Dangerous Promise by Gwendolyn Cease (3 page)

“Have I met Maeve?” Joelle asked.

“If you had, you’d remember,” Grimm replied. “She’s…unique.”

Quenton gave a small laugh. “She’s Fae, they’re all unique.”

“Fae? Like fairy Fae?” Aislinn asked.

“Do not call her a fairy,” Quenton advised. “She’s rather touchy about that, and before you ask, no, she doesn’t have wings.”

Aislinn slumped back against her chair. “Damn.”

A moment later a woman walked in and, just as Grimm had said, she was unique. Her hair was black with streaks of hot pink, and she had it in two ponytails that barely brushed her shoulders. Heavy pink-streaked bangs hung right above her almond-shaped green eyes, which were heavily lined with black kohl. Her pierced nose was small and pert, and her full lips were painted something that danced between purple and black. If all of that wasn’t striking enough, she had two small horns that curved up from the top of her head. Other than that, she wore her usual outfit of black combat boots, black tights, short black skirt and a tight black shirt. Grimm imagined she didn’t have issues finding anything to wear or match.

Maeve dropped the black case she carried on the table. “So, what do you want?” she asked, as she cracked and popped a wad of gum. Her voice was rough as if she had just come from cheering on her favorite team, but it was always like that. From what Grimm could figure, Maeve didn’t follow sports. Hell, he doubted the woman even owned a television.

“We need you to test Talon and Charon’s blood,” Quenton said, “but no one can find out.”

Maeve studied him then glanced around at everyone in the room. Slowly, she moved over to a trashcan and spit out her gum. Grimm knew she only did that when she was going to get serious.

“What are we looking for?”

“Anomalies,” Grimm told her. “We want to see if their blood is now different from the rest of us.”

She nodded and opened the case, pulling on a pair of gloves. “I’ll take blood from all of you in case anything has changed. And I want to test the humans, too.”

Talon growled low.

Joelle nudged him. “I think that’s smart.”

“Good. Who’s first?” Maeve asked.

Talon held out his arm and Maeve set about drawing blood. The rest of them watched as she took three vials from everyone then packed them in her case. She popped off the gloves and stored them in a hazardous-waste bag.

Kenshin finally broke the silence. “No one can know about this.”

“Yeah, I got that.” She snapped her case closed.

“I need you to understand just how classified this information is,” he said, sitting forward in his chair. “No one can know you took blood or tested it. Tell people you went to the restroom or took a break, but no one can know you saw us. When you get the results call Quenton. He’ll tell you where to meet us so you can give us the results.”

She eyed all of them. “I’m doing the blood work on the vamp that was brought in. Should I be looking for anomalies there, too?”

Grimm spoke before anyone else could. “Let’s just say the vamp exhibited some mad skills, and it wouldn’t hurt if you gave his blood a second and third look.”

She nodded. “Right. Got it. I’ll call.”

She walked out, toting her case, and Quenton shook his head. “You know we should take her into our confidence.”

“Not until I know where the leak is coming from,” Kenshin said.

“Not her,” Reaper said. “She would never leak classified information. Ever.”

“I agree,” Quenton said.

“Let’s wait until we know something before we make any decisions,” Kenshin said. “It could be that all our suppositions are wrong.”

“Could be,” Grimm agreed, “but I don’t think so. I have a bad feeling about all of this.”

* * * *

Heavy clouds hung lifeless in the sky as Kate pulled into the parking lot of the bookstore. The passengers riding in the backseat cheered.

“We can have a book, right, Momma?” six-year-old Olivia asked, bouncing in her booster seat. “And a coffee, too?”

Kate smiled. Olivia’s coffee was actually a cup of hot chocolate, but since the bookstore housed a coffee shop, she insisted she was drinking java. “Of course. That’s the Friday night rule. We each get a book and a coffee.”

“Cool,” Olivia declared. “I already know what book I want. It’s the new
Calina the Vampire
book.”

Kate glanced back at Abby. “What about you? Do you already know what you want?”

“Not yet. I want to look around.”

Kate nodded in agreement. Abby was very much like Kate herself. She loved the process of wandering through the bookstore, touching the books and reading the cover blurbs. There was always excitement when discovering a new author or, even better, when a favorite author had a new book out.

