Jules (Golden Streak Series Book 5) (4 page)

~~~

Peter watched her sleep. The damned girl was going to get herself killed if she didn’t stay put. He smiled when he thought of what Jules had said to him an hour into her surgery. The man had figured out she was his mate.

“You’ll tell me who did this to her.
And I don’t want any bullshit about how you can’t do it, either. I want his name.” He told him he was dead. “When? And if you tell me you did it, I’m going to kick your ass on principle.”

“Lenore killed him when he hurt her.
She was dying and picked up a sliver of wood and rammed it into his body, and he died instantly.”

Jules only nodded and looked at him again.
“Were you there? Did you see him hurt her?” Peter shook his head. “She…did you see what he did to her? How badly she’s hurt? Someone fucking tried to strip her body apart one inch at a time. Why isn’t she still in a hospital somewhere being treated with the proper medications?”

Peter
told him he’d have to ask her that, and Jules finally walked away. That had been over six hours ago. And now she lay in recovery, after a surgery that had repaired what had torn open when she’d fallen. Peter looked up when Jules walked in.

“I’ve talked to her grandmother. She doesn’t know
anything, does she?” Peter told him that the police had lied to her about the injuries and other things. “I think you’ve already guessed it, but she’s my mate. I have to help her.”

“I understand. But she
isn’t going to be easy to convince of that. I believe that she has a way about her that will try and keep you away from her.”

Jules laughed and told him he’d already figured that out.
“She was cussing up a blue streak when I entered the room where they had her before surgery. One of the nurses asked her to stop cursing at her, and she threw back her sheet and the nurse stumbled back. I guess after that they figured she could scream all she wanted.”

“She died while we waited for the first officer to come on scene. She had taken her last breath
, and Viktor brought her back. We will not be able to help her that way again.” Jules nodded. “She will live or die of her own accord now if she chooses.”

Jules watched her
, too, as the nurse came in and checked on her. They wouldn’t be thrown out, and if the staff tried, he doubted either of them would leave. The Goldens ran and funded this facility. Peter would stay even if he had to do it so no one could see him. Jules asked him about her injuries.

“Her belly was ripped open
, as were her arms and legs. He toyed with her for a while, I think, and she fought him back. I think she might have hurt him several times before he finally leaned over her to kill her. She would not give up. It’s not in her nature.” Peter stood up to look out the window. “They are saying that she is responsible for the death of the other officer, her superior. They are saying that she was lead on the case and she should have waited for backup. Then when she had her heart attack and fell, there could have been more personnel there to help and not leave the other officer to be killed. I’ve heard that she is considered somewhat of a hot-head and thinks herself above such petty things as laws. They have no record of the call coming in about where the two of them were, and nothing on any deaths at the scene that she was working prior to her getting hurt…no one knows what they were doing during that time.”

“They were working another case? And no one was with them?” Peter didn’t answer.
“What do you think is going on, Peter? Something isn’t right and we both know it.”

“The other case involved the death of five people, a family.
I have…I have taken the liberty of reading her mind, and there were several people there with her when she worked the crime scene. Most of them that were there have no recollection of any scene and have no memory of seeing her at all that day. The others, the ones that were closest to her, are dead as well.” Peter looked back at the bed. “Someone has altered their minds, and those that they could not affect are now dead.”

Peter waited to see if Jules would ask
, and when he did, Peter smiled to himself. They were perfectly mated. He sat down before answering him.

“Her mind is as strong as
anyone’s I know. No one would be able to erase her memories, nor could they change them. Whoever worked with the others would have known this about her. That is why I believe she was sent to the other house. To be killed.”

“So she is still in danger.”
Peter nodded. “And is that why she was sent here? So that she was more out in the open for them to take care of?”

Peter told him he
thought so but wasn’t sure. “They want her dead because of the scene she had been working on and the things that had been done to the victims of the house there. The rogue vampire that killed them is still on the loose, as are five more. She has killed one of them, but the others have gone to ground for a reason I do not know.” He handed him several pictures. “These are the vampires prior to their going rogue. All of them are fairly young, and all of them are children of Em’s brother, Winfred. My connection to them is very weak; I can only find them when they are killing. By then it is nearly too late.”

“They don’t want what happened to be investigate
d, so they can continue with their killings.” Peter watched the young tiger with a great deal more respect. “Do you think they’re the ones that are altering the minds of everyone? Wait, that doesn’t explain the paperwork, does it? There is always tons of paperwork when a scene is being worked, I would guess. Hell, you should see what I have to fill out just to send a piece of my work to an overseas buyer. Someone had to take care of all that would come with a crime scene.”

Something Peter hadn’t thought of.
Paperwork. Which meant that there had to be someone on the inside of the police station who was either a vampire or a watcher. And it would have to be someone who knew what to look for as well.

“When she wakes up
