[Kassandra Lyall Preternatural Investigator 03] - Bloody Claws

by Winter Pennington

  She frowned, shaking her head. "I do not understand you, Kassandra."

  "No," I said, "you don't. So stop trying."

  "I want to," she said and this time there wasn't any teasing to her tone.

  I shook my head, letting go of her wrist. Her pulse beating against my fingers was distracting. "You've got a funny way of showing it."

  "I show it in my own way," she said. "By the way." She smiled secretively. "You've forgotten all about your little nightmare now, haven't you?"

  I tried to remember the nightmare, but all I could remember were bits and pieces. Too much of Eris overshadowed the remembrance.

  "Next time, just slap me."

  Eris made a noise in her throat. "And risk rousing an angry werewolf? I think not."

  I gave her a narrow-eyed look to let her know she was already toeing that line.

  "I don't like being played with, Eris."

  Eris looked to an empty corner of the room. "I got carried away," she said, but not like she was happy about admitting it. "But should I apologize for something you felt as well?"

  "Your little problem has been taken care of," Lenorre said with a vacant expression.

  Eris inclined her head. "My thanks, Countess."

  "I think it would be wise if you left."

  Eris reached out like she was going to touch me again, and this time I growled. She tilted her head to the side, almost thoughtfully. "Consider my offer."

  I opened my mouth to speak and she slipped past my guard, placing a finger against my lips. Her face hovered only a few inches from my own. "No, Kassandra. Do not decline just yet. I want you to consider what I offer. I will not cross the line if that is what you desire, but there may come a day when you are not so afraid. When you wish to explore your darker cravings more thoroughly, remember me."

  "Don't hold your breath," I said.

  "Even if I do," she said, rising to leave, "it will not hurt."

  I watched her go. The back of her dress had a panel of fabric that covered her shoulders, leaving a small crescent of her back bare. As if she felt my gaze on her, she looked over her shoulder and offered one last dark and questioning look.

  I blew out a deep breath.

  "Are you well?" Lenorre asked, coming to me.

  "Well enough."

  She nodded and held out her hand and I took it, rising and letting her snake her arms around me.

  "You do not wish to speak about this yet, do you?" she whispered the question against my hair.

  "No," I said. "Not yet. Right now, I just want to go home."

  Her lips met my forehead. "So, we shall."

  "Thank you," I said.

  Lenorre leaned back, looking down at me. "For what?"

  "For being you. Most girlfriends would've had a conniption had they just walked in on…that."

  "Ah well." She stroked my hair affectionately. "Most girlfriends do not understand the complexities of metaphysics."

  "Half the time, I don't," I admitted. "Just remind me never to fall asleep here again."

  "I could have told you that in the first place," she said with a hint of amusement.

  "Apparently, I could've used the heads up."

  Her lips met mine in a chaste kiss, warm and silky, her breath like sweet cinnamon against my mouth. "We should leave."

  "I can't leave if you keep touching me."

  She laughed and let me go.

  "What?" I asked at the amused look on her face.

  "Would you like me to drive?" There was a devious glint in her eyes.

  "What are you thinking, Lenorre?"

  Her shoulders gracefully rose and fell in response.

  "Lenorre…"

  "Let me put it this way, I do not think you should be driving after the, ah, energy exchange between you and Eris."

  "Thanks," I said, "I appreciate your confidence in me." The corner of her mouth twitched. "I have confidence in your head, Kassandra. Your groin, at the moment, is an entirely different matter."

  I gaped at her. "What on earth is that supposed to mean?"

  She cupped my face in her hands. "Oh, nothing as bad as you seem to be thinking. I know from experience you are not easy or casual by nature, but your groin does have a tendency to override all other mental processing."

  "That's not a very nice thing to say, Lenorre."

  "You think so, do you? I think it's very nice." Her expression darkened.

  I dug the keys out of my pocket, holding them out to her. "Fine, drive."

  She took them, looping her arm through mine. I leaned against her on our way out.

  "Lenorre?"

  "Yes, love?"

  "Were you jealous at all?"

