‘What am I going to do with you, Sommers?’ I said, before sitting back and debating whether to restore his memory. I’d taken it away for good reason; otherwise Luc would’ve killed him. Not because he’d been courting Laura, but on account of the white-oak bullets I’d found in his pocket. The only humans in the past who’d ever used them, were vampire hunters. They were the enemy. I wasn’t supposed to save my enemy.
Sommers woke. He lifted his head, blinked a few times, saw me, and his eyes widened. Realising his predicament, a string of obscenities left his mouth as he struggled against his bonds.
I knew it would take too much time to try and explain everything to him. It had been difficult the first time, yet I’d had no other choice, given the circumstances, and Matthew Sommers had become the first policeman in this country to learn of our existence. For a while I’d rectified that situation, but now....
I lifted his jaw and made him look into my eyes. ‘Matthew Sommers, you are to remember what was forgotten.’
He stared at me, a host of expressions flitting across his face as the memory of the last six months flooded back to him. His hands flexed several times then finally closed around the arm of the chair in which he was imprisoned. The wood cracked under the strain. Sommers’s eyes blazed with anger and hatred – and I couldn’t entirely blame him.
‘You bastard!’ He spat and lunged forward, straining against the rope that bound him. ‘It was you! You erased my memory. Why?’
‘I saved your life. The others wanted to kill you after I found those white-oak bullets on you.’
He looked at me in surprise, and then his eyes narrowed and his expression hardened. ‘Why didn’t you?’
Interesting. He skipped the fact I’d mentioned those deadly bullets, almost as if he didn’t see the need to justify their possession. ‘When it was easier to erase your memory? I don’t kill if I don’t have to.’
I went to the bar, took out the last bag of blood, poured it into a glass and warmed it in the microwave then went back and sat down. ‘As you can see, we have our own supplies.’ I gulped it down.
His face paled, and he turned his head away. ‘Must you do that in front of me?’
I laughed. ‘Just proving a point.’
‘What the hell were you doing back at that yacht? Trying to make another point?’
He was deliberately avoiding the fact I’d saved his life. Was he ignoring it so he’d feel no sense of obligation? But I had no intention of letting it go. ‘Exactly what I brought you here to discuss.’
He glanced down at the ropes binding him to the chair. ‘Some discussion method you use.’
‘Gets a reluctant party to listen.’
He glared at me. ‘I’m listening.’
‘I spared your life, and now you’re going to return the favour.’
His eyes narrowed. ‘If you think I’m going to help you kill someone, forget it.’
‘You were ready to kill me.’ I pulled a couple of white-oak bullets from my pocket. ‘Look familiar?’ I slammed his loaded gun on the coffee table.
Sommers sucked in a breath. ‘You’re not human so it doesn’t count.’
‘How easily you justify it. But I didn’t bring you here for a philosophical argument. What I want to know is why you had those particular bullets on you when I wiped your memory of all knowledge of my kind?’
His stare never wavered, but it had no affect on me. Eventually his gaze shifted to somewhere over my shoulder, and the view out of the windows behind me.
‘I ordered them after checking up on your mob on the Internet; same night Lebrettan threatened me,’ he said through clenched teeth. ‘I wanted to wipe you all out.’ His eyes connected with mine again, the challenge in them clear. I didn’t respond. ‘They were on my doorstep when I got out of the hospital the other day; had no idea what they were for, of course.’ He sneered. ‘So I googled it. Amazing what you find on there. When I heard about the house fire, something ... bugged me. I don’t know why I packed it—’ he jerked his head in the direction of the gun on the table ‘—just did. Came in handy after all.’ He smiled. ‘I always follow my instincts.’
More’s the pity, I thought. ‘This time your instincts were wrong. The man you saw me about to execute is a vampire named Count Timur Széchenyi – a criminal sentenced to death for endangering the human race; for planning to murder men, women and children in order to feed. He’s the leader of a rebellion to turn humanity into farmed vampire fodder.’
