“Canella’s not a mating gift. She’s to help Jessica as she grieves,” Ricard said, closing the door.
“Oh, who will be the mating gift?” Alice asked as she bent to release the other two little dogs.
“There will be no mating at this time.” Ricard bent by the pig and checked on the puppies. “Perhaps in the future, but not now. There is no rush. Plenty of time.”
Had she blinked, Jessie would have missed the response. Both Alice and Hunter flinched.
“I’m sorry,” Alice said. Her eyes filled with tears and she turned away.
Hunter clasped Ricard on the back. “I’m sorry.”
“It is fine. The timing is not good for many reasons.” Ricard stood from the pig. “Jessica has experienced a terrible loss, and we have much work to do on this case with Panthera. With the death of Tyrone we need to work quickly to understand what he’s left behind and if Rollins really is taking over the running of Panthera. Timing is everything, my friends.”
Ricard’s face held a smile that Jessie knew he’d put there to hide his true feelings. Those feelings she felt as though someone had poked her heart with jagged glass.
Chapter Seven
Rushing was never a good idea. Ricard knew this. In fact, every scientist knew that timing was paramount to success. So why had he attempted to ram the concept of them being mates down Jessica’s throat?
Ricard could not explain the reasoning to himself, never mind trying to provide a rational explanation to anyone else. It had been as if some unseen presence had taken over his will and run amuck with his common sense.
When he thought about it, he remembered this feeling of not being in control. The recognition that he should not say or do certain things because they made no logical sense, but the complete inability to stop himself. As if some unseen force compelled him to speak, to act, to be.
He watched Jessica talking with Alice and Hunter while they played with the animals. She was perfection. Beautiful and graceful. Her soft melodious voice was the only sound he ever wanted to hear.
She appeared delicate, yet not at all frail. Those lovely curls bounced when she laughed, and Ricard realized it was the first time he’d heard her laugh since meeting her. She had a musical laugh, one that made him smile in spite of himself.
When she shivered and cuddled Canella close to her, he was suddenly aware of the fact she still wore infirmary scrubs and had not rested since the incident with her brother.
The fatigue she felt hit him like a speeding train. It was three in the morning, not so late for him, but awfully late for a human who’d experienced the horror of this night. His mate needed rest.
“Jessica, it is quite late. I’m sure you’re exhausted,” he said, hoping to prompt a conversation in which Alice and Hunter would assist with the right outcome.
She nodded. “I am. It is probably best I go home now.”
Alice’s generally well-controlled expression flashed to one of horror. Before Ricard could muster a response that wouldn’t frighten Jessica, Alice jumped in. “You can’t go home. Are you crazy? If Tyrone actually went to your house, it wasn’t just for Joshua. He wanted you, too. Rollins must be after you now.” Alice shook her head and squeezed a puppy against her chest. “You have no idea of the danger, do you?”
Jessica shook her head. “What do you mean?”
“Tyrone killed your brother. He made him into a revenant, just another experiment in his quest to create a vampire army. Tyrone loved to experiment on families. He thought there was some sort of genetic link that would provide the answer to how a vampire is made. There’s no way that power-hungry Rollins isn’t jumping into his dead leader’s shoes.” She stepped toward Jessica and grabbed her arm. “We have to keep you safe. You’re way too important to everyone.”
The look of fear on Alice’s face made even Ricard want to protect her. It did not surprise him to see Hunter move close enough to allow their bodies to touch. Like any mated pair they were bonded, and the instinctual drive to protect and cherish what was so important to him would drive every urge Hunter had.
“I don’t know what Rollins told you, but I’ll bet it was a line of bull the likes of which no one but Tyrone could beat. They are evil men. What they did to Joshua was cruel and wretched, and if you go home, they’ll do the same to you.” Then, Alice who so often was tough as nails and when battling revenants could be scarier than a vampire, hugged Jessica.
