Steal the Night (58 page)

He slipped out. “Was that Zack?” I heard myself ask but the sound seemed a little distant.

“Yes, sweetheart,” Dev replied. “He’s wearing a glamour, obviously. I didn’t have to. I just had Bris grow my hair. I’ll cut it again as soon as I can. I know it bothers your dad. He’s in London, you know. Someone called him and told him what’s been going on. He’s been giving everyone hell.”

“It’s a trick.” Tears started because this was beyond cruel. Chad was playing games with me again. I didn’t know what I had done to Chad to make him hate me. Maybe he was jealous of my relationship with Neil. He always thought we were too close.

“Zoey,” Dev said, shaking me lightly. “My goddess, it isn’t a trick. I’m so sorry to have put you through this, but it was necessary. How can I make you believe me? Do you remember the first time you met my brother? He kissed you and that was how you knew it wasn’t me. Kiss me, my goddess. Kiss me.”

He leaned down and pressed his lips to mine and my whole world came back to me. I felt his unique magic tingle across my skin and knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that my faery prince was back. I cried, but it was joyful now and I opened my lips under his, allowing our passion to flare.

“You see,” I heard Trent saying as Dev hugged me tightly to his body and stood up. “This is why I work alone. You’re all crazy, you know that, right?”

“Perhaps,” Dev said. “My mother and Padric will keep Marini and the Council occupied for the night. I’ll spend some time with my goddess until Zack returns. If you wouldn’t mind watching the door?”

Trent nodded. “I suppose this means Donovan is moving soon.”

“Tomorrow night,” Dev said. “I’ll fill you in before I leave.”

Trent stopped Dev as he opened the door to the bedroom. I saw that Neil and Chad were embracing. I was still a bit angry with the vampire. It was going to take a while to get over it.

“You tell Donovan he either moves tomorrow night or we leave the next day with him or without him,” the big wolf said. “Marini beat the shit out of her tonight. We might be able to keep him off her the rest of the night but not much more. I’m worried he’ll kill her, vampire blood or no.”

Dev’s face hardened. “Daniel and I will take care of him tomorrow. You just worry about her.” He slammed the door behind us and we were alone.

He laid me gently down on the bed and ran his hands across me, checking for injuries.

“I’m fine, Dev.” I loved how his name fell from my lips. He was alive and here with me.

“I’m going to kill him, my wife,” Dev promised.

“I know, baby.”

Bris came out and laid his hands directly over my womb. I felt a spark of heat and held my breath, waiting for his pronouncement. He smiled down at me. “Hello, my goddess. You’re a beautiful sight to behold. The children are doing well. The boys are strong.”

“I made sure he didn’t hit my stomach.”

Dev climbed onto the bed with me, his eyes wide with horror. “If I never hear you say those words again, it will be too soon. Do you know how much it has killed us to leave you here? Daniel…Daniel is a different person. He is beside himself with guilt.”

“Tell him I’m fine and I love him.” I touched his face, reassuring myself that this was real. If it was a dream, I didn’t want to wake up. I would just sleep forever. “Tell him when I thought you were gone, the only thing I held on to was him. He was here with me. And if you might skip over the parts where I had to do gross stuff and got my ass kicked, it might help him not feel so guilty.”

“He’s not a fool, lover.” Dev’s hands made quick work of the buttons on my blouse. “He knows what you’ve gone through. He’ll make it right. Do you have the stone?”

“I have the combination. I’ll switch the stones in the morning.” I pushed at his jacket, eager to get my hands on his skin. “You know, you really do a mean Declan.”

He kissed me and made a place for himself between my legs as he shoved the jacket off. “Well, it’s not hard. You just have to look exceedingly arrogant and have no filter whatsoever. The key to pulling off my brother is to just say every vulgar thing that comes to mind. It isn’t hard around you. I think very vulgar thoughts.”

“Who’s playing the role of your mom?” I asked, wondering who they got to wear that glamour.

