“It shouldn’t be there at all.”
I knocked his hand away. “Well, when I have a couple thousand more years of experience like you then I’m sure it won’t happen anymore, Mr. Perfect.”
“You’re Lucas and Melena,” the werewolf said, awe and fear in his voice. He now stood about ten feet away. “The nephilim and first immortal sensor.”
Damn. The guy should have kept his mouth shut and kept moving for the door.
Lucas turned. “And you touched my woman.”
In a flash, he had the guy’s head in his hands and twisted it sideways. It snapped with a loud crack. He wasn’t dead—werewolves were sturdy enough to take a broken neck—but he’d be out for at least a few hours. Maybe half a day since he wasn’t that strong.
“Stay here,” Lucas said, picking the man up. “I’ll return in a moment.”
A flash of light nearly blinded me as he disappeared. I looked over my shoulder to see the bartender reaching for the phone. Damn. Lucas should have done something about that first. I didn’t have magic that could compel people to do what I wanted or make them forget. All my abilities were passive.
Leaping over the bar, I grabbed the woman’s hand just before she could dial the first number.
“Sorry, can’t let you do that.”
Her hand shook in mine. “Please don’t kill me.”
“Don’t worry. In a few minutes, you won’t remember any of this,” I reassured her.
Her face got paler.
Another flash of light lit up the room. The woman froze just before she would have backed into a shelf of bottles. I turned to find Lucas—now rid of the werewolf’s body—had begun gathering the will of everyone in the room. It was like having a bunch of breathing mannequins surrounding me in awkward positions.
The magic he used buzzed at my senses like static and made me want to scratch my head. It took a lot to control that many people at once. He swept his gaze across the room, compelling every person in the bar to forget they’d seen us.
One guy had his cell phone out and had it facing my direction. The way someone would do if they wanted to take a picture. Lucas grabbed it and crushed it into tiny pieces. Then he dropped it on the floor and positioned the guy’s boot over it. Sometimes Lucas could have a twisted sense of humor—we had that in common.
Once he was done, he made his way toward me, maneuvering around tables and frozen people.
“What did you do with the werewolf?” I hopped back over the bar.
“Dropped him off somewhere interesting.” His expression was blank as he took hold of my arm.
I walked with him toward the entrance and tried to ignore all the still-frozen people. I wanted to feel bad for them, but once Lucas showed up and made a scene it had to be done.
“Please tell me you didn’t set him next to a cliff or something.”
“No.” He didn’t look at me.
“At the bottom of the ocean?” Lucas could probably do that. He didn’t need to breathe, but the werewolf did.
He drew his brows together. “Do I look wet to you?”
“No, but that doesn’t answer my question. What did you do with the werewolf?”
“Let it be. He’ll survive.”
“He’d better.”
“Next time, sensor.” Lucas glanced down at me. “When someone harms you, I’ll limit myself to breaking their arms.”
His expression was dark and menacing. This was the man who’d made huge sacrifices—ones he refused to explain—so that I could become immortal. He didn’t have a problem with me fighting when necessary, but he still had a hard time seeing me hurt. It would have been endearing if it wasn’t so aggravating.
“How very considerate of you.” Sarcasm dripped from my voice. “Why don’t you just trust me to handle things myself?”
“When you stop showing so much compassion for your enemies, perhaps I will.”
“Like this?” I ground my spiked heel onto the top of one of his Gucci shoes.
His eyes sparked. “Am I your enemy now?”
“Only when you’re annoying me.”
“And how often is that?”
“About ninety percent of the time. Not that I’ve calculated that or anything.” I put my arm around his waist and leaned into him, belying my words. Part of what attracted me to him was the challenge and clash of our personalities.
We stepped outside into the dark and he released the spell inside. Loud conversation rose up within seconds and the moods of people having a good time returned to color my senses. They’d never remember the last ten minutes of their life and would go on as if nothing had happened.
There weren’t any patrons in the parking lot, but we moved to the side of the building where we couldn’t be easily observed if any came along. The bar was at the end of a shopping center and everything else was closed. Darkness enshrouded us as we turned to face each other.
“Where is he, Melena?” Lucas asked, glancing back over at the parking lot.
I didn’t have to ask who he meant. “He’s in the rental car, watching a movie on my iPad.”
“Good.” His shoulders relaxed. “Perhaps you have learned to manage him better.”
Kerbasi, a guardian from Purgatory, had to stay near me at all times. I couldn’t travel more than half a mile away from him thanks to the arm cuffs we wore that bound us together. The archangel, Remiel, had charged me with the task of giving Kerbasi humanity. That was a tall order for a man who’d spent most of the last four and a half millennia torturing prisoners in Purgatory.
Lucas hated him and didn’t appreciate his tendency to cause problems. Because of that, it had taken me over three months to convince the nephilim to let me help search for his missing brother. Not wanting to blow my first chance, I’d had to bribe Kerbasi with a steak dinner earlier in the evening to get him to stay in the car while I went inside the bar.
“So how did things go in Chicago?” I asked.
Lucas’ jaw tightened. “I’ve found nothing yet.”
“But you’re not done?”
“No. I’ve got the master of the city rounding up anyone who might have helped Zoe hide my brother, but it is a slow process.”
I gave him an incredulous look. “And this master has no problem doing this for you?”
“I’ll admit he hasn’t been entirely cooperative.” Lucas frowned. “I’ve been forced to take drastic measures twice now to convince him.”
I didn’t want to know what his idea of drastic measures might be this time. They often involved heads rolling off bodies or hearts being ripped out. Lucas justified it by saying at least he gave them a quick death.