The three of them walked into the bookstore and Olivia immediately darted off toward the children’s section. Kate and Abby followed at a slower pace, stopping to browse along the way. The bookstore was the only place Kate would allow the girls out of her sight, since they came here so often. Everyone who worked there knew them, and the manager had told Kate she could be assured the girls were always monitored. In addition, Kate had also talked to the girls about strangers and what to do if someone approached. Smiling, she picked up another book and studied the back cover.

* * * *

Grimm slouched in a comfortable chair tucked into a corner of his favorite bookstore. He tried to get in every couple of weeks to just sit and read. Truthfully, it wasn’t really the books he came for, though. He had plenty of selection back at his place, but he liked being out. He liked watching people and, though, he didn’t want to talk or some kind of shit, he liked the connection being among humans gave him. Sometimes, he felt that keeping to themselves made the Hunters forget what they were fighting for, fighting to protect.

A little girl came around the corner and crouched in front of a bookcase filled with kids’ books. She looked really excited as she slowly ran her fingers over the books. She crawled over to the next bookcase and searched those books, too. Grimm had never seen a kid concentrate so hard, but then again, he didn’t have much involvement with kids, any kids. Hell, he hadn’t even played with them when he was a kid.

He watched her back up and move to her tip-toes, straining to see the top of the shelf. Smiling, she looked around, maybe looking for someone, then stepped onto the bottom shelf and reached her hand up. Obviously, there was a book up there she wanted. Where the fuck were her parents? Why wasn’t someone from the store around? Tentatively, she stepped up onto the next shelf and Grimm already knew what was going to happen. He moved before he thought about it and caught her as she tumbled backwards.

He set the little girl down, hoping like hell she didn’t start screaming. The last thing he wanted was to draw attention. Shit, he really just wanted to sit in a quiet spot and read. Usually, humans had a tendency to pass right over Ancients unless the Ancient wanted to be noticed. Quenton thought it had something to do with a predator hiding in plain sight or some kind of thing. All Grimm knew was if he didn’t want anyone to see him, they didn’t. End of story. But, obviously, that wasn’t happening since he didn’t want to watch some kid fall and bust her head open.

Instead of screaming, the kid smiled brightly. “They put my book up too high.” She pointed toward the shelves she’d been trying to climb. “Can you reach it for me? It’s
Calina the Vampire
.”

Grimm hesitated a moment and finally nodded. “Sure.” The book had a pink, purple and black cover featuring two young girls, one sporting a large smile complete with small fangs.

“Have you read them?”

The question interrupted Grimm’s perusal of the cover and he gave a shake of his head. “No, I haven’t. Are they good?” he asked as he handed the book to the waiting girl.

“They’re so good. You should. You remind me of Calina’s dad, Stark. He’s really cool.” She clutched the book in her hands and smiled up at him.

Grimm started to answer her, but froze. The scent coming off her was one he recognized. Kate. She smelled of Kate. She couldn’t, his mind argued. There was no way this little girl could smell of the woman from the club. He breathed in a bit deeper and knew for certain that at some recent point this child had come into contact with the woman whose scent had so captivated him.

“He has blondie blond hair, too.”

“Who does?” he asked, forcing his attention back to the child.

“Stark, Calena’s dad. He’s a vampire. And he didn’t want Calena to be friends with Jessie because she’s human and humans aren’t supposed to know about vampires.”

“I can understand his concerns,” Grimm said, since he very much did understand.

“Olivia?” a female voice called and Grimm knew who it was.

He could scent her before she came around the corner.

“Hi, Momma.” Olivia waved her book. “This is my friend, and he helped me get my book.”

The woman he’d thought about, the woman he couldn’t get out of his mind, stood before him. Hell, she was even more beautiful than he remembered. But did she remember him? By the expression on her face, he didn’t think so. Fuck, she looked as if she wanted to sweep the kid up and run screaming through the aisles.

“Kate.”

She stared at him for a long moment, her brow wrinkling in confusion. Then he saw recognition light in her soft blue eyes. She gave a slight smile. “Grimm.”

He nodded. “You remembered.”

“Momma,” Olivia’s voice cut in. “This is my friend. He helped me get my book.”

“Did he?” she asked but never took her eyes from him.

