This was too much for her to absorb and she grabbed the first from her mind. “Have you been cheating on me the whole time I’ve been in Greece?”
He looked baffled, as though he hadn’t heard her correctly. “Cheating? What the devil are you talking about?”
“I overheard your little rendezvous on the phone.”
He clenched his jaw. “I see. And how did you happen to overhear it?”
“I was going to call my mother and you were on the line.”
His expression darkened. “That was Veronica. She is arriving tomorrow.”
“Here?”
“Here.”
Sam remained silent, her expression stony.
“I see,” Leo said quietly. “So you automatically thought I was having an affair.”
“She called you my darling.”
“She calls everyone my darling,” he remarked dryly.
“And you sounded very intimate with her. I don’t need my psychic abilities to tell me you’re affectionate with her. You even told her you love her!”
“I have known Veronica for three hundred years,” he began with irritation lining his brow. “She has been more than a good friend to me. She has been a sister, a mother, a teacher. I was going to tell you about her tomorrow and I was going to bring her back here for dinner to meet you.”
Her misgivings started to falter. “You were?”
“Yes, I was. Dammit, Sam. Is that what all this is about?” She couldn’t respond. “As my one, you must trust me implicitly, as I trust you.”
She was ashamed. “I’m…I’m sorry. I just became your one. I’m still getting used to it,” she said, attempting to lighten the strained air between them.
His expression had a hint of sadness and she knew why. She’d shown Leo she didn’t trust him. Her shame grew and she lowered her gaze.
Leo sat down next to her and placed his arm around her, drawing her close. This time she didn’t pull away. This time, she leaned her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, wishing the last few minutes never happened.
“I’m not that guy who cheated on you, Sam,” he said gruffly. “I will never be that guy.” She remained silent. “Sam, look at me.”
Slowly she raised her face to his and his tender gaze almost made her cry. “I can understand how you misconstrued the conversation on the phone, but you only heard a small part of it. If you had remained on the phone, you would have heard the rest of it. I told Veronica I love you and want to marry you as soon as possible.” He sighed heavily. “Granted, if I had been in your place, I may have reacted the same way as you, but I would at least like to know you believe what I am saying now.”
“I do.”
“Dammit, Sam. Why did you wait all this time to talk to me? We could have sorted this out earlier.”
“I’m sorry I was jealous,” she said. “I…I couldn’t help it.”
He took her chin and raised her face. Slowly, he lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her. “Are you feeling any better now?”
She nodded.
“Let us put this behind us and forget it ever happened,” he said firmly.
“So you forgive me?”
“I would forgive you anything, my love.”
“Anything?” She asked with a tiny smile, relief lifting her spirit.
“Do not test me, otherwise you will have to answer to the consequences.”
She knew he was kidding. “A whole week in bed with you?”
He smiled. “And in the shower.”
He hugged her tight against his chest and relief washed over her. They remained silent for a few moments before she spoke.
“So I was right. The hotel chain you own is just a cover.”
“I still run it, and it is a viable business, but in a sense, yes, it is a front. We all carry on different occupations to make society believe we lead normal lives.”
“What does Veronica do?” She still didn’t know how she felt about another woman calling Leo my darling. Sam pushed the ugly, green eyed monster to the back of her mind.
“Veronica does nothing and everything. Human society knows her as a wealthy socialite who loves the jet set life.” He rose, taking her hand. “Come. You must be hungry and I am afraid our dinner will get cold.
“Leo, I’m glad you told me everything. It is a lot to process, but from now on you have to promise me you won’t keep me in the dark any longer.”
His face was grave. “You have my word, Sam.”
He led her out of the bedroom.
Chapter Five
“Shut the damn door behind you,” Garos snapped. He lit his cigarette and leaned back in his chair, taking a long drag. He didn’t say a word as he glowered at his men, resting his gaze on his youngest recruit. “Why are you late, Mark?”
The young man’s eyes flickered under Garos’s hard, cold stare. “I’m sorry, boss. I…I got held up with the wife’s family. The dinner was longer than expected.”
“I see. Mark, let me explain something to you. When I let you join my family, I made it clear we always come first. I always come first. It appears you have a problem establishing your priorities.” He glanced briefly at Catherine standing to the left, sipping her champagne. She was dressed as elegantly and sexy as ever in a long black, strappy sheath. For a split second, Garos was distracted by her allure, and his inner wolf growled with an immediate rush of lust.
Her blue gaze met his and she understood the meaning behind his eyes. Ah, she was a treasure, he thought. One look and she knew what he wanted. She nodded imperceptibly and placed her glass down on the table beside her. She leaned forward and placed her hand on her thigh high slit, sliding her silk material aside. Garos watched her remove the gun from her leg holster and he returned his gaze to his young recruit.
“I have big plans, Mark, and I need my men on the same page as me in order to achieve these plans. When I call a meeting, I can’t have my men show up twenty minutes late because of some damn dinner party with their in-laws.”
“I understand, boss.”
“Yes, I’m sure you do.”
“It…it won’t happen again.”
