Alex stared at the sparkling surface of the pool, watching ripples move across the unbroken surface while she swished her feet in the cool water. She’d left Cole in his study a few hours ago, swamped in meetings and phone calls. She’d come here to think, attempting to sort the details he’d given her, trying to determine a logical path for her future. Unfortunately, she wasn’t having much luck. Lily’s call kept coming back to haunt her. She’d never had anyone, aside from her grandfather, who’d been brave enough to stand up to her mother on her behalf before. She almost wished she could have seen Lily’s face while Cole told her off.
The man was amazing.
She’d only just turned her phone back on a few minutes ago, dreading what she might find.
Thirteen missed calls. Twelve irate voicemails.
She certainly had to give Lily points for persistence.
That last message, the calm one, had gotten to her. Lily had been oddly rational, completely in control. She’d informed Alex they needed to speak face to face, and requested they meet at Alex’s home late that afternoon. That simple fact alone was cause for concern, as Lily had always made a special point of avoiding her place. In fact, since she’d bought the place three years ago, she could count on one hand the number of times Lily had been there—and still have eight fingers and two thumbs left over.
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As Alex sat, warming herself in the late afternoon sunshine, she debated whether she should go or not. She knew Lily intended to do everything in her power to make her feel inadequate and guilty. Then she thought of Cole, of his angry, pointed defense of her before he hung up on Lily—something she’d been longing to do for years but had never had the nerve—and Alex finally understood that Lily only had as much power as she gave her.
Cole. He’d made her believe again, in herself and in love. He’d given her purpose and inspiration. He’d given her his trust. More than that…he’d given her his love. She wanted to be with him, more than anything in the world, regardless of what he was. No, she corrected,
because
of what he was. He made her feel safe, loved and needed. He made her feel strong.
Squaring her shoulders, Alex rose from the pool and snagged a towel off the chaise. She wrapped it around herself as she strode across the patio toward the French doors. Once inside the house, she went directly to her room to change.
She would meet Lily, on her own terms, on her own turf, so to speak. She would face her and tell her exactly what she thought of Lily’s selfish, autocratic attitude. Then she’d tell Lily if she wanted to continue to remain a part of Alex’s life, she’d have to accept Alex as she was, as well as her choices, namely Cole.
In all probability, Lily would rant and rail, threaten and guilt trip; and in the end, Alex would be forced to finally say good-bye. Lily was Lily after all, and she would never change. The bottom line was Alex couldn’t continue as she had been. Submissive and insecure. Lily’s emotional punching bag. Though she sincerely 279
doubted she’d be able to come to any sort of truce with her mother, she owed it to herself to try at least for some kind of closure.
While she was there, she would make it a multi-purpose trip, and pack a few more of her things, she thought with a small, giddy smile. As Alex eased her Shelby from the garage and motored down the long drive, her mind drifted back through the years. Always there had been her grandpa. School plays and dance recitals, sporting events and graduations. Lily had always been the dark cloud in the distance, never present, yet always on her mind, always hovering, always waiting to rain on the parade.
Well, no more, Al
ex determined. She was through being subservient,
fi
nished with
accepting Lily’s censure with docile obedience. It was over.
Smiling, a huge weight lifted from her shoulders, Alex flipped her cell open and thumbed the speed dial number for Cole’s phone.
It went directly to voicemail. As busy as his agenda was today, she hadn’t expected anything else.
“Cole, I know you’re really busy, and so I didn’t want to bother you. I just wanted to let you know I need to take care of a few things in town.
I’m on the way to my place to pick up a few things and to meet my mother. I have a few things to discuss with her that are long overdue.” She slowed for a traffic light, and then turned onto a scenic strip of highway. “I’ll be back by sundown—ha, ha, bad joke, I know—and I was hoping maybe we could go for another midnight swim?” Alex paused for the barest space of a moment. A small smile lifted the edges of her mouth in anticipation of seeing his face tonight when she told him of her decision. “I love you, 280
and I’ll see you soon.”
