Chapter 7
I tossed a ThighMaster out of my closet, followed by a pair of wedge sandals and a paraffin wax hand-dipping kit.
“Ow!” Vinny protested behind me, rubbing his forehead.
Oh, come on. I couldn’t have hit him that hard. Besides, we had bigger problems. “Where are my heels?” I groused. “The ones with the green stickers?”
Tia’s dress-to-shoes color-coding system was no good if I couldn’t keep my new wardrobe straight.
Vinny massaged his head in a clearly dramatic attempt to make me feel like a crazy woman. “I don’t care where your green stickers are. I came up here to tell you Lucien is making a call. After that, he needs you downstairs.”
“Help me look.” The closet was a mess. I’d never had this much junk before. “Turn yourself into Martha Stewart or something.”
“Not for all the tea in China, babe.”
Oh yeah, now he gets picky.
We were due at Nina’s dinner party and I’d underestimated the time it took to get tweezed and sprayed and polished for the evening.
It had never taken me more than five minutes in the past.
Truth be told, I’d had a hard time tearing myself from the computer. I’d been online, investigating Slimprol. Not that it did any good. I couldn’t find any mention of the drug, much less what it did—or why Bliss would hide it.
Lucien said he’d put the Vampire Council research department on the job. I’d try to question Bliss at the party. Although I’d rather use my resources to ask questions about Sunny’s murder.
Finding the killer was my main priority. We had tonight. Tomorrow at dusk would be the full moon, which would be the end of our investigation, and the beginning of a war.
Vinny shoved the ThighMaster back into the closet and right in my way.
Say ... I turned to him. “You have an ‘in’ with Bliss.”
I tossed the ThighMaster out of the closet before I tripped over the thing.
Vinny simply stared at me.
Honestly, the man was causing more problems than he solved.
Did I have to spell it out?
“Think you can romance me the 411 on Slimprol?” I asked.
“You’re the one who gets them to spill the truth, sweetheart,” he said, shoving the ThighMaster onto an upper shelf. “I’m just your eyes and ears.”
“Oh, so now you stick to your job.” Men. I’d never understand them. I stared up at the hinged contraption that was now threatening to smack me on the head. “What’s that thing doing in here anyway? I didn’t buy it.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he said, deliberately avoiding the subject.
Vinny began digging through my pile of shoes. “Wear these.” He held out a pair of brown flats that most certainly did not go with my slinky black dress.
See? I was getting better.
Granted, Tia had forced me to buy a lot of beauty gadgets, but, “if I didn’t buy it and you didn’t buy it and—”
“I can’t keep it in my closet, okay?” he said, tossing the flats and shoving a pair of gold strappy sandals at me.
“Hey, green stickers. Thanks.” Then it occurred to me. “Why do you have a ThighMaster?”
“It doesn’t matter,” he grumbled, retreating from the closet. “Just leave it in here.”
I perked up. “You don’t want Lucien to know you have a ThighMaster.”
Hidden in plain sight.
Vinny didn’t share my amusement. He rubbed at the stubble on his chin. “I told you to can it.”
I gave him the once-over. Okay, so maybe Vinny in his natural state had a few jiggly spots, but it wasn’t like he needed to “squeeze his way to fitness.”
His nostrils flared and I swear his eyebrow ring even jingled a bit.
“I’ll take it to the grave,” I said, carrying my heels to the bed so I could sit and fasten them. “It might happen soon, too, considering Bliss is about to tear me apart.”
She had to have smelled me in her house. Once she locked on to my scent tonight, I’d be toast.
A part of me was actually relieved. I liked confrontations. I’d rather know where I stood than sneak around waiting for the other shoe to drop.
“I’ve got your back,” he assured me.
“What? Are you a waiter tonight?”
“Better. That’s another reason I came up to talk to you.” He’d propped an elaborate curved sword against my nightstand. “Lucien thought you’d enjoy seeing this. It’s from his private collection.”
“Lucien likes knives?” I loved blades.
“You two have a lot more in common than you think.”
“I don’t want to hear it from you.”
“It needed to be said,” he stated. “Anyhow, I’m acting like scenery tonight. Sadly, this isn’t the first time I’ve had to be live sculpture art during a vampire party.”
“That is so pretentious.”
He shrugged. “I meet a lot of people in my line of work. Some act like God’s gift because they can put on a show.” There was that meaningful look again. “Others are full of themselves because they don’t.”
