Blood Judgment (Judgment Series) (27 page)

“Where are my clothes?”

“I threw them away. They were ruined. Ashton will bring you something to wear.”

Vali nodded and Jason left him alone.

What in God’s name was he going to do? He wasn’t going to leech off Saranna forever. And now even turning tricks wasn’t an option.

Why hadn’t they left him to die at the Security Center? If he couldn’t walk, he didn’t want to live. He had nothing to live for.

JULIAN KISSED Saranna and ran his hands over her back. He wanted her, but it would have to wait. Vali would be home at any time and she would have to leave for work.

His hands slipped down her back and fastened on her bottom as he kissed her again. God, he needed to get inside her. He had a near constant urge to mate. Driven by instinct, he needed to mark her internally as well as leaving visible marks on her body. His lips traveled to the bites on her throat and he sucked lightly on them, reasserting his claim.

Heavy thumps on the door announced company. Ashton. Julian released Saranna and she went to the door.

“Vali,” she said, welcoming him in.

Vali clumsily hobbled in on crutches with Ashton right behind him.

“Vali, welcome home.” Julian hoped his shock didn’t show. Vali’s silver-blue eyes were flat, dead. The laughter and mischief that had danced in them was gone. Julian had stopped at the clinic several times to visit and he’d assumed the pain meds were giving Vali the I-don’t-give-a-fuck-about-anything look, but now he wasn’t so sure.

“Good to be home and away from that hack.”

“Jason saved your life,” Ashton said.

“Yeah, isn’t it wonderful? I can live hundreds of years like this.” He maneuvered to the sofa and lowered himself onto the worn cushion.

Saranna sat beside him. “You’re alive and you’ll recover eventually.”

“I’m a friggin’ cripple. I can’t help fight our enemies. I can’t even sell my… I can’t do anything except mooch off my family. How do you think that makes me feel?”

Julian’s mouth dropped open. He snapped it shut.

“You aren’t a mooch. Don’t you think that,” Saranna said.

“I’m
nothing
but a mooch.” He buried his face in his hands. “Why didn’t you leave me in that place? Why did you save me to live like
this
?”

“Vali?” Saranna touched his arm.

He shook her off. “Please, leave me alone. None of you can help me. I need to be alone.”

“I’ll call later.” Ashton headed for the door. “Take care, all. Julian, I’ll be in touch.”

“Okay, man.”

Ashton let himself out.

Vali looked at Julian’s right arm. “Sucks being marked, doesn’t it? I didn’t realize how awful it was… Until it happened to me.”

Julian shrugged and rubbed his arm as if the scorched skin still hurt. He’d learned to keep his canines hidden when he spoke, but he couldn’t always hide the brands which condemned him in human eyes. “I don’t care what they think of me.” A flat out lie.

Saranna patted Vali’s arm. “I have to go to work, but we can talk when I get home. Please don’t think you’re a burden. You aren’t.”

Vali nodded, but his eyes reflected disbelief.

“I have to go out, too,” Julian said. “We’ll talk when you’ve rested and feel a little better.”

“Sure, whatever,” Vali said.

JULIAN CLUTCHED the scrap of paper with his father’s address. The building was close, no more than a thirty minute walk. He turned left at the street corner and headed for his father’s apartment.

By the time he stood in front of the exclusive high-rise, his stomach had twisted into sick knots. What if his father didn’t want to see him? Hand clenched around the piece of paper, he took a deep breath to steady himself. Heart thudding, he slid inside the building and zeroed in on the elevator.

Moments later, the car stopped at the seventh floor. On shaking legs he headed for his father’s apartment. He knocked twice.

Inside, someone cursed and moved toward the door.

Julian’s stomach tightened.

The chain rattled back and the door jerked open. He looked into eyes exactly like his.

“What do you want?” a larger version of him asked.

“May I… May I come in?” He swallowed hard. Christopher Wilkes was almost an exact copy of Julian, but no spark of recognition showed in his cold blue-green eyes.

“Make it fast. I don’t have time for bullshit.”

Julian stepped inside the lavishly furnished apartment. The scent of his anxiety rose thick and choking. His father surely smelled it too. And this
was
his father.

