Tempting Gray - Untouchables 02 (11 page)

He shook his head once as if answering an
unasked question—no.

When Grayson crashed into the antique pine
bookcase it didn’t hurt so much as irritate him. Wood splintered and precious
books older than he was thudded to the floor carelessly. His older brother, Dom,
held him by the lapels of his leather jacket as the room became deadly silent.

He and Dom had always been close in their own
way. They hadn’t shared many personal conversations over the years, but that
was only because it wasn’t necessary. Dom was only thirteen months older than
Gray. Their father had gotten Diane, his
bruid,
pregnant for the first
time. That son would bear the name Dominic. Four months after Dominic was born,
some business took his father, Argonzo, out to Turkey where he quickly thought
himself in love with a peasant vampire named Aysel. He’d bedded her, gotten her
pregnant with Gray. Only the oldest and the youngest brother were born from
Diane—Dominic and Lucas.

“You said you’d take care of this. Now my mate
has a broken arm and half of her guard is dead.” Dom visibly struggled to rein
in his temper.

“I am taking care of it. Now let go of me,
kardesh
.”
Kardesh.
It
meant
brother
in their native Turkish tongue.

Dom bared his teeth in a snarl. He looked about
ready to snap. Gray stood still, just waiting. A part of him wanted Dom to
snap. If only so that he could unleash some of the frustrated fury smoldering
inside himself. “If you don’t have this matter under control then tell me.
Because this Donato motherfucker attacked
my
mate today and if I don’t
see his blood soon, I’m going to take him down myself.”

“The tracker’s here. She’s already found a
casino tied to the Donatos. I promise you, it will not be much longer,” Gray
said. He didn’t bother mentioning that Dom would not be able to find the
Donatos. Many people had tried over the years, or so Gray had found in his
research of the family. They kept their location hidden, moved often, and
trusted no one. There was only one way to find the Donatos and Grayson had the
key waiting in the guest bedroom upstairs.

Dom released him and everyone sighed as the
tension eased. That was until the door swung open. Out of all people to appear,
Alpha Zeke Hunter strolled into the library with a saunter that would make any
cowboy proud. “Whya hey, fellas, my lady—” he tipped a hat he was not wearing
to the ladies.

“What is he doing here?” Dom growled. The
Blackmoore family didn’t like the alpha. Not after he won the presidency over
Dom. On top of that, he was just nuts and had sort of kidnapped Felicity—though
she’d agreed to it at the time. It was a long story.

“I called him.” Everyone spun to stare at Diane
as if she’d grown two heads.

“Why did you do that?” Grayson asked, his own
voice a growl. He had to resist the need to pace. His blood began pumping
faster, jacking him up, muscles twitching to move and strike. Too much was
happening in his life, to him, and to his family. And after that kiss with
Arabella…
What the fuck was that?
He needed time to unwind. The burning
sting of guilt hung over him like demonic possession. God only knew if he could
purge it from himself.

He was such a bastard. His mate was dead, not
even a week and already he kissed another.

I didn’t kiss her.
She kissed me.

Or was it the other way around? Hell, he didn’t
know. That’s why he wanted to get out of here. The last thing he wanted was to
be stuck around his family and have to listen to their awkward condolences, or
worse, their heartfelt ones. And the questions—that was worse than that condolences.
The
how are you doing, honeys
and the thoughtless words such as
it’ll
get better with time
. He knew his family only wanted to comfort him but
couldn’t they see that the gaping wound was too fresh? After he put the Donatos
down, then he could properly mourn Anita. Maybe.

“I asked Mr. Hunter here because he should be a
part of this conversation,” Diane said. “He has invaluable resources at his
disposal and with so much misery lately I want as much help as possible.”

“But from the alpha?” sputtered Dom.

“Yes,” she answered bitingly, “even from him.”

The room stilled with silence. Then Zeke
clapped his hands loudly breaking the spell. “Whelp, y’all might not have shit
to do but I do. President and all—it’s part of the job. Busy, busy and all
that. What do you want?” He grinned, but behind his eyes was a calculating
intelligence.