“Plain old bribery didn’t work?”
“No, this vampire is surprisingly resistant to large sums of money.”
I mulled that one over. “Too bad it’s not time for my period. I’ve got this tampon trick that’ll get them to cooperate every time.”
Lucas grimaced. “I’d hoped that was only a false rumor.”
“Oh, no. That one’s true.”
He placed a hand on my hip. “Was this dress really necessary?”
It was all I could do not to lean into him. Our chances to meet didn’t come often and they were usually brief. I understood he had to find his brother, but as time wore on the separations got harder. We’d begun our relationship a year and a half ago and had yet to spend more than a few consecutive days together.
“I wanted to catch the guy off-guard,” I said, answering his question. “Men always underestimate women in pretty dresses.”
He dropped his hand. “I don’t.”
“Don’t you?” I grazed my nails across my chest, drawing attention to my cleavage.
His gaze shot down to watch the movement. Lust rose up and his eyes glowed.
“Perhaps.”
He pressed his hands to the brick wall, caging me with his arms. For a moment we just stared at each other, allowing the tendrils of our bond to strengthen. He needed the closeness as much as I did, though we both fought the force of our attraction.
“Lucas…” I began.
His face closed off. “Tell me where the alpha is.”
There was a reason he’d let me go on this particular hunt. I’d been the one to get the lead for it. A new werewolf had moved to Fairbanks from a town not far from Spokane. A few weeks after she arrived, we got to talking and it turned out she’d seen Zoe in the area around the same time Lucas’ brother had disappeared. She hadn’t caught sight of Micah, but it had given me hope that maybe he’d been hidden somewhere in the city.
I ran a hand down Lucas’ chest. “If I tell you, are you going to flash over there and leave me here?”
“You don’t trust me?” He leaned in closer.
I breathed in his musky scent and felt my body stir. Part of me wanted to forget the Micah business and take him back to the hotel instead.
“Under the circumstances, no.” I wrapped my arms around his neck and rose up on my toes—two could play at this game. “If I tell you, you’ll go see the alpha without me and claim it’s for my own safety.”
He grabbed my ass and yanked me up, wrapping my legs around him. My back hit the wall. Our lips were only inches apart, but when I tried to kiss him, he pulled his head back.
“You’re testing my patience, Melena.”
Someday we were going to have a conversation that didn’t involve a battle of wits or sexual coercion. Then again, probably not.
“If you don’t let me go with you to see the alpha.” I ran my hand up his back. “I’ll put a blood circle around my house. Then you’ll have to come in through the front door like a normal person and there will be no more showing up naked in my bed in the middle of the night.”
“I told you before what would happen if you tried that again,” he growled.
I batted my eyelashes. “That was before you fell in love with me. You won’t destroy my house now.”
“Your confidence in yourself is becoming wearisome.”
He readjusted his hands under my ass and traced a finger along my bare skin. With my skirt open to him, he was getting dangerously close to discovering how wet he was making me. I was acutely aware of this and trying hard not to think about it.
“You like my confidence,” I replied, nipping at his neck.
He growled and nipped me back.
“Must you two carry on like this every time you see each other?” Kerbasi asked, walking up.
It was about time he showed up. I’d sensed him leave the car and had counted on him being the proverbial cold splash of water I needed.
Lucas’ eyes glowed gold as he turned his head in Kerbasi’s direction. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll go away—now.”
The guardian let his own eyes glow silver. “I think not. Your woman has forced me to sit in that horrible contraption humans call a car by myself for too long.”
This was going to turn into a full-out brawl if I didn’t stop it soon. Kerbasi was too powerful and full of himself to back down. Lucas had been tortured daily by him in Purgatory and wanted revenge. Not that I could blame him, but the animosity between the two men reached epic levels every time they saw each other. It was always up to me to calm them down.
“How about we go see that alpha now?” I dropped my legs to the ground and extricated myself from Lucas.
Tension filled the air around us while I waited for either of the two men to respond. Neither of them did.
“Fine, I’ll go by myself.” I headed toward the car.
By the time I settled into the vehicle, got the directions to Crusaders from my cell phone, and cranked the ignition, both men had flashed inside—with Lucas up front.
“Glad we got that settled,” I said, pulling the car out onto the road.
Chapter Two
Crusaders was located on the outskirts of Spokane. A little hole-in-the-wall joint with an empty field behind it and no other buildings nearby. We pulled into the parking lot alongside an assortment of motorcycles and beat-up trucks. My tiny blue rental car would have stood out among them, but no one lingered outside to notice. All the werewolves were inside—about twenty of them.
There were no other supernaturals nearby. A spell on the place discouraging unwanted visitors ensured that, though as we walked toward the entrance I picked up on the emotions of a few humans in the building. If my past experiences were anything to go by, they’d be women who were friendly with the pack.
My immunity to magic allowed me to go inside with no problem. Lucas and Kerbasi were too old and powerful for the ward to do more than give them a jolt when they crossed over the threshold. The door banged shut behind us and we stopped to take a look around.
Heads turned in our direction and nostrils flared. I’d been told I smelled human, but I had no idea what the weres made of Lucas. Kerbasi had turned invisible before we came in and would be impossible for them to detect.
Someone shut off the music. A burly werewolf in his late twenties kicked back his chair and lumbered toward us. His heavy footsteps thumped on the wooden floor, reminding me of the same sound made by boots in western movies. He just needed the spurs. People at small tables along his path scooted their seats forward to make room for him and shouted words of encouragement.
We’d entered their territory uninvited and they wanted us gone.