“Spit it out, whatever you’ve come here about.”

“I’ve been looking for you.”

“Why?”

Shit. He had to be kidding. “You’re my father,” he blurted.

Christopher laughed.

Julian cringed inside.

“I have no offspring.” Christopher’s lip curled in a sneer.

Dumbstruck, Julian stared into his own features. Of all the possible reactions, he hadn’t counted on his father denying his existence. “My mother was Cynthia Wilkes. Your wife.”

Icy hostility flashed in his father’s eyes. “Vampires have mates, not wives.”

“She was your mate.” His father was not going to brush him aside. “I’m your son. Look at me! I look just like you.” His insides morphed into a cold lump.

“You have blue eyes and blond hair like countless young males around here. It means nothing.”

Desperate to make his father see the obvious, Julian grabbed his arm.

Christopher snarled and backhanded Julian in the face. The blow sent him sprawling on the floor. Dazed, he tried to right himself. Holy fuck, his father was incredibly strong.

“Do not put your hand on an older vampire. Ever.”

Julian scrambled to his feet.

“Don’t you know how to behave?” Christopher’s face twisted into something ugly.

No. No, he didn’t because his father hadn’t been there to teach him. “Why do you deny me?”

“Because I’m not your father. And you should be glad because I wouldn’t tolerate your ill manners and inappropriate behavior.”

“I was raised human. I don’t know the rules of vampire society. I don’t know what’s expected of me or how to act.” This wasn’t happening. Couldn’t be. This was his father, for God’s sake. Julian’s chest tightened painfully.

Christopher’s eyes narrowed. “You’re nothing to me. Now get the fuck out of my apartment and don’t come back because, if you do, I’ll give you the lesson in manners you’re in dire need of.”

“Why can’t you at least admit it? What did I do to make you deny me?”

Christopher’s lip curled off his teeth and he hissed. His blue-green eyes deepened in color.

Julian took a step back and the little hairs on his arms lifted. He smelled hatred on his father.

“What have I done to make you hate me?” His heart physically hurt.

“Get out. You are not welcome here.”

“You’re my father, whether you want to be or not.” He stumbled to the door and exited with all the dignity he could pull together.

In shocked bewilderment, he took the stairwell, nearly falling in his haste to get out of the building. How was it possible for rejection from someone he’d never known to hurt so bad?

Of all the scenarios he’d imagined, none had ended like that. He wasn’t telling Saranna or anyone else. What was more humiliating, more demeaning, than your own father denying your existence? He reached in his jacket pocket and his hand closed on the little knife he always carried. It wasn’t a weapon, it was a carving tool.

Instead of going home, he wandered the streets in search of someplace to hole up for a little bit. He had his own downer to deal with. He didn’t need Vali’s dose of pitiful on top of it. Besides, he needed to make himself feel better. His hand squeezed the knife.

CHRISTOPHER COULDN’T believe the son of a bitch had found him and had the balls to come to his apartment.

That he’d denied siring Julian didn’t matter. The hurt and disbelief he’d read in the bright blue-green eyes, the color that ran in his bloodline, made it clear Julian knew better.

Julian would be back. His son had inherited more than his looks. Now Julian knew the truth and wouldn’t accept lies.

Christopher ran a hand through his hair. He would have to deal with Julian soon. He didn’t need a young male slinking around his home. Left to his own devices, Julian would draw attention. And he sure as hell wasn’t letting Julian cause trouble for him.

At his age, he had the skills and tricks to hide in plain sight. The humans he passed never noticed the tips of his fangs unless he allowed it. His neighbors had no idea he was anything other than like them. And that’s the way it had to stay. No one except the bastards at the Security Center knew what he was. And they wouldn’t know either except he liked being a Wolf Guard. Hunting his own kind was more challenging than hunting humans.

But he kept his two personas separate.

He liked his condo and his snooty neighbors, they didn’t meddle in his affairs and he didn’t mess with them—other than a little harmless illusion, or glamouring as humans referred to it. His investments were solid, his wealth sufficient to sustain him for however long he lived. They saw him as a successful business executive who had no time or interest in socializing. He liked his dual life.