“Oh, I know it won’t,” Garos said. He gave Catherine, who stood behind the young recruit, a brief look.
The sound of the bullet rang through the air as it pierced the back of Mark’s chair and went straight through his heart. James, who was sitting next to Manny, cursed roughly under his breath.
Garos knew the loud music in his nightclub beyond his office drowned out the gun’s explosion, so he wasn’t worried a human patron was going to call the cops.
His mouth curled with disgust at the mere thought of humans. Useless, weak, mortals! Still, allowing them entry to his popular establishment is what helped him acquire many more new recruits.
He turned his attention on Pete. “Burn the body and bury the remains.”
“Yes, boss.”
Garos dragged on his cigarette as he watched his man drag the body to the corner of the room. Pete paused as Garos pressed a button on the right end of his desk and a concealed door slid open. Pete dragged the body out of the room.
Leo turned a cold glare on James. “I want New York, dammit!”
“You will have it, boss.”
“When? How hard is it to kill a lone man? I want that bastard, Leo, dead.”
“He fights like the devil. His beast is powerful and he always seems to be one step ahead of us.”
Garos growled. “That’s because he has spies working for me! And when we discover one, he sends two more into the family. I cannot tolerate incompetence!”
“He’s in love,” Catherine purred.
“What?” Garos said, snapping his gaze to her.
“He’s in love. He found his one.”
Garos narrowed his eyes on her. “Did your crystal ball show you this bit of information?”
“Yes, it did.”
Garos narrowed his gaze. “The same crystal ball I cannot look into?”
Catherin
e raised a delicately winged brow. “I’ve already explained this to you, my pet. The ball will only show its visions to me.”
“And when did you come by this important bit of information?”
“Why, I only found out this morning, and I thought you should know right away.“
Garos’s mouth thinned. “Still keeping tabs on him, are you? Don’t you think you should give up?”
She shrugged. “I like to take a peek into his life from time to time.”
“You lie. You still can’t believe he’s the only man your love spell never worked on.”
Her anger flared and he saw her expression harden. “It worked!”
“Temporarily,” Garos snapped. He narrowed his gaze on James. “I want you to find out everything you can about Leo’s one. Assemble your team and do not fail. You have twenty-four hours.” Even though James had joined his team last year and had proven reliable, Garos still needed to make his point clear. “And, James, come back empty handed and you’ll meet the same fate as Mark downstairs in the incinerator.”
James rose from his chair, his expression void of any concern or fear. That’s what Garos liked about James. He was a true warrior, fearless and almost impossible to daunt. Garos was lucky to have found him last year.
“You don’t have to worry about me, boss. I’ll return tomorrow with the information you need.”
“Excellent, because the business at hand is to kill Leo. He would do anything to save his one.”
Catherine smiled coldly. “Don’t you mean he would die for her?”
“Precisely.”
James nodded and strode out of the office, a loud splash of music filling the room as he opened and shut the door behind him.
“I don’t like him,” Catherine said.
Garos shot her an annoyed look. They were the only two left in his office. “Leo? That goes without saying. You’ve been trying to exact your revenge on him for two hundred years with petty, paltry spells. Freezing his bank accounts, a storm heading for his house, and the latest one, altering a private investigator’s file to make his sister’s new husband and sister-in-law appear as criminals thinking you were going to tear his family apart. Petty, all of them!”
“My love spell should have worked!”
“And as I’ve already explained to you, your spell failed because it couldn’t control his beast. As beautiful as you are, Catherine, his beast has been searching for his one and we know there is no spell that can conquer love.”
Catherine pursed her lips, remaining silent. He could see her mind working behind her blue gaze, planning her next plot against Leo. His mind went back to the day he met her in his nightclub a few weeks ago. She was a stunning blonde and he’d zeroed in on her right away. To his surprise, it had been her who’d gone to his club seeking him out. She’d told him she was a witch and could prove beneficial to him, of which she did, he reminded himself. She cast spells to inflate his bank account, she killed anyone he pointed a finger to without so much a batting an eyelash, and she engaged in wild, hot sex with him whenever he wanted it.
Catherine had served her purpose well with him the past few weeks, but he was still concerned her need for revenge would interfere with his plans.
“When I let you join my family a few weeks ago,” he began slowly, “I made it clear I did not want your obsession with Leo to interfere in my plans. If you’re planning something, you had better forget it. His beast is too powerful for your spells. Forget him!”
“Jealous, my pet,” she purred, back to her old self-contained self.
“Hardly. I have enough women I can choose from. Younger women,” he spat.
Her mouth tightened. “Now that’s a low blow. I should turn you into a frog.”
“You can’t. Your spells are no match for my speed. If I ever see you raise that lovely, little wand of yours, all I have to do is snap your neck. You may be immortal, but witches can still die as humans.”
Her expression shifted for a second and he could have sworn he saw a flicker of fear. This was surprising since that was the one thing that got under his skin about her. She wasn’t afraid of him and Garos ruled his family with fear.
“Don’t threaten me, Garos. I’ve been nothing, but loyal to you these past few weeks.”
