The Better to Eat You With: The Red Journals (24 page)

I’ve
lost my goddamned bloody mind.

And then
Vince kissed me.

Oh
yeah, I’ve gone totally pissing nuts.

Power
zinged through every cell, shuddering and shivering with little electrical
jolts as Vince’s Alpha aura washed over me, swamping me, coating me like a warm
blanket as big, hot hands curved around my waist and up my back. I gasped
against his lips as another bolt of lightning shot through me, rippling over
pleasure points his hands were creating. Vince took advantage, swept his warm,
seeking tongue into my mouth, demanding I respond, demanding I give as good as
I took.

That’s
when I realized; this wasn’t so much Vince’s way of seducing me. Oh no. This
was Vince’s way of telling me he didn’t need to. That he could have me any
time. That my protestations were just a formality he adhered to out of
politeness. This kiss, this wild rush of California beaches and undiluted
desire, this crazy sense of possession, was
all
Vince. And the wolf in
me couldn’t resist. It recognized the power in him, the potency of his wolf,
and in the wild, only the strongest survive. My wolf wanted this Alpha, because
he was strong, but she didn’t know why. Friend? Mate? Pack?

My body
shivered. Vince knew how his wolf would affect mine. He had to know that.

He’s
inviting me to play with him
.
He is? Shit.

My
fingers curled around the lapels of his jacket, prepping myself to push him
away. But then one of his hands slid down my back and over my rump to cup my
backside
under
my skirt, his index finger slipping down between my
cheeks and between my thighs, dipping down into the heat he was inducing in me.

I instantly
tensed, eyes flying open, meeting bright blue ones that glittered with
amusement. I could feel his lips curve into a smile against my parted mouth,
even as my whole focus seemed narrowed down on the light caress at my core. I
tried to squeeze my legs together, but his knee was jammed between my thighs,
keeping me open for his little explorative foray.

His
shoulder shifted, and my grip on his jacket tightened when his finger suddenly
slipped under the useless barrier of my panties and dipped into my core. I
sucked in a sharp breath as my walls quivered around the intrusion, and then it
was gone. His hand left my panties and backside, and he was leaned back. I
released him, pressing my spine into the wall.

Vince
lifted his hand up between us, and my eyes narrowed on his fingers. One of them
was glistening.

My cheeks
burned.

“Hmmm,”
Vincent mused, and my wide gaze snapped to him. “Maybe I have over-stepped.” He
then proceeded to place his finger into his mouth and suck off the slick
evidence of my arousal.

I
think my ears are on fire.

“Yo, chic!”
My head snapped around at the familiar sound of Jade’s husky, accented tones,
and I bolted past Vince as fast as my heels would let me, pretty sure my entire
head was aflame.

“Jade!” I
bounced over to her, my stomach and chest thrilling at seeing her again. And
she hadn’t changed. Jade, a.k.a. Calandria Duenos because she didn’t use her
real name at work, was a panther Shifter—born and bred. You could see the cat
in every nuance of her being, just as you could perceive Vince’s bossy wolf in
his.

Jade had
long dark hair flowing about her shoulders in thick waves, violet eyes as
mischievous and sharp as ever, and never missing a thing since she was good few
inches taller than me, making crowds a non-issue. Those eyes sat on
high-cheekbones and elegantly arching brows, with a short, little nose that
wrinkled in the middle when she giggled. Her body was lithe and curvy, flowing
across the dark floor with a feline grace that only accentuated her model
beauty, rather than distracted from it. She was dressed in a deep green
cap-sleeved turtle neck that hugged her like a second skin, a black micro
leather skirt, and black leather thigh-high boots.

And she
rocked them!

Her
smile, as she hugged me, drew attention to her full lips and high cheekbones. Wide-set
eyes, sparkling and slightly up-tilted, matched her mocha skin, giving evidence
to her Spanish background. She was incredibly beautiful, and a far cry from the
squalling baby and pimply teenager I’d once babysat. As she drew back, I
inhaled the white orchid scent of her, so fresh, natural and clean in the
smoky, sweat-stained air of her club. No matter how much time she spent in
places like these, she never smelled bad. She smelled like family.

 “It’s
been too long,” she said, her words almost lost to the thumping music.

“Since
I’ve been in one of your clubs?” I laughed. “Maybe.”

Her grin
turned wry. “You only visit to make trouble.”

“Why
change the habit of a lifetime?” I replied, just as dry.

