She knew the answer to that question.
We’ve all got questions, vamp. Like how long will you be around for this time? Burke’s words rumbled through her mind. She felt the intensity of his gaze, his concern for his brother, all the way to her bones. Just don’t get his hopes up if yer gonna be leavin’ him again.
She didn’t know what to tell him. She wasn’t sure of much. Not her past and certainly not her future.
He stuck another chunk of bread in his mouth and then carried his empty plate into the kitchen.
Why did everyone think it was her fault for leaving Laurent in the first place? As if she had any control over that. Maybe she had. She couldn’t know. But she didn’t think she would have gone willingly. Did they all know something she didn’t? Had she really broken Laurent’s heart on purpose?
Her gaze fell on the chess board on the table next to her. Jean Claude had taught her how to play. Those lessons seemed like an eternity ago. In fact, she could barely remember his face now.
But she could still remember the ancient chess board where she’d learned to play. Funny how life had turned out to be very similar to a game of chess. A series of movements, forward, back, side to side. And all for what? To capture someone else’s king?
So much battle and warfare.
Over and over she’d made her moves. Being a good soldier. Followed orders. Slain the king.
She was nothing more than a pawn.
She gulped. She’d lost her life in the process. And why? To get away from Emil? To protect herself? She’d protected herself too well. She couldn’t even remember the love of her life. A love so strong that Laurent had mourned her for centuries.
A single tear rolled down her cheek. She’d lost so much. Experienced so much. And yet, when it came down to what mattered. What really mattered…Regardless of all the missions she’d completed for Madame, she’d never felt complete. Whole.
She brushed away the tear as the white pieces blurred together with the black.
Being with Laurent…she felt complete. Whole. Loved. Accepted. Like she had a future that mattered. Like she could control her destiny. She let out a shaky laugh as happiness bubbled inside her.
Funny how she’d lived for so long and never known. Never understood herself. What she really wanted. What she dreamed of. What she needed.
A heartbeat drew her attention away from the board and she looked over her shoulder to find Jules leaning against the doorframe.
He looked at her for a long moment before glancing at the board in front of her. Then he chewed his lip as if making a decision. Mind made up, he stepped across the cozy room and took the seat opposite her.
She watched every movement, waiting for him to say something. Another biting comment perhaps.
Wordlessly he moved a white pawn two spaces. She raised her eyebrows. Then made a move of her own. He countered.
She studied the board and moved a knight.
He glanced out at the night. “I apologize for what I said the other night.”
“There’s no need to apologize.”
He moved another piece. “You’re leaving then?”
It was her turn to study the board. “No.”
She couldn’t leave Laurent. Didn’t want to.
She moved her rook into position, deftly swiping his piece in the process.
“No?”
“I’m still waiting on Emil to make his move.” She set his piece to the left of the board, a trace of satisfaction curving her lips.
“What if he doesn’t make a move?”
She glanced up into his deep brown eyes. “Then I guess you’re just stuck with me.”
He laughed. Actually tipped back his head and laughed. The sound was rich and happy and made her feel like less of an outsider. “I can imagine many things worse than having you in the Pack.”
They made another volley of moves. “Emil will come. Now that I’m with Laurent again he’ll feel threatened. The bastard has always wanted me for himself. It’s probably why he changed me in the first place.”
“You’re with Laurent now?” He eyed her skeptically, as if looking for a sign of her change of heart. She doubted he’d see the change in her.
She was tired of running. Tired of traveling the world to complete another job. She was tired of the death. All of the sorrow that filled her nights. She was tired of the evil that surrounded her.
Laurent was like a ray of bright light. A stream of warmth she yearned to step into.
“I’m his mate,” she said simply.
“You think Emil knows that?”
“Emil smelled Laurent all over me. I think he knew how much Laurent meant to me and that by being with him again...”
“Your memory could return.”
She nodded and captured another of his pieces.
“But who knows what Emil is thinking. I prefer not to try. He’s mounted a small army. I doubt he’d just give me up without a fight.”
“Give you up?”
“He’s my sire. Nothing more.”
“But he wanted more.”
“Since the very beginning.”
“You’re a strong woman.”
“I’m a smart woman. You don’t need to be strong to turn down a slug like Emil.”
“I imagine you’d need to be very strong. Vampires are known for the mind-altering powers.”
“I guess I just have a good resistance to bull shit then.”
He laughed. “Check.”
Cayenne lowered her gaze to the checkered board, a familiar hum of adrenaline flowing through her veins. Time to go in for the kill.
A slow smile curved her lips as her hand hovered above the board. She moved her knight into position, taking his queen.
“Checkmate.”
Chapter Thirteen
Laurent slipped from the bed and stepped to the window. Cayenne raked her gaze over his broad shoulders, down over that gloriously naked and perfectly round ass. She'd memorized the feel of his hard body gliding against hers during the past seven days.
Enjoying anything as much as she enjoyed sex with Laurent bordered on obsession. But try as she might—and she’d tried hard these past few days—she couldn't deny her need to feel him inside her. And he certainly didn't object.
In fact, he'd given her the look so often she was starting to feel sunburned. Not a good thing for a vamp.