“She thought climbing the shelves was a good idea.” He took a step toward her. He needed to be closer. “I helped her out.”

Kate’s gaze dropped down to the little girl. “I thought I told you not to try to get books from the top shelf by yourself. The last time you almost fell.”

The girl’s eyes darted around and Kate crouched in front of her. “Are you hurt?”

“No,” she said. “He saved me.”

“Olivia Rose,” Kate said, pinning the child with a stare.

Damn, the tone almost made him cringe. Had his mother ever worried about him that way? No, he doubted it. The woman was all about getting him grown enough so he would leave their home. No self-respecting vampire couple wanted to raise a throwback.

Olivia sighed and hung her head. “I’m sorry.”

“She’s okay,” Grimm said, feeling as if he had to defend her for some reason “No harm. I’m sure she won’t do it again. Right?” He nudged the back of Olivia’s head gently with a finger.

Olivia nodded vigorously. “Never, I swear. Can we have coffee now? Please.”

Kate stood and took Olivia’s hand. “Sure. Abby is already up at our table, waiting.”

“Do you want to have coffee with us?” Olivia danced in place as she watched Grimm.

Kate smiled wanly. “Thank you for helping Olivia, I appreciate it. Um, it was nice—”

“I’d love to have coffee with you.” He cut her off. “If that’s okay?”

Yeah, if she thought he could be blown off that easily she had another thing coming. He wasn’t leaving them. He wanted to spend all the time he could with her. Fuck, what if she didn’t want to spend time with him?

“Uh, sure, yeah,” Kate said hesitantly and gave a small smile.

The three of them headed to the café, and Grimm found himself watching Kate. He couldn’t help it. She was just so lovely and carried herself with such confidence. Thankfully, she was tall, too, since he was a big man and hated feeling as if he was overwhelming the person he was with. But not with Kate. He knew she would fit perfectly in his arms, against his body.

She glanced at him from over the top of her square-frame glasses and he got hard, instantly. The woman was going to kill him with the shy looks and the sweet smiles. Did she know what she did to him? He doubted it since she’d probably run away. Play it cool, he told himself. You can’t rush her.

They approached a table to find another little girl sitting there. She was older than Olivia, but with the same brunette hair and serious brown eyes.

“Abby,” Olivia said, as she dropped into a chair, “this is my friend, Grimm.”

Abby looked up at him. “That’s not a real name.”

Grimm almost laughed at Kate’s horrified expression. He quickly said, “I know, but it’s my name. You’ll have to take it up with my parents. They named me.”

“Can we have drinks now?” Olivia asked. “Please?”

Grimm pulled out a chair and motioned for Kate to sit. “Of course, what would you ladies like?”

“I’ll get it for us,” she protested.

“Kate, it’s my pleasure. So what would you all like?”

The girls quickly gave their orders and, after a moment’s hesitation, Kate told him what she would like, also. He watched her lips move and longed to lean over and lick her, taste her. She blushed, and Grimm could feel himself grow harder. He had to stop, especially since they had an audience. He forced himself to turn and walk to the counter, but he could still feel Kate’s eyes on him.

He waited for the orders he’d placed, making sure to position himself so that he could keep an eye on Kate and the girls. Kate. His Kate. He didn’t understand where the knowledge came from but knew she was his. Her scent was so right. It twined through him and wrapped him up, bound him to her. He sounded as if he was losing his mind, but there was no other way to describe what was happening. He just knew she was his and, as she was, so were the girls.

He glanced again and found them all laughing together. He wanted to be a part of them. He wanted to belong to them as he knew they belonged to him. He had to take it slow, though. He couldn’t rush things. He certainly didn’t want to come off sounding like some crazed stalker. But maybe that’s what he was? What the fuck? He’d met Kate exactly twice, and he’d had no real conversations with her and yet imagined they somehow belonged together. Shit, maybe he was going crazy like Talon. But then again, Talon hadn’t been crazy. He’d been without his Liaison. Once he and Joelle had gotten together, he’d actually pulled himself together or as together as Talon was going to get.

He was dragged from his thoughts by the girl behind the counter. He grabbed up the drinks—two hot chocolates for the girls, some kind of coffee concoction for Kate, and a regular coffee for him. He put everything on the table then went back for the large chocolate chip cookies. He loved them and figured the girls would, too.