, we’ll have her talk to Brock and Em. They work for the Realm now and can probably help us.” Jules flushed when Peter asked him about the
us
part. “She’s my mate and I’ll help her. And as of now, she’s going to have to put up with me being around a great deal. I’m not going to let her go this easy.”

Peter had hoped he’d say that.
He reached for his master and told him things were going along as planned. He also told him that someone needed to keep an eye on the elder MacFinley, too. She could be used to harm them.

It is taken care of now.
Peter, she will need to have the young tiger move in with them. The house is not safe by half.
He agreed, but saying that and having it done was going to be a problem.

Chapter 4

Lenny
felt every tear in her body but still needed to open her eyes. She needed to make sure her grandma was all right and to see about being released. She knew she was in the hospital without opening her eyes; after spending eight weeks in one she knew the stench of one like her own apartment. Finally, she opened her eyes only to close them again. It was entirely too bright in the room.

“Let me turn off the light over your face.” The light dimmed considerably
, and Lenny looked at the man who had spoken. “You’ve been out for a while. I was beginning to worry.”

“Grandma?”
Her throat hurt and she was thirsty. The man shoved a straw past her lips and told her to sip slowly. The cold water felt good going in, but almost before she had enough, he took it from her.

“They said only a few sips until they could tell if the
medicine they’ve been giving you didn’t make you sick. Did you know that you were allergic to the other stuff?” She knew, but throwing up was worth the three hundred dollar difference in the price of the drugs. “The stuff they’re giving you now seems to be much better.”

“You a doctor?”
He shook his head. “Then what the fuck are you doing here? I need to get home. I can’t afford this.”

“It’s
being taken care of.”

She
didn’t like the sound of that and started to tell him so when the door opened and her grandma came in.

“There you are.
I’ve been so worried.” She let her kiss her on the forehead, but jerked away when she tried to hug her. The pain that caused made her cry out.

“You need to be still or you’ll end up in surgery again.” He talked to her like she was five
, and she opened her mouth to tear him apart when the door opened again. It was the woman who had helped her the first day she’d been home.

“S
o you’re awake. Good. We were worried when you slept so long. They said it would be a week or so, but we all figured you’d do that by half. I won the bet, by the way. I said four days; everyone else said five or more.” She smiled at her. “You need anything, Lenore?”

She growled
, a habit she’d picked up from Mason. Pain laced through her heart when she thought of her friend and boss, and it made her a little sharper than she needed to be.

“It’s
Lenny or MacFinley. It’s not Lenore or Ginger or even Red. And what I need is for you all to do is to get the fuck out of here and leave me alone. I want to go home.” She looked at her grandma, who was staring at her as if she’d never seen her before. “I’m sorry, Grandma, but I haven’t a clue who these people are, and I just want to be left alone.”

Her grandma sat
down as everyone else left. The man stayed. She could ignore one person but not a room full. Whatever they were giving her for pain was wearing off, and she was having a hard time breathing through the pain. She looked at her grandma and tried to think what to say to her without snapping again.

“I
can’t afford this and neither can you. Please see if someone will give you paperwork called AMA. It’s a form that says I’m leaving against medical advice.” Her grandma looked at the man, who nodded. When she left, the man sat in her chair.

“You could have been a great deal more polite
about all of this. And as for you leaving, that’s not going to happen either. You’re still too hurt, and you’re still hooked up to the IV that’s helping you.” She looked at the IV in her hand and pulled it free. He stared at her for several seconds, then laughed.

“I want you to go away.”
He nodded but didn’t move. “I’m in no mood to fuck around, and I certainly can’t for the life of me figure out what you want. But you need to leave here before I call security.”

“I can call them for you if you’d like
, but they won’t throw me out. My family owns this place and pays the salary of every person working here. Including the security officers.” He leaned back in the chair. “And you’re not leaving. There are no AMA papers to be found here, and even if they suddenly appeared, you’re still not leaving. As I said before, your bills are being taken care of and that’s final.”

“Who are you?”
She stared at him as he moved closer to her until she could see the flecks of gold in his eyes. She nearly jerked away from him when he lowered his face to hers.

“Don’t
, Lenny, you’ll hurt yourself.” She didn’t know how to react to the softness of his voice, and waited for him to say something more. When he didn’t, she cleared her suddenly dry throat.

“I don’t know you.”
He smiled, and she felt her heart start to race. “You should leave here now. Please.”

“See
? That wasn’t so bad, now was it? I’m Jules Golden and we’ve met before, but you were in great deal of pain at the time. And I can’t leave you, love. Not when I don’t know anything about you.” Her body began to relax and she looked behind her. The nurse was standing there with a needle, putting something in her IV.

“You
distracted me.” He nodded and began to fade. “You’ll pay for that. I don’t like to be fucked with.”

“I’m sorry
, but you’re just too stubborn to keep still until you heal. When you’re much better we’ll talk some more about your violent tendencies; but for now, you should rest.”

Her eyes closed against her will
, and the harder she tried to fight the medication, the more it seemed to work its magic. Finally, she let go and slipped into the darkness once again.