I gave him time for this to sink in before I added, ‘And you prevented me from stopping him.’ To verify, I pulled my gun from its holster, emptied the cartridge onto the coffee table. ‘Yours. The ones I pulled from your pocket, and as you know, lethal only to vampires.’
From his frown I could see the first inklings of self-doubt. Maybe we could find some common ground. I leaned toward him and delivered the final blow. ‘He wants Laura.’
His eyes widened, confirming my fears, and the risk I took in returning his memory. He’d been in love with her before I wiped his mind, and now he was again. But there was nothing he could do about it. Laura had broken it off with him.
‘Untie me and we’ll talk,’ he said.
I slipped on my leather gloves, re-loaded my gun and placed it back in my holster. The remaining bullets I pocketed before untying Sommers. ‘We’re at war, and it’s going to spill over into your world. I can’t stop it. But we know who the Rebels are, and we’re after them. I thought you should know.’
He stood and faced me. ‘Thanks for the advance warning. Can you protect Laura?’
‘She’s well guarded.’
Sommers rubbed his stubble, looked around, no doubt taking in every detail of the room – exits, what he could use as a weapon if he needed, and he probably guessed he was on Luc’s yacht. ‘Got anything a human can drink?’ he asked.
‘Coffee?’
‘Yeah. I remember you drank that at the café.’
‘Over there.’ I indicated the bar. It had a coffee maker at one end, a convenient installation for human guests. ‘After you,’ I said. Although my reflexes were superior to his, I had no intention of turning my back on him.
He stood against the counter as tense and wary as a cornered animal, while I fitted the capsules into the machine. ‘Black or white?’
‘Black.’
‘Why did you follow me?’ I asked.
‘Curiosity.’
‘And the dinghy?’
‘From the guy next door. Told him I was undercover and he let me borrow his boat. Had a feeling I might need it.’
How enterprising.
His face screwed up. ‘Shit! I left it tied up.’
‘Don’t worry. We came back here on it.’
‘Why did you restore my memory? Wouldn’t it have been better if I didn’t know about you lot?’ he asked, when I slid him a mug of black coffee.
‘It would’ve eventually come back, and rather than have you following me about, I need you to understand what’s at stake.’
A faint smile turned up the corners of his mouth at the unintended pun as he brought the mug to his lips. ‘This is good,’ he said, after a few sips. He stared down at it and a shadow drifted across his face. ‘What do you want from me?’
‘Your co-operation. Kill me or Luc or any of our men and there’ll be nothing standing between you and the real monsters. They’ll take Laura—’ there was no way to avoid this. Sommers had to know ‘—impregnate her with one of their human underlings and raise the baby for themselves. You know what that means.’
He slammed his cup down and coffee splashed onto the counter. Laura had told him the power of the Ingenii blood. He understood the consequences. ‘We can track that yacht, board it—’
I shook my head. ‘Too late. The guards will have already moved Timur and Rasputin—’
‘Wait! Did you say, “Rasputin”? The Rasputin?’
‘Yes.’
He moved to the windows, dug his hands into his jeans pockets a
nd stared out. ‘Bloody hell. Please don’t tell me Jack the Ripper’s one of your mob, too?’
‘No.’ Neither of us spoke, until I said, ‘Go home, Sommers. Get some sleep. You’re exhausted. And you’re still getting over that head injury.’
He turned his head to look at me, opened his mouth as if to speak, then closed it and went back to staring out the window. ‘I don’t get how you can be a doctor, and ... and ... God, I can’t say it!’
‘Go home, Sommers.’
‘Yeah.’
He straightened his shoulders and headed toward the door, pausing momentarily at the coffee table where I’d left his loaded gun. ‘You won’t need it,’ I said, hoping the warning in my voice was enough. ‘I’m not your enemy, Sommers.’
Both his hands were balled into fists as he strode out of the room. I followed him onto the main deck and watched as he made his way through the garden and out to his car. I listened for the sound of his car’s engine retreating into the distance.
