by Kate Douglas
Covering an inappropriate whoop with a cough, Chloe grinned as the pieces fell into place. “Someone’s getting laid. Finally.”
The flush went straight to fluorescent red. “Shut up,” Tess hissed. Her gaze flicked to the men again, and Chloe’s eyebrows arched so high she wouldn’t have been surprised if they met her hairline.
“So . . . which agent is it?”
Tess closed her eyes, swallowing a low moan. “Jesus.”
“Well, there are only three adult options standing over there, and unless he’s perfected time travel, I know Merek didn’t have time to be with anyone last night but me.” Actually, time travel was a magical impossibility, so unless he was pulling out some scientific technology she’d never heard of, her assumption was pretty safe. She checked the men again to make sure none of them were listening. They seemed intent on their own conversation. “So . . . which one?”
“Luca.” Tess sighed, and the sound was more infatuated pleasure than resignation. “He calls me ‘mia diletta.’ It means ‘my delectable’ in Italian. Or is it ‘my delight’? I don’t remember. Hell, I usually hate pet names. I’ve gone insane.”
Yeah, and the fact that vampires fed during sex made the delectable pet name even funnier to anyone who knew the truth about Luca. Chloe wasn’t laughing though. Cavalli was from a family that ruled the Vampire Conclave. His father sat on the All-Magickal Council with Aunt Millie. Likely he was playing with a human for a little variety in his sex life. Slumming with the Normal. Chloe wouldn’t usually judge anyone on his or her love life, but the fact that the Normal in question was her best friend pissed her off. She didn’t like that Tess might be a means of entertainment for a vampire, something to toy with and discard when it became boring. While Luca might be casual about burning up the sheets, Chloe knew Tess wasn’t. Tess might not be head over heels for Luca, but she wouldn’t sleep with a guy because he was handy and she was horny.
That was Chloe’s forte. And it had landed her in hot water this time. She bit off a groan and focused on Tess again. This wasn’t about Merek; this was about Luca. Chloe thought it might be a good idea to have a little chat with the vampire. Armed law enforcement officer or not, he wasn’t going to mess with her best friend and not get a clear understanding of the consequences for breaking her heart, Normal or not.
Vampires, oy.
Maybe he had a familiar she could hex into a lampshade.
Voices rose from the men’s corner, which drew Tess’s and her attention to their conversation. For the first time, Luca’s face wasn’t a mask of amiable urbanity. His mouth was tight with irritation, his hard gaze locked on Alex. “That is a foolish decision, boy. You cannot—”
The teen wolf folded his arms, his voice unruffled as he swept the men with a look. “Gentlemen, I’m not interested in protective custody. I don’t believe you can force me into it.”
Agent Laramie arched an eyebrow. “With your father missing and your mother dead, you—”
Alex interrupted once more, his tone unchanged. “My parents designated Chloe as my godmother and custodian if anything happened to them before I turned eighteen. I’ve seen their will; I have copies of it. If Chloe wants me here, I’m not going anywhere.”
“Chloe wants you here.” She extended her hand, and the wolf came to take it. They presented a solid front against the agents. “I don’t know what you’re trying to pull here, gentlemen. Alex is neither a suspect nor bait to lure out his father, or whoever has his father.” If Ivan was even alive. “Alex isn’t going anywhere without me. He’s staying where I can be certain he’s safe, where I can see that he’s safe.”
The frustration on the men’s faces would have been comical under any other circumstances, but she didn’t feel very amused by any of this. She’d fight dirty to keep Alex if she had to. Even if she hadn’t adored the boy, she owed that much to his mother’s memory. She favored the men with the kind of look Aunt Millie had perfected a century ago. It meant anyone who disagreed could just get the hell out of her way.
“Alex is my responsibility. I’m his godmother. I took unbreakable vows when he was born.” Unbreakable magical vows, at that. How many times did she have to say this before it got through? She spoke slowly and clearly, as if they had some kind of impairment. “I am his guardian. Anywhere he goes, I go, and vice versa. This is not negotiable.”