And he wasn’t letting Julian fuck with his standard of living. The little fool. Just like a stupid youngster to stir up a rat’s nest of trouble for himself. He should have killed Julian years ago and been done with it.

Chapter Twenty-five

MUTED MALE voices and tromping feet announced company before the knock on the door.

Saranna’s stomach dropped.

Shit
! Slade and Ashton had come by unannounced. She glanced at the closed bedroom door. Maybe Julian wouldn’t wake up for a while. After he’d walked her home the night before, he’d retreated to the bedroom.

He’d been agitated and, to her dismay, he’d sliced his arms to ribbons. He’d refused to tell her what was wrong, wanting instead to mate. Repeatedly. The scent of sex still permeated the small apartment. She breathed it in with alarm. She should have lit some incense and masked the odor.

“Come on, Saranna. Open up,” Slade called through the door.

Shit
. “Just a sec.”

Vali stirred on the sofa and opened his eyes. “What’s goin’ on?”

“The boys are here.”

Vali pushed himself up on the pillow and sniffed. Alarm spread over his face. She wasn’t the only one who thought things were about to go butthole ugly.

“Might as well face the music,” Vali said. “He’s going to find out sooner or later.”

Scowling, she went to the door and flipped the locks.

Slade opened the door and barreled over her. Ashton shook his head and followed.

Slade stopped and dragged in a deep breath. The color evaporated from his face. Thin-lipped, he asked, “Where’s Julian?”

No getting around it. The shit wasn’t just going to hit the fan, it was going to cover it. “The bedroom.”

“Huh?”

“The bedroom. Mine … and his bedroom.”

An expression like desire to commit murder settled on his face. “You’re screwing him?”

Oh God, why did he think he owned her? “It’s none of your business.”

“The hell it isn’t. You’re my little sister.”

“That’s right. Your
sister
. Not your property.”

Disgust contorted Slade’s face. “I should have known by the way he chewed up your neck. Those are claim bites. He’s been fucking the shit out of you.”

“Don’t look at me like that.”

“I can’t believe this. He isn’t good enough for you.”

Her stomach tightened into a sick knot. He was bigger, heavier than Julian. Stronger. A more experienced fighter. Deadly. “He’s everything I want.” She loved him. Didn’t she? Terror crawled through her. If Slade killed Julian… And he was bad assed enough to do it.

“You’ve set your sights low, little sister.”

“Don’t you say that! It isn’t true.” He was older than Julian. Knew how to use weapons. And he had blood on his hands already. She was sure of it.

Ashton strode across the room and stood next to Saranna. “Leave it be. They’re old enough to take responsibility for what they’re doing.”

“But—”

“But nothing. They’re feeding partners. Are you surprised he’s claimed her? And she’s right. It’s none of your business.”

“I don’t want them mating. And I’ll not have it.”

“I think you may not have much to say about it,” Ashton said with a grim set of his mouth.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“She’s bonded with him.”

Saranna’s hand shot to her neck.

JULIAN YANKED open the bedroom door and stalked out in a pair of jeans and nothing else. “What the hell’s the problem, Slade? You got a supersize stick up your ass?”

Julian met Slade head on, their noses almost touching.

“Leave Julian alone,” Saranna said, the pitch of her voice going sharp.

“Stay out of it,” Julian said. “I can take care of myself.” The fear in her voice set his teeth on edge. Didn’t she think he was able to defend himself? His skill set wasn’t limited to violin and screwing.

“Keep your damn hands off my sister.”

“She’s mine. I claimed her,” Julian snarled. “So I suggest you grow up and mind your own business.”

“She deserves better than your half-breed ass.”

Slade’s words cut deep. Julian
was
inferior to a purebred vampire. And all the denials in the world wouldn’t change the blood in his veins.

As if sensing a moment of vulnerability, Slade pressed on. “I don’t want you siring some mongrel bastard, then running off and sticking her with raising your offspring.

“I can’t—”

“Yeah, yeah, you can’t get her pregnant. I should cut your balls out and make sure of it. Then you wouldn’t be so interested in riding her like she’s a bitch in heat.”

Julian could take insults about himself, but he’d be damned if he’d allow anyone to talk shit about Saranna. “You shut your fucking mouth about her or I’ll shut it for you.”

Slade growled.