her point, she laid her hand against his chest and started to trace a slow path downward, over his steely, taut abs until she stopped at his engorged member, cupping it expertly in her hand.
“You really don’t mean that,” she purred at his ear.
The door to the dining room slammed open, reverberating off the wall.
“Yes he does,” Shelby sneered. “Remove your hand or I’ll remove it for you. Your choice, I really don’t give a damn which you choose.”
Shelby wasn’t sure what had come over her but when she heard Tatiana’s words and opened the door to see her touching him so intimately, she lost all reason. Her vision was tinted red and she was thirsting for blood. More specifically, the bitch’s blood that dared to touch what she considered hers.
“Oh shit,” Ric mumbled from his corner. When the door swung open, the first thing that he saw was the red irises glowing. She would never be a match for his Tatiana but Leo, on the other hand was a whole different matter entirely.
Tatiana didn’t even blink. She took in all five foot three inches of Shelby, dressed in blood drenched clothes and snorted her disbelief. She dropped her hand to her side but stayed her position, glaring at Shelby.
“Leo, put a muzzle on your pet or I will.”
Leo’s last thread of control snapped. Without a second thought, he backhanded Tatiana with such force that she went flying across the room, crashing into an antique end table that had been delicately placed against the wall.
He was breathing heavily, struggling to maintain his composure.
“You are no longer welcome in my home Tatiana. I’ll give you just one hour after sundown and I want you gone, out of here for good. I don’t ever want to see your pathetic face cross my path again. No one,” he snarled the last few words and lowered his voice dangerously, “disrespects my bride in that manner and gets away with it and I mean absolutely no one.”
Her face was enraged. Tatiana took one long look at Shelby before letting out a shrill scream.
“You’ll pay for this fledgling. So help me, you will pay dearly. I will tear your heart out myself.”
“Tatiana!” Leo roared and before he could say a
nything else, she was gone under the cloak of night, leaving the room. He growled deep in his chest, turning to his servant. “Meet me in the parlor in thirty minutes,” he ordered.
Ric nodded his assent. He was worried about Tatiana but knew he had to play his role for now. That was what was most important. They had a plan and he had sworn to stick to that plan no matter what happened.
He walked briskly passed his master with his head bowed vowing that he would take his vengeance soon. He reached Shelby and their eyes briefly met.
The sooner the better, he thought to himself and he dropped his head once again and walked past her too.
Yes…the sooner the better.
The room was eerily quiet now that the two of them were alone. Shelby was watching Leo, wondering what in the hell it was about him that drew her to him so completely. Part of her wanted to run for the hills while the other yearned for his touch.
She was confused and puzzled over why it was that she acted like an enraged jealous lover when she walked in and saw Tatiana touching him so intimately. She knew she was attracted to the man but it was the extent of that attraction that bothered her, as well as the why’s.
Leo held out his hand and in one deft movement, he beckoned her to him; it was time to get some answers.
“We need to talk.”
Chapter 16
“What?” Shelby asked, staring up at Leo pensively.
“Come here,” he repeated softly, his eyes trained solely on her.
“I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” she replied, shaking her head from side to side and taking a cautious step backward.
Leo followed her every move with his concentrated stare. In so many ways she was still such a mystery to him. Even after watching her grow up, he thought he had her all figured out but now, with her standing there in front of him and her chin held up defiantly, he realized that there was so much more to his little bride that met the eye. She had strength; strength of the likes that he had never imagined and it was a good thing. He just needed to figure out a way to get her to trust him, wholly and completely.
“First off,” he started holding one finger up in the air, “you challenge a shifter; pretty much taking him down with simplistic ease.” He held up a second finger in the air, “then you storm in like an avenging angel and threaten an aged vampire which is basically suicide for a fledgling like you; but now,” he continued, arching his brow and holding his hand out in a grand gesture, “you look like a scared child when I ask you to come to me.” He smiled knowingly at her, “Now, my sweet, what is wrong with this picture?”
Shelby shrugged her shoulders, dropped her head and answered him meekly.
“I don’t know.”
When he put it like that, it really did seem outlandish but she couldn’t help the things that she felt when she was around him.
Leo took a step forward, closing some of the distance between them.
“I believe you do, my sweet,” he cooed. He took another step so that he was now standing in front of her and pushed forward. “I believe you’re scared Shelby. Not of the many scary monsters that creep and crawl through the night but of what you feel here,” he told her, gently pressing his hand to her chest. “You’re terrified of what you feel for me.”
“No,” she whispered and closed her eyes, not wanting to talk about this right now. It hurt to hear the truth. She was having enough trouble sifting through her emotions on her own. She was by no means ready to talk about them with the very man that incited those feelings inside her. “You’re wrong.”
Leo cupped her cheek with his large hand.
“No Shelby. I don’t think so. Not this time.”