“Those men were chasing him for a reason. He has something, knows something, or is somehow of value to Leonard Smith. As are you. Together you’re far too tempting a target for them.” Luca ground the words out between his teeth. “The kid has a death warrant out on his life.”
“If you’re asking if I’m willing to die for him, then the answer is yes.” Her fingers fisted in the blankets. “That’s the end of the discussion.”
“Not quite.” A tiny whirlwind in a vintage Chanel suit swept into the room, the door whipping open so quickly, it was obvious to anyone with magical powers that she’d breached some sort of warding spell to get in.
The first real, wide smile of the day stretched Chloe’s lips. “Aunt Millie!”
A short, broad middle-aged man in a nondescript black suit stepped in after Millie, closed the door behind them, and stood in front of it at soldierly attention. Millie’s driver-cum-bodyguard, Philip Bakke. Chloe thought he might also be her aunt’s lover, half her age or not, but had never had the nerve to pry into Millie’s private life. Her aunt shared or she didn’t.
“How did you know I was here?” And if her aunt had known she was in the hospital, why had it taken her so long to show up?
“I called her.” The sentence echoed in three different voices—Alex’s, Tess’s, and Merek’s.
Luca growled a low curse, and he met Merek’s gaze, raised an eyebrow, but neither man spoke. Then again, what could either of them say? They’d both stepped outside the lines of professionalism recently. Merek wasn’t involved in her case anymore, but banging her in his office had hardly been good conduct. Ditto Luca’s banging of Tess the night before. Her connection to Chloe made her a connection to a case he was actively working on. That didn’t leave either man much room to point fingers. Nothing they’d done was strictly unethical, but neither were they squeaky clean. Chloe had a feeling that was a rare occurrence for both of them. She wasn’t sure whether to be impressed or not that she and Tess had apparently tempted them beyond reason.
In Merek’s case, she was just glad, since she was just as tempted, if not more so. She was definitely more tempted than she wanted to be.
Millie’s lips quirked in a grin. “My telephone was busy today.” She offered a stately nod to Tess. “If you wouldn’t mind, dear. Philip can drive you anywhere you need to go.”
Tess looked as if she wanted to protest, but a pointed look from Millie was all it took to keep her silent. She turned to Chloe and hugged her tight. “Take care. Of you and Alex, you hear me? Call me if you need anything.”
Tears stung Chloe’s eyes, but she squeezed her best friend, praying this wasn’t the last time she saw the redhead. “You know I will. To all of that. I love you, honey.”
“I love you, too.” With one final squeeze, Tess let her go and went to give Alex a quick hug before she nodded to Millie and then to Philip when he stepped aside and held the door open for her. “I have my car with me, but thanks for the offer.”
She sent a last glance to Luca, but left without another word.
“Right,” Millie said when the door shut, angling a look that was almost apologetic toward Chloe. “Much as I like Dr. Jones, Normals shouldn’t hear Magickal business, so let’s get on with this, shall we?”
“What are we getting on with, exactly?” Chloe met Merek and Alex’s gazes, narrowing her eyes at them. “No one has told me anything.”
Her aunt blinked. “But, Alex said he’d tell the FBI you’re not going into protective custody.”
Luca stepped forward and almost looked like he wanted to sweep a courtly bow to her aunt. “Ms. Standish, I can’t begin to tell y
ou how unwise that course of action would be. While I know it’s difficult to understand how necessary it is to have your niece and her godson leave their lives behind, they are in grave danger, and that danger only worsens if they remain here as easy targets for the terrorist cell that wants them.”
“Ah, I see.” Millie’s eyes twinkled with a glee that would give anyone who knew her pause. Chloe braced herself. “You mean, they’ll be safer with you and your team?”
“Yes, they will be.” He stroked his fingers down his goateed chin.
Millie tilted her head in apparent innocence, and Chloe almost groaned. “As safe as my niece was last night, when a trusted member of your team betrayed you and allowed her to be tortured for information? That safe, you mean?”
A muscle in Luca’s jaw ticked, but he said nothing more.
