Bad Mouth

chapter Fourteen


Val wanted to cry, she was so mixed up. The man was a perpetual blend of appalling and endearing. She never knew whether to slap him or kiss him. Even when she thought being affronted would be the proper reaction, she had a hard time keeping a straight face. It was always a revelation, the thoughts that came out of his mouth. He was an anomaly, and she’d never come across anyone like him, a man so completely at ease with himself.

She flopped into a chair with a sigh. She’d dreamed of him all night and ended up oversleeping that morning. Dreams of him devastating her body with his mouth—the good kind of devastation—was enough for her subconscious to want to stay in that dream realm. And then the best part—he’d held her all night long. If only she could scrub her thoughts clean of him, but he’d dug in and wasn’t letting go.

Her cell rang. It had to be Graham getting back to her finally. Now that she’d had more time to think things through, she didn’t want to hear anything bad about Kade, but she steeled herself for what Graham may have discovered and lifted her phone. Only, it wasn’t ringing. She looked around her seat, but the ringing quit. Sliding her hand over the sofa, she felt the previously ringing phone between the cushions just as it blasted a short tone. Kade’s cell, and he had a text.

“Kade?” she called. She went partway toward the hall, but the distinctive pitter-patter of the shower stopped her. It could wait. Just to be sure, she took a look at the text, not with the intent of spying, but it might have been important.

Not done yet but Killian’s on it. Make sure your alibi stays with you.

Alibi? Whoever it was had to be talking about her. Who was Killian? Whatever he was supposed to do wasn’t wholesome if Kade needed an alibi. Her heart hit the floor. He was hiding something illegal from her and using her to cover it up. She strode down the hall, bundling the fury and betrayal that gained momentum with each step, and then she stopped cold.

He would lie. There was no way he’d admit whatever he was up to. She played different scenarios in her head, but nothing she thought could make that text seem innocent.

The spray of the shower shut off abruptly. She jumped and then tiptoed as fast as she could to the sofa, shoving the cell back where she’d found it. It was like a snake in the seat. She couldn’t even sit near it, so she paced in front of the balcony window. Her throat grew tight. She wouldn’t be able to explain to him why she was upset. Come on, Val, pull it together.

She hadn’t heard a single footstep, but his arms came around her. He pulled her back against his naked chest, his lips resting along her throat.

“There go my good intentions,” he said.

“What do you mean?”

“You know, clean body, clean mind. It doesn’t necessarily follow.” He pushed his groin to her rear. Her eyes closed. He was thick and hard. Her disloyal body reacted, but her mind wasn’t in it. She couldn’t stay with him. He would sense something was wrong.

Turning into his arms, she laid her cheek against his chest. His heartbeat kicked like a jackrabbit, thumping a rhythm under her head, and his hands smoothed over her back slowly and firmly, conforming her body with his. The touch was as loving as she’d ever experienced.

“What’s wrong, my sweet?” His voice so low and tender twisted her insides. It would be so easy to let this slide. It was only a text. She could have misconstrued the meaning, but that was a long shot. His unswerving devotion to his kind and their protocols was enough to betray anything he might feel for her. He wasn’t a man to be trusted. She’d made that mistake before, but she wouldn’t make it again.

“I got a call from Graham when you were in the shower,” she lied. “I can’t work with you tonight.”

He drew back enough for eye contact. “That upsets you?”

She forced a smile as best she could. Better to let him think that than pretend she was fine. A tight band squeezed her rib cage. He was a handsome man, and he looked at her with his eyes alight as if he could hold onto her forever.

“I have to go.”

“Find something new?”

She nodded, not bothering to explain. He regarded her curiously but didn’t ask any questions. Instead, he led her to the door and landed a soul-searing kiss. She gripped his hair and fed him her tongue as if it were their last kiss.

It probably was.

“Wow.” His fingers went to his lips. “That may last me all night. Maybe. Will you come back if you get done early?”

“Count on it,” she said. At least, she had every intention of confronting him once she and Graham found more information. She glanced down his body unintentionally. His towel tented prominently in the front. He followed her gaze.

“You do crazy things to me.” He shrugged. “Looks like I’ve got more rubbing in my future.”

“Hopeless,” she grumbled. Letting the door close between them was hard. She leaned her forehead against it. Once he found his cell in the couch, he’d curse himself for not stalling her longer. It was for the best that she left him alone. She wouldn’t let him use her. Like William had used her.

Her mind shut down after she got a cab and headed toward the VLO. It shouldn’t be this painful to disengage from Kade. If she stated in plain English how her relationship with him had progressed, it would sound ridiculous. Apparently, her heart didn’t speak that language.