‘Alec? Where are you?’
Her beautiful voice wiped all trace of Sommers from my mind. Coming, darling.
Chapter 17 - Morning To Ourselves
LAURA
The room was dark when I woke, but enough light came from behind the heavy curtains for me to check my watch. It was after eight, so I’d had at least six hours sleep. The other side of the bed was empty and hadn’t been slept in. I wasn’t surprised. After last night’s disaster at the Pledging, Alec and Luc had probably used the night hours to counteract the damage caused by Timur and the creepy Rasputin. But it was morning now. I crawled to the end of the bed, pulled back the blue-striped curtains and looked out.
Sunlight danced on the turquoise waters and glinted off the windows of houses on the other side of the bay. Another glorious day in paradise. Some eyes never see it – Kari, Karl, Milena, and Luc’s men. I wondered if they missed it. Others of their kind did and were rebelling against the Principate to attain it – to attain me.
In spite of the sun’s warmth, I shivered.
‘Alec, where are you?’ I whispered, knowing he would hear.
In less time than it took to blink, my door opened. Barefoot and bare chested, arms braced against the doorframe, he looked down at me. He looked good.
‘Right here. Why aren’t you still asleep?’
I shrugged. ‘Had enough.’ That’s when I noticed his wet jeans. ‘Have you been swimming?’
He glanced down and laughed. ‘Something like that.’
I couldn’t resist adding, ‘You ought to take them off.’
He gave me a slow smile, closed the door and began to undress. I watched, dry-mouthed, as he dropped them to his feet, kicked them aside and walked toward me in all his naked glory.
Seconds later, my nightie lay on the floor and we were making love. Afterwards I traced his tattoo with my fingertips before doing the same with my lips. He tasted salty. What had he been doing while I slept? I was about to ask when I felt him harden against me. ‘Alexander Munro, aren’t you satisfied?’
‘I will be after this,’ he said, trying to roll me beneath him.
I squealed and shot towards to the other end of the bed. Alec laughed, grabbed my ankle and dragged me back to him. He must have had a grand view of my naked backside and from the look on his face I’d say he appreciated it.
‘Come here,’ he purred.
I laughed and tried to kick my ankle out of his grip – to no avail. Alec lunged, wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me back onto the pillows. He succeeded in pinning me beneath him.
‘Surrender?’ he asked.
‘Never.’
‘In that case, you leave me no choice.’ A wicked glint lit his eyes. He caught my hands and held them above my head, while with the other hand he tickled me. I squealed and squirmed and laughed till tears ran down my face.
‘I surrender! I surrender!’
Alec stopped and swivelled toward the door. ‘Shhh! Judith’s walking past.’
I bit my lip to stifle a giggle. If only she could see the position he had me in. After a while I asked, ‘Is she gone?’
‘Yes.’ He relaxed and turned back to me. ‘Now, where was I?’
‘I surrender?’ I said.
His grin widened, and he showed me his idea of surrender terms, after which we lay in each other’s arms, contended.
Alec was quiet as his hand roamed up and down my back. I sensed he was tense. Before I could question him he said, ‘Laura, there’s something you need to know, to hear from me, rather than someone else.’
The tone of his voice sent a wave of apprehension through me. I sat up and pulled the cover over my breasts. ‘Like what?’
He sat up and looked into my eyes. ‘I saw Sommers last night. He was out on the street, talking to Delaney.’
Well, well, Matt was out of hospital. Why did Alec have such a worried look on his face? What had he heard? ‘What was he doing here?’
‘The fire was on the late news.’
‘But it was about two in the morning. What was he doing awake?’
‘Couldn’t sleep, or so I heard.’
I wasn’t surprised that Alec had listened in. With his superior hearing it would’ve been too tempting. And naturally, he would want to know why Matt was here. But I had a feeling there was more to it. So I waited.
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Now I was really worried.
‘Sommers’s amnesia wasn’t the result of his injury,’ he said. ‘I erased his memory.’
