Rogue (Sons of Sangue Book 4) (21 page)

“Give me a few minutes, Blondy. I need to pass this along to Kane. Not sure I’m going to pull Tamera just yet. She might not get any leads on drugs, but maybe she can get one of those blowhards bragging about what happened to Kinky.”

“Make sure you let Viper know, having Preacher along for the ride, I didn’t have time to call and warn you I wasn’t in Santa Barbara.”

“You should’ve found time.” Her gaze darkened. “Keeping Tamera safe is our number one priority. Thank goodness Kane and Red are trailing her or you would’ve left her ass hang out to dry down there.”

“Fuck you, Cara.” Heat rose up his neck. “I’m in this mess because you stuck me here. You don’t like the job I’m doing, then fucking pull me.”

“I don’t have to tell you what Gypsy would have to say about this mess.”

He chuckled and shook his head. “He’d no doubt blame me as well, giving him another reason to hate me.”

Anton should’ve found a private moment and called, letting them know he was heading north. But how the hell was he to know they had already sent Tamera to Santa Barbara? Cara was just as much at fault for putting her at risk and not calling him. Tamera was left to tackle the job on her own with a bunch of lowlifes who would think nothing of harming her. There was no doubt with Tamera’s good looks and investigative skills, she might be able to help the case of Joseph’s execution and get someone singing, that is if the Devils were guilty. But if she got too nosy … it might just put her in a heap of trouble.

In which case, Grayson would hand him his ass.

* * *

The Sons of Sangue were easy pickings. He could take out any one of them at any given moment he chose and they would be powerless to stop him. They weren’t up to his caliber. The only thing keeping him from wiping them out was his brother. Vlad had already proved his feelings in the matter where they were concerned when he had taken his stepdaughter’s head.

Rosalee.

Forgiving his brother for that deed wasn’t going to happen.

No matter how long he lived.

Mircea stood in the forest, downwind, watching the Sons of Sangue’s clubhouse from the rear of the building. The wind would work in his favor for masking his scent. One of the dark, short haired vampires arrived moments ago, took off his helmet and headed inside. A few other motorcycles sat in the parking lot, along with a box truck, telling Mircea the man wasn’t alone.

Mircea had been in Pleasant for a short period of time, and he’d stay as long as need be. He was in no hurry. Hell, he had an eternity to obtain revenge. Being hasty wrought mistakes. When the curly haired vampire had been shot, execution style, he had been there. Not that Mircea gave a rat’s ass who had fired the kill shot, but he took great pleasure in knowing he wasn’t their only enemy.

Mircea couldn’t take credit.

The dead biker wasn’t on his short list of vampires he wanted executed.

No, Mircea gunned for Vlad’s kin, Kane and Kaleb. He had told his brother it would be Kane’s decision as to who he took out, knowing his ex-son-in-law would do the noble thing and choose himself. Since Kane had been the one to betray his stepdaughter in the first place, Mircea would be happy with his obvious choice. He’d take great pleasure in dealing out a slow, painful death. In truth, Mircea harbored no ill will toward Kaleb or his son. And since Kane would never allow harm to come to either, he’d sacrifice himself to save those he loved.

Kaleb’s crime had been the taking of Alec Funar’s head, a primordial, which should’ve earned the short-tempered fool a speedy trip to hell. Truth be told, Alec had been a pain in Mircea’s ass from the get-go. The stupid shit considered himself superior, thinking he deserved a place in Mircea’s household. Alec thought by fucking his stepdaughter it put him in good graces with Mircea.

He had thought wrong.

Mircea chuckled. When he heard Alec Funar had lost his head, Mircea had been elated. Rosalee used Alec to her gain, and he wasn’t smart enough to see it. He wouldn’t have allowed the fool to live much longer anyway. There was no way in hell he would’ve allowed Rosalee to mate with the idiot. So Mircea merely humored him, for he had an eternity in which to get what he desired most.

Rosalee.

