“Really.” Her brows drew together. “Was this part of your ‘service’?”
“Apologies,” he said, inclining his head. “I’ve found most people prefer the truth—eventually.”
She bit her lip, paused, and then blurted, “What’s your truth?”
Hunter found he had to hold back a bitter guffaw. “I’m a vampire.”
“Wow.” Her mouth opened, no sound came out, and then laughter burst from her lips. “That is the first time anyone has ever used being a vampire as a pickup line on me. Incredibly inventive.”
She clapped her hands together lightly. Whatever had possessed him to tell her his most guarded secret? Nonplussed, he answered, “You asked for the truth. I gave it.”
“Right,” she answered. “I wonder what Chaz would say if he knew.” She clapped again, but the sound faded as he drew even closer.
For the first time in a very long time, Hunter found himself completely engaged by a woman. He stepped forward, and this time, she didn’t step back. He lifted his arms to circle her body and said, “He would say business and pleasure should not mix. He would tell you I have no business thinking what I’m thinking.”
She lifted trembling fingers and tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear, yet her lips lifted with an almost-roguish smile. “Would he now?”
Hunger filled him. Her heartbeat thumped inside his ears, slow and oh so enticing. Then a picture from the past flashed through his mind, and he stepped back, filled with confusion. “Forgive me. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have been so forward.”
Her eyes scrunched up and relaxed, her gaze turning gentle. “I wasn’t saying no.”
“Weddings,” he shrugged. She stepped back again, the moment and the opportunity gone. “Perhaps we might talk later?” He bowed and left, not giving her the chance to say no, but remained hidden in the shadows watching. Always watching, yet wishing he could be part of the play.
Footsteps rang on the stones of the patio a few moments later. He turned to see a young woman approach. “Tori. There you are. They’re ready to cut the cake. C’mon.”
“Yeah, sure. I’m coming.”
A picture of her doing exactly that in his arms filled his head. He banished the idea immediately and, as penance, circled the entire estate to make sure his soldiers were ready for anything. Although Mikhail was no longer a threat, the young vampires who’d attacked Charles and Stacy bore no sense of reason. They might try anything. And they could go rogue at any time. The happy couple deserved a night free from worry. Besides, this was his territory. What kind of leader would he be if he let something happen on their wedding night?
After making his rounds, Hunter walked back into the ballroom. He watched Samira Anai Se-Bat, the oldest of their kind, jump up and down and twist and whirl with the rest of the guests in wild abandon. Sam seemed to be enjoying herself immensely, a side of her Hunter had never seen before. He found himself smiling at one point, enjoying her antics.
Time waited for no vampire or man, and soon the party reached its conclusion. Hunter said goodbye to Charles and Stacy, wishing them good fortune and great happiness. Then he walked over to Tori. She’d changed into a shirt and jeans, and he found her outfit so much more disappointing than the dress that fit her like a second skin. “May I escort you to your car? It is late, and the parking lot isn’t well lit in places.”
“I—I suppose.” She shivered and threw the sweater she was carrying over her shoulders against the chill. “You really are in the security business, aren’t you?”
“I do not like leaving things to chance.” He started walking with her, matching her stride for stride.
“Are you always this uptight?” she asked.
Uptight wasn’t exactly a description he’d use for what he was feeling at the moment. “I’m not used to social gatherings.”
She seemed to sense his truth so she answered with her own. “Neither am I. I haven’t been to a wedding in a long time.”
“People make me…nervous.” Wrong word, right idea. They made him thirsty.
She quirked her lips. “The dead don’t.”
“The dead?”
She nodded. They walked up to the first parking lot, and she stopped by a silver car. “Not such a long walk. I dropped off my car earlier. Primo spot.” She looked around. “Even under a light.”
Hunter nodded, wishing for a few more moments with her. Time. Ever a friend. Ever an enemy. “Perhaps you can give me a lift to my vehicle, then? I was not so fortunate.”
“Sure. Get in.”