“André says the hurricane’ll be here in the next two or three days,” he said. Thunder rumbled, disturbing an otherwise peaceful evening.
“I’m not used to all this stormy weather,” she said, getting out of bed. She crossed the room and hugged him from behind.
He chuckled. Her fingers glided across his abs, and she relished the warmth of his skin. How had he come to mean so much to her so quickly?
So far, there had been no sign of Emil, and she could tell that Laurent was still overcoming his jealousy of Jean Claude.
He'd wanted the truth, so she'd given it to him. She wasn't going to sugar coat things for him. Better he knew the truth, or as much of it as she remembered.
Laurent trapped her hands beneath his. She smiled against his shoulder.
“I think I’m starting to get the hang of making biscuits,” she murmured, hoping to make him feel better.
He laughed. “I’m glad you’re feeling more at home.”
“Me too.” She was glad she’d come to a truce with Jules. And that André and Burke accepted her. That she’d found friends in Amanda and Angelica. Real friends. Friends she could laugh with. It felt so good to laugh.
She felt him reading her mind and knew that he wasn’t feeling as jubilant as she was.
He was silent for several moments and then he sighed.
“Are you ever going to tell me the name of the man who hired you to kill me?
She’d kept that truth from him long enough. And she was tired of the secrets that had held her hostage for so long. “It wasn't a man.”
“It was a woman?” Laurent frowned. W
ho had he pissed off? He’d had his share of affairs, but he'd always made sure they were happy even after he left. “Her name?”
“Marie Bernard-Deveraux.”
“My aunt Marie? Are you joking?” He spun around.
She shrugged. “How would I know?”
Damn. She was right. She wouldn’t know the names of his family back in France. But this news…
He pulled on a pair of worn jeans, then grabbed a shirt off of the chair. Turning on his heel, he stormed out of the room. The old wooden floor boards creaked under his weight as he stalked downstairs.
“Sebastian,” he said, entering the kitchen. “I have the name.” He buttoned the shirt.
Sebastian put down his mug and stood, his dark eyes going stormy. “Who is it?”
“Your mother.”
“What?” his cousin asked, incredulous. By his reaction, Laurent was sure that even with the bad blood between him and his mother, Sebastian was going to come out swinging.
“Cayenne said the woman who hired her to kill me was Marie Bernard-Deveraux. Do you know anyone else by that name?”
Sebastian's fists turned white, but he kept them by his sides. There were too many questions left unanswered. Too many coincidences lately.
“Why does she want me dead?” Laurent asked. “I thought she hated you.”
“I have no idea. Are you sure you heard—”
“Correctly? Yes.”
“Perhaps she's lyin’.”
Laurent’s temper flared and he cut his eyes at his cousin. “Why would she do that?”
“To cause problems? I don't know.”
He’d thought they’d left that world behind. Life in Europe with their pack had been a supernatural soap opera.
They’d started over. Started fresh…without the violence. Without the vengeance. But it seemed to have followed them.
“I haven’t spoken to my moth—Marie Bernard-Deveraux in years,” Sebastian said quietly. He had that far away look in his eyes and Laurent assumed that his cousin didn’t even remember the last time he’d spoken to his mother. He’d probably lost count of the years, as Laurent had.
From the corner of his eye he saw a dark figure at the edge of the yard. “Where’s Burke?” he asked, but he already knew the answer.
“In the den, I guess.” Sebastian frowned. “Why?”
“They’re here.”
Sebastian cursed as he stepped across the kitchen and flipped off the lights. Centuries old instincts kicked in, putting Laurent on high alert. In his heart he’d known Emil wouldn’t let Cayenne go without a fight. Laurent couldn’t really blame the vamp. Laurent would fight to the death for her.
Lightning lit the room and Laurent saw a look in Sebastian’s eyes that he’d never seen before. Always the consummate Alpha of their pack, Sebastian was a strong leader. A fierce warrior. Fearless.
Marrying Amanda had changed him. In more ways than the obvious. He’d never, in all the years Laurent had known him, had fear in his eyes.
But then, the love of a woman changed a man. Soothed the beast. Laurent felt that familiar ache in his chest. Not from love. But from the fear of losing Violet—Cayenne again. Once in a lifetime was more than enough.
Cayenne? He reached out with his mind.
I see them, she replied.
He stepped to the side of the window to watch their opponent approach. “I count two,” he whispered. Thunder rattled the window panes.
“Two more out front,” Sebastian said quietly from the other side of the room. “They’ve got us surrounded.”
Laurent nodded. “Go protect Amanda,” he urged.
The tension in the air was thicker than the humidity in a summer swamp. Sebastian wasted no time and headed off into the darkness.
Laurent continued to watch the windows, letting the beast inside him hover just below the surface. A few well place swipes with his claws and those vamps would be dead.
He heard a thump from somewhere in the center of the house and moved toward it.
One down, Sebastian’s deep voice filled his mind.
André chimed in. Two dead on this side of da house.
Laurent held his breath as he heard the floorboards creek in the hallway. He saw a gun and the pencil thin vampire holding it. Lightning lit the room but the illumination came to late.
Laurent’s claws sliced through the vampires neck and his body hit the ground.