But Vinny didn’t dwell on it. “Nina has an Arabian Nights theme going.” He grinned. “Meet the burly harem guard.” He took a swoop at thin air. “You have a problem, look for the sword.”
Got it. “Much better than you with a chain saw.” We’d lost three trees during his stint as a gardener.
We headed downstairs to find Lucien waiting. He looked fantastic in an understated black suit and a blue tie that set off his eyes.
I felt his gaze touch me and it was all I could do not to trip down the last three steps.
“Is the research department working on Slimprol?” I asked, just to have something to say.
“They are,” he said slowly.
I couldn’t help remembering the way he’d touched me the night before. Clearly, he was thinking of it, too.
He ate me up with his eyes. “You look amazing.”
I snorted. “You’re only saying that.”
“No, I’m not.”
I moved close enough for him to smell my honeysuckle perfume. “You just want to bite me,” I said, my voice huskier than I would have liked.
He took my hand as I tried to breeze past.
“Maybe,” he said, drawing me back, his hand cupping my chin, his thumb grazing my lower lip. “I also want this.”
His mouth brushed mine once, twice. The thrill of it slapped through me. I grabbed his head and deepened the kiss.
My body collided flush with his. And those parts that had ached in frustration roared back to life.
God, I’d waited so long for something like this. I deserved it.
Lucien wanted me. It was a heady feeling.
If I should have been kissing him.
I broke away, trying to keep my breath even and failing miserably. “We said no kissing.”
A brief flash of stark emotion crossed his features. Good. “You said no kissing,” he said, with his infernal logic. He nipped short kisses along my jaw, as if he couldn’t quite help himself. “Do you like it?”
Too much. My breasts felt heavy as he nuzzled my earlobe. “That’s beside the point.” One of us had to be sensible.
It probably should be me. I ran my hands down his shoulders and arms, feeling the heavy weight of his suit jacket. Then again, maybe the whole sensible thing was overrated.
He pressed tight against me.
Oy vey. What was I getting myself into?
Yes, I found I enjoyed touching and being touched. But we were pretending here, playing roles. I’d forgotten that last night. When this was over, he’d be sent on another job for the Vampire Council and I’d be returning to my pack. Alone.
He lowered his mouth to mine again and I let him. I let him kiss me into a heart-pounding fury until I forgot all about what I’d said I was going to do.
He slid his hands down to the small of my back, tempting me closer, but I didn’t need any help. I rubbed against Lucien like a cat, savoring every rock-hard inch of him.
“You like it,” he said, drawing back just long enough to grin at me with boyish pleasure before he devoured me again.
Damn the man. He was good at making me forget just why I said I’d never kiss him in the first place.
“I like it, too,” he whispered against my lips.
“I can tell,” I said, wriggling against him, a victorious twinge lancing through me when I felt just how much I affected him.
Lucien wasn’t the jaded creature I’d first imagined. He was a man. Admittedly an immortal one, but a flesh-and-blood man all the same.
His expression softened as he saw the change come over me. “What are you thinking?” He tucked a lock of hair behind my ear.
“Hmm ...” I mused, enjoying the sexual power I held over him. “I’m thinking you need to kiss me again.”
I beat him to it. I took the lead this time as I tasted him, savored him. Our kiss deepened as he pushed back. He wanted me. We drove into each other. He wanted me so bad.
I’d never had this with a man. Sure, maybe I’d had a few meaningless flings, but no one like Lucien.
To the males of my pack, I was a dare, an experiment. But this affair with Lucien went much deeper. It was both alarming and exhilarating.
“Okay, come on. Break it up.” The front door creaked open with Vinny behind it. “I got the car started, for all you noticed.”
Lucien drew back a fraction. His lower lip glistened. God I wanted to kiss him again.
“We’ll walk,” he said, turning his back on Vinny.
Vinny stood on the front stoop, arms crossed. “What? You think I’m nuts? You two will never make it.”
Lucien raised his hand and the door slammed shut.
“Real nice!” Vinny hollered from the other side.
“Ohh ... telekinesis!” I said, impressed.
“I have all kinds of things I’d like to show you,” Lucien said, moving in to seal the deal.
I hated to think Vinny might be right, but, “We might actually have to go.”
“Damn.”
I nuzzled him. “Yeah.”