He walked around her car to the passenger side and got in. “Ahhh. Your license plates. You’re a doctor.”
“Yes. A pathologist.”
“Now I get the humor.” She drove them up through several levels, up to the last parking area on the grounds. “There.” He pointed to his SUV all the way at the end of the lot. “Tori. Tonight while you looked out at the lights, you called me inventive. Perhaps I am. Bold, even. I wanted to ease your sadness. I can, if you wish.”
Her eyes widened. “Thanks for the offer, but no thanks. I’m not really all that pitiful. ”
“I thought no such thing,” he exclaimed, hoping she believed he was telling her the truth.
“Well then, your words make me feel better, sort of,” she told him. “But the answer is still no.”
Hunter bowed his head. He’d hoped she would tell him no and respected her for not taking the easy way out. “A kiss, perhaps?”
This time she didn’t say no, so he leaned over and nuzzled the shell of her ear. His mouth watered as his lips grazed the tantalizing pulse in her neck. His incisors grew, but he pulled them in as he lifted back and simply pressed a kiss onto her cheek. “I am very pleased to have met you.”
She smiled, a hint of pink suffusing her cheeks. How incredibly inviting. How very hard to deny his need and let go. “Good night, Tori.”
“Good night.”
Sam approached him as he leaned against his car, waiting for her. “You should’ve gone with her.”
He drew his brows together. “I have duties to perform.”
“Really, Hunter. You’re allowed a night off once in a while. You do the same for your soldiers, don’t you?”
“Of course.” He threw her a look. As much as he tried to keep the sneer out of his tone, he couldn’t. “You seem to have taken advantage of the evening.”
She whipped her head around and stared at him. He watched her mouth open and thought he was to be scolded, but she shook her head. “Because I understand the need to have fun, Hunter.” She turned and stared into space for a moment. “When I was a little girl my people would dance until the sun began to rise in the sky. That’s why they’re called celebrations.”
“Fun is an illusion.” Her hand reached out. He moved away slightly. “I don’t want your pity.”
“Fine. I won’t give it then. Your will is your own. But maybe it’s time for you to change, to indulge in a few illusions. Go after her.”
He pushed off the car and opened the door for his friend. He would take Sam back to the compound, put Mercedes in charge, and, to his eternal regret, do exactly what Sam had told him to do. Go after Tori.
Chapter Two
Dr. Victoria Roberts yawned. She tried to lift her heavy eyelids. The road blurred for a split second, then came back into focus with startling clarity. A slither of fear raced through her veins. She gripped the steering wheel tighter and shifted in her seat. Time to stop and get some caffeine.
She pulled into the Forked River rest area, noting a pit stop wouldn’t hurt either. She wondered if she wouldn’t have been better off staying with the rest of the guests in the hotel. As she washed her hands, the jolt of cold water woke her up.
No help for that now, she thought. Besides, home was less than a half an hour away. And the coffee was strong enough to help her stay awake for the rest of the ride.
Tori pushed open the double doors of the rest stop with her elbow, a habit all doctors had f
rom not wanting to touch door handles. She took another sip, grimaced as the strong brew seared down her esophagus, and stopped dead in her tracks. The long, black, and very sleek limousine was hard to miss in the nearly empty parking lot, as was the driver’s obvious right to park the vehicle anywhere he pleased.
“Umm. Excuse me. Your limousine is blocking in my car.”
A blond-haired man leaned against the hood of the limo, wearing dark sunglasses even though it was the dead of night. Without answering, he walked over and opened the door to the back of the limo.
Did he really think she would get in?
Tori backed up toward the double doors of the rest stop. She’d seen a state trooper buying coffee just before she had. She prayed he was still there.
“I would suggest you get inside.” The man had the look of a bodyguard even though he swept his hand, palm up, toward the back of the vehicle.
Fat chance. Not only did Tori have a cup of hot coffee in her hand, she had pepper spray in her bag and a ton of self-defense courses under her belt.