  "We have discussed this before."

  "I know," I said, "I just don't get it."

  I don't like casual sex, as a rule. I'd slept with Rosalin before Lenorre and I had become a couple. What scared me with Eris was that she seemed to be trying to flip the same switch Rosalin had, the metaphysical one.

  "Kassandra," Lenorre said once we hit the parking lot. I blinked up into the streetlights, coming back from the faraway place of my thoughts. "Let it go," she said.

  "And how do you know I'm thinking about it?"

  She smiled sweetly at me, opening the car door. She propped her arm on the door, emphasizing all of her delicious height. "Because I know you."

  I shook my head and slid into the passenger seat. For as short a time as we'd been a couple, Lenorre did know me. Too well sometimes.

  CHAPTER nine

  enorre was quiet on the drive to her place. She guided the Tiburon onto I-40 when my cell phone rang from my coat pocket. I caught a glimpse of Rosalin's name on the caller ID before flipping the phone open to answer it. A bad feeling tugged at the pit of my stomach.

  "Rosalin, what's wrong?"

  "Kassandra, so nice to hear your voice again." My stomach dove unhappily.

  "Sheila," I said. "Where's Rosalin?"

  "She's here," Sheila said and her voice sounded distant, as if she were distracted by something on her end of the line.

  "What do you want, Sheila? I get this feeling you don't want to sit down and talk over coffee."

  "That would be an accurate assessment of the situation," she said, her voice too calm compared to the energy I was sensing. I felt a heat beneath her words that didn't match her tone.

  "Great, glad to hear it. What do you want? Where's Rosalin?" So far, I was doing really well at controlling my temper. I took a steadying breath, counting silently in my head.

  Sheila Morris, alpha female of the Blackthorne pack was no friend of mine. In fact, I kind of despised her. I'd only met her faceto-face once, but that one time was enough.

  "We need to talk. You know where to meet me. If you're not here within the next thirty minutes," she slowed her words, making sure I got the full force of what she was saying, "you lay your wolf at the hands of my mercy. I suggest you hurry."

  The phone clicked silent. Could this night get any better?

  "This is so not my fucking night," I growled.

  Lenorre gave me a sympathetic look before exiting the highway early to turn the car around.

  "Reach into my pocket and use my phone to call Zaphara and Eris," she said, lifting her hip a little.

  I leaned over and slipped my hand into the right pocket of her slacks. I retrieved her phone and stared at it.

  "Lenorre…"

  "What is it, Kassandra?"

  "I have no fucking idea how to use this."

  "Press the small button on the top of the phone."

  The screen blazed to life, shining brightly in the dimly lit car.

  "Touch the screen."

  I touched the screen and looked at her, waiting for instructions before I resorted to a button-pressing fit.

  Lenorre described a symbol on the phone and I found it, clicking on it and bringing up a very long list of contacts.

  I was looking for a scroll button when Lenorre stopped at a red light. She laughed when
I gave a rumbling growl of frustration. She held her hand out expectantly.

  I frowned and dropped the phone in her hand, then watched as she scrolled through the contact list.

  "You could have told me that was all I had to do," I said.

  Lenorre tucked a curl behind her ear and held the phone up to it. She glanced at me before guiding the car back onto the highway. "This is easier."

  I didn't disagree with her. She called Zaphara first and told her to pick up Eris and meet us in the clearing where the wolves met.

  I sat back and tried to relax, though every muscle in my body was suddenly tense. It'd been a little over a month since I'd accidentally marked Rosalin as my wolf, since I'd accidentally psychically claimed her. It'd been a little longer than that since I'd executed Lukas Morris, Sheila's psychopathic serial killer brother.

  Why had Sheila waited so long to throw this shit into the air?

  *

  The parking area was littered with cars, letting me know that the rest of Sheila's pack was present. The area was dimly lit and would be dark until we reached the torches in the clearing. Zaphara and Eris approached as Lenorre and I got out of the car. Another figure was with them, a big, bulky figure with salt and pepper hair. Maddox greeted me with a nod. His eyes were pitch-black. Maddox had originally been among the vampires who came into town with the Count of Counts, a very bad vampire who had showed up seeking to claim Lenorre's territory as his own. Maddox had betrayed the Count of Counts and helped me to save Timothy Nelson.

