Skye's Trail (26 page)

“Money’s not everything. A lot of these kids wouldn’t be here if they had what they needed at home,” Rico said, and surprised himself by feeling a spark of compassion for the misfit kids in line. He’d gone to school with a lot of kids who had money but no family life. Not that he’d ever known hunger, but his mother had never worked outside being a homemaker, and with seven kids on a cop’s salary, they’d never had a lot left over. But they’d had family, and lots of it, and he’d known growing up that he was rich in a way that most of the kids he knew envied.

Caldwell shot him a hard stare. “What’s going on with you? Now you’re identifying with them? Oh, right. This is one of your girlfriend’s hangouts when she’s not doing business with scum like Big Daddy.” There was a wealth of disapproval in her voice.

Rico shifted in his seat. He’d never wanted a partner, but if Rivera was going to pair him with Caldwell, then he needed to get this out in the open. “Look, Cia, if you’ve got a problem with me having a private life that includes Skye, then talk to the captain and see if he’ll reassign you. Otherwise, keep it to yourself.”

Caldwell looked like she’d bitten into shit. “Fine. But you’re a damn good cop, Rico, and I hate to see you throw it away over her.”

“I’m not throwing it away.”

Cia snorted and opened the car door. “That’s bullshit. I’m going to go stand in line behind Marina. It’s probably better to split up anyway.” She started to close the door, then added. “Have it your way. I’m not going to say anything to the captain, unless
you
have a problem with me being your partner.” She shut the door firmly and stalked over to the line.

Rico shut his eyes briefly. He’d be glad when this case was wrapped up. He had a shitload of stuff to work through and he didn’t need this on top of it.

A small wave of excitement rippled through the kids waiting in line. Rico’s attention turned and locked onto the man who’d just stepped out of Fangs. His gut clenched when he saw the long dark hair and aquiline features. He didn’t need Skye here to tell him who he was looking at. Gian.

Goddamn. He wasn’t ready for this. But when the line started moving, Rico got out of the car.

* * * * *

They hadn’t chosen the storage locker for security, probably because they’d only intended to “stay” long enough to find a new place. Skye’s lips tilted up in a half-smile as she used the bolt cutters she’d gotten at the hardware store to snap the lock.

The sight that greeted her when she rolled the door back turned the half-smile into a full smile. The Harley was here, waiting to be reclaimed. And wrapped in the smell of foul blood and dark magic were both coffins.

Skye set the bolt cutters aside and pulled out the knives, both purchased from a man who wouldn’t remember selling them. The sun would drop in a few minutes, but she didn’t intend to wait. She closed the door and plunged the locker into darkness.

Her night vision had been sharpened by Gian’s blood. It took only a second for her eyes to adjust so that the inside of the storage unit was as visible as a room in daylight.

The thin wall that separated Gian’s mind from hers still shimmered in place, but she could feel his power building on the other side, aware that she was hiding from him.

Skye moved to the first coffin. Preparing herself to strike fast.

The hand holding the knife began its descent even before the casket lid had completely opened.

There was only time for a startled hiss and a flash of red, glaring eyes before the knife was driven home and Amy Weldon’s fate was suspended. Jen’s life force was weaker and just as easily subdued.

* * * * *

Gian sent another strong summons to Skye before turning his attention to Detective Rico Santana. He didn’t need the Angelini marks to know who the man in the parking lot was. He recognized him from the first night that Skye had come to Fangs—the night when he’d seen her dancing and felt the undeniable call of her blood to his.

Echoes of the pleasure Skye felt when she mated with Rico whispered in Gian’s mind. His cock grew hard, his blood heated.

Unlike Brann, Gian had never been attracted to men, but tonight he would enjoy sharing blood with this man. He would enjoy the feel of another cock against his as they both mated their bodies to hers, amplifying the pleasure and closing the bond so that no other could enter it.

* * * * *

Rico didn’t bother joining the line. He leaned against the car and watched as the first bunch was allowed in. When the line stopped moving, the bouncer he’d seen before began walking along the line, handpicking more people. Their excited squeals sent anger rushing down Rico’s raw nerves.

What a fucking power trip. How could Skye stand this?

The bouncer got to where Marina and Caldwell stood next to each other and Rico held his breath. He wasn’t worried about getting into Fangs, the badge would take care of that, but it would be less suspicious if Caldwell got in on her own.

She’d at least dressed in black. It gave her a tourist-checking-out-the-freak-show look but he wasn’t sure she could pull off Goth even to follow through on her lead. When the bouncer nodded, Caldwell at least managed a credible smile. She said something to him and tilted her head toward Marina. The bouncer gave the go-ahead and it was done.

Rico straightened away from the car and headed toward the doorway—toward Gian—just as Gian began moving toward him. With each step forward, the primal instinct to fight for sole possession of a mate warred against erotic fantasies. It was too easy to picture Gian fucking Skye, too easy to imagine them both doing it.

