Her Vampire Mate (7 page)

With one last glance, she headed for the building. “See you inside.” He watched her nicely curved ass sway as she walked away from him.

If she really was meant to be his, he’d lucked out in a big way. He just wished he knew for sure. And it looked like sampling her blood wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.

He made short work of the fire escape and waited outside the fourth-floor window for Jennalynn to knock on the apartment door. Inside, Kent flopped onto the couch and turned on the TV then opened a pizza box. The scent of cheese and pepperoni wafted toward Antonio through the partially opened window, nearly choking him with its greasiness.

A knock came at the door. Kent swore, put his pizza down and went to look through the peephole. He didn’t even ask who it was, just opened the door. Jennalynn’s leg and arm showed around the edge of the door frame. He must not figure a woman was going to give him any trouble.

“Penny isn’t here,” Kent said. “She’s at work.”

“I know. I’m here to see you, Phillip,” Jennalynn said.

Kent backed up and Jennalynn paced him. When Kent shot a glance toward the window, Antonio leaned into view. Kent immediately stopped short, putting his back toward the kitchen and looking back and forth between Antonio and Jennalynn. “I don’t know anything.”

“You don’t even know what we were going to ask about,” Jennalynn said.

Antonio pushed the window up and slipped inside but stayed in front of it to block Kent’s escape. “Tell us what you know about the world-walker.”

Jennalynn’s eyes narrowed. “Have a little finesse.”

“What for? He must know why we’re here. It’s why he ditched his apartment to hide out with his girlfriend. He knows something. And he’s going to tell us what it is and then we’re going to leave.”

“Just like that?” Kent said.

“Just like that,” Antonio echoed.

Kent shook his head and looked at his shoes. “I don’t know, man. That mob guy told me not to say anything to anybody. He’ll kill me if he finds out.”

“How’s he going to find out?” Jennalynn said. “I’m not going to tell him.”

“Neither am I,” Antonio said.

Kent thrust his arm out, palm up. “How do I know he didn’t send you to test me?”

“Do we look like we’re from the mob?” Jennalynn said.

“You look like you’re from Tomb Raider,” Kent said, his eyes traveling down her black jeans. “He could be from the mob, though. He looks Italian.”

He was Italian. But he could pass if he wanted to. “Don’t insult me.” Antonio injected a tiny accent into his speech. “I’m Portuguese. Not Italian.”

Kent held up both hands. “Dude. How’m I supposed to know?”

“Enough,” Jennalynn said. “We’re not from the mob. We’re from other interested parties.” She pulled out her wallet and slipped out a crisp one hundred dollar bill. “Tell us what we want to know and I promise it’ll never get back to the mob.”

Kent hesitated, so Antonio pulled his own wallet out. He knew this was business and the money probably wasn’t even coming from Jennalynn herself but something made him want to be the one paying. He pulled out two hundred bucks and mentally patted himself on the back for getting bribe money out of the ATM before starting on this hunt.

“Three hundred?” Kent said.

“Who’s the world-walker?” Antonio said.

“I don’t know. Really. I just heard she’s in Chicago, that’s all.”

“She?” Antonio said.

Jennalynn’s face tightened.

Apparently his wolf had been holding out on him. The world-walker was female. Very interesting.

“You must know more than that,” Jennalynn said. “If you don’t know her name, at least tell us how to find her. An address.”

Kent eyed the money. “She’s a singer. I heard she’s got a gig in some dive that caters to humans. I don’t know the name. Chicago, that’s all.”

The guy had to know more than that. One way to find out. Antonio stepped toward him, holding out his two hundred but keeping it out of Kent’s reach until Kent met his eyes. Then he spelled him. “Is that really all you know?”

The man spoke slowly as though in a trance. “Yes.”

Antonio released him. “Damn.” He handed him the money.

Jennalynn handed over her hundred then the two of them headed for the door. Antonio put his hand on the small of her back but kept his body turned so he could keep an eye on Kent until they were out of the apartment. He wouldn’t put it past him to attack once their backs were turned.

They got out to her car. She stopped. “I guess this is it.”

“What do you mean? We’ve got to go to Chicago.”

“We’re not on the same side.”

Antonio stepped into her and put his hand on her hip, their chests brushing. “There are so many ways that what you’re saying is wrong. Let’s start with you. I leave and you go mad. Then there’s me. You might be my soulmate. Damned if I’m going to walk away without knowing. So, no. We’re not splitting up to go to Chicago. We’ll drive together.”

“You can’t just decide that.”

“I just did.”

She put her hand on his chest and pushed, succeeding in putting a whole two inches in between them. “This isn’t the 1500’s and I’m not some maiden you can push around.”

His hand tightened on her hip. “Nor am I some man you can throw aside when you’re done with him. We’re bound together. We have to see this through.”

“What about your motorcycle?”

Damn. What about his motorcycle? He couldn’t just leave it on the street. “We’ll find a garage where I can drop it.”

She pressed her lips together hard enough that they formed a thin line. “You have an extra helmet?”

“Not handy. We could buy one though. Why?”

“This car’s a rental.”

Four and a half hours on his motorcycle with Jennalynn glued to his back? That was either ecstasy or pure torture. Either way, he’d won.

***

Five hours later, Jennalynn still wasn’t sure why she’d agreed to ride to Chicago on the back of Antonio’s motorcycle. Alone in the car together, it had seemed like they were getting closer. But Antonio still didn’t know if they were meant to be together. He’d admitted that.