Alex snapped her phone closed and tossed it on the seat beside her with a giggle of anticipation, her mood
buoyant. She cranked the radio up and hummed appreciatively as
seductive, dark bass rocked through the speakers, vibrating the car. She settled back against her seat with a purring sigh. Her favorite band… She sang along, not feeling the slightest twinge of guilt about favoring this group over Stolen Innocence.
She shifted gears and tapped her thumbs against the steering wheel in time to the thundering beat. You just had to love these guys.
What they could do with confident, suggestive words and certain, well-plucked notes…
Velvet Revolver’s enticing, all-too-prophetic
“Come On, Come In” poured from the speakers.
Another deep riff punched straight to the gut, and she conceded the point that, in all fairness, maybe she just had a certain weakness for impossibly tall, gorgeously ripped blonds stroking a guitar with long, nimble fingers.
Alex chewed her lip on that thought and, just like that, her mind circled back to Cole. Her smile grew wide, filled with anticipation. She opened the throttle, letting the music and the wind carry her troubles away.
A short while later, Alex pulled up in front of her house and frowned at the Hummer blocking the driveway. She never knew what kind of vehicle Lily drove from one week to the next, but this certainly didn’t seem Lily’s style. Alex gave a slight shrug. The only thing predictable about Lily was her disapproval for her only child.
Alex slid the key from the ignition and stepped out of her car. As she walked up her sidewalk, she mentally girded herself for the 281
battle to come. Reaching for the doorknob, she found it unlocked. Alex frowned slightly. Normally it wouldn’t have bothered her. The point that irritated was the fact Lily had possessed a key for three years, and had never used it. Not until now.
She pushed the door open, only narrowly restraining herself from slamming it closed behind her in a fit of temper. She stepped into the living room and glanced around. Puzzled, she called out, “Mother?”
When no one replied, and a quick search of the house proved unproductive, Alex made her way to the back deck. Sliding the patio doors open, she stepped out into the slowly dying sunshine and let her eyes drift first to the unbelievable, serene view of the ocean before turning her gaze to the loungers at the end of the deck. A man reclined there, indolent and impossibly sexy, and she couldn’t find her voice.
****
Cole sat down behind his desk and rubbed a tired hand over the back of his neck. He’d spent the better part of the day in meetings and phone conferences, ironing out all the fine details of Stolen Innocence’s upcoming, six-country tour. It had been no small feat, but he’d managed to work his way through the list he and Tommy had been ironing out, in spite of the fact that every time he’d had an unguarded moment, he’d found Alex sneaking into his thoughts. He was just reaching for his cell when Styx gave his door a perfunctory knock before strolling carelessly inside. “Hey, man… D’you get it all squared away?”
Cole grinned as he thumbed through his missed calls and voice mails. “Yeah, we’re gonna push Japan back to the end of the month and move Sydney up to the first. We’ll have a two 282
week layover in Barcelona, just for you,
amigo
.” Styx wandered aimlessly across the den.
“Where are we off to tonight?”
“Deacon reported in on the photo labs. Dead end there. Crispin sent over a list of locations the Crasher may strike at tonight. It’s a short list.
He’s running out of places with the number eleven in them, unless the Crasher starts reusing clubs.”
“Sure wish I could figure out why eleven is so significant.”
Cole leaned back in his chair, propping his boots up on the edge of his desk. “You and me both, man.”
“You don’t suppose he’ll try for…”
“Don’t even go there.”
“Seriously, Cole, you saw the pictures as well as I did.” Styx shot Cole an uneasy glance. “I got a bad feeling, man.”
Cole tipped his head back, avoiding Styx’s eyes. He’d been having the same bad feeling. “It’s not the eleventh yet. Alex will be tucked securely behind lock and key tonight. I’ll make sure of it.
I’ve ordered extra security…they’ll be here before we leave. She’ll be safe here on the estate. We have a job to do. We’ll find the killer tonight.” And end any further threat to his female, he silently added. But the certainty about catching the killer didn’t shake his unease about Alex. Maybe he should stay home, keep an eye on her himself.
Styx shot him a sly smile as he flopped onto the sofa, idly toying with the remote. “So… Will Slim be joining us on the road?”
