Chosen by Fate (17 page)

“She is young,” Caleb conceded before running a hand through his hair.

“She’s twenty-two,” Wraith retorted. “Technically, I’m only ten.”

Dex snorted. “A very experienced ten. If it were you, I’d know you could take care of yourself. Hell, I’d feel more sorry for the drug pushers than for you.”

“Enough,” Mahone snapped. He pointed a finger at Dex. “You’ve voiced your concerns. Now we’re going to move past them. The First Lady is meeting with the feline Queen as we speak in an effort to ease tension between the races. The President is considering forming a task force comprised of both federal and local law enforcement in the event the Para-Ops team fails to make headway on this mission. That is not going to happen. Lucy is a member of this team. The team’s mission is to infiltrate the club scene and apprehend a serial rapist. With some makeup, Lucy’s the best feline bait we have, and she’s agreed it’s our greatest chance of making quick progress in the case. However, I agree, special preparations need to be made. Lucy herself—”

“Lucy would do almost anything if she thought it would help someone,” Dex said. “Even put her head on a chopping block, which is what you’re essentially asking her to do.”

“Where is this coming from, Dex?” Wraith asked, looking like she was confused. “Lucy has as much right to go on this mission as you do. So she’s not a super-badass like the two of us—”

Affronted, Caleb opened his mouth, but she held up her hand, cutting him off. The sight of that imperious hand made his chest puff out and urged him to grab her by the wrist, drag her out of the room, and show her what a badass he could be—only with her, it would be in bed. With great effort, he shut his mouth and waved his hand in a gesture for her to proceed.

“When we’re on the job, we take care of our own,” she said. “And Lucy’s one of ours.”

“An interesting statement coming from someone who was ready to walk away from the team yesterday,” Dex shot out.

That shut Wraith up for a couple seconds. She didn’t look pleased, but then Dex had simply stated what everyone already knew. Wraith glanced briefly at Caleb before responding to Dex. “I’m here now. You trust me to take care of myself in her place? Then trust me to take care of her. I’m going to be right there with her. And you guys are going to be covering our backs. All we’re doing is a little low-key surveillance, trying to get the drop on a cowardly drug pusher who needs to knock out females in order to get laid. Compared to our last mission, this one should be quick and easy.”

Dex said nothing. Growling, he walked out of the room instead.

“Welcome back, by the way,” Mahone said. “Don’t walk away from the team again, Wraith. Because it’ll be the last time you do.”

For a minute, she stared at the man, her expression slightly troubled. Somehow Caleb knew the look wasn’t about Lucy or Dex or anything else that had just gone on, including Mahone’s threat. It made Caleb’s nerves jump to attention.

“So,” Caleb said, testing. “Where’ve you been, Wraith?”

She turned, her version of a go-to-hell smile splitting her face. “I told you. Looking up old friends.”

“Monroe?” he growled.

She pressed a hand to her chest, right where her heart should have been. “Is that a note of jealousy I hear, Caleb? Afraid Ramsey used our short time together to reintroduce me to the L.A. nightclub scene in all its wicked glory?” She said “wicked” in the same taunting tone she’d said “nasty” to Dex. Caleb’s need for dominance rose to the surface. He was far more easygoing than Dex or their vampire leader, Knox Devereaux, but he wasn’t a sissy-boy. It was time Wraith figured that out. He straightened and walked toward her, hearing Mahone’s weary sigh but ignoring him.

“No,” he said softly.

“Why not?”

He’d warned Wraith not to push him earlier, but obviously she hadn’t gotten the message.

“Because,” he said, even as he kept coming at her, forcing her to move away from him until her back was against the door. He planted his palms on either side of her head. “You still have the look of a female who hasn’t been fucked in a good, long time and needs it really bad. And if you’re not careful, honey, you’re going to get the fucking you’ve clearly been asking for.”

They stared at each other, neither one blinking, for what seemed like hours. Days. In the end, she blinked. She tried to cover it with another disdainful smile and a glib, “Real nice, O’Flare. Get real and get away from me,” but it was a blink all the same. He knew it. And so did she.