“Let me be clear, Special Agent Cavalli.” Millie dropped her act and gave the vampire the kind of look that had been making grown men cry for over a century. “Chloe and Alex are not going with you. Not now, not ever. I don’t trust you to keep them safe, and I will be having words with your supervisor about what occurred last night. Since your father is as powerful as I am on the Council, I think it’s safe to say you won’t be fired, but a mistake was made, and it was made with a member of my family. I take that very personally.”
“I understand.” This time he did execute a short bow. “Ma’am.”
“Good.” She swept an imperious hand toward the door. “Then I suggest you leave now and take your lackey with you. Your supervisor—and, subsequently, you—are going to see just how unhappy this situation has made me. You should call your father and let him know he’s going to need to go to bat for you on this.”
“Of course.” Jerking his chin at Agent Laramie, the vampire turned for the door. Philip opened it, not a single flicker of expression crossing his face. Before he exited, Luca paused for a closing salvo. “You may think I was mistaken in choosing one of my team members, but that should only emphasize how much danger Chloe and Alex are in.”
“It does.” Her chin dipped in a nod. “I’ve made alternative arrangements for them.”
“Have you?” His eyes gleamed as they locked on Merek. The vampire pinned the warlock in place for a long moment. Then he huffed out a breath, and a wry smile flickered across his face. “With your clairvoyance, you have a better shot than anyone else I know of. Take care of them.”
Merek winced before his face became an impenetrable mask. “I will.”
The vampire opened his mouth to say more, but clamped it shut again and walked out, Laramie on his heels.
“Why are you still here?” Luca snarled at someone outside the room.
A throaty laugh floated through the doorway, and Tess’s voice was soft but clear. “What? You think I couldn’t guess she was going to kick you out, too? Even Special Agents aren’t that special in Aunt Millie’s world. Besides, I drove, remember? I thought you might need a lift.”
Luca grunted and snapped the door shut behind him.
Millie’s eyebrow arched, an irreverent sparkle in her Standish hazel eyes. “Well, then. She should have him jumping through her hoops nicely . . . and in very short order, I suspect.”
“Keep an eye on her for me, would you?” Chloe smoothed the blanket over her thighs. “I don’t want her getting hurt by a Magickal just because she has the misfortune to be my friend and therefore crossed paths with one.”
“Of course.” Millie waved a graceful hand. “I’ll look after all your affairs while you’re away. Don’t worry about a thing, dear.”
“Thank you.” Chloe took a deep breath. “All right. Tell me about the alternative arrangements you and Merek have made.”
“Yeah, I’d like to hear about this, too.” Alex’s mouth curved in a small grin. “Millie forgot to mention it to me when I called her.”
Millie sniffed. “I did no such thing. If I’d wished to mention it to you, I would have.”
His grin stretched into a rare, broad smile, his pale green eyes dancing with amusement. “My mistake.”
“Just so.” Millie nodded, but her eyes had taken on that sinful twinkle again. It had always amused Chloe to no end to watch the stoic teen wolf and the curmudgeonly old witch play off each other.
Merek’s expression remained unreadable when he faced Millie. “Before we do this, Ms. Standish, I have to tell you that my clairvoyance is blank when it comes to your niece. I can offer my skills as a cop, but not my precognition.”
That made Millie pause, and she gave the detective a long, penetrating stare. Chloe was impressed that he didn’t fidget or squirm. Older, more powerful Magickals than him had broken under Millie’s scrutiny before. “Do you think anyone else would be as dedicated to their security as you would?”
“No, ma’am. I would die to keep them safe. Anything I can do to protect them, I will, I promise you that.”
“I hope that’s enough, but I’d rather have you than some team of men who turn on their masters.” Millie set her enormous handbag on the end of the bed, pulling out a myriad of strange things. Folded clothes, manila envelopes, a cosmetics bag, a sheaf of paper—Chloe suspected her aunt had put a spell on her purse to make it fit anything she wanted because as enormous as the bag was, it couldn’t store all of that. Without help, anyway.