“You better be careful, Styx. For being such a connoisseur of females, you’re beginning to sound an awful lot like a nosy matchmaker.” Although he joked with Styx, a worried groove remained firmly entrenched between his brows.
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Styx gave a careless shrug, his smile indulgent. “I may be Vampyre,
amigo
, but I am still a Spaniard. I was born with romance flowing through my veins. How do you think it is that I am never without a
willing
female?” Rolling his eyes, Cole gave a snort of patent disbelief. Then he reached the message she’d left on his voice mail earlier. It cut him off at the knees with a vicious slash of panic. He shot to his feet, his face drained of all color. Without warning, he ran to the door with a frightening string of curses pouring from his lips.
Styx was instantly on his feet, matching Cole step for wickedly fast step. “Cole?”
“It’s Alex.” Cole shot over his shoulder as he raced down the hall, madly dialing Alex’s number, swearing and hitting the redial button, over and over. “Shit. Her phone’s off. She’s on her way into town, alone. She doesn’t know…”
“
Madre de Dios
, Cole, you said you’d…”
“I told her about us. You didn’t leave me any other option when you let her see you
feeding
, for Odin’s sake.”
“That was an accident,” Styx snapped, guilty and letting it show. “I thought you—”
“Styx, she doesn’t know about the Rogue yet.” Cole cut Styx’s incredulous curses short with a fierce snarl. “Not now, Styx. There just wasn’t a good time. Things just kept coming up…”
“Yeah,” Styx growled. “I just bet I know exactly
what
kept coming up…”
“Fuck you, man,” Cole hissed. “Just save it.
She left a little while ago. Maybe we can catch her before she gets too far away.” The two men raced to the garage and slid inside Cole’s Corvette. In a matter of minutes, they were tearing down the road fast enough to set even an Immortal’s teeth on edge, cursing the 284
warmth of the late afternoon UV rays through the heavily tinted windows.
****
Alex couldn’t believe her eyes. Totally relaxed, as though he had not a care in the world, Griffin Myles basked in the last of the day’s warm rays like a sun god renewing himself. His dark head had turned slowly in Alex’s direction when she stepped out onto the deck. Idly sliding his designer sunglasses down to the end of his perfect nose, he stared up at her with moody, smoky gray eyes. “Darling,” Griffin drawled smoothly, positively oozing sex appeal. Charm dripped from his very perfect, very British accent. “I’d begun to wonder if you were ever going to come home. I’ve grown ever so lonely without you, dove.” Alex was completely
unaffected. Next to Cole, this sexy
soap
heartthrob was a pale,
unappealing substitute. His poor choice of words—his very attitude—made Alex’s eyes narrow and her claws curl. “What are you doing here, Griffin? How did you get in?”
“Come kiss me, Lexi,” he commanded, pushing himself up straighter in his seat, holding his arms out to her indulgently. “Haven’t you missed me at all?”
Unmoved, she coolly arched a disdainful eyebrow. “How did you get in?”
“Does it really matter, darling? I’m here now,” he crooned, sending her the same smile she’d seen him successful
ly use to reduce many a lesser woman to complete, incoherent
submissiveness. “Let’s just put all this nonsense behind us, shall we? We’ve so many more interesting things to—discuss.” Alex glared at him, crossing her arms over her chest. Her stare was frosty, her voice cold 285
enough to form icebergs. “I don’t think so, Griffin.
I’m going to ask one more time, and then I’m going to call the police… How did you get in?” Griffin flicked a speck of imaginary lint from his slacks and pushed arrogantly to his feet, a displeased frown marred his perfect brow. “Come now, Alexandra, there’s no need for things to be ugly between us. Your mother was kind enough to offer a key. She suggested perhaps I should come and see you. That, in light of current events, you might be a tad more reasonable about our future.”
“We have no future, Griffin. I assumed you would have figured that out when I returned everything—including the engagement ring.” Alex fiercely held her ground when Griffin took a deliberate step closer, refusing to let him or anyone else bully her ever again.
Griffin stopped in his tracks and took a hesitant, half step backwards.
“Lexi, sweetheart,” Griffin cooed, stepping forward once more at risk of life and limb. “I made a mistake, a terrible mistake. We can easily get past this. We can look to the future and forget about all this unfortunate little slip-up. I’ll even tell you I’m sorry if that’s what you need to hear.”
