Bad Mouth (10 page)

She slammed the door on his thunderous laughter. The heavenly night chill eased her
feverish skin but quickly got uncomfortable as her perspiration cooled. She hurried
into the building and looked back toward the curb. Kade had waited for her to get
inside before his car pulled away. Her heart melted to the consistency of putty. She
could kick herself.

Four nights. She’d known him four nights, but she was full to the brim with him. Immersed.
She’d crossed boundaries, not only the VLO’s boundaries, but her own as well. Never
had she lost control of herself the way she did with Kade. Her reason jumped the boat
every time, and that was inherently dangerous.

So she knew something of his past and his pain. It didn’t mean she knew him and what
he was capable of. He was on the other side of the tracks from her, and what he wanted
from her investigation was at complete odds with what she wanted. What he wanted didn’t
matter much now that the perpetrators were clearly
Immortalis
rather than rogues, but he hadn’t had much to say about one of them murdering humans.
She wanted to believe his sincerity about finding the killers. After what had happened
tonight, though, she needed another opinion.

Val hit the speed dial on her cell. “Hi, Graham. I know it’s late, but can we talk?”

Chapter Thirteen

Kade’s ear ached. “Motherfucker,” he muttered under his breath. He put the phone back
to his ear. “It’s too early in the evening for your bullshit, Ezra. I’ve been on the
phone all goddamned day. I’m tired and pissed off and the night’s only beginning.
Killian fucked up. Make the son of a bitch fix it.”

He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose while Ezra argued on the other
end. Kade only half listened. Blah, blah, blah, something, something.

“Hey, shut your fucking mouth and listen.” The other end went silent. “I. Can’t. Do
you understand? I can’t. Killian will fix it. Or you fix it yourself. Or Declan or
Lucca or Gunner. Whatever you have to—wait…Don’t send Luc or Guns. Anyone else, though.
It’s almost sunset, and I’m gonna have company in less than an hour. I
have
to have company.”

Finally Ezra caved. Like the bastard had a choice. Kade was royalty after all, though
in this situation he couldn’t really pull that card. He could, however, beat the crap
out of Ezra.

“Let me know when it’s done,” he told Ezra before ending the call. If it hadn’t been
for that leech last night, life would be sweet right now. He’d been double-whammied,
first by the Legion’s identity, and then by the eyewitness account of the blooding
victim’s dump site. Wouldn’t have been so bad if the leech hadn’t seen the vampire
flash.
Ian, you fucking idiot
. He threw his phone at the couch and dragged his fingers through his hair.

The walls closed in on him. Had to be fatigue. He was so damned exhausted. He hadn’t
slept much after he returned to the penthouse. Instead, he’d thought about Val all
night long in the dark of his bedroom, reliving her sweet scent, her searing touch,
and those kisses. Damn, those soft, moist kisses. He could drown in them. If that
was all he was allowed with her, he would happily die a celibate. Uh, yeah, that was
a complete exaggeration. He could
almost
happily die a celibate.

His smile turned to a scowl. She’d hate him. She’d never speak to him again. Probably
demand the
Rex
execute him, if she knew what he was doing. The
Dominorum
would likely oblige because they’d hate him, too, if they knew.

And he didn’t give a rat’s ass, especially after last night.

His parents had lied to him all these centuries. The why of it might drive him out
of his mind before he found any answers. He wasn’t about to fool himself into believing
they loved him, but they absolutely believed in family solidarity and had always appeared
pleased with his existence.

What would they think of his relationship with a human? If it were merely sexual,
they wouldn’t blink. They engaged in such entertainment with humans together, as well
as separately.

What he’d done with Val last night was in no way
entertainment
to him. He’d lost himself in her, lock, stock, and barrel. When he was inside of her,
he would have cut out his useless heart and handed it to her. He would have given
her the key to his kingdom, his title, his every penny. Anything she asked for was
hers to take from him.

Panic rolled over him, and he cradled his head in his hands until he could get a grip
on his emotions. He couldn’t let this happen, what he was feeling for her. It was
changing him. The change burned like a bitch. His duty and his desires veered toward
a head-on collision, and he couldn’t stop it if his life were on the line. It might
very well be on the line.

The door buzzed. He checked his watch and, without warning, his heart contracted and
began its Val-loving routine. He chuckled, his hand over his chest, and went to open
the door for Val. Her sunny smile reached a depth in him he never knew he had. His
eyes traced her body all the way to her toes. She wore filmy black slacks that flowed
around her legs and an absurdly demure blouse under her tailored silk jacket. Automatically,
he calculated how long it would take to get her out of them without shredding or tearing.

“Fuck, you’re beautiful.”

Her lips took a wry turn, but those radiant emerald eyes sparkled.

“You look so tired,” she said. She turned him toward her and framed his face with
her tender hands. His mind hit a whiteout for a moment before he recovered his wits.

“Didn’t sleep much today.”

“Why not?” She grinned at him. “Did you think about me?”

“Yeah. Rubbed three out, maybe four. I don’t remember.”

She gave his head a shove and dropped her hands. “Aaaaand I give up.”

“Hey now. You’re the one who wouldn’t come home with me. I wouldn’t have had to—”

Her hands clapped over his mouth. He shrugged. If she didn’t like what was on his
mind, she’d have to wear earplugs. He was pretty damned sure she rubbed one out from
time to time, too. His breath froze in his lungs. That image was a bad idea. Maybe
she was in the mood to take care of his sudden raging erection. Except she was frowning
at him. He kissed her fingers and then pried them off his mouth.

“I need a shower,”
with a happy ending,
“and then we can get started. You mind?”

“No. Go ahead.”

“Want to join me?”

She laughed and pushed him in the direction of the hallway. “We know how that would
end, so no. I want to actually make some progress this time.”

He parted reluctantly. She had her own gravitational pull.

As soon as he closed the bathroom door, leaning heavily against it, alarms fired off
in his head. He walked a treacherous line every moment he spent with her. The potential
for disaster loomed over him like a thundercloud. Regardless of the peril, he didn’t
want to just fuck her. He was falling hard for her.

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?