The door swung open again and this time
Felicity, Dom’s mate, came in. Her right arm was in a cast. When Dom saw her
his gaze seemed to gravitate to that injury. He looked like he wanted to
explode. Felicity’s feet stopped suddenly as she spotted Zeke.

“What the heck is he doing here?” she asked.
Dom went over to his mate and placed a protective arm around her waist.

“I was wondering the same thing,” Dom said.

Zeke threw up his hands. “Hey now, I was
invited.”

Felicity looked like steam was about to come
spewing out of her ears. “You left me tied to a tree in the middle of a forest!”

Zeke shrugged as if to say—shit happens.

Then it started—the fighting. The arguing. One
voice being raised over another and another. Grayson didn’t have a word to say.
He knew it didn’t matter how worried they were or how much they wanted to help.
He’d carefully planned this in the hours after Anita’s body had burned to ash.

He kept himself at a distance from the rest
both emotionally and physically. None of them could help him now. All he needed
was Arabella and her tracking skills. Day two into the investigation and she
already found what might be one of the secret Donato locations. At this rate he’d
have the Donato line slaughtered by the end of the week.

And then what?

Thickness in his throat made it hard to
swallow. He pushed the question out of mind, unable to bear giving it a single
thought right now. When Grayson lifted his gaze to tune back into the
conversation he realized they were all still fighting. Everyone except Vas who
was doing something on his phone. Even Lucas was up in arms in Grayson’s
defense but Gray wanted to tell him that he could see the redness to his eyes.
He’s been using again.

Someone said something and Dom growled loud
enough to bring order like a judge banging his gavel. “My mate is here with
bones broken in her arm. I am thankful it was such a minor wound which will
heal quickly. We all know how lucky she was to have escaped. Her guards weren’t
so lucky in the ambush. From now on, everyone in this family or connected to
it, is under high protection.”

“I want to bring my friend Beth here. She might
be in danger too,” Felicity said. Beth was her human best friend. She was
allowed around because Felicity ordered it so and Dom would do anything for
her.

“Of course,” Dom said. The love for his mate
shown clearly in his eyes as he looked down at Felicity. The sight made Grayson’s
stomach roll. He patted his jacket, then silently cursed when he didn’t find a
cigarette. Just great.

The conversation finally ended when no one
could seem to agree on much. Which left them where they were now—with Gray and
Arabella hunting down the Donatos.

A hesitant knock sounded at the library door a
moment before a round, pretty face with a pile of blonde, wavy hair came into
the room. “Hi,” Arabella said, waving. She caught sight of Zeke and smiled—she
was the only person who was happy to see Zeke. “Alpha Zeke! What’s brought you
here?”

He shrugged. “Just checking in on the case, I
guess. How are things going?”

She related the events of the catacombs and
before she could bring up the Were attack—Grayson grabbed her hand and tugged.
She was so startled she jerked her gaze up to his, her mouth open in surprise. “The
case is between Arabella and me. If you need to know something you can ask me.”

Arabella retracted her hand viciously. “Excuse
me, but I am perfectly capable of answering questions.”

Grayson gave a tight-lipped smile, more like a
grimace. “I’m sure you are. We have work to do. For now, I need you all to be
safe. Which means everyone needs to stay at the estate until this is over. It’s
not safe otherwise.” Not waiting around to hear the replies, Grayson pulled Arabella
out of the room.

She protested every step of the way. His eye
twitched, not the first time he’d noticed the new habit. She acted as if he was
taking her to the gallows. “Relax,” he finally turned to tell her. She stopped,
stunned, then glared at him.

“Fine.”

“Good, fine,” he said and continued through the
house. He stopped them outside the guest bedroom she’d be using. “Stay here
tonight. We’ll leave tomorrow night to go to the casino.”

However, instead of going inside her room nice
and quietly as he’d like, she turned and crossed her arms. “How are we supposed
to do that?”

“You know how to get there, right?” She nodded.
“Well, there you go.” He couldn’t hold back the sarcasm.

“And the fact that we know they saw me
yesterday and are currently hunting the city for you right this very moment
doesn’t bother you at all?” she asked.

“I’ll sort out all the details you—”

“No, that’s not how this works. This is a
fifty-fifty split between you and me. If you want to work together then we have
to plan together. I’ll need a disguise and you probably will too.” She pulled
her hair over one shoulder and stroked it idly. The ends curled reaching as low
as her waist. So much hair, so pretty that he wanted to reach out and touch it.
Stop thinking like that.

