Her Vampire Mate (3 page)

Team up? Was she serious? He covered his surprise as well as he could and walked toward her just as the door opened.

A little white-haired woman in a pink jogging suit opened the door. “Yes?”

“Sorry, ma’am. I’m looking for the building manager,” the werewolf said.

“He’s not here right now. Can I take a message for him?” The woman eyed Antonio, closing the door just a little.

As though that could save her.

“We’re looking for our friend, Phillip Kent. I’ve been calling and calling and we’ve stopped by several times but he’s not here. I just wanted to make sure he hasn’t moved out or anything.”

What a sexy little liar his werewolf was.

The woman’s face crumpled, a crease forming between her eyes. “Oh, honey. He moved out a couple of days ago. Didn’t even leave an address for his security deposit—said we could keep it. Do you have any other way to reach him?”

The werewolf touched her forehead before dropping her hand to her side. “Dammit. He always does this—takes off without telling anyone. He promised he’d stop.”

And that was his opening. Antonio stepped closer to her and put his hand on the back of her neck. “It’ll be all right, honey. We’ll find him.”

She immediately stiffened and sucked in her breath but the building manager’s wife didn’t seem to notice.

Instead, the older woman took a step backward, away from him. “He used to hang out at the Lucky Elbow down on Fourth. Maybe someone there might know where he is.” She started talking faster. “I’m sorry I can’t help you more. Best of luck.” She closed the door.

Antonio left his hand on the werewolf’s neck, massaging her with his fingers. She might be everything he didn’t look for in a woman but he felt an overwhelming urge to find out more about her.

For a moment, he felt her relax into him. Her head fell back just the slightest inch. Then she jerked away and headed for the outside door.

He hurried to keep up with her—not too difficult with his vampire speed. “Thought we were teaming up.”

“To talk to the building manager,” she said. “That’s it.”

He put his hand on her back. “You sure? I bet we could make magic together.”

She sucked in her breath and walked even faster.

“What’s your name, sweetness?”

She stopped and turned to him. For a moment, her eyes wavered then met his. “This isn’t going to work.” As she turned and stalked away, he heard her murmur, “What the hell am I going to do?”

Antonio knew what he wanted to do and it didn’t have anything to do with finding a world-walker.

***

Jennalynn couldn’t believe the fates had been so cruel as to mate her to a vampire. What was she supposed to do with him? They were enemies. She couldn’t very well live with him. And yet she’d go mad if he wasn’t in her life. Literally. Mated werewolves who lost their mates went mad. If they were old enough, their bodies gave out and they died. If they were young, they usually killed themselves.

So those were her choices. Try to find a way to be mates with a vampire or die. Great.

Jennalynn climbed into her car and drove away before the vampire could stop her.

The answer seemed easy enough. She didn’t want to die, so she’d have to make a life with the vampire. But of course nothing was easy. With her mate one of the enemy, she stood to lose everything. She’d lose her home, because no way would Darius allow a vampire to live in the Holding. She’d lose her standing in the pack, because the ranking members all lived in the Holding and if she couldn’t live in the Holding she’d have to give up her rank. Her family lived in the Holding. Her work was in the Holding. She’d lose her family and everything she’d worked so hard for.

Or her life. Her life or her life.

What had she done that was so awful that the fates would curse her this way?

***

Antonio knew damn well the werewolf would head to the bar, same as he did. Why she ran off he didn’t know. Women usually didn’t run from him. They ran to him. But this werewolf was like no woman he’d ever met before.

He pulled up to the bar and found a parking spot for his motorcycle. After securing the helmet he went inside, noting the maroon-colored four-door the werewolf had been driving parked out on the street. There were plenty of spots left so she must have some other reason for not parking in the lot. He’d have to ask her.

When he stepped into the dark room he stopped a moment to let his eyes adjust and to locate the werewolf. She sat on the far side of the room in a booth. Her eyes met his and she quickly looked away, chin up as though snubbing him.

He didn’t know why that stung. She was nothing more than a sparring partner. It shouldn’t matter to him whether she spurned him or not.

Pushing aside his thoughts about the wolf, Antonio found himself a spot at a small table far enough away from the werewolf so she wouldn’t be able to overhear him. Antonio had thought about this on the way over. Seemed like he was either going to get lucky and have Kent walk into the bar himself, or he needed to chat someone up and find out what they knew. Women responded better to Antonio than men did, so he’d decided to see what the waitresses knew.

His gaze found the wolf. A waitress in jeans shorts and a black T-shirt stood at the end of the wolf’s table. It looked like the wolf was chatting her up.

So far, he and the wolf seemed to be thinking along the same lines. He’d have to find a way to shake her at some point or risk her finding Kent before he did. But how could he do that when they both turned up the same clues?

A waitress stopped at Antonio’s table, her dark hair pulled back in a ponytail and only the barest makeup on her face. “What can I get you?”

What he really wanted they didn’t have. It had been centuries since he’d had mead and unless he took up fermenting honey himself, it was unlikely he’d ever have it again. That’s what you got for being over six hundred years old. “I’ll have wine.”

As the waitress wrote his order on a little notepad, he leaned forward and smiled at her. “How’s it going tonight?”

Her mouth turned up in a half-smile but she didn’t look at him, still writing. “A little slow but it’s early yet.”

“Maybe I can boost your tips a little. You have a menu?”

She looked up then, her eyes meeting his for several seconds. He might have overplayed his hand by mentioning her tips but he couldn’t think of a way to clear up the problem now.

“One second,” she said. She walked to the side of the bar and brought back a menu.