Her gaze
flicked over my shoulder, and I turned to see Felix coming up beside Vince, and
gesturing to his face. Vince licked the corner of his mouth and threw me a
heated glance. My cheeks flushed white-hot.

I cleared
my throat. “Jade, this is Vincent Kelsey and Felix Grant. Guys, this is Jade,
owner of Emerald City.”

Jade’s
smile widened, and her hand, when she extended it, was all sultry coercion. For
a moment, I tensed, but not because of Jade’s obvious interest, but because, on
top of being a Shifter, Jade was psychic. One touch, and that person’s entire
life, and every single thought, shot through her mind like a movie on
amphetamines. I knew to block against it, after knocking her unconscious with
the less pleasant aspects of my long life.

Jeepers,
what the hell will Felix do to her?

They all
shook hands, Felix with his cool Vampire iciness, Vincent with his playful Alpha
grin. I rolled my eyes, even as I saw Jade’s briefly dilate. She’d seen
something, and I sure as hell made a mental note to ask about it later.

“So
where’s Fletch?” The little USB in my pocket was starting to burn a hole, as
the book, no doubt, was doing to Felix’s. Boy genius was my big bet in breaking
a hole in this thing.

“Where do
you think?” Jade grinned, an all-to-knowing glint in her violet eyes, turning
to guide the way.

“The
Command Center,” we said in unison.

I
followed Jade’s sleek form through the press of the crowd, heading towards the
bar. The scent of lust, sex and sweat were so thick around the dance floor that
my heart started to pound and my muscles clenched. My breathing became almost
rapid as the scents rushed over me. One glance at Vince’s flared nostrils and
flushed cheeks, and I knew I wasn’t the only one affected.

Jade’s
clubs catered to those who suffered the Moon Fever—Weres whose sexual drives
were composed by the fullness of the moon. The fuller the moon, the harder the
drive. Shifters spend their whole lives searching for their soul mate. Something
innate within them demands that, in order to be complete, they needed to find
the other half of their soul. With Weres, the same rule applied, but the urge
to dance, to seek partners and companions, raged at fever pitch around the full
moon.

I’ve
always been spared the Moon Fever.

Or at
least, I used to be.

Jade
waved to a young male behind the bar as we grew near, and the buff, young,
red-haired male scurried over and looked up adoringly at the panther-Shifter I
arched a brow as Jade smiled benevolently, and touched his sweet, freckled
cheek before leaning forward to murmur something in his ear. I’d seen Jade do
this before. She had a thing for young males, especially those with little to
no sexual experience. I don’t know what the draw is, but the prospect of
corrupting something so pure and unspoiled seemed to really rock her jollies.

“He’s
cute,” I remarked, when the copper-head scampered.

She
shrugged and turned to head to the back of the club, calling over her shoulder,
“I like the instructional aspect.”

I snorted
and rolled my eyes, following in her wake.

We walked
past pole dance stages, attached to long walkways that led to full stages that
led into the back rooms where the dancers changed and entered. I had a strange
feeling, a sense of foreboding really, that I would be getting up close and personal
with such a stage sooner than I liked. I shuddered. I may be part Were, but my
exhibitionism was on the lower end of the scale. I’d explored most facets of it
in the first half of my life, and then left it far behind me in my second half.
Mostly.

Unfortunately,
on one particular night out with Jade, she’d managed to procure some Moonshine,
and I’d gotten well and truly off-my-tits drunk. As a result, Jade, and half of
the state of Missouri, has seen me dance on top of a bar in nothing but a pair
of hot pants and cowboy boots, swinging my bra around over my head.

Ugh…
Had to be Jade. And how the bloody fuck did she find a Moonshine dealer in the
middle of nowhere? Whatever.

Half-hidden
behind a curtain in the far corner of the club was a steel door. My inner wolf
pricked her ears in fascination as Jade swiped a card, pressed her hand to the
small box beside the handle, then leaned forward to have her eye scanned. Fletch’s
security measures had obviously been modified for the new toys.

“What’s
she got back there?” Felix murmured in my ear. “Crown jewels?”

I stifled
a snicker and lightly elbowed him in the stomach. “You watch your own crown
jewels, vamp boy,” I replied softly, following Jade through the door. “Fletch
doesn’t like people touching his toys.”

“As long
as he doesn’t touch my toys, I won’t touch his, pet.”

