Blood Mate (3 page)

Nicolette, on the
other hand, would not be easy. It would have been too much to hope to
find a single woman, or one whose husband was unkind so that she
would fall into the seduction, crave his attention and love. Though
August had given up on the story centuries ago, he’d always known
that whether he loved her or not, she would have to love him. He
couldn’t imagine another scenario in which any woman would give
herself over to him for eternity to be fed on every night, not unless
he found a non-magical way to coerce her.

If only she were
unhappy with her marriage.

He gripped the
steering wheel. He couldn’t control
her
mind, but he could
control the husband’s. It might not be fair play, but as long as
the curse didn’t prohibit it, he’d use any tool available to him
to make this all end.

***

August followed
them to a small, upscale French restaurant,
careful to stay a
good distance back. Even hidden in a throng of chatting, waiting
people, he heard the maître d’ greet them.

“Mr. and Mrs.
Rose, we have a nice table out of the way beside the fountain as you
requested. Come with me, please.”

August pushed
through the bodies, holding back the hunger, and followed at a
distance behind them. He picked a table several yards away where he
could watch and hear the conversation unnoticed and undisturbed. It
was quick work to suggest to an elderly couple that they were
finished eating, had already paid, and needed to leave right away. He
took their spot, grateful most of the food was gone. He drank
beverages like coffee and wine, but solid food, he found distasteful.

The waiter’s
approach was tentative. “Um, sir, what happened to the couple at
this table?”

The vampire smiled
up at him, capturing the waiter’s gaze in his own. “My wife and I
have been here the whole evening.” August imagined the brunette
that had been in his cellar the previous night, the one he’d
released. He indicated the seat across from him.

The waiter turned
toward the vacant chair and laughed. “I’m sorry, ma’am, I don’t
know where my head is or why I didn’t see you sitting there.”

August cleared his
throat and the man turned back to him. “Please don’t bother us
again. Forget this table exists until I’ve left the restaurant.”

“Oh, yes, sir,”
he said, his expression glazed and robotic, convinced this was a
normal request and he was acting of his own free will.

August shifted his
attention to Nicolette and her husband several tables away. He’d
picked a viewing perch where the woman’s back would be to him.
She’d gone stiff in the coffee shop just before she’d turned
around. If she did that now, he wasn’t sure how he’d handle
her—or the witnesses. If she knew he was watching, he’d have to
take her, and that would be a messy event—hard to clean up with so
many people around. And it would do little to convince her to become
his mate.

August watched the
husband slide a black velvet box across the linen. The vampire
filtered the noise around him to hear their table. It sounded hollow
and tinny, but the content of the conversation was easy enough to
pick up.

“Happy
anniversary, sweetheart.”

She opened the box
to reveal a diamond bracelet. Even from such a distance, August knew
the man had good taste. And money. Guilt stabbed at him for what he
was about to do. But it didn’t matter. There was no price too high
to pay, no evil as great as the one he had to do each night to
fulfill the demands of the curse. She would come to understand. She’d
grow to love him so that it would make it all less horrible for her.
Eventually her husband would fade from her mind. Some day it wouldn’t
hurt anymore.

“Oh, Dominic,
it’s beautiful. Thank you!” She held out her delicate wrist, and
he deftly worked the clasp to put it on her. “I’ll be right back.
I want to see it in a mirror against my dress.” She excused herself
to go to the restroom, and August turned away until she was gone,
then he blazed a path to her vacated seat.

“Excuse me, but
my wife is… ”

August took the
man’s hand and captured his gaze, putting the full force of his
power into the thrall. There could be no margin for error. “Listen
to me. You are indifferent to your wife. She annoys you. You wish
she’d go away.”

Dominic nodded his
agreement, his face taking on that blank stare before clearing, but
August was out the door before he could notice him again.

***

Nicole admired the
reflection of the bracelet in the mirror. It sparkled so much more
this way. She smiled as she watched the brilliant diamonds dance in
the light. Although it was their tenth anniversary, she hadn’t
expected something so extravagant.

He’d had it
inscribed. The engraved script on the underside read:
So lucky to
have found my soul mate. Many never do. — D

Dominic’s case
load had been intense these past few months, and she’d assumed
dinner would be it. When had he found time to go to a jewelry store?
She washed her hands, fussed with her hair a second, and swiped a
wand of gloss across her lips. When she was satisfied that everything
was in place, she returned to the table.

“I ordered for
you,” Dominic said, his eyes trained on his phone.

“I, uh… okay,
I guess.” She often ordered the same thing at
Au Soleil
, but
not always. He knew her preferences, but it wasn’t like him to
order for her. It was such an arrogant, controlling, and
condescending thing to do that wasn’t like her husband at all.
Outside of a few light games in the bedroom, he was the most
egalitarian man she’d ever met.

One of the things
she’d always loved about him was that although he was used to
getting what he wanted, he never treated her like she was a trophy on
his arm. Ordering for her crossed a line where he saw her as a pretty
thing to be seen with rather than a person to be heard.

She pulled out her
chair and sat, staring at the goblet of water in front of her.
“Dominic… ” she paused, trying to find a way to say it without
sounding like some nagging shrew. She’d never been a nag with him.
Their relationship had hummed along, with both of them being
considerate to the other most of the time. “Dominic, I don’t like
when people order for me.” After a decade together, shouldn’t he
know that?

He was still
preoccupied with his phone. “Are you kidding, Nicole? You order the
same damn thing everywhere we go. After ten years, I know what you
like.”

She reeled back as
if he’d slapped her, her throat tight. “Did something happen
while I was gone? Did you get a call from the firm? Did they find out
you took a day off for our anniversary?”

Annoyance creased
his brow. “Not everything is about you, dear. Maybe it’s time you
learned that.” He went back to his phone and she gaped at him,
feeling as if he’d punched her in the gut.