All that aside, if she were really honest with herself, she knew why she’d agreed to ride with him. It was so she could touch him. Nothing too forward, but—oh, just getting to feel his thighs against hers, to hold onto his hips and occasionally put her arms around him when they dipped around a curve. Torture, sure, but also heaven.

He was hers. She didn’t know if she’d get to keep him, but she wanted him. And even if he decided to walk away, she wanted what memories she could get.

If he tried to seduce her again, she’d let him.

In the meantime, they needed to find a hotel quick. Only twenty minutes before dawn and they’d just hit Chicago. Antonio needed a dark place to hole up for the day.

Five minutes later, he pulled into a hotel that looked like it had had better days. The neon sign on the road showed a suspiciously low price and a fang, among other symbols. The fang meant the hotel had light-proof rooms.

When they climbed off the motorcycle, Antonio said, “I would’ve held out for a nicer place but if we got caught out before sunrise I’d be in trouble.”

“It’s not a problem. Mind if I use your motorcycle during the day to get food?”

He hesitated. “You know how to ride?”

“Yep.”

“You sure?”

“I’ll take good care of it. I promise.”

He finally handed her the key. “Let’s go get a room.”

A few minutes later they piled into the room with their two small bags. In spite of the fang advertising vampire ‘rooms’ the hotel had just one light-proof room and it had a king-size bed.

Antonio shut the door and before Jennalynn knew what happened, he had her back against it, his hands holding her hips and his body just a hair’s breadth from hers. “You didn’t ask for a second room.” His words shivered across her lips.

“I figured I’d be up all day.” Liar. She had planned to go through with sleeping with him. But now that it had come down to it, her nerves were proving stronger than her libido. But she wanted. Oh, she wanted. “I have to get breakfast and then track down the dive.”

“You need to sleep. You were up all night same as I was and we’ll both be up all night tonight too.” He touched his forehead to hers. “I know a great way to relax and fall asleep.”

Heat pooled between her legs. “I bet you do. But it would be better if I found that dive. If we save it for tonight, we could be searching all night and never find it.”

“What a shame.” His lips brushed hers. “We’d have to spend an additional day locked up here together.” He kissed her, his body slamming against hers, his tongue slipping into her mouth and awakening all her senses.

How could she think? One of his hands slid down her back to cup her butt while the other slipped under her shirt and moved upward.

Her own hands weren’t idle. She rubbed his back and squeezed his rear-end, wishing he didn’t have so many damn clothes on. Those nerves? Gone.

Antonio’s hand closed over her bra-covered breast, his thumb brushing the nipple. Jennalynn moaned and arched her back, pushing herself further into his hand. Her body melted, so aroused she wasn’t sure how she was standing upright.

With a swift move, he pulled her away from the door and walked her backward toward the bed.

A knock came at the door. “Housekeeping!”

Antonio lifted his head, breathing heavily, his mouth still millimeters from hers. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Her wolf wanted to kill the damned intruder and finish claiming her mate. She couldn’t, though. She pushed lightly at Antonio’s chest and stepped out of his arms. “Come in.”

A small blond woman opened the door and stepped inside. “I’ve got the extra towels you asked for.” Antonio had asked for them. He was a big guy; he said hotel towels were never big enough for him.

Antonio took the towels from her. “Thank you.” As he headed for the bathroom, the woman left.

Jennalynn took a deep breath to slow her racing heart. All the nerves she’d forgotten came rushing back. Maybe this interruption was a good thing. She could get some distance. She grabbed the doorknob and had the door open by the time Antonio returned.

“You going someplace?” he said.

“Breakfast. I’m starving.”

He advanced on her. “We were in the middle of something.”

She took a step out the door. “Right. And I need food or I won’t have enough energy for if we do that…”

“If? What happened? You’re acting scared.”

She took another step. “I’m not scared. Not really. Just not sure. So—I’m going to go get breakfast.” With the next step she let go of the door. It almost closed before he caught it.

The door opened to an inside hallway, so he was relatively safe from the sunlight. “Come back. We can order room service.”

“You think this place has room service? I’ll be back in a few.” She jogged toward the outside door, knowing that if he decided to chase her, she’d never make it.

Werewolves were fast. Vampires were faster.

When she got to the glass door leading outside, she looked back. Antonio stood in the doorway to their room, gazing at her. She couldn’t quite see the expression on his face because of the distance but had to guess it sat somewhere between frustrated and smoldering.

What the hell was wrong with her?

***

Jennalynn had just reached IHOP when her cell rang. She couldn’t deal with another conversation with Antonio right now, so she almost hit ignore then realized the call was from Killion. Besides, she’d never given her number to Antonio, had she?

She answered. “Hey.”

“Hey. Where are you?”

“Chicago. You want a status?” She stepped into the lobby of the restaurant. “Hold on a second.” As soon as she’d been seated and given a menu, she hopped back on the phone. “Sorry about that. You have no idea how hungry I am. Hope this call wasn’t about something urgent.”

He laughed. “I know how you eat. And no, this isn’t urgent. Important, but not urgent. Ready?”

She scanned the menu but already knew what she wanted. “Ready. So you don’t want an update?”

“Of course, but that can wait until Darius shows up. I called to tell you what I found out about your mate.”

Damn. She’d totally forgotten Darius was going to have Killion look into Antonio. She almost didn’t want to know what they’d found. “What’s the verdict?”

“He’s an assassin.”

“Thought so. He told me a little but hedged when it got to whether he was still doing it. Tell me what you found.”

“All right. He specializes in poisons. Apparently he got his start in the Renaissance, back when everyone wore poison rings and had people to taste test their food before eating it. But he’s still doing it now. There’s more, but that’s the gist of it.”