“Thanks.” He took the menu and she walked away. Now was definitely not the time to ask about Kent. He needed to establish rapport first and he’d already made a blunder.

As he opened the menu, he took another look at the wolf, happy to see her turning her head away at exactly that moment. If he didn’t know better, he’d think she’d been watching him. And maybe it was for professional reasons—or maybe she found him as alluring as he found her.

***

Jennalynn took a sip of her soda—she’d never liked the taste of alcohol—and watched that curvy, feminine, sexy brunette waitress stop by the vampire’s table. Her vampire. Her mate.

Jennalynn knew the waitress was just doing her job but when the vampire gave the waitress a smile sexy enough to melt a woman’s panties, Jennalynn fought to keep her claws from bursting out of the ends of her fingers.

She wanted to kill that woman. She might just rough him up at the same time, so he knew never to look at another woman again.

His gaze found Jennalynn and she looked away. What the hell was she going to do? He was her enemy. Yet somehow she had to convince him to fall for her, to love her, to stay with her.

She didn’t have a clue how. She’d trained as a fighter, studied hard for her education, but paid little attention to romance. On the contrary, she’d held herself away from dating for the most part. She saw no point in falling in love with someone who wasn’t her mate when her mate might show up at any moment.

Not that she hadn’t dated or had sex. She had. But flirting? Seduction? She didn’t have a clue where to start. And her vampire was a pro at it.

Did vampires have fated mates? She had no idea. But surely if he’d recognized her as his he would be wooing her instead of…damn it…running his fingers up the waitress’s forearm.

She’d kill him.

Jennalynn slid out of her booth and headed for her mate and his floozy. Far, far in the back of her head, she knew she needed to stop but she didn’t care.

She hadn’t taken more than a few steps before their voices came into range.

“I shouldn’t tell you anything,” the waitress said with a little giggle. “She’s my friend.”

Jennalynn stopped. The vampire’s hand curled around the waitress’s arm, his thumb stroking her skin. A red haze covered Jennalynn’s vision and she just barely kept from charging them. She didn’t even know this guy and if she did, she probably wouldn’t like him. Nevertheless, she couldn’t stand his touching someone else.

“I won’t hurt her, promise,” he said in a silky voice. “I just want to talk to her boyfriend.”

The waitress straightened a little but didn’t dislodge his hand. “Like I haven’t heard that before.”

“I owe him some money. I just want to pay up and get my collateral back but I can’t get ahold of him.” His fingers rubbed her arm. “Please.”

Clever, clever boy. If he told the waitress Kent owed him money, she’d never tell him anything. But by saying he owed Kent money, the waitress would want to help out—and worse, she’d think he was a good guy for trying to settle up.

Jennalynn hated that she respected his tactics. But if he didn’t let go of that waitress, it wouldn’t matter—she’d kill her mate and she’d go mad soon after.

“His girlfriend is one of the other waitresses,” the brunette said. “She gets on at eight tonight.”

Jennalynn took a deep breath and retreated to her booth, taking care not to look at the vampire. Looked like she had an hour to kill.

***

Not two minutes later, the vampire slid into the other side of her booth, facing her. “Were you coming to talk to me?” He gave her the same smile he’d used on the waitress.

And what was she supposed to say—‘you’re my mate and if you ever touch another woman again I’ll slice your hands off with my claws?’ Right. Instead, she feigned ignorance. “No. Was there something you wanted?”

He gazed at her for a couple of seconds then stuck out his hand. “We got off on the wrong foot. I’m Antonio de Marco and I would very much like to get to know you better.”

As much as she wanted to shoot him down, she couldn’t. Getting to know him was exactly what she needed. She put her hand in his, doing her best to hide the jolt of lust that rushed through her at his touch. “Jennalynn.”

“No last name?” He brushed his thumb over the back of her hand.

If she told him her last name, he’d know she was related to the North American Pack Alpha. She needed to keep that quiet until she knew if she could trust him. “Not at the moment.”

He laughed. “A beautiful, enigmatic werewolf. Very nice.”

She slid her hand out of his. He had very few calluses on his palms. Must not be a fighter or swordsman. “You realize we’re at odds here.”

“Yes, and our higher ups wouldn’t like it if we talked. Screw them.”

She choked back a laugh. “You don’t worry about what they’d do if you displease them? Most vampires—”

“I’m not most vampires. I’m a special case. And no, I don’t give a damn what they think.”

“They must really love you for that.”

He smiled a smile not unlike the one he’d given that waitress—shit-eating, panty-dampening and cocky. “I’m not exactly one of the inner circle.”

That was good news. As long as he was telling the truth. “And yet they gave you a very sensitive job to do.”

“Did they?”

“You’re not really going to pretend we’re not after the same thing?”

Half his mouth turned up. “Depends. Are you going to name it first?”

Like hell she was. “Fine. They sent you out here to chat up the skanky waitresses.”

“Skanky?” He shot a glance toward the bar where his brown-haired waitress stood getting some drinks. “I thought her rather sweet.”

He would. And Jennalynn needed to keep her mouth shut. “Whatever.”

When he turned his gaze back to her, she felt as though he looked right into her soul. Vampires could glamour people, she knew that. They had a harder time glamouring wolves, but they could do it. She avoided his eyes.

“I feel very drawn to you,” Antonio said.

Was it wrong that her stomach quivered when he said that? Sometimes non-wolf mates felt a touch of the mating urge. Maybe he did too?

“We’re enemies.”

His hand slid over hers and she found herself looking at him again, no matter that she’d decided not to. “That makes it all the more delicious. Have you ever made love to an enemy before?”

She laughed. “You must be kidding.”