  Timothy had been turned into a vampire. His girlfriend Alyssa hadn't. Gwen Cunningham, Alyssa's mother, had finally left her abusive husband.

  The Count of Counts had promised the teenagers power, power to protect them and to live forever. That power and protection had ultimately led Timothy to believe that becoming a vampire was his best chance of protecting Alyssa and her mother from Alyssa's abusive stepfather. For a boy of sixteen, Timothy seemed to genuinely love Alyssa.

  Having been turned, he was one of Lenorre's vampires now, and though she'd given him the option of staying with her, Timothy had sought her permission to stay with Alyssa instead, in case Dennis Cunningham ever came back. Lenorre had agreed on two conditions. The first was that Timothy attend night school and graduate. The second was a stricter rule. He was not allowed to attempt to turn Alyssa, not until she was older. Lenorre had explained to him that it was not only because of Alyssa's age, but also because as newly awakened himself, Timothy did not yet have the power to turn anyone. Any attempts to do so would more than likely go terribly, terribly wrong. Lenorre had informed him that in time, if Alyssa still desired to be turned, the two could request an audience with her Primes.

  Timothy had asked, "How old?"

  Lenorre had responded, "When she is eighteen, Timothy, you may make a formal request."

  He didn't exactly seem thrilled at the outcome of their conversation, but he acknowledged Lenorre as his Countess and didn't argue.

  Timothy had grown close to Maddox during his time enduring the Count's torture, and Lenorre had stepped aside to allow Maddox to mentor him. Since I had been the one to rescue Timothy from the Count, he'd discovered my secret about being a werewolf. He promised not to tell anyone and I believe him, but every time I see him, he practically starts batting his big dark brown vampiric eyes at me and asking me to shift, just so he could see it happen. Unfortunately, his insatiable curiosity for the preternatural didn't miraculously vanish when he became one of us.

  And no, I haven't shifted just to show him how cool it is.

  "I thought you'd be with Timothy," I said.

  "He has fed for the night," Maddox said in a deep voice that reminded me of rocks sliding against one another. I understood more than what he was saying. Timothy had fed, which meant he wouldn't need to feed for a while. So there was little chance of him going vampiric on Alyssa or her mother without Maddox there to chaperone.

  Zaphara moved, catching my attention. The black trench coat she wore was shiny and reflective in the dim light. Her aubergine hair fell in a long braid down her back, bringing her triangular features out to stark perfection. Her lips were glossed and her eyes, the color of amethysts, were outlined in smoky shadow. I couldn't remember seeing Zaphara ever wear makeup. She was fey and beautiful in a way that didn't need it.

  "You're wearing makeup," I said.

  "I'm wearing a lot of things."

  "She was on guard duty," Eris said smoothly, bringing my attention to her. She was still wearing the same dress she had been earlier, only now a flowing cloak graced her shoulders, spilling like a midnight waterfall to the ground.

  "What does that have to do with Zaphara wearing makeup?"

  "It's more attractive to Eris's clientele." The corner of her mouth rose in a dark smirk.

  "So, you're what, eye candy?"

  "Yes," Eris said with a devious smile "If she's to be present during a scene, oh yes. I want her to intrigue my clients, not send them running screaming from the room."

  The two women shared a look I sensed had less to do with intimacy and more to do with some shared knowledge and experience. Rosalin had once told me that Zaphara had submitted to Eris. Looking at the two, it was hard to believe. If it came down to a fight, I'd have put my money on Zaphara. Oh, I'd seen them both fight and knew full well they were both lethal, but Zaphara was lethal in a very different way. If I woke in the middle of the night afraid the darkness would materialize and kick my ass, I wouldn't put it past Zaphara's magic.

  Lenorre touched my shoulder and I put my hand over hers.

  "Are you ready?" she asked.