She couldn’t be in love with him. It was too soon. Love took time. She’d dated Will for months before she’d told him she loved him. And she had loved him, though it was in a sweet way. He hadn’t loved her, only needed her or rather her influence with the governor, her father. It hadn’t done him any good in the end because his repeated applications for transformation had never been approved.

She’d been so dense about his intentions and even worse about his infidelities. She should have had a clue once he began turning the lights off when they slept together. Now it was apparent he’d been hiding the bite scars he treasured. Her stomach rolled.

But she’d learned her lesson, hadn’t she? Emotions weren’t to be trusted because they made you turn a blind eye to reality. Like now with Kade. She wanted him to be as he appeared because she felt something for him, but it was obviously a lie. The question was what did he have to hide? If he had any involvement in the bloodings, the law directed execution by the Dominorum. Please let him not be involved.

If he was part of it, he should be executed for his crimes. The thought held no conviction, though. She wished she could detach her head. Her mind traveled in circles, dancing around and around her ideas of what secrets he hid, and it was driving her batty.

At last, the cab pulled to the curb at the VLO. Frustrated tears threatened her pretense of stability. The lights were dimmed when she got to her floor, but she could see the small bank of desks behind short cubicle dividers had been abandoned for the day. Even the larger desk by itself near her office door sat empty, meaning Alice had left for the night on time for once.

The cold air made her shiver, and she wished the city wasn’t so big on conserving energy with the night-time thermostat settings. A small sound halted her progress. She strained her senses. When she heard nothing else, she continued toward her office but palmed the pepper spray she carried in her purse. She swung open her office door and the lights came on full power. She nearly jumped out of her shoes.

“Val? What are you doing here this late?”

“Graham, I could kill you!” She pried her hand off the pepper spray in her satchel. “You scared me half to death. I almost sprayed your eyes out.”

He looked up at her sheepishly from where he sat at her desk. “Sorry. But seriously. I thought you’d be with the bloodsucker.”

She chose to ignore his acerbic attitude. “Have you found anything yet?”

“Nope. As much as I hate to say it, Rollins is squeaky clean. In unrelated news, I got some information earlier, and it’s definitely going to ruin your night.”

She braced herself. She wasn’t sure she could deal with any more surprises tonight.

“The lab work came back on the two most recent bloodings, the one at Lake Washington and the one at Gas Works Park.” He paused, cringing as if she might shoot the messenger, and considering she’d started carrying her pistol with her at Alice’s urging, that might be a possibility. “Vampires didn’t commit either one. Tests came back negative.”

Those tests were more reliable than DNA. All vampires left traces of the anesthetic aphrodisiac injected from tiny pores on the back of their fangs. Even microscopic amounts were too powerful to avoid detection.

Her satchel dropped to the floor. “That can’t be. The bloodings fit every other way,” she said. “Tissue damage matched. We have witnesses confirming a vampire on the scene. And apparently humans, too. I’d bet my condo that Eva saw the same at Gas Works Park. That had to be what she lied about.”

“It doesn’t matter, V. Wallace never saw the actual attack, only people standing around the body. We can’t prove a vampire committed those bloodings.” He flopped into one of the office chairs. “Plenty of donors are around to throw themselves at the Immortalis, not to mention the reputable blood services all over the place. It doesn’t make sense for a legal vampire to commit a blooding.”

“No, it doesn’t.” She sat in the wide, cushy seat across the desk from him and propped her chin with her fist. “They wanted it to look like a blooding. I have a hunch, Graham. Were those two blooding victims the ones who knew each other?”

“Yeah, they did.”

“Anyone else connected or just those two?”

“Just those two.”

“It does make some sense. What better way to hide a murder than make it look like the local deranged population did it? The bloodings were already public knowledge.”

“Now you sound like Rollins.”

Kade had mentioned humans framing vampires. She proposed vampires framing other vampires. “Graham, I was talking about a vampire framing one of the deranged.”

“Now that really doesn’t make sense, V. Why would you think that? The tests prove the victim wasn’t bitten by a vampire.”

“So the vampire killed the victim without biting and made it look like a typical blooding.”

“Why wouldn’t the vampire just bleed the victim? No one can tell the difference between the bites of Legion or Dominorum, rogue or deranged. A real bite would make the blooding even more authentic.”

Her jaw dropped. Did she have that much of a one-track mind? Maybe Kade had been right when he said she wasn’t listening. Even with evidence proving a false blooding, she would put a vampire in the murder seat.

“You’re right. I’m just…having trouble switching tracks, I guess. So the question now is why would a vampire be at the body dump site with a couple of humans? And who were they?”