“It really is my mother, sweetheart,” Dev replied, looking down on me, his shirt and jacket off. I could feel his heartbeat. “She wanted to help. Declan is back in London, waiting with the rest. He’ll be with us during the battle. The Seelies will stand with us.”

“You reconciled with them for me? What did you have to promise?”

A wistful smile lit his face. “It wasn’t hard. Once they knew Bris had reintegrated, they were eager for me to be their priest again. I promised I would spend a week out of each year in the Seelie
sithein
. I can set the fields to rights and perform fertility rituals. It’s the same as my contract with the Unseelie. Don’t worry, Zoey. I don’t mind doing it. It was the only way we could think of to get me in to see you and find out if you had the stone. We also decided it was a good bet that dangling the hopes of an alliance with my mother would keep Marini off you for a while.”

I doubted he would leave me alone for any length of time, but I didn’t argue with my husband. “You’re talking to Declan again?”

“Well, I’m only using four letter words when speaking to him, but considering the fact that before I was using vulgar gestures, I believe he counts it as progress,” Dev explained with a grin. “Now, my goddess, our time is limited. I have to report news of your fertile state to my mother soon but before I go, I have a package to deliver.”

I laughed from deep in my soul because I knew just what package he wanted to give me.

“And I have to do it twice,” he continued with a sweetly decadent look on his face. “I promised I would deliver Daniel’s love to you as well.”

I threw my arms around him, ready to receive all the love they had to give me.

* * * *

Hours later, Dev looked deeply into my eyes and I knew it was killing him to leave me.

“Mother will keep the negotiations open until tomorrow night,” Dev explained. “These things take time and Marini knows that, but he also knows that there will be no alliance without the safety of our children secured. Despite what Trent thinks, I believe he needs the alliance enough that he will leave you be.”

“I’ll try to stay out of his way as much as possible. I’ll change the stones tomorrow. He won’t know the difference until it’s too late.” I hugged Dev’s broad chest, not wanting to be separated even one more night. “Is Danny well? Has he recovered? He must have gone through all the reserve blood supply. Has he gotten over the withdrawal yet?”

I couldn’t stand the thought of Daniel coming in at less than full strength. He hadn’t had companion blood. It could make a difference.

Dev shook his head. “He’s fine, Zoey. His heart is healed and he’s been taking regular companion blood thanks to your little present.”

“My present?”

“Yes, Rose. We were shocked when she called Daniel’s cell phone and told us to pick her up. She said you had sent her to feed Daniel while you were gone,” Dev explained.

I bet she was also the one who had called my father down on my husbands’ heads. I would thank her for that the next time I saw her. I would never think of her as a mouse again. “I’m glad that worked out.”

“We need to go, Dev,” Zack said. “Marcus is out and he’s in pretty pitiful shape. He needs blood in a bad way.”

Dev kissed me, a promise of things to come. “I love you, Zoey. Always and forever.”

I nodded, my throat choked with emotion as I watched him leave.

“Are you feeling all right, Your Highness?” Trent asked, looking me over seriously. He’d seen me cry a whole lot in our brief acquaintance.

“I’m fine. Amazing, actually,” I said to the burly wolf. He was a rough-looking customer to be so very concerned about a small female. I’d discovered the softest hearts were sometimes found in the roughest bodies. I missed Lee so much. “And it’s Zoey, please.”

Trent nodded and I finally got a real smile out of him. “All right then, Zoey.”

Neil walked back in the room and he threw his arms happily around me. “It’s going to be over tomorrow, Z. I can’t wait. I want to go home so bad.”

“Hey, it ain’t done yet.” Trent didn’t seem like a guy who counted his chickens early. “We gotta switch those stones and we gotta do it so Marini isn’t suspicious. If he thinks he’s been tricked, he’ll run and then we’ll never hear the end of him.”

“Well, I doubt he’ll be giving me the keys to his office tonight,” I said, being realistic. I would be lucky if he didn’t show up to beat the crap out of me again. “So I’m going to need a couple of things from you, Trent.”