  "Do we have a plan?" Zaphara asked her.

  "No," she said, "this we will play by ear. I think my presence alone will keep Sheila in check for the night."

  "You're that confident you frighten her?" I asked.

  "We are," Eris said. "Sheila does not like vampires."

  Zaphara scoffed. "Sheila does not like anyone who is more powerful and secure than she is."

  "You don't like Sheila?" I asked, genuinely curious.

  "No, she is alpha only because she is the most dominant wolf in the territory."

  "I didn't know you didn't like her personally."

  "The wolves came to your call, Kassandra," she said, clearly trying to make a point I wasn't getting "The wolves came to the call of another wolf…"

  "Do you remember what I said when Trevor and Claire came to your call when you sought to comfort Rosalin on Thanksgiving?"

  "The whole mark of the alpha thing? Yeah, I've been hearing a lot of that lately."

  "Do you not think you are hearing it for a reason? Do you truly not understand why?"

  "I understand where you're going with this," I said, "and at this point I'm not in the mood to agree or disagree. I just want to make sure Rosalin is safe."

  "Sheila has not claimed any of the wolves in her pack, not like a true alpha would claim their wolves, not as you have claimed Rosalin. She doesn't have the metaphysical power or the mark to claim and dominate them with her energy. She dominates her wolves through fear and sadism, not because she's a true alpha. We dislike her because she requires submission but does not have the true authority to demand it." Eris took a step toward me. Lenorre stepped up against my back and I felt the cool line of her body through my clothes. I didn't need to see her face to understand she was warning Eris to keep her distance.

  "Rosalin is the only wolf bound metaphysically to an alpha," she said, making no further move.

  "Why are we talking about this?" I asked.

  Lenorre's voice slid across my skin like cool silk. "You need to understand what we are about to walk into."

  Zaphara said, "Sheila may make this a battle of dominance and physical strength, because those are her strengths. What are you going to do if she hurts Rosalin in front of you? Will you step up before the entire pack and protect your wolf?"

  Lenorre's hand slipped around my waist from behind. She placed her palm flat over my stomac
h.

  "I'll do what I have to, to keep my friend safe."

  I sensed the wolf draw her ears back against her skull.

  I took a step away from Lenorre and she let me go. A chorus of ragged howls sliced through the night air. To my human ears, they sounded like any other wolf howls, but to my wolf the call sounded like a challenge.

  I walked away from our little group and opened myself to the night. I started at a run once I hit the edge of the woods, not waiting for my night vision to take over. I flung myself between the trees and trusted the earth to guide me but I didn't shift. I had a feeling that bursting onto the scene in wolf-form would be seen as a challenge, and having heard their howls, I knew Sheila had her whole pack with her.

  I focused on the weight of the Kimber in its shoulder rig while I ran, thankful for the small comfort.

  A black cat darted out in front of me and I knew it was Zaphara. I ducked a low hanging branch. My feet found a fallen tree trunk and I leapt off it. I didn't doubt. I didn't question. I threw my body between large trees and kept going. My vision tunneled on the soft glow of flickering torchlight ahead. Normally, I would've scolded myself for tunnel visioning, as it's a good way to lose your peripheral in a fight. But this wasn't a fight…yet.

  The wolf and I were on a mission, and wherever the vampires had gone, we knew there was nothing in the woods waiting for us. What awaited us stood in the center of that clearing, calling with the heavy scent of pine and earth, with the sweet musk of fur and patchouli.

  CHAPTER ten

  sensed the wolves around me, their energy like mud on my skin. I focused on keeping the wolf within behind psychic bars.

  Sheila sat on her carved throne, watching me as I made my way into the middle of the clearing. Her hands tensed where they rested on the arms.

  She wore a white sweater with a pair of tight black pants tucked into dark leather ankle boots. Her long blond hair was pulled back into a neat French braid and she looked about as happy to see me as I was to see her.

  Who'd have thought we'd have something in common.

  "Kassandra," she said, inclining slightly. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Trevor, a friend of Rosalin's, fidget uncomfortably.