Bad Mouth

chapter Seven


She’d left without Graham this time, and part of her dabbled with guilt. He’d be incredibly angry, especially after confessing his thoughts about Kade. It wasn’t a good idea, though, for him to mingle with Kade. Both of them were getting territorial over her, and Graham would never win if pitted against this Dominus.

It had become a safety issue and nothing to do with a desire to be alone with Kade, of course.

She spent the short cab ride going over the documents in her satchel. They were already memorized, but she needed something to do while her heart raced and jumped like a bunny on ephedrine. This kind of eager anticipation couldn’t be good. Before she could go through the paperwork for the tenth time, her ride came to a stop at the curb.

After suffering the stale sweat smell in the cab, she welcomed the frozen air and took her time to cross the plaza, watching the billowing of her cloudy breath. She swung her hands in the chill to dry her clammy palms before ducking into the Akkadian Towers. As she rode the elevator up, she stared at the water dripping from her thick-heeled boots to pool at her feet.

Maybe she should have brought Graham. Intense physical attraction aside, she found Kade far too personally appealing. There was nothing fake about the man. Nothing pretentious, only 100 percent Kade. He didn’t care what anyone thought of him, yet he cared about others. His moment of tenderness with Eva, and then his moment with her in the car when she thought she’d have a meltdown showed her that something wasn’t right about his reputation. And forget his comment about not being kept waiting, he’d offered her a car because he cared. Chivalry was alive and well in him, and not just as an empty gesture. Maybe his age had something to do with it, but she doubted that. It was plain to see he wasn’t proud of that honorable side of him. Somehow, that made him even more charming to her.

Kade opened the door this time. He gave no sign of recognition, no smile, no reaction whatsoever. He only stood aside and motioned her in. A knot tightened in her middle.

“Good evening,” she said.

“Where’s f*ckface?”

“Where’s what?” He crossed his arms patiently. Oh. He meant Graham. She turned toward the balcony and covered her mouth, but she couldn’t stifle her mirth. Her shoulders shook as the laughter snuck out. So unprofessional, and she really should stick up for her friend, but Graham had asked for it.

“I’m sorry.” She collected herself enough to face Kade. “He’s otherwise engaged this evening. We’ll have to make do without him.”

He smiled that familiar smile and her tension scattered. She removed her jacket and walked farther into the room.

“Come. Have a seat.” He offered a drink, which she declined. She needed to stay focused. “Who did you come up with?”

“Selene Stavrou,” she answered. “She was most evasive when questioned, and where she stayed two weeks ago gave her a clear view of one of the murders. She’d have to be deaf and blind not to have seen something.”

“Ah, Selene.” He looked thoughtful. Something in the way he said the name got her back up.

“You know her.”

“Oh, yes. I know her quite well.” His suggestive tone brought the catty right out of her, and the shock of it speared her insides. She bit her tongue and took a deep breath, pushing her irrational displeasure to the back of her mind. It wasn’t her business what Kade had done with the woman.

“What if she doesn’t talk?”

“She has no choice in the matter.” He stood, his eyes lighting up as if they were windows into hell. Val wouldn’t want to defy a man with eyes of fire, but who knew how the Legion vampires would react? They were used to such displays of power.

“Shall we go?” Val moved past him to grab her jacket when he caught her wrist. She looked up and then couldn’t look away. His red eyes continued to blaze as his hands slid up her bare arms.

“Why do you feel warm?” she whispered. She should have made him unhand her but all she could think about was his tender kiss the night before, a scene that had replayed too many times before sleep finally claimed her. His head lowered toward hers until she felt his breath on her lips. “Why are you breathing?”

“You make my heart beat. It makes my blood move and my lungs expand. It makes…other things happen.”

He pulled her hips until their bodies were nearly one and she couldn’t mistake what one of those other things were. Her belly quivered, and her lips parted. He took that for an invitation. Just as those sexy lips brushed hers, she heard a ravaged voice.

“Sire?”