“You’re sorry for what, Griffin?” Alex pinned him to the spot with furious eyes. “You’re sorry for cheating on me—or you’re sorry because you got caught? Don’t worry about it, Griffin. I’m already over it. I’m over you. Or haven’t you heard? I’d assumed mother already told you all about my shameful indiscretion. Then again…” Alex lifted a speculative eyebrow. “Did she pay you off? Is that why you’re here?” A spark of annoyance flickered through his eyes, but Griffin quickly blinked, masking his irritation. Oh, yes, she’d hit the mark there. “Be 286
reasonable, Alexandra—”
“No.” Alex held her hand up in warning, shaking her head. “Enough, Griffin, I want you to leave now. There is nothing more to say, we’re finished. Hope you got your money out of Lily upfront. She won’t give you a red cent if you don’t come back with the prize.”
“Why?” Griffin sneered, unable to hide the ugly side of his nature. He covered the space between them in two angry strides and glared down at her. “Because of that two-bit singer?
What rot! Good God, Alex, didn’t you learn your bloody lesson the last time you were involved with a band and ended up running away with your tail tucked between your legs?”
Alex’s hand snaked out. The sharp crack of her palm connecting with Griffin’s cheek shattered the air between them. She stared coldly up at him, unapologetic and furious. “I was a fool to ever believe I could love you. Cole is not some two-bit singer—he’s a brilliant musician. He’s ev
erything you’re
not.
He’s honest and
compassionate, and
faithful
. He’d never lie to me.
He’s twice the man you’ll ever be.” The words had no more than left her mouth, when her patio erupted in chaos so quickly she could scarcely track it all. Infuriated by her slur, Griffin yanked her into his arms, his hands gripping her cruelly, fingers digging into her flesh.
He sealed his lips over hers in a punishing kiss that drew blood, pinning her body between his and the unforgiving deck railing at her back.
A spare few seconds later—before Alex even had time to react to Griffin’s vicious attack—Cole flew from the house, the fury of hell unleashed.
Griffin went sailing through the air to crash in a limp heap against the side of the house with a whimper of surprise. Cole descended on him with 287
lethal intent.
Only Styx’s timely intervention prevented Cole from literally tearing Griffin’s jugular out with his fangs. Even so, it took every ounce of Styx’s own preternatural strength to hold Cole back and prevent him from doing any more harm to Griffin, to prevent Cole from ripping the man limb from bloody limb.
Alex sagged against the rail, the back of her shaking hand pressed to her bruised, bloodied lip. Griffin’s unwanted kiss hadn’t bothered her nearly as much as the sight of Cole’s fury. He was fully transformed, a snapping, snarling, dark angel of the night filled with jealous fury.
Cole roared with untamed, animalistic vengeance. He strained against Styx, reaching for the fallen man, growling his desire to feel the hot rush of the bastard’s blood gush down his throat, railing aloud his need to feel the man’s dying pulse beneath his lips. Styx swore in a thick accent as he grappled with Cole, desperately restraining him. The muffled groan of the fallen man seemed to urge Cole on, as the scent of blood from a wounded animal drives a predator to complete the kill.
Alex couldn’t believe her eyes. Cole was actually trying to
kill
Griffin. She cried out, and Cole faltered. At first, the sound was nothing more than a muffled sob. She called out to him again, hesitant at first, but then with more desperation.
“Cole,” she sobbed. “Cole, stop! Stop it! You’ll kill him, Cole!”
Her voice finally penetrated the fog, and he went deathly still in Styx’s arms. As soon as Cole drew back, Griffin staggered to his feet and fled around the side of the house, screeching hysterically. When Styx was satisfied Cole 288
wouldn’t go after the distraught man, he released his hold, but, as if sensing Cole’s fury had far from abated, he held himself alert to respond once more as Cole turned to face Alex.
Alex stumbled forward, her arms extended, sobbing her relief. But she drew up short, when Cole recoiled from her touch with a disgusted snarl, flashing lethal fangs at her in warning.
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