“Jane,” Bruiser said, his voice close. I stiffened and the coals flared up again in front of me, the heat searing. I stepped back from it quickly. Into his arms. He closed them around me, trapping me. “This is not over, between us.” When I didn’t reply, he said, “Nod if you understand.”
I nodded and he stepped away just as Evangelina opened the door and walked out onto the porch; someone was behind her. It was Tyler. Tyler stopped on the porch, as if surprised, and the two men measured one another for a moment. “We only marinated three steaks,” Bruiser said. “We’ll need to get another from the fridge.”
“I’ve eaten,” Tyler said, his voice betraying no emotion.
“Well I haven’t,” Evangelina said. “I’m starved. Beer?” She wrinkled her nose. “I’ll get a bottle of wine. Beer or wine, red or white, Tyler?”
“Wine, please. Red.”
“I have a lovely Spanish Garnacha that will do nicely with steak,” she said as she whirled and returned to the house, leaving us three outside.
“I wondered if you came here,” Tyler said in his careful, noncommittal tone.
“Safe port in a storm.” Bruiser gave a negligent shrug. “Isn’t that what you called it? How are the negotiations going? Anything I can help with?”
“Negotiations?” I asked, not happy being compared to a safe body of water.
Beast is not safe, she said to me, insulted.
To me, Bruiser said, “Tyler has taken over security measures at the council house and at Leo’s clan home. And all other of my duties, I would imagine.” Bruiser gave a slight smile, cool and collected. “I imagine security concerns have been pushed into the background with the police investigation and the arrival of the DipSec people.”
DipSec. Diplomatic Security. Got it.
“Not at all. I spoke with Leo only a half hour ago. He wants you to handle the witch negotiations, and to move ahead briskly. His words.” The tone was scornful, mocking, and though I didn’t know what was going on exactly, it was clear that there was bad blood between the two men. Grudgingly, Tyler added, “Katie is being cared for by Sabina in the protective custody of the clan home. She is well, though still in the devoveo of healing.” That sounded like Leo’s message too, though Tyler didn’t specify so.
Bruiser inclined his head with a falsely pleasant air, but I could feel the satisfaction in him. He took the job as some kind of affirmation from Leo, and maybe it was. Tyler seemed unhappy about it. “Has Leo fed from you yet, or are you still second to me?”
Tyler almost snarled, “Your prime place is still secure.”
I had thought the men friends, or, if not pals, at least good coworkers, comfortable acquaintances. I was wrong. Tyler turned his cold stare to me and I recalled the body search that had ended with Tyler on the ground and his windpipe in my hands. Tyler was remembering it too, and he wasn’t someone who forgot a disgrace or a slight no matter how minor. His gaze dropped to my breasts and along my body, an insulting perusal, and back to my eyes, promising that a rematch would end differently. We understood one another perfectly, like two junkyard dogs understand one another without a bark or a snarl being exchanged. I had embarrassed him in front of Leo, so he wanted me dead. Simple as a dogfight. I laughed softly and said, “Get in line, Sugar. Get in line.” Rage, icy as a mountain stream seemed to roil from him. Beast hissed, close in my mind.
Tyler’s eyes sparkled with hate and a promise of retribution, but before he could act on it, Evangelina opened the door and stepped out, carrying a wine carafe and two glasses, a plate, utensils, and a happy, chatty attitude that shut down the malicious emotional tides. They swirled like undercurrents through the next hour of chitchat but never resurfaced, and Tyler left before ten, pleading a busy day working for Leo. It was a last jibe at Bruiser, who smiled and lifted his fifth—or was it his sixth?—bottle of beer in drunken good humor. As soon as Tyler’s car roared off, Bruiser excused himself and went up the stairs. Evangelina looked at me, perplexed. “Was it something I said?”
“No. They’re just being pissant men.” And with that I went to bed too, locking my bedroom door against a possible return of Bruiser’s amorous interest. I stood under the shower as the cold water sluiced off the sweat of the dance and my arousal, and I wished for icy mountain well water to stand under instead of the South’s tepid version. Feeling better, I pulled on shorts and a tee. Having guests was a pain, I thought, as I threw myself across my bed and closed my eyes. Maybe I should invest in some pj’s.
It was after two a.m. Saturday morning when I woke with a start, realizing that I had left the dishes for Evangelina. And then I heard the sound that had woken me.
CHAPTER 14
And He Ripped off My Shirt
Something had scratched at the front door. I rolled, taking up a vamp-killer from the bedside table, shoved stakes into my hair, and palmed my nine mil as I slid my toes through a pair of flops. I moved through the house in darkness, drawing on Beast’s night vision to make my way. I heard a creak from the top of the stairs and, even though it was probable that no one could see me in the dark, I held up a hand. “Wait,” I whispered.
“My wards went off,” Evangelina whispered back. “Something got in through the delivery slot in the front door, where I left a passageway for mail.”