“And if they didn’t commit the murder, why didn’t they turn it in?” he asked.

She slumped down onto the desktop, laying her head on her crossed arms. “I feel like we have more questions than we started with.”

“I have another one for you.” He patted her head. “What are you doing here this time of night? If you’re not working with Mr. Goodfang, you should be in bed.”

Her head lifted. “Oh, I did come for something.” She jumped around the desk to get to the computer, shoving Graham’s chair to the side. “I need information on a vampire named Killian.”

“AKA Ian McCready. Height of six foot two inches. Weight around two hundred and twenty-five pounds. Age is more than two centuries older than Kade, approximately six hundred and eighty-five years. Long, dark, reddish-brown hair, usually worn tied back. Red eyes—of course. He is a member of the Legion, and he is not an adjuvant. He owns a horse ranch outside of Tacoma. He has a very, very, very healthy bank account and a collection of very, very, very fast cars. He enjoys snow sports, piña coladas, and long walks on the moonlit beach. What else do you need to know?”

She smiled despite her mood. “You looked him up already?”

“You wanted a background check on Rollins.”

“You checked his friends, too?”

“Of course. What kind of amateur do you take me for?”

She was getting to be quite adept at ignoring his comments. “Can he flash?”

“How the hell would I know? Nobody gives out that information. The Dominorum doesn’t even want the public to know that’s possible.”

“I thought you were a supersleuth,” she said. He grunted but didn’t reply. “How long has Kade known him?”

“I’m not sure, but best guess puts them over two hundred years of acquaintance. Why are you asking about him instead of Rollins?”

“What about Ezra?” she asked, again avoiding his questions like a pro.

“They’ve all known each other a long time. Centuries. Why does that matter?”

“I don’t know if it does yet. Who are Kade’s closest friends?”

“Ezra, obviously, and Killian. Declan, also a Legion. Those are his closest friends. Got a bunch more Legions and a handful of Dominorum he spends some time with, but he mostly keeps to himself. And of course, he meets often with Olen Rex and Evangeline.”

“What’s his relationship with them?” She couldn’t believe she hadn’t told Graham about Kade’s parentage. He only knew Kade was a Dominus with royal connections.

“Fellow Dominorum, I guess.”

So it wasn’t common knowledge among humans that Kade was the Dominorum prince, destined to become the next Rex. The vampires sure knew who the heck he was. Perhaps the Immortalis intended it to be a secret, but he’d shared that information with her freely. Why would he do that?

She fixed her gaze on the darkness outside the large windows behind Graham, steeling herself for her next question. “Where does he go to feed?”

A lump landed in her stomach as she asked the question. She’d avoided thinking about it before, and she really had no reason to ask now. It was entirely irrelevant. There was something intimate about a vampire feeding from the body of a sexy, young human, though it was simply about sustenance rather than sex. Too bad they couldn’t just drink from a bag. It could solve a lot of problems between humans and Immortalis.

“Aha. You thought I wouldn’t know this, but I do. He doesn’t leave to feed. He has a private service when he’s here. He has his own service donors at his home in Glacier.”

Worse than she’d imagined. He fed at his leisure in the privacy of his penthouse. Vampires normally fed from several sources to avoid draining to the point of shock and he had his own little feeding harem.

If she had claws, they’d be out right then. Unreasonable, illogical, absurd. She’d never let him feed from her. She intended to end whatever their relationship was. Now was a bad time to worry about what he did with someone else’s flesh.

“Can we get someone to keep an eye on Killian, Ezra, and Declan?”

“It’ll be tough. You know vampires are hard to tail, but I’ll get people on it.” He stood and shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know why, though. We should be looking for the humans who killed those two faked bloodings.”

“Graham, we still have five very real bloodings committed by the deranged. We still have several adjuvants somewhere performing these derangements. And we have Will.”

“Hmm. Looks like our workload’s multiplying.”

“I’m done thinking tonight. I’m heading out.”

“All right.” He stroked her cheek. “Get some rest.”

When she got home, she tried to follow that advice to no avail. She shifted constantly. No comfortable position existed on any piece of furniture in her apartment that could counteract her rioting insides. Finally, she curled up on her bed and let the tears loose. With no one there to see them, no one could point fingers at her.

No matter how many times she told herself there wasn’t any evidence Kade was connected to the murders, in her gut she knew. He’d worked his way inside of her body and soul, and she’d stupidly let him in. The more she thought about it, the more the anger and the betrayal snowballed. If he wanted to play games with her, she might as well play back.

She was through being used by men.