The next few seconds ticked by as his words sank in. Alec had mesmerised Matt into forgetfulness and he hadn’t told me. No wonder he’d said I might hate him after he’d rescued me from Maris and Russell. At the time his words didn’t make sense – but they did now.
I clutched the bedcover tighter to my breast. ‘Why would you do such a thing?’
‘Remember the white-oak bullets I found on him?’
I nodded as my throat had constricted.
‘In our world anyone found in possession is executed.’
‘But,’ I swallowed, ‘he’s human.’
‘As were those who hunted our kind in the past. All that matters is intention. If he didn’t know about us or why he had those things on him, he’d no longer be a threat.’
‘You wiped his memory to save his life?’
He didn’t answer, but then he didn’t have to. I didn’t need to second-guess what may have occurred if he hadn’t done so – either Luc or one of the men would have killed him.
I didn’t know whether to be angry or love him even more for protecting Matt. ‘I should slap your face for letting me believe it was his injury.’
‘If it’ll make you feel better,’ he said almost flippantly, but his voice was grim and anxiety shone from his eyes.
‘Why tell me now?’
‘His memory’s come back.’
I clapped my hand over my mouth. I’d been so thankful Matt couldn’t remember our relationship – wouldn’t miss me, or feel the pain of my leaving him.
‘Laura, we tracked down where Timur’s hiding, and early this morning I went after him. Sommers followed me, misinterpreted the situation and tried to arrest me. I knocked him out, brought him back here and restored his memory so I could reason with him.’
‘Misinterpret, how?’
Alec explained and I felt the blood drain from my face. He could have been killed. Timur and Rasputin were the real monsters and had to be stopped. I understood that, and the course of action he had to take – risking his own life to keep everyone else safe. In spite of the hurt and anger I felt at his duplicity, I threw my arms around his neck and pressed myself close to him, now more than ever, fearful of the underworld of which I was part – into which I’d been born. And now Matt was involved.
Alec held me tight and murmured into my hair. ‘My darling, do you forgive me?’
‘You could’ve been killed.’ I pulled back to look at him. ‘Why did you go alone? Where was Luc?’
&nb
sp; He shook his head. ‘Judith’s blood’s waning, and Luc’s losing his day tolerance.’
He’d had no choice but to go after Timur alone. My stomach convulsed. ‘Promise me something,’ I said.
‘Anything.’
‘Never keep secrets from me again.’
‘That’s a promise.’ Drawing me back into his arms, he chuckled. I felt his body relax.
I rested my head on his shoulder. ‘Now what happens?’
‘I’m working on it. In the meantime, you need to eat. I’m going to make breakfast.’
I raised my head and gave him an incredulous look. The last time he “made” me breakfast, he’d ordered it from a café near his penthouse. ‘If this is by way of an apology for keeping the truth about Matt’s memory loss from me, it’d better be spectacular.’
He laughed, leaned down and kissed the curve of my breasts then leapt out of bed, picked up his wet jeans off the floor and strode from my room.
Chapter 18 - Brunch
ALEC
I went to the room they reserved for me on the yacht, took a quick shower and changed into fresh clothes. Thoughts of Laura consumed me, and our lovemaking played through my mind. I couldn’t remember the last time I laughed and had fun during sex; enjoying the teasing then watching the growing climax in my lover’s eyes just before her glorious release. She was my mate; my other half, and I would die for her.
It was well into mid-morning and only Luc and Judith were awake. The rest of the men were deep in their day sleep, so I wouldn’t see any of them until sunset.
I went up to the main deck, through the salon and past the dining room before sensing Judith’s presence in the galley.
‘I didn’t expect to see you up.’ She was making a pot of tea and presumably would take it back to the room she shared with Luc. The tray was laden with cup, saucer, sugar and biscuits. Not that Luc would eat any of it, except via Judith’s blood.
‘Laura’s awake,’ I said, as I opened the stainless-steel refrigerator. ‘Going to serve her breakfast in bed.’
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