“They won’t help you,” he added.
“Really.”
Wait a minute. How did he know what she was thinking?
The next thing she knew, the man was in her face and she hadn’t even had time to draw in a deep breath.
“I’m not quite sure I want to ask again.”
He leaned into her neck, moving up and down as if he was an animal and she possessed a scent he couldn’t resist. “Delectable,” he murmured.
Tori tried to pull away. His grip tightened. She brought her heel down on top of his shoe as hard as she could. He yelped as he let go.
Tori whirled and got her fingers on the door handle of the rest stop, then thought her hair would pull right out of her scalp. “Arrahhh!”
“Hold!”
Despite the pain radiating through her skull, Tori recognized that voice. The man from the wedding. Chaz’s boss. The one who’d told her he was a vampire.
Tori lifted her free hand and tried to pry away the fingers fisted in her hair. Cold. Impossibly cold. Cadaver cold. What the—?
“Rolf.”
“Hunter.”
Tori knew the sound of two alpha males circling one another. She listened to it all the time in the hospital.
“What are you doing here?”
Relief. Sweet, sweet relief as the yanking fingers ceased their dirty work and let go. Tori shook her head and rubbed her scalp with her fingertips, massaging the abused skin.
“I could ask the same of you, except, wait a minute,” the blond fiend tapped his forefinger against his cheek. “You live here, don’t you?”
“Nice of you to remember.”
Hunter. Hunter Pierce was his name. He owned the security company Chaz worked for. And he had a really unique pickup line.
Tori didn’t hesitate. While they were engrossed in finding out who was top alpha, she reached out, grabbed the door handle again, and pulled it open. She had only one intention, to find the cop inside or get someone to call one.
“Uh-uh-uh.” The blond wagged the same finger as he yanked the metal out of her grip. She moaned as he tightened his other hand around her biceps.
“Let her go, Rolf. I won’t ask again.”
“Rolf!”
The blond straightened. He threw her arm away as if she were poison and sauntered down the steps to the limo. Suddenly, Hunter was beside her, pushing up her sleeve to examine her arm. A low growl issued from his throat.
“Rolf. Get in the car. Now.”
Blond Boy obeyed.
“Miklos.”
An older man climbed out of the limousine, leaning heavily on a pearl-handled cane. He had salt-and-pepper hair and a rugged face which was lined with living. His suit looked to be Armani, but she wouldn’t exactly know Armani without looking at the label. She wasn’t that rich. But the suit simply fit as if it were made for him.
“Hunter.”
“What is the meaning of this?” Hunter asked. Tori heard anger threading his tone but also disbelief.
“I felt it necessary to keep an eye on the human. She was seen talking with Stacy.”
The human?
“In my territory?”
Hunter sounded…astonished. No more than Tori, though, with talk of territories and humans. What the hell was going on?
“I feared you wouldn’t be impartial. And Sam…well, Sam has a weakness toward them.”
Them? What the hell did that mean?
“How dare you!” Now Hunter sounded like a very insulted alpha number one.
The older man nodded and sighed. “Under the circumstances, I thought I—“
In her entire life, Tori had never heard words come out of someone’s mouth so cold as Hunter said, “There are no circumstances, Miklos. None. I could call you out right now.”
“You could. A challenge is your right. But the fight would not be fair.”
“What about your pretty boy lapdog?”
“Yes, then the fight would be fair, but the redemption of my honor would still be lacking. I prefer to fight my own fights.”
Fight? Really?
Hunter stiffened beside her. “You counted on that fact when you decided you had the right to come here and check up on me. Without permission. You are a snake and a bastard, and someday, there will be no hole or clump of grass for you to hide in.”
“Perhaps. But I protect my people, Hunter. What do you do?”
“I give them the caring and respect they deserve, something you seem to have forgotten. You don’t own them, Miklos.”
The elder man shrugged but seemed to lean more heavily on his cane. Even in the dark, Tori could make out the tension of his knuckles around the handle as his breath hissed inward.