His mate had not deserved the gift of eternal life he had given her. She had whined from the day she had been turned, not having the stomach to feed from mere mortals. Mircea was thrilled when Rosalee gave into her mother’s wishes and took her immorality by ending her life and saving Mircea the trouble.

Who in their right mind would complain about being a vampire?

Little did Rosalee know she had played right into Mircea’s hand. He had at one time loved his mate, but unfortunately he had grown bored with her. So he played the grieving widower to a T. No one knew he had wished to end her endless whining, to rip her beating heart from her chest. Since Rosalee wasn’t of his lineage, and her mother’s life had been cut short, he was free to pursue his stepdaughter. She was far more exotic looking than her mother, and far more calculating, which had been a huge fucking turn-on. Kane no longer stood in the way, since Mircea had gladly given him permission to mate with his little detective. Everything was falling into place.

Until Vlad ended her life.

Had Mircea convinced Rosalee that they should be mated, that they were perfectly suited, there would’ve been no stopping them.

Now Vlad must pay.

He wasn’t fool enough to think he could ever best his brother. On the contrary, Vlad would separate his head from his shoulders with little effort, just as Vlad had Rosalee. Besides, ending his life wouldn’t mete out the suffering he aimed for.

Instead, he’d take out the one thing dear to him.

Kane.

Mircea would be even with Vlad. He’d be free to find a mate and finally be able to live his life in peace. His family tree had all but died out. It was time he found someone to carry on his lineage.

To make sure Vlad wouldn’t dare to retaliate, Mircea would threaten to take Kaleb’s son. Oh, he wouldn’t be so cruel as to kill a child, though he’d lead them to believe the child was dead. Mircea would raise him to be a mirror image, and make damn sure he never knew his real father and mother.

“What’s that smile on your face, Kimber?” Tena asked as she sauntered up to the main desk at the library where Kimber was checking in books.

Heat crawled up Kimber’s neck and warmed her cheeks as she tried to suppress her smile. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“You can’t play coy with me. You may think I didn’t notice you and your sexy, to-die-for neighbor doing a little disappearing act the other night at Murphy’s, but I did.”

Kimber raised her gaze. “Preacher didn’t notice, did he?”

Tena’s brows met over the bridge of her nose. “Why?”

“It’s nothing, really.” Kimber scanned a couple more books. “It’s just Anton would rather his biker friends didn’t know about us.”

“So there is an us?” Her coworker clapped her hands and giggled. “I knew something was going on between the two of you. How is he in bed?”

“Tena!” Kimber did a quick sweep of the library with her gaze. Only two older ladies were on the second floor, and neither were within hearing distance. Still, she lowered her voice. “I’m not about to divulge details. Anton and I are just friends.”

“So you went down the hall, occupied the bathroom for about fifteen minutes by yourself.”

“Yes.” Kimber went back to checking in new books, busying herself so she wouldn’t have to look Tena in the eye. She was a horrible liar. “I wasn’t feeling well.”

“So said the woman who needed to use the restroom. She seemed a little put off.” Tena chuckled, then leaned in. “I know different, because I happened to see Rogue leave the ladies’ room about five minutes before you.”

“Preacher didn’t—”

“Relax.” She chuckled. “His attention was on me. Besides, his back was to the hall. Lucky for you, I was the one facing it.”

“I do hope you were careful with Preacher. You know literally nothing about the man.”

“I’m betting you know very little about your neighbor, and yet you were holing up in the ladies’ room together.”

The heat returned to Kimber’s cheeks. “I’ve known Anton for well over a year.”

“So then tell me about him. Parents? Past girlfriends? What’s his favorite food?”

Kimber took a seat on the counter-high stool behind the desk and sighed. “Okay. Point taken. I’ve known him for a while. I guess we’ve never shared anything really personal. Now that you mention it, I might’ve been a bit more forthcoming than he has been.”

In fact, she really hadn’t thought to question him at all about his life as their relationship had never gone beyond the physical. They were friends with benefits, whether she liked it or not. He had bought her a dog to insure her safely, which meant he had to care somewhat beyond the physical, didn’t it? Something told her that if she started asking those kinds of questions, Anton would head for Santa Barbara as fast as his motorcycle could carry him.