They stopped a few inches apart and studied each other. Rico’s gut tightened at the sight of the flames in Gian’s eyes. But he held out his hand anyway and felt a jolt of heat through the bite marks, through his cock, when Gian’s hand clasped his and skin touched skin.

Chapter Sixteen

The buzzing in Skye’s head was getting stronger, more painful, as Gian’s summons became more insistent. The barrier between them was weakening under his assault.

She’d been lucky so far—lucky that she hadn’t lost much time finding a place to hide the Harley, lucky that Rico’s truck had a winch so it was easy to pull the coffins into the truck bed, lucky that she knew an area where she could bury them without too much risk of being seen. But luck didn’t hold indefinitely.

She pushed herself to throw the last shovels full of sand over the hole and escape before Gian began tracking her.

* * * * *

“You are
way
lucky,” Marina said. “Your first night here and one of the vamps is interested in you.” She leaned closer to Cia, as though someone could actually eavesdrop in a place as loud as Fangs. “There’s a girl I sometimes hung out with in LA, she’s from Pacific Palisades, same as I am. She tried for months to get one of the vamps interested in her, not to be a companion—that’s not much better than being a sex slave—but to make her a vampire. She finally gave up and found another way. But it cost her a lot of money. If I were you, I’d go over and ask him to dance or something. Don’t worry about those vamp-sluts hanging off him—he hasn’t given them a second look.”

Detective Cia Caldwell shivered despite the heat being generated by all the bodies packed into this place. She’d busted her ass to get this lead, spent every spare moment in cyberspace or on the phone to the cops who were going over Brittany Armstrong’s computer, but right now, every instinct she had was screaming for her to get out of there, before it was too late and her life was changed forever.

This whole scene was creeping her out. There wasn’t enough money in Vegas to make her read a Stephen King book, much less step into one, yet here she was in the middle of a horror show.

God, she wasn’t cut out for undercover work, that was for sure. She’d been so sure she had Marina figured out… Now it only pissed her off more to see these kids being sucked into this stuff. Her eyes landed on Rico, then Skye. She had to clench her hand to keep from making the sign of the cross. She had to let it go—along with the last of the crush she’d had on him.

Mind over matter. That’s what her mother had always preached.

What was more important to her career—a one-sided, nonexistent love affair with Rico, or having him as a partner?

Having him as a partner. That won hands down.

And she didn’t have a chance against Skye Delano. Never had, never would, especially if Rico was willing to get in the captain’s face with it.

Cia’s gaze wandered around the bar, finally settling at the doorway where the bouncer who’d let them in had now taken a position leaning against the wall. Her eyes met his and a tendril of icy-heat washed through her. For no reason at all, he scared her.

She shivered again and prayed that this night would hurry up and end.

* * * * *

Rico knew the minute Skye walked into Fangs. Every cell in his body tightened with awareness.

He shot a look to the private table where Gian was sitting with three other guys. From where Rico was standing, he could feel the tension building there, like an argument getting ready to erupt into a fight. As he watched, Gian stood and Rico knew that the other man was aware of Skye’s presence, too.

Rico swiveled to watch Skye, felt his heartbeat kick into overdrive as she walked toward him. She stopped only inches away from his body, close enough that her scent and heat surrounded him. “You’re working?”

“Yeah.”

A small smile played across her lips and he wanted to cover it with his mouth. “So I guess you can’t dance,” she said.

His cock hardened at the thought of rubbing against her. But he didn’t get a chance to answer before Gian was there, his hand wrapped around Skye’s arm, menace radiating off him.

Something primitive flashed through Rico. Arousal shifted to aggressiveness, protectiveness.

Skye pressed a hand over his heart, distracting him, making him look at her face before he could follow through on the impulse to put himself between her and Gian.

“It’s okay,” she whispered, leaning into Rico and pressing a soft kiss against his lips.

It took a minute for the adrenaline to fade. There wasn’t any fear in her—at least not that he could see. But Rico couldn’t keep himself from saying, “I’m here if you need me.”

Skye rubbed her lips over his. “Later, I want us to spend some time together.”

Rico’s cock got harder wondering if she meant the two of them—or the three of them.

* * * * *

Skye allowed Gian to lead her to the private table where Brann and Kyle and Nahir waited. She wanted to touch Gian’s mind, to see how much of his menace was directed at her and how much of it was purely for show. But she didn’t dare lower the wall she’d placed between them…not yet anyway.

His grip tightened momentarily as he placed her in a chair, then moved behind her, his hands on her shoulders so that she was trapped in front of Brann.

Once again the other vampire’s hair made her think of a waterfall of blood. Skye opened her senses as she studied him. Ancient memories stirred but remained hidden. A small shiver of uneasiness wormed its way into her consciousness as the knowledge that they shared a blood link flowed into her.
Gian’s sire.

Brann’s nostrils flared then narrowed. “She has found the fledglings. I smell the dark magic on her.” He looked to Gian. “Can you see what she has done with them?”

Skye didn’t wait for Gian to try and force the answer out of her. She said, “They wait for judgment, nothing more.”