“You work for me not the other way around. You
have no say in this. I do.”

Blinking slowly, she waited patiently. When he
said nothing else, she merely raised an eyebrow and continued to wait.

“Fine, we’ll discuss it later.”

Her gaze widened. “But I thought—”

“No,” he cut her off. “Later.” He couldn’t
handle any more conversations, any more
anything
regarding Arabella
Oprah Donahue. Turning on his heel, he retreated, leaving her standing alone.

Grayson didn’t return to Arabella’s room that
night or the following morning. So she showered in the nicest and most
expensive shower she’d ever seen and dressed in a fresh pair of jeans with a
cute blouse that clung to her perky ta-tas like a lover’s hand. The shirt could
definitely turn heads. She’d never been one to wear makeup though not for lack
of trying. It seemed she never could learn how to make her face look before
heading downstairs in search of life. The Blackmoore Estate was really
something. Marble floors, polished balustrades, oriental vases that looked as
old as the Ming Dynasty and artwork littered the opulent mansion. The
Blackmoores were wealthy and this multi-million dollar estate was only the tip
of the iceberg.

As soon as she reached the main the hall the
smell of fried bacon and eggs wafted to her nose. Her stomach growled at the
mouth-watering scents and soon her feet took her in the direction of the
kitchen. Inside the kitchen she found two women. One she immediately scented as
vampire. She was beautiful even with her arm in a sling. That must be Felicity
Blackmoore, Dominic’s new
bruid.
Their story had been all in the papers
at the time, but now that the presidential election was over they’d fallen out
of the press. In lieu of Grayson and Anita’s story.

Arabella didn’t recognize the other woman but
she was incredibly beautiful with dark skin tones. She was also human. The
human scent was subtle usually, but there. They smelled of the foods they ate,
of the oil on their skin, whereas the vampire Felicity merely smelled of blood
and little else. Arabella had once heard that vampires thought Weres smelled
like mangy dogs but she wouldn’t know anything about that.

“You must be Arabella!” Felicity said. She had
a brilliant smile that was instantly contagious.

“I am and I’m starving.” Her stomach growled to
prove her point.

Tossing back her head, Felicity laughed. “I was
gonna ask: are you just hungry or is that your Were growl?” She laughed even
harder as Beth chuckled.

“I’ll make some extra,” Beth said.

“Trust me, you wouldn’t want to taste my
cooking,” Felicity said. “I’ve messed up canned soup before. Vampires aren’t
meant to cook, I swear.”

“How did you manage that?” Arabella asked, as
she took one of the bar stools at the kitchen island. She liked these ladies.
They had easy laughs and smiles. In Arabella’s world those were the best kinds
of people. Heck, Felicity was just attacked yesterday and that had to be
terrifying to see your guards murdered while barely escaping with your own
life. Arabella shook her head to clear the awful images.

“I didn’t read the instructions so I didn’t
know I had to add a can of either milk or water. So basically it was a condensed,
burnt mess.” She shrugged as if to say
it happens
.

Beth laughed at the apt description. “So burnt,
in fact, we ended up just trashing the pot. That soup was
caked
and
cooked
to the bottom of the pan. I, for one, am an amazing cook.” She plated
perfectly cooked sunny-side up eggs with crisp bacon and buttered toast, then
slid Arabella a plate. Arabella didn’t hesitate to dig in with gusto. Her
tongue cheered at the delicious flavors and her belly rumbled in happiness.

“This tastes so good. Thank you! I didn’t
realize how hungry I was,” Arabella said. The bacon was perfectly crisp, the
yolk nice and gooey. It rocked.

“All that action will do that to ya,” Felicity
said, stretching and yawning.

“Yeah, I guess so.” Arabella finished her plate
and Felicity took it and put it in the dishwasher.

“Okay, now that breakfast is out of the way let’s
get down to it. Just how much do you like Grayson?” Felicity’s bold statement
took Arabella on a complete one-eighty.

Flustered, she sputtered, “W-what? I don’t like
him.” Even if she did, just a little, it wasn’t right. Not with his mate
murdered.