The three of us put our heads together and worked out a plan. I went to bed but barely slept because I knew by that time tomorrow, it would all be over.

Chapter Thirty-Six

My hands worked quickly against the lock on the door to Louis’s apartments. It was early in the afternoon so only the human slaves were up and about doing their work. There would be a contingent of supernatural guards, but they were mostly stationed at the perimeters of the complex, waiting for Daniel to try something.

As I held my improvised pick and tension wrench, I wished I had tried to find Louis Marini’s daytime resting place. It would have been a satisfying end to our relationship to shove a stake through his sleeping body and sweep up his ashes to give to Daniel as a trophy.

“What’s taking so long, Z?” Neil’s gaze went to Trent, who was keeping watch on the hallway.

I pulled my hands away. They were cramping and this was work that required an enormous amount of dexterity. Had I known I was going to be kidnapped, I would most certainly have brought my own set of picks. As it was, Trent had procured a heavy wire hanger Neil had bent and worked over to make a decent tension wrench. I used a nail file to blunt the tip of a large safety pin to improvise a pick. They were inferior tools and I was slightly out of practice.

“Do you want to try it?” I asked Neil, irritated. I was doing my best, damn it.

“No, I want you to hurry,” Neil replied, just as irritated with me.

We were all on edge, the joy of last night turning into the anxiety of being so close to the exit. If something was going to go wrong, now would be the time for it to happen.

I used the thumb of my right hand to knead my left palm. After the cramp stopped, I forced myself to try again. I gently scraped the pins of the lock.

“That’s it,” Neil said. He looked up at me. “I heard a click.”

It was a very quiet little lock. I let Neil move in close as I held the pin in place and turned the cylinder. Neil indicated the clicks and before I knew it, the doorknob turned in my hands.

“We’re in,” Neil called quietly to Trent, who joined us.

“What the hell kind of queen knows how to pick a lock?” the wolf asked as we entered Louis’s empty apartments.

“The same kind who knows how to crack a safe,” I replied.

Trent walked to the door of the office. “Okay, then, let’s see you get through this one.”

I laughed quietly. I had no intention of picking the lock to the office. I walked straight into the bedroom and opened the dresser drawer. Sure enough, arrogance and habit were a thief’s best friends.

“Want to charge some purchases to a soon-to-be dead guy?” I asked Neil, pulling out the numerous credit cards Louis had stashed in the drawer.

Neil went through the pile, shaking his head. “He has like four different aliases.”

I shrugged as I palmed the key to the office. “Did you think the bastard was legit? If he’d had long enough, I’m sure he planned to take me back to Dallas and have me sign over all of Dev’s assets to him. Vampires are almost all cons of some sort.”

I came out, smiling at Trent. “See, key. A good thief never breaks in when she could just waltz through like she owns the place.”

Trent closed the door behind us and watched through curious eyes as I pulled back the painting. I turned the dial and asked Trent the question I’d been longing to ask since I saw Dev pull him aside the night before. “So did you get a job offer last night?”

The big wolf blushed slightly. “Yeah.”

I turned the wheel to the left and the right, trying out the first combination. “What did he offer you?”

“He said once the king took over, he would need someone to head security for you and the children.” Trent went on to announce the high six figures Dev had offered along with free room and board.

Neil shook his head. “I would hold out for more. You don’t understand how much trouble Dev’s sons are going to be.”

I moved on to combination number two. “You would probably have to liaise with the police a lot. I should warn you about that. Dev and Declan got into a shitload of trouble during their youth. Dev could write a Zagat’s ratings system for jails across the Earth plane.” No luck. I reset the wheel and started dialing number three. “It would mean moving to Dallas. If you have a pack you’re close to, you should feel free to turn him down. I know how important family is to wolves.”

Trent shook his head. “Nah, that’s why I joined the Army. I needed to get away. I…had a mate. She died. I don’t particularly want to go back to Boston. I was thinking about heading to Colorado after this was done and joining McKenzie’s pack, but there’s a bunch of competition out there. I don’t know. I’m thinking about it.”