He held his hand there against her skin, restraining himself from looking into her mind. He wanted her to come to terms with the way that she felt for him once and for all and as stubborn as his bride had proven to be, the only way that she could do that would be on her own.
Battling the riotous emotions simmering inside her, Shelby fisted her hands by her side.
“Don’t you dare try and tell me what I feel and what I don’t feel Leo.” She tried to step away from him, but he held her in place with a tender but firm grip on her cheek. “You don’t even have a clue.”
Her face was resplendent as she worked to stay calm. Leo had somehow managed to work his way into her heart and it happened without her even realizing it.
In the short time that she had shared with Leo, there was only one thing that she was absolute of—she cared for the man. God help her. She was starting to fall in love with him and if truth be told, she was scared to death of that little fact.
Her biggest fear right then was that when he found out she had finally fallen for him, that he would break her heart just like her parents had done so with their divorce. He would rip it in half, stomp it in the ground and never look back.
Leo chuckled but it wasn’t a happy one. It was more like an I know what you’re thinking chuckle.
“You’re like an open book Shelby. I can see it written all over your face. The indecision, the need, the want…just give into it; let me in, love. We were meant for each other; blood, body and soul.”
Gulping, Shelby wanted to fight him, but some hidden instinct deep within wouldn’t let her. Instead, she found herself walking into his open arms. Leo pulled her against him, placing her head into the crook of his neck.
“Finally,” he breathed out, feeling her resolve weaken. He squeezed his arms a little tighter, loving the way that she fit him so perfectly. “I love you,” he whispered into her hair. “I always have Shelby. From the very first day that I saw you and you looked up at me with all of the trust in the world, I was bewitched. It’s you and only you that holds this old vampire’s heart.”
Shelby didn’t know what to say to that. Had it been that long for her? Had she felt love for this man all of these years too? She thought back to her recurring dreams of her knight in shining armor and the way that she always felt so much calmer when his face came to mind.
Yes—she finally decided. She had always loved him too and although she had pretty much admitted that to herself, she wasn’t quite ready to voice the words aloud. She wasn’t even sure that she would ever be able to repeat those three words aloud.
That was something that only time would tell.
Realizing that Shelby just wasn’t quite ready yet Leo deduced that progress was made regardless. She had come to him and that was a step in the right direction. But right now, there were other issues at hand. He had some questions and he needed some answers; starting with the enchanted necklace that Shelby wore around her neck.
“My sweet,” he spoke softly, reaching towards her neck and pulling out the beautiful diamond rose pendant that she was wearing. “Where did you get this?”
Shelby blinked. Of all the things that he could have asked her that was not at all what she was expecting.
“Why?” she asked apprehensively.
Leo fingered the rose, watching how the light glinted off of the perfectly shaped diamond.
“It’s important,” he said, keeping his tone soft. “Who gave it to you?”
Shelby pulled back from him, the pendant falling softly against her chest. She covered it protectively with hand, not understanding what her birthday gift from Anissa had to do with anything.
“And I’ll ask again,” she said staring into his eyes, “Why is it important?”
Leo let out a loud sigh and dropped his hand to his side.
“It’s not just any necklace, love. That there,” he pointed at the pendant that she was still clutching in her hand, “is a very powerful charm. So powerful, that it could have only come from one of the original witches.”
“I don’t know any witches,” she quickly defended herself. Hell, for that matter she never knew of any vampires or shifters until recently.
Leo smiled tenderly at her.
“You may not, but whoever gave you that necklace does,” he assured her. “Because you have,
then that makes you a target of sorts and I want to know why whoever gave it to you thought you needed its protection.”
Shelby’s face paled slightly.
“A target? But why would I be a target?”
“That’s what I would like to know. If you’re in danger then we need to know why. I would much rather be prepared if something’s coming for you than to be caught blindsided again like we were back in your apartment.”
She turned away, unable to look at him. Right now, she was at a total loss for words.
Why?
Why would someone target her of all people? She pretty much stayed to herself with the exception of a few visits from Anissa and a phone call or two to her childhood friend, Christopher. Everyone else pretty much stayed away from her.
Just the mere thought that someone was after her sent a chill racing up her spine. She visibly shivered, Leo noticed it instantly.
“Come here,” Leo held out his arms and for the second time today, she walked into them unquestioningly. He wrapped her up in his embrace and held her there against his chest. When her shivering stopped, he asked her again, “Who gave it to you Shelby? Tell me…Please.”
“A friend,” she finally told him. “Anissa Warren. She gave it to me for my birthday.”
“Anissa gave you this?” he asked, not bothering to hide his surprise.
He knew who she was. She was a famous international model and had been Shelby’s only friend over the last two years. He had her checked out when she first met Shelby and was unable to find anything suspicious about her.
“I need to talk to her Shelby. I need to know where she got the pendant from and why she gave it to you.”
What he really wanted to know was how in the hell did she manage to get her hands on something as powerful as that.
