“I won’t seek her out to have sex anymore. And when we do, and I’m not saying we will, I’ll use a condom.” Ray nodded. Good luck with that, he thought. “And I’ll never bite her and will tell her she can’t bite me. I don’t need her marking me up like some fucking play thing. That shit will stop.”
“Yeah, you do that.” He got up and poured his now cold coffee in the sink before turning back to him. “She’s homeless, penniless if you don’t count the money she took from the till last night, which couldn’t have been more than a few hundred dollars. She’s been marked by a human who doesn’t want her, and I’m betting that the person who changed her didn’t give her a clue on how to manage herself as a panther. And here you sit. All cozy in your mansion with heat, air when we need it, and servants out the ass. A job that you fucking loathe, as well as more people who would do anything for you if you were to ask, but you never do. Several cars in that big garage out there, more money in the bank than most people would see in several lifetimes, and you have the nerve to whine about how she’s not going to mark you. When she hit you, what did you say to her?”
“Nothing.” Ray started to let it go but asked him again. “I told her she wasn’t going to claim that I took her without her permission. Then she punched me in the face and left me bleeding on the side of the road.”
“Side of the road.” Ray wanted to hit him himself. “You fucked her on the side of the road, then accused her of raping you? Man, you are a piece of work, aren’t you? No wonder she’s gone. I’d have left you there too.”
Steele stood up, and Ray could almost feel his anger. But if he backed down now, the boy would be lost to him. Steele moved back to the chair and sat down. When he buried his face in his hands, he knew the boy was hurting, and from much more than the broken nose and black eyes.
“What the hell am I supposed to do with a woman in my life?” He didn’t tell him the obvious but let him talk. “And she’s not anything like…I’ve never met a panther before, but I’m pretty sure she’s not the norm. She’s very beautiful and full of life, but I have no use for her or anyone in my life. I have enough to deal with.”
“I’d say you’re about right with that. You do have plenty to deal with. But a mate is someone that helps you with those things.” Ray sat down as he continued. “Do you want to find her? See that she’s all right?”
“Sort of.” Good enough for now, Ray supposed. “When I got back here last night, I tried to call in a few favors. But so far no one has gotten back with me. I have a couple of my men out looking now.”
Steele was the strongest necromancer he knew; not only that, but the kid could do things that he’d never heard of before. When he was stressed, a small nap could give him insights or clues to the dead that even they were not aware of. Ray was a fair to middling necro, and Drew was pretty strong too. Nick and Landon had some talent and used it well, but all of them together couldn’t hold a candle to what Steele could do when working. And the fact that he had a few ghosts working for him scared the hell out of Ray sometimes. But he needed them because they were dead and couldn’t hurt him by dying.
“Who did you send?” He named two men that Ray had seen round and about when they’d been working. “Donny will more than likely take a peek at her if she’s naked when he’s around. Carlton will…well, he’ll be all right.”
The look in Steele’s eye had him stiffening. He realized what he’d said now. He’d just told Steele that another man was going to try and see his mate naked. And ghost or not, the man was going to be in big trouble if he did it.
The two men were suddenly in the kitchen with them. Neither man seemed to know what the hell had happened to bring them there, but when Steele stood up, both of them backed away. Carlton pushed Donny behind him when Steele advanced.
“Where is she?” His voice sounded like his namesake, hard and unforgiving. “Where is she right now? And she’d better not be naked anywhere you two are.”
“I’m offended.” Carlton was an older ghost and his mannerism and speech gave him away as being from the early part of the last century. “We have done as you’ve asked. It was our duty to protect her from the hoodlums in the place she was staying. Young Donny here was standing guard at the door whilst I sat with her as she cried. Someone has hurt the young miss.”
“Where?” Carlton told him and Ray stood as well. She was in the worst part of town and the hotel was known for all kinds of illegal behavior. “Go there. And stay until I get there. But I swear to you if you look at her body in any other way than clothed, I’m going to send you back. Understand?”
As soon as Carlton and Donny disappeared again, Steele moved to the door. It was all Ray could do to keep up. They were in the car as Logan and Mitch came out of the house. Ray told them to get in and shut up.
~~~