She jerked back from Kade and whirled toward the newcomer. The second she saw him, her hand went to her stomach, and she turned away toward the balcony. Her nausea fought to rise, but somehow she tamped it down enough to face the living version of the photos on her phone.

Recent burn wounds comprised half the vampire’s face and a mass of scar tissue covered his throat. Clothing covered the rest of him, even his hands. He had no hair, only bruised, cut, battered skin over his scalp.

Her muscles tightened with horror, and she couldn’t look at Kade. She’d been about to kiss the monster who had done this to a human subjugate. Self-disgust curled in her chest.

A deep animal growl erupted beside her. Only then did she turn to Kade, but he didn’t look at her. His feral eyes were on the vampire, his fangs long and bared with aggression.

“You!” He pointed at the poor creature. That “poor creature” fixed on her with ravenous eyes, drooling and uttering hungry little sucking sounds with each violent heave of its chest. “You vile piece of shit. If you touch one hair on her body, if you even look at her wrong, I will f*ck you up. You will pray I put an end to you.”

The vampire cowered, the sounds reduced to a feeble whimper. “Yes, Sire,” he rasped. To her relief, he made no move to look at her again.

“You wanted something?” Kade asked him.

“A phone call for you in your office, Sire.”

“Take a message. I’m occupied.”

The creature bowed and backed away before disappearing down the side hall. Val felt like she’d faced down a grizzly, but the worst was the thought of facing that grizzly’s maker. She sensed Kade’s gaze burning into her, and she couldn’t face the heat of it.

“Judge me all you want,” he growled. “Hate me if it makes you sleep better.”

She glanced at him, trying to keep her composure. His expression was granite. Her mind cast around for a biting reply, but she couldn’t think of anything to say about what he’d done to the subjugate. Kade’s cruelty was beyond her comprehension.

“Right.” He shook his head. “You know nothing.”

“For heaven’s sake, Kade, are you going to say you’re innocent, and you don’t brutalize your subjugates? Am I missing something?” She pulled her jacket off the edge of the sofa and headed toward the door. “On second thought, I don’t want to hear it. We have work to do.”

He followed her out of the penthouse. “Sure you can lower yourself enough?”

She didn’t answer until the elevator doors closed in front of them. “I’d already seen photos of your handiwork before we met.”

“So what’s different now?”

“Nothing, I suppose. When I met you, I thought—I just didn’t think you could…be so barbaric.”

“Well, I live to disappoint,” he murmured, his gaze directed at the floor. She nearly reached out to him before she pressed her hands against her thighs.

“Did your maker mistreat you?”

He jerked upright, his eyes catching hers in their reflections. “My maker?”

“Olen Rex, I mean,” she said.

“I didn’t say he was my maker, Val. I said he’s my father.”

She frowned. “I took it as a figure of speech. It’s not possible.”

“It is. I was born vampire, not turned.”

“Vampires can’t get pregnant. I know that much.”

“They can conceive. They just can’t carry to term.”

The doors slid open as he casually dropped that bomb and stepped out, leading the way toward his car waiting at the curb. She jogged to catch up with him. He opened the door for her before sliding in beside her. Kade didn’t speak to his driver at all, but the male subjugate pulled from the curb and seemed to know where they needed to go.

Val shifted toward Kade. “Then how?”

“Human surrogate,” he answered. “A human has to carry the child.” She tried to catch his eye, but he focused on the scenery outside the window.

“A human gave birth to you?” She’d never heard of anything like it, and she was considered highly educated in everything vampirism.

He turned to her finally, his expression guarded. “It’s rarely allowed, but Immortalis adjuvants can impregnate humans. And we can use human surrogates for vampire-conceived embryos. I’m not the only live-born vampire.”

“I don’t understand. Why do you…do what you do to the subjugates? Is it because they had a choice and you didn’t?”

He responded with a short bark of bitter laughter and returned his gaze to the window. “I told you. You know nothing.”

“Then tell me.” She wasn’t sure she wanted to know, but it felt important. He didn’t seem like some kind of beast raging out of control. And for some ungodly reason, she didn’t want to believe him fitting of her image of a malicious vampire.