“You can’t go back. Losing you would be devastating.” The tears that appeared earlier returned to Alice’s eyes.
Ricard’s gaze met Hunter’s, who shrugged. Even her mate was surprised by Alice’s response.
Jessica’s voice cracked when she spoke. “He said he would help him.”
“I know, but he lied. Rollins and Tyrone would say anything so they can continue with their quest.” Alice rubbed Jessica’s back while a puppy wiggled between them.
“What is it he wants? I don’t understand. No one has explained anything to me.”
Pulling chairs up to the workbench in the middle of the room, Ricard motioned for the women to sit. As soon as Jessica was seated Canella spun around on her lap, gave her cheek a quick lick, and then cuddled into her arms.
“Ricard?” Hunter sat beside Alice.
It couldn’t simply have been vampire intuition that caused Hunter to prompt Ricard. Up until being mated with Alice the vampire warrior would have offered an answer laced with expletives. But now, seated close to the woman whose entire being meant more to him than his own life, Hunter would understand the importance of Ricard’s role in protecting his mate better than many vampires could fully grasp.
That importance included ensuring she understood the danger surrounding her, but not causing her to be so scarred by the information she might not heal from her recent loss.
“Jessica, Raymond Tyrone was driven to create his own army, one that’s genetically altered to be far superior to any in existence.” Ricard poured water into the coffee pot and retrieved mugs from the cabinet.
“An army? For what?” She shivered and squeezed Canella.
“To beat us,” Hunter said.
With the coffee pot percolating, Ricard darted to the closet across the room, returning with a lab coat. “Tyrone wanted to control all of Central City, and once he did, he planned to move onto bigger things, the state, the country, beyond. He was a very sick man.” Ricard draped the coat around her shoulders. “There is no doubt Rollins will move up the ranks and continue Tyrone’s work.”
“The Vampire Guard stands in his way.” Hunter scooped up a puppy and handed him to Alice for cuddling.
“They’ve been working for years to come up with the answer to why vampires exist and how to create a man-made vampire, one that took orders from Tyrone. He experimented on many people, Joshua included.”
“Do you mean to say he tried to turn my brother into a vampire?” She shook her head. “But Mr. Rollins said they would find a cure, that they would go to the ends of the earth to help us. He acted as though he cared. He…he checked in on us. He made sure Joshua had all the medication he needed.”
“He lied. Rollins is a man with no concern for anyone, no compassion, and not one iota of heart. Like Tyrone, he will trample anyone and everyone to get what he wants.” Ricard poured two cups of coffee. In one he poured cream and stirred two teaspoons of sugar. Placing the sweetened cup before Jessica he realized he had no idea how Alice drank her coffee. “What would you like in yours?”
Both Alice and Hunter grinned, and she shook her head. “I don’t drink coffee. Earl Gray tea, remember?”
Jessica sipped her coffee, cradling the cup in both hands as though to warm herself with it’s heat. “This is perfect. How did you know?”
Ricard didn’t want to frighten her, but he wouldn’t lie to Jessica or pretend it had been a lucky guess that he knew how she preferred to drink her coffee. “Mates, remember?” He poured water into a mug and placed it in the microwave.
Jessica’s
response would have been unnoticeable to any human. She schooled her expression and held her body still, but Ricard heard her heart speed and saw the hitch in her breathing.
Alice leaned over and whispered, “You wouldn’t believe how handy that little trick is. I haven’t made a cup of tea in months, and yet one always appears when I want it. Go figure.”
Jessica politely smiled, though Ricard assumed she was now beginning to worry about exactly what he knew of her and how.
Her gaze fell to him before quickly moving back to Alice. She looked around, not making eye contact with anyone.
“I’m not a mind reader. Please don’t worry that I know everything you’re thinking,” Ricard said.
“How did you know I was thinking you were a mind reader, if you’re not one?” With wide eyes she looked at him. “And how did you know how I like my coffee, or that I even wanted coffee?”