They must have sent in the dumb ones, Laurent informed the others.
A loud crash on the second floor had Laurent racing toward the stairs.
When Laurent pushed open his door, he found Cayenne spinning through the air, her sword drawn. A vamp stood at the foot of the bed trying to catch her in the sights of his gun. Before Laurent could move, change, or even growl, she'd taken down her opponent. His head fell to the floor with a thud. The vamp's body crumbled into a heap and then turned to powder.
“Let's go,” he told her and started for the hallway.
A bullet splintered the door frame.
“This way,” she called.
He slammed the door and shoved the dresser in front of it for good measure. The window shattered like a bomb hit it. He turned just in time to see his favorite chair sail through the air. She gave him an apologetic shrug and stepped onto the ledge.
Adrenaline surged through his bloodstream as he surveyed the ground. A ball of flame hurtled through the air below. A window in Sebastian’s room shattered and fumes assaulted his nose.
Fire!
Everyone out, Cayenne added.
More bullets drove them out the window onto the roof of the porch below.
Laurent pulled her to him and gave her a fierce kiss before he leapt off the roof. He landed in a crouch; she, in a lunge. He spotted Sebastian sprinting towards the grove of trees behind the house, with Amanda thrown over his shoulder.
The vampire who’d thrown the torch into the house rushed him. Laurent let his beast rush forward another notch and caught the vamp around the middle. He flipped the vamp over his head and turned to finish him off. But Cayenne was already there, her sword slicing through the air. The vampire’s head hit the dirt just before his body.
“Come on.” They needed to develop a new plan with the others.
Laurent put one foot in front of the other and raced toward the tree line. Cayenne matched him stride for stride. He hissed out a breath as a bullet tore through his arm, but he didn't slow down. A huge wolf raced by them at a dead run. Burke.
They met Sebastian, Jules, and Burke in the thick of the woods. When he turned back toward the house, all he saw was a flaming structure and smoke filling the sky. Rage surged through him, and the beast inside him demanded release.
A raindrop smacked his cheek, and he smelled the storm closing in.
“Those bastards,” Amanda yelled.
“You're hit,” Cayenne said, her gaze fixed on the blood oozing through Laurent’s shirt sleeve.
“I'll live.”
A crash drew their attention back to the house. A body landed on the lawn, and a werewolf leapt on top of it.
“André,” Sebastian whispered.
Laurent watched his cousin, now part man, part wolf, close his massive jaws around the vamp's head and give it a good shake. Even from this distance, he could see blood and hear the bones crush.
Beside him, Cayenne sucked in a breath. He pulled her to his side and let his gaze sweep over the yard.
“You need to go. Take Amanda and Angel with you,” Laurent told her. Two more vamps rounded the corner just as André disappeared behind the garage.
She shook her head quickly. “You guys, go. I need to finish this.” Cayenne pulled her hair back into a ponytail.
“Like hell you will,” Laurent said.
“Just go. You're wounded.”
“Not anymore.” He ripped the sleeve off his shirt to show he was already healed.
“We're not letting you fight alone,” Jules said. His cousin’s words surprised him. But some
one needed to make sure Amanda and Angel were safe.
“Go with Burke,” Sebastian told Amanda and Angelica. “He's the fastest.” The two human women didn't look like they were going to budge. In fact, Amanda looked angry enough to rip off someone’s head. But when André came through the trees, towering, half furry, with a wolf's snout and claws at the ends of his fingers, and a sword in his hand they raced further into the woods with Burke on their heels.
Laurent let his beast take over and endured the painful tearing of muscle, the popping and contracting of his bones. His vision got better, as did his hearing and sense of smell. His clothes disintegrated around him, and he dared not look at the woman next to him.
He let out a low growl, and it was matched by the three werewolves to his left. A feminine growl lifted to his ears, and he jerked his gaze to the right. Cayenne’s eyes were silver; her fangs, long and glistening white. The corners of her ruby lips were pulled into a grin.
She looked deadly. And hauntingly beautiful.
“So I don't sound quite as intimidating,” she said simply, then flicked her gaze back to the field where the vamps were lining up.
Your mate has spunk, I'll give her that. Jules words whispered through his mind.
But can she fight? Sebastian asked.
“Watch and see boys,” Cayenne said aloud. “Watch and see.”
And then she was gone.
While they started through the woods slowly, sticking close to the trees, sizing up their opponents, Cayenne moved with supernatural speed, meeting her adversary like a streak of lightning sent down from the sky.
The vamps advanced on them with their guns drawn. Two of them headed for Laurent.
Lightning splintered the night sky and lit up the yard like a football stadium. When the vamps were finally within the grove, he turned to his cousins. A silent message passed between them, and they spread out. André and I will take the front, Sebastian said.
A bullet whizzed by Laurent’s head. The bastard never even saw Sebastian coming. More shots rang out and the battle began. Over the gunfire, Laurent heard a vamp cry out and turned to see Cayenne wielding her sword with deadly accuracy. Another vamp approached, his bony finger on the trigger of his weapon, but her speed and grace let her sidestep the bullets.
Seduced by a Cajun Werewolf Page 10