Lucien’s amusement faded, replaced by something primal. “One more kiss.” He took me with such force it was a wonder I held on. I was aware of every touch, every caress of his mouth as my senses came vibrantly alive. The hot glide of his tongue sent heat washing through me. It was all I could do not to climb the man as he deepened the kiss even more.
He groaned as I cupped his butt and pressed him tighter against me.
Lucien wanted me. He wasn’t afraid to admit it—or slam the door on Vinny. That part had actually been kind of fun.
But could I really have an affair with him?
I hated weres who paired with vampires. Well, maybe not Tia. But I couldn’t stand the type. I didn’t want to be the kind of woman who needed a man, much less a vampire.
Heck, I didn’t even need my pack. I was fine on my own.
Wasn’t I?
I arrived at Nina’s house with a satisfied Vinny and a frustrated Lucien. I knew how the vampire felt. My body was screaming for five minutes, okay four—okay, one minute alone with him.
Maybe after the party, I reasoned, trying to get a choke hold on my raging libido. As it stood, Tia had worked hard in order to secure us an invite. She’d probably agreed to paint Nina’s toes for the next year. It burned me to see how the Predators treated her.
Vinny watched us walk in the door, promising to “arrive” shortly after.
Nina lived in a modern-style home with lots of clean lines. The front room was done in black and white, with zebra and gazelle fur accents. Charming. Low pillows and flowing fabric accents gave a nod to the Arabian Nights theme.
A stoic vampire with bowl-cut hair and a long black salt-and-pepper beard greeted us.
“Samuel.” Lucien nodded to him, holding my hand. His thumb caressed the soft skin below my wrist. “This is my wife, Mitzy.”
“The women are in the living room,” he said to Lucien, as if I wasn’t there.
Fair enough. It was Lucien’s job to question the vampires. At the moment, I didn’t envy him. Samuel seemed like a cold fish.
Strange that Nina would ally herself with an unusually grim vampire. Then again, my job here wasn’t to question lifestyle choices, just potential murderers.
My shoes were already digging into the sides of my feet. It would be nice to take a load off.
A mouthwatering scent filtered in from the kitchen.
I found the wives perched on Nina’s impossibly white couches and chairs. Tia in white. Francine staring daggers at me in red. And an Indian woman in a gorgeous blue dress who literally growled. Bliss.
The coffee table in front of us was covered with plates of caviar and crackers, pine nut puffs, and all kinds of tiny appetizers that looked like they each took about an hour to make.
“Help yourself.” Nina, who wore a black dress at least two sizes smaller than mine, waved a hand toward the display, as if daring me.
None of the wives had so much as touched a plate.
“I’ll wait until dinner,” I said, my stomach protesting. Now that my body wasn’t pulsing after Lucien, I remembered that I hadn’t eaten lunch. “You have a fantastic home.” I took a seat, ignoring the way my dress shifted sideways.
“You want a tour?” Bliss asked, wasting no time.
Her smile didn’t reach her eyes. She knew.
“Sure,” I said, “why not?”
Let’s get it over with. She could try to tear me apart, but I was all wolf.
I stood. I gave myself decent odds, especially if Lucien jumped in.
Tia cast a worried glance my way. I could see the indecision eating at her.
“Mitzy—” The were rushed after me as I was about to leave the room with the tiger. Once she made it to me, she scrambled for what came next. “You have a smidge of something on your dress.” She scrubbed with bare fingers at the area next to my back zipper. “I’m scared,” she whispered in a rush.
Me too.
“Thanks for saving my hide this afternoon,” I murmured under my breath.
“I didn’t,” she said, growing desperate.
“You did.” I turned to her, keeping my voice low. “You’re strong, Tia. You have to be. You’re on my team.”
She chewed at her lip.
“You need to stand up for yourself.”
I did, too.
“But—”
I left her with the Predators and followed Bliss.
Tia couldn’t help me right now. I needed to do this on my own. If I was smart—and lucky—I might be able to pull this off.
I just needed to grab her mind, preferably before she took me by the throat.
The weretiger turned on me the minute we were out of the room. “What were you doing in my house?” she demanded, nostrils flaring. “And don’t bother to deny it.” She leaned in close, her face inches from mine. “I smelled you.”
“Funny thing, Bliss,” I said, trying to buy precious seconds, grasping with my mind.
Steady.