~~~

Bronwyn glared at Peter. He was pissing her off, and she was going to knock him on his ass if he didn’t tell her what she wanted to know. This beating around the bush and back around again was getting on her last nerve. And the worst part of it was, she was pissed and he wasn’t.

“If you tell me one more time that you can’t help me
, I’m going to make it so you need the help. If she continues to be in so much pain, how will they bond?” She glared harder. “Why can’t you give her some of your blood and be done with it?”

“
Because she is mine.” Bronwyn turned to look at Viktor as he materialized in the room. “When she was laying there dying, I had to save her and gave her several drops of my own blood. She cannot die, but neither can Peter help her now.”

“You gave her your blood?” She turned to look at Peter.
“Why didn’t you tell me that in the first place? I might not have…well, yes I would have, but it would have been nice to know someone is helping her.”

“He has been helping her
, my lady, but she is not helping herself. Each time she goes against what we’ve tried to get her to do; she fights us. Her hospital stay was for one more month and then physical therapy, but she came here instead. When we put her to sleep to heal and rest, she will fight us there as well. Even the medications that she is being given in the clinic where she is now, she fights. We can only do so much with her before we are interfering with her life.”

Bronwyn snorted. “I don’t think
you’re interfering enough. I can’t stand to see her in so much pain. And I can feel it without looking into her mind.” He asked her if she had yet. “No. I’m afraid to if you want to know the truth. Whatever did that to her is…he was a vampire, wasn’t he?”

“Yes.
A rogue like the others your family now looks for. We were late in getting there to help her because she was to wait for backup. But something happened and….” He took a deep breath. “What do you know of her?”

“Nothing really
, other than a few tidbits we’ve found on searches. I know that she and her grandmother had a big fight, her father died in prison, and that she was a detective in Washington. She hurts, but she let Gabby sit on her lap. I don’t know why that makes me want to help her more, but there you have it.” Bronwyn shivered. “And there is something so haunting about her that terrifies me to no end.”

Viktor nodded at Peter
, and he left the room. He sat down across from her, and she had a feeling that what he was going to tell her wasn’t going to be a bedtime story, but one more horrifying than she’d ever heard in her lifetime. And she had not had an easy life.

“When
our Lenore was born, it was under less than ideal circumstances. Her…mother and father were not human, not entirely. Her mother was a watcher, but advanced to vampire when her master took a liking to her in his bed. Do you know what a watcher is?”