With a satisfied smile, he pushed away from her, not missing her mumbled, “Cocky bastard.” When he arched a brow, ready to call her bluff yet again, she turned to Mahone, who’d been watching them intently.

“So it’ll just be the four of us? You’re not bringing in subs for Felicia and Knox?”

Mahone pursed his lips, then picked up his jacket from where he’d hung it on the back of a chair. “For this assignment, four seems more than enough to get the job done. If I’m wrong, tell me now.” He looked pointedly at Caleb, who remained silent.

Forcing his gaze away from Wraith, he asked, “Why was Lucy already briefed?”

“Excuse me?” Mahone asked.

Caleb smiled. He didn’t buy Mahone’s innocent act for one second. “Why was she briefed separately from the rest of us? Granted, being used as the primary bait entitled her to a heads-up, or at least a chance to decline, but why isn’t she here now? Where is she?”

Mahone looked away and moved to the other side of the room to gather his files. “She had business to attend to, but she’ll be here soon.”

Dex walked back in the room, leaving the door open. It was clear he’d been listening the whole time from the hallway. The wolf had exceptional hearing. “What business does she have to attend to?” he asked.

Yet another uncharacteristic question. Caleb figured.

Mahone apparently thought so, too. “What’s going on here, Dex? You and Lucy got something going on that I don’t know about?”

“No,” Dex said. “We don’t. Not the way you’re thinking.”

Did Caleb imagine it, or was there a flicker of relief in Mahone’s eyes just then? Maybe, but Dex kept talking, rerouting his attention.

“Regardless, what makes you think Lucy can play the femme fatale? Or am I missing something here? She’s a virgin.”

Wraith rounded on Dex. “How the hell would you know that?”

“How the hell could you not?”

“Let me guess, you’re such a stud, you can just sense whether a woman’s been fucked, right?” Although she spoke to Dex, she glanced at Caleb, apparently including him in the question.

Caleb sure hoped it wasn’t for support. He shrugged sheepishly and said, “I’d put money on it.”

She made a frustrated sound. “And?”

“And felines, even feline virgins, are intensely sexual creatures,” he explained. “Their bodies force that upon them at an early age. Hell, once they pass the age of sixteen, they need sex on a regular basis or it causes them physical pain. Why do you think they go to these clubs in the first place?”

“If I didn’t know better—that rape is about power, not sex—I’d almost wonder why someone is even bothering raping felines,” Dex muttered. “When in heat, felines aren’t often sexually discriminating—”

“God, you’re sounding like someone I heard on TV the other day. Are you actually saying what I think you are? That these felines deserved to be raped because their race is sexually promiscuous or—”

Dex’s eyes widened. “No!”

“—that a feline rape isn’t a big deal?”

Caleb’s eyebrows shot up. Where the hell was that coming from? Because neither he nor Dex had said that, and neither had anyone else in this room. “You’re way out of line, Wraith. That wasn’t what Dex was—”

Wraith turned toward him. “Of course, you know only too well the benefits of sleeping with a feline, don’t you, Caleb? And not just any feline, but the feline princess.”

Caleb, Dex, and Mahone fell silent. Ever since Wraith had stepped into the room, things were going from bad to worse, and Caleb wasn’t even sure why. With her last statement hanging in the air, Wraith shook her head. “I . . . I don’t know why I—”

“Look,” Caleb interrupted, wanting to calm Wraith. “I know what Dex is getting at. It’s not so much what the felines need or are looking for when they go to those clubs. It’s about the guys and what
they’re
looking for. What they’re
expecting
. Which is uncomplicated sex with someone who wants it just as much as they do; otherwise, they wouldn’t be there in the first place. Those guys aren’t going to beat around the bush or make the kind of effort to get laid they might at other places. They’re going be all over Lucy. Hell, they’re even going to be all over you.” He held up his hands at the way she narrowed her eyes in affront. “You know what I mean, Wraith. The second you or Lucy stiffen up, you’re going to be made and our drug-touting rapists are going to head for the hills fast. Then the team’s usefulness is toast.”

“Again, what’s your point?” Her gaze tore to Mahone’s. “Because I know we’re not wasting words for nothing. Tell me.”