I couldn’t afford a backlash. I channeled the power from deep inside of me. It flowed between us and I felt the invisible cord tighten. I tested the connection and sighed with relief when it held. “Okay, tiger. I have a few questions I’d like to ask you.”
Her face went slack. “I’m in charge of this conversation,” she said, but it was only a line. I had her now.
We’d start with something easy.
“Are you aware that Sunny was blackmailing Nina?”
“No,” she said, eyes widening.
Fair enough. “Were you sleeping with Sunny’s husband?”
She grinned. “He’s fantastic in bed.”
“I’ll take that as a yes,” I said, my head beginning to pound. “Do you know where Sunny’s husband is now?” I asked.
Bliss tilted her perfectly oval face. “Overseas,” she said, repeating what I already knew. “On business.”
I’d never got around to asking, “What does he do?”
“Pharmaceuticals.”
No kidding. “Like the Slimprol you have in your closet?”
“Yes,” she said, almost in a trance.
“What does Slimprol do, Bliss?”
She blinked once. Twice. “It makes you sleepy. You go to sleep and you lose weight.”
Great. An unapproved drug for extreme weight loss. I could already tell Sunny’s husband was a real piece of work.
Pain lanced through my head. I was losing the connection. I knew I’d laid it on thick, but dang, when somebody wants to kill you, it’s a good idea to crank up the happy current. “What else can the drug do, Bliss?” I pressed. “Can it kill people?”
She snarled at me. “I hope so.”
Our connection unraveled.
Bliss bared her teeth.
Oh come on. I was offended she’d think I’d break into her house. Even if I did break into her house.
I threw up a hand. “I was in your house trying to find my gardener. I don’t care who you are. What’s mine is mine.”
She should know wolves are territorial.
“Bitch,” she snarled, unsure for the first time. She narrowed her eyes. “I don’t like wolves who sniff around my business.”
“Bliss!” Nina called. “Mitzy!”
“In here,” I gave a ready answer.
She found us with no trouble. “Dinner is served.”
The tiger growled low in her throat. “This isn’t over, werewolf,” she said, stalking past me.
I never said it was.
Lucien and I were seated near the head of the table for dinner. Samuel sat at the head. Lucien at his right side. I sat next to Lucien, with Nina across from me. Luckily, Bliss was at the far end with poor Tia in a werewives version of the singles’ section. That meant I got to chat with Francine and her husband, Olaf.
Worse, I couldn’t help picturing what else Nina had served up on the sleek black dining room table.
Vinny the Arab warrior offered us each a small bowl of rose water with a fingertip towel.
Despite the fact that I’d come one mind-reading trick from being consumed by a tiger, my stomach growled as I anticipated dinner. I needed to eat. Food helped me think. It helped me heal.
And just when I’d worked myself up into a frenzy of anticipation, my plate arrived.
The waiter served up one tiny chicken wing with grated cucumber on top. A date cut into a flower served as garnish. I supposed it was gourmet, but it made me want to cry.
I couldn’t take it.
These people could threaten me. They could lie to me and demean me and make me wear god-awful heels with pointy tips. But they couldn’t starve me. It wasn’t right. My head hurt and my dress was still kind of sideways and I just needed one thing tonight to go the way it was supposed to go.
I needed crackers. I needed anything but a puny chicken wing with a garnish.
The vampires sat drinking their wine. The weres picked at their cucumber as if touching it would make them gain weight. What was wrong with these people?
I needed to eat.
And so I did.
I ate my chicken wing clean. I devoured the cucumber. And the cut-up date. Then I marched out to the living room and loaded up on appetizers—caviar, lamb with goat cheese, fancy fruity tarts. I ate it all. And when I was done with that plate, I went and got another.
Bliss growled. Francine sneered. Tia stared, openmouthed.
Nina couldn’t care less. “More wine?” she asked the table.
She shrugged off her Puritan husband’s glare. “What? I’m just being a good hostess.”
Everyone agreed to refills, except for me. I hadn’t touched my glass. I’d never been one for alcohol. And now that I had my third plate of lamb thingies and a raging psychic hangover, forget it.
The waiter started pouring at the other end of the table and the bottle of white was long gone by the time it reached our end. Nina cracked open another and gave me a healthy pour.
“Thanks,” I said, “but I’ve gotta save room for the ham puffs.”
Bliss stared at me as I slid my glass over to Lucien.
He winked at me and drank.