Kimber frowned. “Okay, so I know very little about him. You know any more about Preacher?”

“His real name is Bobby Bourassa. How sexy is that?”

She chuckled. “I know Anton’s full name too, smarty pants.”

“I know he got his nickname because he used to be a preacher, that he grew up in foster care, then joined the Devils when he lost faith in humanity.” She punctuated her knowledge with a wide smile. “Oh, and he has twin cross tats on his shoulders that I find super sexy. And may I just say, he looks like he’s been working out for years. His arms are delish!”

Kimber placed another stack of books in front of Tena. One of her eyebrows raised. “You didn’t take him home, did you?”

“No.”

“Then how did you see his tattoos?”

“He had on a T-shirt under his leather. He raised his sleeve, Miss Gutter Mind.” Tena gave her a toothy grin, telling Kimber she jested. “I tried getting him back to my place. He wasn’t having it.”

“Ooooh … you little tart.” Chad approached the two of them, his shift having just started. “The big guy turned you down flat? Say it isn’t so.”

Tena slapped Chad’s shoulder. “I don’t have to sleep with someone the moment I meet them.”

“Could’ve fooled me, girlfriend.”

“How about you?” Tena pushed a stack of books in Chad’s direction. “You get the pants off the man you were chasing?”

“You know it.” He grabbed the pile of books and headed for the bookshelves. Looking back over his shoulder, he said, “He was delicious with a capital D. I might even consider seeing him a second time.”

Kimber laughed, enjoying the newly developed camaraderie. A few weeks ago, they wouldn’t have thought to talk about their dating lives around her. To think she had missed out on all this fun because she had come across as a stick in the mud.

“So Preacher turned you down?” Kimber asked, truly surprised.

Tena’s cheeks reddened. “It was worth a try. Couldn’t let all that hotness go to waste, could I?”

“I thought he looked pretty interested.”

“Oh, he’s interested.” Tena’s gaze lit, her smile reaching her eyes. “He said he’d like to get to know me while he’s in town. Said he wasn’t into one-night stands. Wasn’t his style.”

“I suppose that’s good. But how much can you really get to know him in a short amount of time? Hard telling how long they’ll be in the area.”

“Preacher said they would be around for a while, and that he and Rogue had a job to do. Until then, they’d be staying at Rogue’s.”

Anton had mentioned something about
as long as it takes
the other night. Kimber couldn’t help wonder what job they spoke of. She liked having Anton back at the farmhouse. Spending more time with him made her pulse quicken. She hoped this job had nothing to do with the Sons of Sangue or put him in any kind of real danger.

Kimber thought about what Tena had said, that she didn’t really know much about Anton. Maybe it was time to find out what made the man tick.

* * *

Alexander walked from his room at the clubhouse, zipping up a pair of jeans. The material hung low on his hips, since he hadn’t bothered with a shirt. His senses told him he was completely alone, not that he cared. He’d walk around nude if he so chose. Modesty wasn’t a part of his vocabulary. Now that the baby was out of the house, no one would be there to care about his state of dress.

Kaleb and Suzi had taken the first load of their belongings to their new townhouse. He didn’t expect them back for hours, no doubt wanting to break in every surface while baby Stefan took his naps. At least that’s what the hell he’d be doing.

Ryder had gone to the Rave following work at K&K Motorcycles. The man seemed to have settled into his vampire lifestyle easily enough. The donors lined up when he graced the Rave with his presence. He had the whole dark and dangerous look about him that women seemed to love. With Grayson off the market, a good share of them had set their sights on Ryder. If they weren’t looking to get into his pants, then it was Grigore’s, big lovable oaf. Alexander chuckled.

He was more than happy to have the donors’ sights set elsewhere. For now, he preferred an occasional fuck, but nothing long standing. Let his brothers fend them off. Alexander was not in the market for a woman, and word had gotten around quick enough, leaving his dance card pretty open.