Then why did you kiss him?

She quickly shut up her internal thoughts. Now
was not the time to deal with her own guilt at kissing the incredibly handsome
Grayson Blackmoore.

“Mmhmm.” Beth cocked an eyebrow that clearly
said:
I don’t believe a word your saying.
“You don’t sound very
convincing. Now, Felicity told me all about—”

“Beth!” Felicity’s sharp reprimand brought her
up short.

Beth held up her hands. “Sorry, sorry! I didn’t
know it was off limits.”

“Of course it’s off limits. I wasn’t even
supposed to tell you. Dom told me in secret,” Felicity said.

“Then why did you tell me?” Beth cocked a hip,
waiting.

“Because I didn’t think you’d be such a loud
mouth about it. But now that you’ve gone and blabbed we have to tell her.”

“Tell me what?” Arabella asked, chiming into
the crazy conversation.

Felicity leaned in close and spoke in a
dramatic whisper. “Dominic told me that a long time ago, on the day that
Grayson was to be mated to Anita, you two met and had a thing.”

Back slamming straight, Arabella fought the
blush threatening to take over. “I’d hardly call it a ‘thing’. It was nothing.
Nothing happened.” At least on the outside that’s how it looked. But, she’d
never forgotten those moments with the handsome vampire who spoke with a gruff,
unique accent she’d never heard before and seemed to carry the weight of the
world on his shoulders. She could never forget that kiss, however brief it was.

“Dom tells me everything, so naturally when I
heard about Anita, I started asking questions about Grayson. I felt so bad for
her. She was so depressed, it was like she was stuck in an infinite loop of
despair.”

Feeling more and more like the walls were
closing in around her, Arabella stood thinking she could make her escape. It
didn’t feel right to talk about Grayson this way without him knowing or without
his permission. Not like they were speaking badly about him, but it didn’t sit
right with her. Surely it had nothing at all do to with the fact that her first
kiss, the kiss she shared with Grayson that died, had forever been implanted in
her memory.

“Listen, it was just a kiss. A peck on the
lips. That was all. It happened so long ago I doubt he remembers.”

He totally remembers.
What would they do if
they learned she kissed him yesterday before they arrived? She’d been unable to
keep from doing it.

Beth and Felicity stood stock-still. A wave of
oh-shit
hit Arabella. They hadn’t known about the kiss. She wanted to run far in the
other direction. How did they not know? If Dom had… Wait, she thought. Maybe
Dom didn’t know about the kiss because Grayson never said anything. And, until
now, neither had she. Damn it all to hell. All Dom or anyone else knew was that
‘something’ had happened between Grayson and her that night.

Now she’d admitted to kissing him on his mating
day. Just great.

Before they could question her more with things
she didn’t have an answer to, she thanked them for breakfast and made a beeline
out of the kitchen. She hadn’t made it far when Grayson appeared from one of
the rooms. Seeing him nearly stole her breath away. He’d showered and smelled
like fresh soap. His hair was slick backed from his forehead. The stubble on
his jawline was growing into a beard. Not that she minded, because it only made
him look devilishly handsome. The dark circles though were back under his eyes
and his cheeks look jaunt like a dying man. He needed to feed but he hadn’t.
Why didn’t he just feed when it would help him to be even stronger? The vampire
was so frustrating she just wanted to shake him. And to take care of him. He
needed someone to look after him if he wouldn’t do it himself.

Challenge accepted
, she thought.
I
will help you, Grayson Blackmoore
. One way or another.

“How did you sleep?” His question took her completely
by surprise.

It took her longer than it should have to reply
coherently. “Fine. I slept fine.”
Wow, riveting dialogue, Ara. Idiot
.

He nodded, eyeing her up and down as if
checking her for bodily harm. What did he see, she wondered? An inadequate Were
who couldn’t even shift, a woman longing for his kiss, or a business partner
meant to track down a killer? Her bet was on the latter and it broke her heart
a little.

“Um…how did you sleep?” she asked to fill the
silence.

“I haven’t.”

Frustration set in hot and fast. “See, this is
what I’m talking about. You don’t even take care of yourself. How can you fight
at your best when you don’t even sleep?”