“True.”
“Anyway, when I mentioned before I didn’t like him, I meant James, not Leo. There’s something about him that feels wrong.”
“Are you sure it isn’t because he’s immune to your beauty and doesn’t stumble over his feet when you enter the room? Come now, my little witch, your ego is showing,” he scoffed.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said. “You know how I feel about James. I still find it curious how he’s managed to climb the ranks and become your right arm in just one short year. He’s too…perfect. When you need information, he always manages to conveniently find it for you.”
“That’s because he’s a soldier by nature. He already knows the art of combat and has fire in his veins. Besides, you forget he saved my life. I hardly think one of Leo’s spies would have allowed me to live.”
“That’s been my point all along. Everything has been just a little too convenient. Didn’t you promote him as your second in command soon after that?”
“Enough! We’ve had this conversation too often the past few weeks. You know I’ve had James tailed a number of times and I’ve thoroughly checked out his story. He’s a vigilante who’s wanted by the FBI.” He waved a hand to the door. “Go. I’ve grown tired of you today.”
Catherine clamped down on her jaw, remaining silent. He could tell she was disturbed and was trying to devise a plan to salvage her deteriorating position with him. Garos wasn’t a fool. He hadn’t ruled for one hundred years for nothing.
And he knew what she would do next. His cock twitched in his pants and he rubbed a hand over it. He grew hard just thinking about what she was going to do to him. Catherine had spent centuries acquiring lovers with her love spells, murdering these men after they failed to hold her interest. He knew a love spell had to be ingested, so he never accepted anything food or drink she offered him.
Expectantly, her expression turned seductive. She was so predictable, he scoffed. No wonder she needed love potions to make men fall in love with her. She wore her cold, self-centred, manipulative nature on her sleeve. “Come now, my pet. Can’t we put our love, hate attitude for one another aside? It’s getting tiresome.”
“What do you have in mind?” He said, his penis throbbing.
Slowly, she sauntered around his desk to his side. She stood before him and slid a deliberate gaze down to his bulging crotch. Her expression was satisfied when she returned her gaze to his. “It appears I have the same thing in mind you do.”
Slowly, she knelt down in front of his chair and reached for his zipper. Garos leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.
Yes, Catherine’s little spells and staggering blow jobs served him well.
For now.
****
“I must tell Maria how delicious this dinner was.” Sam was smiling, but on the inside she was still worried about what Leo had told her. “Leo,” she began quietly, “how…how dangerous is this Garos? If he’s been trying to kill you for years, shouldn’t you have a guard on duty protecting you?”
He reached for his wine. “Garos is very dangerous and although we outnumber him overall, his family has grown more rapidly since he opened his nightclub. He recruits the young and impressionable and offers them immortality as a reward for joining his cause. Every full moon, once he has a new group assembled, he and his men turn them.” He gave her a questioning look. “You remember I explained a human can be turned in one of two ways. Being bitten by a lycan on a full moon, or making love to their one.”
“Yes, I remember.” Her worries persisted. “Leo, I’m afraid for your safety.”
“Have no fear, Sam. I have a mole in deep cover working alongside Garos. When an attempt on my life is planned, I am notified.”
>
Maria entered the dining room and handed him the phone. “It’s Matt, Leo. He says it is urgent.
“Excuse me, Sam. I have to take this.”
She nodded and watched him place the receiver up to his ear. “What is it?” He asked without preamble. “I see,” he said grimly after a short pause. He flicked a concerned glance at Sam and she wondered what was going on. “Call in the team. I want as much security as possible on this. Matt, if you speak to our mole before I do, tell him to maintain his cover. I will see you as planned at the airport when we arrive in a couple of days.”
Leo put the phone down, his expression worried. “That was Matt Walker,” he said. “The private investigator I told you about a few days ago, remember?”
“How could I forget? He’s the P.I. you hired to investigate John and I.”
Leo had the grace to look ashamed. “Matt’s P.I. work is his cover in the human world, but in reality he works as my right hand in the family. Our mole as been feeding us a lot of information the past year and soon we will be ready to take Garos and all his cells down. Our attack will be a worldwide operation with the cooperation of most of the other families and their divisional leaders. My goal is to end Garos’s reign soon.”
“Until another one like him crops up,” she murmured, frowning.
“Unfortunately, you are correct. When some humans transform, the power they assume is too much for them, and their human emotions take a back seat to their beasts. That is what happened in Garos’s case. His human was too weak to control his beast and slowly his humanity faded until it disappeared. Now he operates solely on his need to destroy and conquer. A majority of his followers are people in organised crime or regular thugs who survive on petty thefts. The nightclub he owns has opened his venue, however, and he’s begun recruiting a younger generation. The ones we keep an eye on most are the convicted killers he’s broken out of jail. They are ruthless lycans who kill for pleasure.” He paused, his face tuning grim. “Sam, I also received a text from my mole earlier confirming my suspicions. Catherine did alter the file. She has been working with Garos the last few weeks.”
Tall Dark Handsome Lycan, Book 2 Page 5