I arched
a brow at the sensual Vampire, trying to gauge the real meaning behind his
comment. He merely gave me a wicked little grin that made my already-frazzled
hormones dance.

Men.

“Whoa.” Vince’s
hushed comment dragged my gaze from Felix, and centered it on Fletch’s most
current Command Centre. A smiled slowly spread across my face. Jade wasn’t the
only one to have outdone herself this time either.

Fletch’s
domain was a room that was at least twenty-five foot wide but twenty deep, and
the entire back wall was lined in a gentle crescent of large flat-screen
monitors, each one showing different areas and rooms of the club. Before that
was a long line of tilted panels, with five chairs sitting before them, each
chair filled with a Shifter who tapped, dragged, zoomed and enhanced by simple
touch on the panels before them. He was Maestro, conducting with soft words and
flicks of his hands. Once you got past the impressive display of screens, you saw
that the walls were a rich green with swirling vines of glittering black
running through it, and the carpet was lush and thick beneath my feet.

“It’s
like a plush Minority Report,” I murmured, pushing past Vince and heading
towards the male standing behind the chairs and overseeing everything. Fletch,
a.k.a. Lisandro Duenos since he also didn’t use his real name at work, was just
over six feet tall, with broad shoulders and narrow hips, his arms and legs
strong and lean rather than bulky. His hair was cut short on the sides but long
on top, giving him a dark sweep of a Mohawk from hairline to nape. His dark
brows had a tendency to be higher on the outside, making him look a little like
a Vulcan. And yes, I had teased him about that when he was little…and then
again when he was older and the new Star Trek had come out.

I have
no shame
.

As I
approached, lavender eyes lifted and met mine, amusement sparkling in them. A
shade lighter than his sisters, Fletch had caught many a young—and old—female’s
eyes with those sweet peepers, and he’d worked them for all they were worth.

“Good
Gawd
,
female.” He exclaimed, turning on his heel and dropping his folded arms to face
me. “Tamp down the lusting, will ya?” My cheeks flushed and burned instantly,
and I scowled hard at the naughty glint in his eyes. Fletch was a panther Shifter,
and also an Empath. His psychic gift was more inwardly aimed than Jade’s
kinetic powers. While she arranged furniture and fitted disco balls, Fletch
felt out the chi of a room as a whole and made sure it was exactly what they
both wanted. His position as head of security couldn’t have been more perfect. Who
better to ensure bad things didn’t happen than someone who could
feel
every ‘bad’ emotion in his territory.

“Could
you say it any louder?” I snapped, even as my arms went around his shoulders
and he lifted me off the floor in a strong, familiar hug. The scent of lemon
and pomegranate assailed my olfactory senses, making my head whirl with flashes
of memories of swinging a small, dark-haired boy in my arms, of teaching a
recalcitrant teenager about the periodic table and a beaming young man
graduating college.

“I could
say it louder, but then I might
deafen
the wolf and Vampire at your
back.”

He
lowered me back to the floor and I leaned back to meet Fletch’s grin with one
of my own, then turned to face the other two males currently bulldozing my
life.

“Vince,
Felix, this is Fletch, my techy guy. Fletch, this is Vince and Felix.” I beamed
with pride of my delicious techy guy.

Fletch’s
brain went a mile a minute, processed twice as fast as anyone else’s, and
accumulated knowledge like I did DC sneakers. The empathic Shifter had a thing
for puzzles as a kid, couldn’t get enough of the jigsaws and rubix cubes as a
teen. Where other boys wanted Gameboys, Fletch wanted a Pentamix.

“So
you
are the reason my brain turned to jello when I walked in Red’s house,” Felix
remarked from the bank of monitors.

“That
would be me.” Fletch preened, ever the modest inventor, then he wagged his
finger. “And if it was on, you shouldn’t have been in there.”

“Exactly!”
I exclaimed excitedly.

Felix
rolled his eyes and extended a hand, “Pleasure, mate.” He sounded genuinely
impressed, until Fletch raised his to ward off the touch.

“No
touching. Sorry.” Fletch smiled solemnly and tapped his temple. “Can’t take the
pressure.”

Vince’s
brows shot up. “You’re psychic?”

“Empathic,”
Fletch replied, and gestured to Jade, serenely leaning against the wall by the
door. “Jade’s the psychic.”

As gazes
turned to her, Jade smiled innocently and pinky waved. Vince fidgeted a little,
and Felix rubbed his palms against his hips. I grinned, betting both men were
thinking about that handshake.