The microwave beeped. Retrieving the cup, Ricard dropped in a tea bag, placed the cup and the cream before Alice, then knelt before Jessica. “We are mates. When you need something, like a drink or warmth, or any comfort that keeps you safe, I know. I can’t explain it more concisely than to say my soul exists to be with yours. It is best described that we are a matched set and as such, I am driven to protect you.”
“We don’t know each other,” Jessica said. Steam from the coffee cup swirled around her face, vanishing into her curls. “What if we aren’t compatible or are total opposites. What if we don’t like each other?”
Ricard’s gut felt as though he’d been kicked, but he knew better than to react in a way that would show his pain. “If that is the case, then we shall go on with our lives separately, but doesn’t it make sense to get to know each other before deciding?”
The scientist in Ricard thought rationally. How many vampires had he met whose mates rebuked them? One. In six hundred years he’d known one vampire whose mate could not be convinced of his love and who refused to have any part of him. One out of countless others who had found their mates and settled into fairly blissful living. The probability that he and Jessica would become pair number two was highly unlikely.
It was almost as unlikely as a vampire continuing to live after the death of his mate, and far more likely than any vampire finding love twice in one lifetime.
The odds of hitting that trifecta were one in four hundred million, and still Ricard worried.
“I don’t know. Honestly, I want to find a way to pay back Panthera for what has happened to Joshua.” Her eyes glistened. “I have to think of my family first. I can’t worry about this.” She motioned to Ricard.
He felt the bubbling of vengeance inside her. Vengeance and loss. He wanted to pull her into his arms and hold her, but clearly that was not what she wanted.
He would not risk sending her running from him. Nor would he attempt to dissuade her from something that she could never accomplish on her own and would most likely be killed trying.
If his mate wanted something, he’d get it for her, even if she did not love him, even if it killed him.
“Let me help you. That’s all I ask. Let me help you avenge your brother.”
Chapter Eight
The last few weeks had been a typhoon of disaster and confusion that led to Jessie’s brother’s death. Now, after losing the one person she loved most in the world she found herself with real vampires and human women who didn’t seem to have the slightest worry for their own safety.
She sensed something from Ricard. It was a feeling she’d never experienced, and one she found difficult to comprehend.
There were sensations of worry and anger, but they were not her own. This sense of angst was separate from an internal desire to get even with the men who’d destroyed her family.
“To go against Panthera or Rollins one must have an army behind her,” Ricard said.
“And we have an army.” Hunter smiled.
“A damn good one,” Alice said.
“You’d help me? You don’t even know me.” Jessie watched the three people she’d met in the last couple hours and wondered why they had any interest in her situation.
“We’re strangers with no connection.” A flare of pain moved along her body, then quickly subsided.
Without a thought Jessie reached for Ricard’s hand. Instinct told her to comfort him. “You’ve said we’re mates, but look at it from my perspective. That’s an odd thing for a woman to hear from a complete stranger.”
He nodded. “I am aware of that point.”
She did not pull her hand away. Something about touching him felt right. In his presence she felt safe. Yet, the whole idea of this was too strange for her to focus on. “I can’t think about this…thing.” She shook her head. “I feel something, but I don’t…it’s not…normal. I’m sorry.”
Alice snorted. “Sorry! That slipped out. But she is right. This whole mating thing is weird.”
“What?” Hunter sneered. “I thought you liked being my mate, woman.”
“I never said I didn’t like it. I like it. I like it a lot. But, it’s weird. Humans meet each other. Talk on the phone or text.”
“Oh, yeah, like Gabe and Selene.” Hunter laughed.
Jessie frowned.
“Sorry, that’s an inside joke. You know that whole on-line dating thing humans and some idiot vampires are into,” Hunter said.
Alice elbowed him. “We date. We decide if we want to see each other again. Maybe we hook up. Maybe we don’t. We go through this whole courting thing before we decide to spend the rest of our lives together.” Alice tilted her head to the side and smiled at Hunter.