Mahone rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, if Lucy really is a virgin . . . And you’ve been—well, on your own for a while—maybe you could . . .” He cleared his throat.

“Get in some practice beforehand?” Wraith sneered. “Is that what you’re saying?” Her gaze bounced to Caleb.

“I’m talking training—something akin to touch therapy or role playing—not the four of you doing the actual deed, Wraith. You’d split into pairs and—”

“And let me guess who we’d be practicing with. Lucy with Dex and me with Caleb, right?”

Even though Caleb was just as surprised by Mahone’s apparent plans as Wraith was, he couldn’t ignore the way his pulse began to race at her words. Not that he wasn’t without conflict. Hell, he always wanted to touch Wraith, no matter where he was or who he was with or how damn fucking pissed she made him. But . . .

“Actually, I was thinking it would be the other way around.”

“What?” Caleb felt the sudden rage wash over him. He probably looked all squinty-eyed, but he couldn’t help himself. He didn’t know when the conversation had turned to him and Dex pimping themselves out for the sake of the mission, “doing the actual deed” or not, but now that it had, he was damned if he’d listen to any talk of Wraith being with anyone but him.

“Who the hell’s bright idea was this, anyway?” Dex grumbled, although he sounded slightly amused by everyone else’s reactions. Again, telling. Unlike Caleb, he showed no preference for bedmates; hell, Mahone could just as easily have suggested he and Dex pair up, and Dex would probably have the same indifferent reaction.

“Actually,” a soft feminine voice came from the doorway. They all turned as one to see Lucy, chin up and mouth trembling. “It was mine.”

Caleb closed his eyes and felt his stomach drop.

Shit.

K
nox awoke by degrees, but he knew instantly that Felicia was no longer beside him. Panic beat its familiar wings within his chest before he sat up and forced the feeling away. He hadn’t imagined it, he assured himself, taking in the things she’d left strewn about the bedroom—her perfume and hairbrush set. Lotions. Jewelry. The framed picture from their wedding day.

Felicia was inside the Dome. They’d been in bed for the better part of six hours, and she was either enjoying a long soak in the spa tub she loved so much or gathering snacks in the kitchen for the both of them to eat.

Picturing her doing either eased his mind.

It was still something he was getting used to—living with her at the Dome, knowing that when he woke and went to bed, she’d be there. Feeling confident that she was safe within his care. Knowing that she touched and enjoyed all the details he’d considered in making this house a home.

Who could blame him for occasionally wondering if it was all a dream? After all, not only had he finally won the heart of the human he loved, but he had his father back. Things were as they should have always been.

His mother, Bianca, the vampire Queen, and his father, Jacques, the human-turned-vampire who’d been unfairly branded a traitor, had been reunited.

Knox’s son, Thomas, and his daughter, Joelle, were thriving.

With the addition of Felicia, they were a family.

And he was happy. Happier than he ever would have dreamed possible.

Although his clan still suffered from the effects of the vamp vaccine—which had been given to humans once vampires were discovered, changing human blood so that it could no longer nourish the vamps—many of them, including his mother, had shown remarkable improvement. In part, it was because of the return of Knox’s father, which, along with a regular infusion of pure blood from Felicia, had revived their Queen. It was also because they had hope now—hope that the vamp antidote the Para-Ops team had brought back from Korea would be their ultimate salvation. That they would return to strength and flourish as a race once more.

Shifting until he was flat on his back, he stretched his limbs, soaking in the feeling of the silk sheets beneath him and the realization that no matter how luxurious the fabric, it didn’t come anywhere close to the softness of his wife’s skin.

Smiling, he turned his face into his pillow, savoring the sound of the word “wife” even as he savored the headiness of their combined scents. Instantly, his body hardened, and he cupped his dick with his palm, stroking himself in anticipation of her return. He hadn’t yet opened his eyes when he felt her body against him and her fingers brush away his. A rough moan escaped him as she began working him with her fist.

“You started without me,” Felicia murmured, her chiding tone causing him to open his eyes. She was bent over him, straddling his thighs, her long hair falling across his face in a tangle of fiery silk. He cupped her face in his palms and said, “No, my love. Nothing starts until you’re with me. Nothing.”