“You’re
touching Red,” Felix remarked, moving to Vince’s side, sounding possessive and
threatening enough to make me grind my teeth. Even Vince arched a brow in the Vampire’s
direction.

Fletch
shrugged, and before I could say anything, he replied, “I’ve been touching her
my whole life. She’s as familiar to me on the psychic field as she is to my Shifter
senses.
You
gentlemen, however, are complete strangers.”

“Panther…”
Vince’s nostrils flared, and his head tilted in that decidedly un-human way of
his. “Right?”

“Right,”
Jade said, suddenly appearing at Vince’s side. The big Alpha turned his head
and looked down at her as she reached up and patted his blonde head. “Good
puppy.”

“What’s
this?” Felix asked, bending over a monitor that flickered through what looked
like pictures of driving licenses. I tilted my head as I came to his side and
tapped the screen, making the larger shots zoom out and fill the page with
multiple shots.

“That’s
the LAC, legal age checker. For everyone who comes in, we take a digital shot
of their driving license.” Fletch shrugged. “It picks out the ones that are
false. Comes in handy for minimizing underage drinking, the occasional fight
and law suits.”

I looked
over at him. “You get fights in your clubs?”

The Shifter
grinned. “Be a bit suspicious if we didn’t.”

“True.”

“Do you
keep these on record?” Felix asked, flicking through categories and filters.

“Everything
is archived in our main server.”

“What
about multiple shots of the same license?” Felix continued, fascinated.

“The
program is facial recognition designed. Same face shows up, the new license
replaces the old.”

“What
about name changes? Address? Dates of birth?”

“The old
ones are still there, just muted to take up less room. They’re permanently
deleted after five years.”

“Wow…” I
grinned, straightening. “Wouldn’t the CIA love you?”

“Yeah.”
Vincent rumbled at my back. “You created these programs yourself?”

“Sure
did.” Fletch grinned, waving his hand at the whole set-up. “Improvements are
made all the time. Anything that sparks my fancy, I try and create.”

“Some
more successfully than others,” Jade snorted. “His first attempt at a retinal
scan blinded him for a week.”

“Only in
one eye!” Fletch protested.

“And the
palm scan that electrocuted you?” she asked, brows raised.

Fletch
looked sheepish. “How was I to know that the mother board had to be at least a
half-inch beneath the pad?”

I
snickered, sliding my arms around Fletch’s waist. “I have something for you.” I
said, and after a final scowl, Fletch looked down at me.

“Oh?” he
asked, his eyes big, beautiful and framed by thick dark lashes, as innocent and
beguiling as his cat could be.

I nodded
and held up Natasha’s special business card. “Think you can figure this out?”
Fletch’s long pianist fingers took the card from me, his thumb flicking out the
USB connector one handed.
Shoulda known he’d seen one before.

“A flash
card?” He asked, and then flinched when Felix shoved the little book in his
face. The Shifter took the book gingerly between two fingers until Felix let
go. Then he riffled through the pages. “Oooohhhh, an encrypted flash card.”
Fletch’s gaze met mine and he grinned. “You brought me a challenge. Come with
me.” His arm snaked around my waist and lifted me off the floor so suddenly I
squeaked.

As Fletch
headed for a door on the left that I hadn’t noticed before, Vince casually
plucked me from his arms with a growl, to which Fletch just grinned. Jade
laughed as I wriggled free and followed Fletch, bypassing a scowling Felix.

What?
I said with a look.

You
know what,
his look
said back.

I
grinned.

“Okay…”
Fletch murmured, sliding into the lavish leather seat of an arcade machine setting
on some kind of circular platform. Reaching out, he pulled towards him a broad
curving screen attached to a high arch that disappeared behind his chair. He
tapped the screen, and a blue light flared in his face.

My mouth
hanging open in awe, I breathed, “It’s so pretty.”

Fletch
grinned. “Want a closer look?” he asked, and patted his lap.

“Red—“

Felix’s
protest was cut off when I sprang up onto the platform and dropped into
Fletch’s lap. He scowled hard when I smiled winningly at him. He crossed his
arms, uncrossed them and walked out. Vince snorted and leaned on the side of
the chair to watch, as curious as I. Having never really spent long periods of
time with other wolves, it was odd to find myself comparing our similarities to
one as big as Vince, not just in form, but in sheer presence. Was I softening
towards him?