“You vampires are hit by some invisible bolt of crazy that makes you want to throw yourselves into traffic, takes bullets on our behalf, and kill anyone or thing that comes near us.”
“Yeah.” Hunter watched her with an amused look on his face. “You never seemed to dislike that before.”
“I didn’t say I disliked it. But I am saying it’s weird.” She kissed his lips. “It’s just plain weird, and you can’t expect a woman who probably never knew vampires existed until tonight to jump on the bandwagon of vampire love.”
“You might have a point, but to confirm, you do like it, right?” Hunter pulled her into his arms and kissed her neck.
“Yesssss.” She giggled and squirmed.
Ricard cleared his throat. “You are making this situation more awkward for us, at least you are for me.”
Jessie felt her cheeks heat and wanted nothing more than to change the subject. As much as she’d love to understand the entire idea of someone falling madly in love with her at first sight, her heart was broken by the loss of Joshua and this was not the time for selfish interests.
“I’m still confused about how you even knew where to find Joshua and why so many of you were there. Why were you following him? How did you know of him? Something about that isn’t right.” She sipped her now cool coffee.
Nothing was ever right in Central City. For more than twenty years there hadn’t been a truly right thing in this hellhole. Not since that damn fire at Panthera had anything in life been right.
“You’re correct. Many things are wrong in Central City, and every last one of them points to Panthera Laboratories and Raymond Tyrone.” Ricard poured hot coffee into Jessie’s cup. “We tracked Joshua from Panthera to your apartment. Our intelligence told us Tyrone had upped his game and that his experiments were getting more dangerous. We’d been waiting for someone to exit the lab for four nights when we saw Joshua leave. We had hoped to capture him alive.”
“What’s even stranger is that after he left and we followed, Tyrone went to your apartment to wait for him,” Hunter said.
She had more questions than she thought she could ask in one night.
“What were you going to do with him?” She stared at Ricard, not wanting to miss any bit of emotion that might cross his face.
“Study him. We need to understand what Tyrone was, and I suspect Rollins will continue, doing to these vict
ims. What is causing them to change? We must find a cure.”
“Would you have hurt him?”
Ricard looked at Jessie, holding her gaze for several seconds before responding. “Yes. It would have hurt him had we captured him.”
She couldn’t stop tears from building in her eyes or the tightness that clenched her throat. She fought not to break down again. “He had suffered so much already.”
“I will never lie to you, Jessica. I’m sorry hearing this information has hurt you, but I cannot tell you something that is not true. The Guard does not want to hurt anyone. But, what your brother had become was something logic and reason could not stop. The only way for us to gain control of these…victims has been through painful force.” Ricard handed her a tissue.
“Tyrone’s drive to create something super-human has made him a madman. He will stop at nothing until he achieves his sick goals. I’ve tallied more than three hundred affected humans in the last four months. We must learn what he’s doing in order to fight him, and part of learning is painful.”
“I’m pretty sure whatever Tyrone and Rollins did to all these people was just as painful,” Hunter said.
“Agreed. Jessica, Tryone was trying to unlock the key to how vampires exist. What genetic changes occur that make us what we are? If he could unlock that information, he could make his own.”
“Joshua drank blood,” Jessie said. The idea of it revolted her. The memory of him throwing up passed through her mind. “He wanted mine. He tried to bite me and Dr. Tyrone didn’t seem upset by that.”
Ricard came around the table to kneel before Jessie. “I know he did. I promise you, as long as I breathe, no vampire or revenant shall harm you.” His eyes were darker than before. His jaw set to a hard line. “No one.”
Jessie nodded, knowing as sure as she had heard the words, this man would kill for her safety.
“He always talked of vampires, but I never believed. I thought he was crazy.”
A Vampire's Purgatory (Romance In Central City Book 8) Page 4