The bracelet
became a heavy weight, its sparkles and engraved endearments hollow
and empty.

Her
Poulet aux
Porto
finally arrived, giving her something else to focus on.
Dominic shoveled food into his mouth as if he couldn’t wait to get
out of the restaurant. His behavior was more befitting of a
linebacker at a family-style buffet than a husband on a dinner date
at a fancy restaurant with his wife.

Maybe something
had gone wrong with a case. But he’d never taken things like that
out on her before. He’d always treated her like she was his world.
She’d never believed in soul mates, but her husband had convinced
her it was a true phenomenon and that he was hers. She’d thought
herself lucky.

And now that she
had the smallest taste of what the wives of many busy attorneys lived
with, she found she couldn’t stomach it.

She choked down
her dinner and tried to stem the flow of tears. How often did they
fight or have unpleasantness like this? He was under a lot of
pressure, that was all. So it was their anniversary. It was an
inopportune time, but these things happened, she was sure of it.

Dominic didn’t
tease her or make jokes on the way home. He didn’t speak at all. It
was as if they were strangers sharing a cab. When they got home, he
locked himself in his study and didn’t come out again. She waited
up until two in the morning, when she drifted off in a fitful sleep.

Chapter Three

August had watched
Nicolette for the past month. Each day she’d become more haggard
and bereft than the day before. He’d thought if he could take the
shine off of Dominic Rose that she would be his, but now that it was
time to make his move, he realized kidnapping her that first day
would have been the more merciful decision.

It was cruel to
manipulate her heart in this way, but if she knew what he’d
suffered… in time she would understand. And now that Dominic was
no prize, wouldn’t that understanding come that much sooner? All
August had wanted was for her to come to him without ever having to
see his ugliness, without ever having to fear him, but though he
couldn’t control her mind, he
was
controlling her.

The curse was
specific. There was nothing about normal, non-magical coercion or
force. All that mattered was that she agreed—however he got her to
that point—to be his blood mate and take this all away.

He took a deep
breath and followed her into the grocery store. In the produce
section, he bumped into her between the romaine lettuce and the
zucchini.

“Oh, excuse me,”
he said, turning on the charm, pushing remorse into the background.
If she saw his unease she’d run like a scared rabbit—she was far
more observant than the women he was used to dealing with.

His heart broke
for her. Her eyes were red-rimmed and puffy. She might fall apart
right there in the grocery store. August reached out, needing to
comfort the most valuable person in his world, the one he would
protect at all costs but right now was hurting for the greater good.

She recoiled as
her eyes lit with recognition and a touch of fear.

He pulled his hand
away. “I’m sorry, you seemed sad. Why don’t you leave your cart
and come have some coffee next door with me? It might help to talk
about it.”

Any other woman
would have batted her eyes, excited for his attention, the mind
control overriding any self-preservation instinct that might warn of
a predator, unless the woman was oblivious to her instincts and
didn’t require suggestion at all. But Nicolette was uncertain,
scared.

“I-I don’t
think so, but thank you.” She took a bag and filled it with the
zucchini behind him and began to push her cart in the opposite
direction.

If she got away
from him this time, he wouldn’t have another chance to do this the
nice way. A third approach would make her feel stalked and erect
stronger barriers against him. A fourth might equal a restraining
order no matter how spaced apart their meetings were. He followed
her, trying to wipe away the panicked desperation she’d no doubt
experienced on their first encounter weeks ago. Such intense emotion
would do nothing to assuage her fears.

“Nicolette,
wait.” His voice was more controlled than the day he’d chased her
outside the coffee shop.

She stopped but
didn’t turn around, her shoulders radiating tension. When he
reached her cart, she said, “You remember my name.”

“And you
remember me.” He hadn’t been a hundred percent sure that her fear
wasn’t a natural wariness toward men she didn’t know. Some women
were like that, and all things considered, it was a good instinct to
have. And not just when it came to vampires.

“You would be
hard to forget,” she admitted.

He wasn’t sure
that was a compliment, but he’d take it. “One coffee. You’ll
feel better.”

***

Nicole wasn’t
sure why she agreed to coffee with the scary stranger. Sadness,
loneliness, despondence, perhaps? Dominic had wrapped himself more
tightly in his work, creating a cocoon she couldn’t hope to
penetrate. It didn’t matter what she did, he’d shut her out, and
none of it made sense.

She bristled when
August guided her a back booth. There was no way she’d do this if
it weren’t daylight outside with a bustling street of busy people
around them.

She stared at the
diamond bracelet she couldn’t bring herself to take off.

“Did your
husband give you that?” August asked. He was perceptive. Maybe too
perceptive. But then, what woman bought such an extravagant piece of
jewelry for herself? Diamonds were the domain of lovers.

Nicole couldn’t
help the tears that came then. She hadn’t expected or intended to
cry in front of him, but she’d kept it in so long around others
that the dam was bound to burst. With a stranger it wouldn’t
matter. She hadn’t told her family or her coworkers. She’d
thought if she went along and pretended that everything was fine with
Rose and Rose
that it would be.

“Are you happy
with him?” he asked, echoing the question he’d asked the last
time they’d met.

Pain radiated from
his face. Had he scared her that first day because he was dangerous
or because she’d been attracted? Maybe his danger was to her
marriage, not to her, physically. She tried to remember their first
meeting. Of course August was attractive. He was attractive in the
way that no red-blooded American woman could deny, but then, so was
Dominic. There was no need to seek elsewhere for that.

But here, now, was
a man who cared, someone looking at her in that half-starved way her
husband had always looked at her. That look she missed so much.

She didn’t pull
away when he reached across the table, his large, cool hand covering
hers. “Nicolette? Are you happy?”