Without thought or hesitation Tori said, “Sir, I’m a doctor. You need to get your weight off your leg before it gives way. Let me help you.”
Tori put her coffee down on the top step and rushed down the rest to put her shoulder under his arm. Just in time too, as his weight fell onto her. No sooner did she feel her knees buckle than Blonde Boy was there to help.
“I’ve got him.”
Blondie had taken off the shades. Instead of derision, Tori found caution and respect in his gaze as she followed. He helped the older man into the car, but the gentleman shook his head when Rolf went to close the door.
The old man motioned for her to approach. “Doctor, eh?”
“Yes. Your leg doesn’t look sturdy at all.”
The man grimaced. “A lion tried to make me his dinner. I won but paid the price.” He lifted his pants leg. The leg was missing literal chunks of muscle from the calf. She couldn’t imagine what his thigh looked like.
“Jeez,” she breathed.
All of a sudden she felt Hunter beside her. There was a long silence between the men, almost as if they were talking to each other. Then the old man said, “First it’s one. Then two. And three. Then there will be no end.”
“Perhaps. But we have more pressing problems requiring our attention. Their numbers are growing.”
“They are a pestilence.”
“And like the locust, they will destroy so much before they are done. Take care of your own home, and I will take care of mine.”
“See that you do, Hunter. See that you do.”
Blond Boy made to close the door, but Tori stopped him and asked, “May I do anything for you?”
The man smiled and shook his head. “Thank you for your kindness.” He turned to Hunter and added, “You know what must be done. Use the Lethe.”
“Yes.”
Tori watched Hunter and Blond Boy stare at each other again, then Rolf got in and the limo drove away. Once it was gone Hunter asked her, “May I follow you to your home to make sure you get there safely?”
“What’s ‘Lethe’?”
“Nothing.” He walked up the steps, picked up her cup, and handed her coffee to her. “Will you allow me?”
Tori considered. He seemed okay. He
was Chaz’s boss. And he’d just come to her rescue, although she wasn’t quite sure what kind of rescue it had been.
“All right. But once we reach the police station, you make a left at the light and follow the signs back to the parkway.”
He didn’t answer. He simply followed her to her car, held the door open for her, and leaned in once she was seated. He waited for her to place the coffee in the cup holder and leaned very close, so close she thought he might kiss her. Instead, he did the same as Blond Boy and ran his nose along the line of her neck. He leaned closer. There was a pinch, and an instantaneous warmth filling her groin. Then everything seemed to float from far away. What a night.
No way. No way in hell. There was no way in hell she would ever drive home in this condition. Tori sat up in her car, waiting for the world to stop rolling. Her stomach clenched, and she drew in a deep breath, letting out the air in short staccato huffs. Then her eyes widened. She knew her body. The antsy yearning in her core reminding her she hadn’t had sex in a very long time had been replaced by immense satisfaction. Indeed, she hadn’t felt this relaxed in years.
Tori groaned. The wedding. Stilted pictures that turned fuzzy and gray raced through her brain, pictures of fingers undoing her jeans, lifting her shirt out of her pants, slipping aside her thong. She strained to remember, then wondered if she really wanted to as a sinkhole grew wider and wider inside her belly. Oh no. No, no, no, no, no. Please tell me I didn’t make a complete fool of myself.
She shook her head. Nausea consumed her as her stomach flipped, and Tori stilled until the waves stopped creating havoc. She rubbed her temples with her fingers, but not from pain, simply to try to right the world. Dear lord, had she made an absolute spectacle of herself?
Completely and utterly mortified, Tori let her head fall and rested her forehead on the steering wheel. She banged it lightly on the plastic over and over again, very good at heaping blame on herself, not very good at letting go of it. She’d opened her heart a smidge for Stacy and Chaz, let their love inside and ended up with the sadness consuming her again. My own damned fault. So stupid. So incredibly dumb.
Honorable Rogue Page 2