She’d seen his humor, his intelligence, his compassion, and she didn’t think she could make herself forget his unexpected moments of tenderness. Though his visage had gone icy, a deep vulnerability thrummed beneath it. Somehow she’d hurt him, causing his sudden withdrawal. She’d never thought it possible for a vampire to have softer feelings that could open them to hurt. Her past had taught her not to see vampires as anything but heartless monsters.

“We’re here,” he said.

They had pulled into a circular drive in front of a large, white New England-style manor. Detailed red-and-gray brickwork formed a facade along the first level up to the portico framed by slender columns. This rural beauty didn’t match how she’d imagined Selene Stavrou’s style. At the VLO headquarters, Selene had come across as a rich snob in the few minutes she’d seen the Legion.

A bald, elderly subjugate answered the door. He looked uncomfortably professional, his dark, pinstriped suit tailored close over his round belly. Overweight subjugates were few and far between. He had to be a new conscript.

“How can I help you?” he asked.

Kade stepped forward, but anger darkened his features. “Selene. Now.”

No one in their right mind would argue with that tone. The subjugate gestured past the foyer, his eyes wide and his mouth slack. Kade glanced at her. “Go on. I’ll be there in a minute.”

She hesitated. “What are you doing?”

“My duty. Go.” He propelled her forward, but she pushed back against his hand. He groaned. “F*ck sake, woman. I’m not gonna kill anyone. Find Selene.”

A glance over her shoulder reassured her. He was angry for some reason, but he didn’t have that fiery look of death in his eyes. “Don’t be long,” she said. Despite his dark mood, he flashed a grin at her. Heaven help her, but she liked his smile, even those stubborn grins when he was facetious.

The foyer ended in three short, wood-lined arches forming the entry to a living area where Selene lounged on a chaise near an unlit fireplace, a martini glass in her hand. Val couldn’t believe her eyes. No wonder Kade had slept with this woman. The vampire was even more gorgeous than the last time Val had seen her. Her thick, midnight hair coiled in a coif of perfect ringlets. Her white slip of a dress contrasted virginally against golden skin. And of course her cool demeanor was as ever-present as her exotic accent.

“I cannot believe Crawford let you in,” she said. “I have answered your questions already, Ms. Craig. I am sure you can show yourself out.”

Val bit back an angry retort. “We’re not through with you yet, Miss Stavrou. You stated you were staying at the W hotel. We know your room had a clear view of the roof of the World Journal where the victim was found.”

“As I told you, it was too dark and much too far away to see anything, even if I had been standing at the window at the very same time the blooding took place. I do not know how I can offer you anything that might—” She leaped up from the chaise at bullet speed and bowed her head. “My lord.”

Kade had entered through the archway. He didn’t look like he wanted to ravish the Legion, but his red eyes were more luminous than usual. Somehow Selene made supplication look sexy, and Val hoped it wasn’t working on the vampire prince.

“Selene.” He stopped by Val’s side, which soothed her. She needed the appearance of unity, even if Kade was partial to the other woman. Please let him not be partial to the woman. Selene shot her a sharp, cutting glance before Kade caught the woman’s attention again. “You seem to remember protocol. Somehow you’ve failed to impress the proper decorum upon your subjugates.”

Selene’s eyes widened. “Crawford? He treated you poorly?”

“Just fix the goddamn problem before I do.”

“You did not harm him, did you?”

He threw his arms out in exasperation. “What is it with you females? No, I did not harm the goofy bastard. However, he is more educated now. So you were saying?” He motioned for Selene to continue.

Selene’s blatant concern over her subjugate put Val’s world on a sudden tilt. Vampires didn’t care about their servants, and Selene wasn’t the kind to think twice about a fat old man with poor etiquette. Humans were playthings for them. Weren’t they?

“I informed Ms. Craig that my statement has not changed. I saw nothing of the blooding the night I stayed in Seattle.”

Val’s frustration pushed up from her chest. This was Eva’s interview all over again. Kade would take Selene’s words at face value. Vampires always stuck together, and having Kade with her wouldn’t change a thing.