Instead of answering her, he said, “You were
talking about me?”

Shit. Busted. She flushed, unable to disguise
the reaction. “No, not really.” Well, she kind of talked about him with the
girls but otherwise her thoughts were purely that—thoughts.

“Not really isn’t a no. What did you say about
me, Arabella?” That accented voice wasn’t as pronounced as it’d been when he
was younger and only a few years gone from his homeland. The years had dulled
his accent making his tones more American sounding. It still gave his sexy
voice a sensually pleasing tone that could make a woman shiver in arousal…or
fear.

She still hadn’t gauged his mood. This was one
she hadn’t seen before. Suddenly from behind him the door opened and a woman
came out. She wore a short, pretty dress that made her look both classy and
sexy at the same time. Her face was piece of art meant to be photographed and
shared. Her cheeks were flushed and a mane of lush black hair cascaded wildly
down her back all the way to her butt. Who on earth could grow out such long
hair? Not cool.

The raven-haired beauty smiled up at Grayson
and added a wink for good measure. “Later, lover!” Only a quick, uninterested
glance was spared for Ara, then she waltzed out the front door. In order to not
burst out with the question screaming in her head, Arabella pinched her lips
together. She must look like an older woman trying to keep her dentures from
falling out. The thought nearly sent her into historical gales of laughter. She
managed to keep her cool though—barely.

Grayson watched her closely while she pretended
to stare at a painting. Too bad the painting couldn’t keep her attention. She
couldn’t make out any of the details as she was busily thinking of what Grayson
had been doing with that woman. Is that why he was acting almost,
nice
,
to her? Had he gotten a little something, something from that woman? The hussy.

She didn’t do anything you wouldn’t do.
She fake-gasped
inwardly at herself, even if she knew it was true.

“Is something on your mind?” Grayson asked. A
ghost of a smile flirted with his lips. He cocked his head like an attentive
listener. She had a feeling he was toying with her.

“Nope.” Her lips pinched together with renewed
vigor.

“Do you wish to know who she is?” he asked,
taking her by surprise, again. His eyes were beginning to glow with a teasing
light. Or were her own eyes just deceiving her?

Her eyes nearly bugged out that he’d even asked
but her response was a solitary, “Nope.” Of course she was dying to know, but
she wasn’t a snoop and whatever happened between Grayson and The Hussy wasn’t
her business.

“Come with me. I was just going to meet my
brothers. We’re planning the attack.”

“The attack?” That sounded awful, like they
were going to war. “I can’t shift or fight just in case you forgot.”

He started walking toward the back of the
house, winding in and out of hallways and she followed after him. “I haven’t
forgotten.”

He led her into a room she hadn’t been in
before. This one looked like a high-tech war room complete with computers,
maps, a round table taking up the majority of the room, and the Blackmoore men.

Dominic was drinking a glass of blood while
leaning back against the bar. Vas lounged on one of the sofas like he was
melting into it. He pulled out his phone and Lucas, the youngest Blackmoore son
and legendary rock star among humans, vampires, and Weres alike, laughed at
him. “Who’re you talking to, a new girlfriend?”

Vas sent him a scathing look. Jagged scars were
etched into the side of his face. Rumors ran abundant about how they came to
be. Many said it had something to do with a woman. Supposedly, ever since the ‘accident’,
he hadn’t touched a woman. Too bad, because he was as devastatingly handsome as
the rest of the Blackmoore family with his golden skin, raven-black hair and
golden brown eyes.

Dom scowled, still looking in a foul mood from
Felicity’s accident. “He can’t seem to keep off that stupid phone lately.
Always texting someone.”

“It’s that girl he’s talking to,” Lucas said,
grinning. He was flopped out on the sofa like he owned the thing. Grayson, and
probably everyone else in the room, didn’t miss the spider-web red eyes he had,
or the paleness to his skin. His brother had his own problems going on and he
needed to take care of them.

“Fuck off,” Vas growled and shoved the phone
into his pocket.

Lucas shrugged then his gaze settled right on
Arabella. The smile he turned on her was pure masculine perfection. It said
come
here, little girl, so I can take a bite out of ya.
She had to suppress a
shiver at that wicked glance.