She nodded. “Someone who cares for a vampire during the day and brings
them a human to feed from when necessary. You? Were you her master?”

“No. I find my own meals
, and at my age it is considerably less than a vampire half my age requires. The vampire that she watched was older, but not…he hadn’t any sense of worth. He didn’t try to make his life better, but would work harder, it seemed, to make his situation worse by doing nothing. He was lazy and his staff was as well.” Viktor got up to pace as he continued. “When he found his rest during the day, she would go about finding men to bring into his home. She would lure them to his chamber and allow them to see him and his place of rest. It was dangerous for them both.”

“
Isn’t their resting place like this well-kept secret?” She flushed. “I’m sorry, but you have to know that I never think of you and Peter as vampires. I know that you are, but you’re so different than any others I have seen. You’re nice.”

“We can be.” She felt her first curl of fear of the man and
wanted to run, but he sat across from her and took her hand, and she felt silly. “You must know something, my dear, that we’ve told no one else. Peter and I aren’t your traditional vampires. We are…more, I would suppose, and not just because of our advanced age. We have powers that we brought with us from our realm that only got stronger when we came here. And as such we are not always nice. We can be quite ruthless and deadly when we need to be. And with this girl, Lenore, we will need to be for her sake.”

“What is she? You said she was yours, why?
What is she to you that would make you tell me this?” She waited for his answer almost…no, she was terrified of his answer.

“She is the child of a
vampire and a half-breed. And before you ask what that is, I shall try to explain.” He raised his hands up and suddenly the room was darkened and an image took place in the air in front of her. “This is her mother, Divinity, before she let evil take away her youth. I think she would be going by another name by now; sometimes older vampires feel the need to take on a new identity when they reach certain points in their life. But I digress. She was quite beautiful and wanted by many men. Lenny’s father—Grunt was all I knew him by—was such a man.”

A man who looked to be huge was there. He
had heavy features about his face, full lips, dark brows, and a chin that looked to be sharp. And his teeth…. They looked to be feline. She looked at Viktor.

“He’s a shifter.”
He nodded. “What was his animal? Please tell me he wasn’t a tiger. That would just fucking suck big hairy balls.”

He laughed at her and shook his head.
“You do have an eloquent way with words, do you not? But he was not a tiger, at least not usually. His animal of choice was a leopard. He was a true shifter. And as such could change to whatever he wished, whenever he wished.”

“And Lenny, she’s a shifter
, too?” He shrugged. “You don’t know what she is? How is that…?” Something else occurred to her. “Her grandmother isn’t her grandmother, is she? She’s...you planted her to watch over her for some reason. Her parents, at least one of them, are yours somehow. Or you’ve given them your blood and you feel responsible for her now.”

“You are a great deal smarter than any human I’ve ever met.
And yes, you are correct. Her mother was once saved by me. I gave her my blood and she became my child. I didn’t create her into a vampire, but somehow she took on some of the anomalies of one and as such became a rogue like her mate.” He watched her, and she had a feeling that he was waiting for her to ask him something.

“Does Lenny know about this?”
He said he didn’t think so but she may. “Then when do you plan to tell her? Or are you telling her?”

“We were hoping that you might know someone who would…break it to her.
Someone that she would not be able to harm, if she did not take the news as well as we hope.” Bronwyn wanted to sock the man in the nose. “Someone like you, perhaps?”

“No.”
He cocked a brow at her. “You do know that she’s my future sister-in-law, correct? And for the rest of my life she may hate me because you didn’t have the balls to be man enough to tell her that you’ve been fucking with her life for a long time.” She stood up to pace. “Of all the underhanded, slimy, shitty things to do, this rates right up there with the top five of crap I’ve been asked to do.”

“And if she finds out that you knew?”
She stopped pacing to stare at him. Anger boiled over her body and she took a step toward him when Peter was suddenly in front of her. It was all she could do not to hurt the men. And while she knew that she could, she wouldn’t stoop to their level of playing unfairly.

“You both get out of my house.”
Neither of them moved, and she looked at Peter. “I’ll kill you right now if you don’t do that disappearing act right fucking now.”