Millie turned to wave Merek forward, only to find he’d already stepped over to loom behind her. He was good at looming, but Millie wasn’t any better at letting someone loom over her than Chloe was. She grinned when her aunt gave him an affronted look. He lifted an eyebrow and motioned to the lineup of items she had on the foot of the bed. The gesture wasn’t as impatient as it would have been if he’d been dealing with Chloe, but that just proved he was a smart man. No one messed with Mildred Standish.
Chloe hoped she was just as formidable when she was her aunt’s age.
Moving the pile of clothes to drape across Chloe’s feet, Millie smiled. “These are for you, dear.”
And that was why she loved Millie so very much. “You’re the best.”
“Yes, I know.” Her aunt winked at her, but her expression turned severe just as quickly when she returned her gaze to Merek. “I collected all the documents you required, Detective Kingston. I’ve already spoken to your supervisor, and you are on indefinite paid leave. Make sure my niece and her godson come through this safely, and you can name your price from me.”
“Thank you, ma’am.” He scooped up the envelopes, fishing out . . . plastic cards? But he examined them closely, squinting at them, tilting them into the light to see every angle. “These look good.”
“Philip had the contacts; I had the money. Combine those two and excellent quality can be assured in a relatively short amount of time.”
Alex reached out and deftly plucked the cards from Merek’s fingers, his lupine speed making the movement so fast, Chloe didn’t even see him move. He glanced at them. “Huh.”
Then he handed them to Chloe. Identification. Fake identification. Both the cards had her driver’s license picture on them, but neither had her real name. She had to assume there were cards for Alex and Merek, too. “So we’re running.”
Merek shrugged and met her gaze. “Like you said, Luca was going to swoop in and take you where I couldn’t be sure you were safe.”
“Because the FBI trumps the police. So you called someone who trumped everyone.” She gestured the cards in Millie’s direction.
“Yeah.”
“Good thinking.”
His breath whooshed out. “Yeah?”
“You could have warned me.” She sniffed, and watched a small grin twitch across his face. His gaze slid from her to Millie and back again; a flash of realization crossed his expression, and then he shrugged, his smile widening.
Chloe winced as something occurred to her. “If we’re on the run, there’s no way I can take my memory potion. It takes very precise conditions to keep it viable, has insanely complicated ingredients, and a very short shelf life.”
/> “So, you’ll know everything Smith wants in a week or two.” Merek’s grin disappeared, then he sighed. “But that’s data Alex already has readily available in his head, so we won’t be much worse off than we would have been; we just won’t have your potion’s unexpected advantage anymore. I don’t intend to let anyone close enough to you to find out you can spill secrets.”
“I like that plan,” Chloe said with a little too much fervor.
Millie watched the byplay, tilting her head as she considered them. She nodded abruptly, but Chloe had no idea what conclusions her aunt had come to. “Philip and I will take Alex back to his house to gather whatever clothing he wants, and Merek will do the same for you, Chloe. I assume you’ll want to take your familiar with you, but if not, I will happily house her for you.”
Merek glanced at Chloe. “That might be—”
“No. My familiar comes with me. She’s been with me since my mom died, and I’m not abandoning her.” Chloe refused to think about the awful days after her mother’s death or about how Ophelia had come to be her animal companion. She’d done her best to put those events behind her and dredging them up would help no one.
Hands on his hips, Merek stared down at her. “Chloe, it’s important that you and Alex change your usual patterns, leave as many of your habits behind as possible. That means no computers for Alex. No gadgets. No modifying the very simple cell phone I give you for emergencies only to do anything it shouldn’t. No hacking anything. Hell, it means no e-mail. Nothing.” He gestured to the trendy clothes on the bed. “You, city girl, get no more makeup, no expensive clothing. No going to Magickal clubs. No more big city life for you.”
The look of horror on Alex’s face was probably reflected on Chloe’s. No city. No lights. No people. It was her worst nightmare summed up in a handful of sentences.
“He’s right, dear.” Millie’s expression held so much understanding and sympathy when she met Chloe’s gaze that she had to look away or she knew she’d start tearing up. Only Millie knew why Chloe craved city life and lights, and Chloe wasn’t about to explain how pathetic she was to a big bad warlock cop.
