Born to Bite
Authors: Lynsay Sands
Lynsay Sands
Born to Bite
An Argeneau Novel
Contents
“You’re late.” Lucian’s growled greeting made Armand Argeneau grimace as…
A curse from the doorway made Eshe glance that way…
The rather loud roar of a vacuum cleaner outside her…
“So what are we going to do?”
Armand watched Eshe go with a frown, unsure whether he…
Armand frowned briefly and then glanced to the side and…
Harsh afternoon sunlight was peeking around the edges of the…
Armand put away the steaks he’d bought at the market…
Eshe stretched in bed and reached instinctively for Armand. It…
Armand woke to Eshe cuddled warm against him again, and…
The sound of the door opening stirred Armand from sleep.
“I want to be paired with Eshe,” Armand announced the…
“Armand’s on his way back,” Eshe told Cedrick as she…
Eshe stretched sleepily and turned on her side, freezing when…
“I’m thinking Agnes and John won’t be expecting Anders and…
“So did you learn anything from Agnes?”
Eshe raised an eyebrow in question when Armand left the…
It was full dark by the time Eshe reached the…
“Isn’t that mutt finished yet?” Lucian asked with disgust. “Everyone…
“You’re late.” Lucian’s growled greeting made
Armand Argeneau grimace as he slid onto the bench seat opposite him in the diner’s only occupied booth. A “Hello, how are you?” would have been nice, but it also wasn’t something he’d expect from the older immortal. Lucian wasn’t known for being warm and fuzzy.
“I had some things to do at the farm before I could leave,” Armand said calmly, glancing over the man’s roast beef dinner with disinterest before gazing around the quiet diner. It was after nine, almost closing time, and they were the only customers. He didn’t even see a waitress in evidence and supposed she was in the back helping with cleanup.
“Yes, of course,” Lucian murmured, setting down his fork to pick up a warm, crusty dinner roll dripping with butter. “We can’t expect that wheat of yours to grow all by itself, can we?”
Armand scowled irritably as he watched him bite into the roll with relish. “A little respect for a farmer who grows the food you’re eating wouldn’t go amiss…especially since you appear to be enjoying it so much.”
“I am,” Lucian acknowledged with a grin, and then arched an eyebrow. “Jealous?”
Armand merely shook his head and turned his gaze out the window, but he
was
jealous. Lucian’s eating was a result of finding his life mate. It had reawakened old appetites both of them had lost long ago. There wasn’t an unmated immortal alive who wouldn’t envy that, including him.
“So?” He glanced back to Lucian to see he’d set aside the bun and was now chasing peas around his plate, stabbing at the little green succulents with his fork. “What was so important that you had to drive down here to see me? And why the hell did you insist on my coming out to the diner? The farm is only another five-minute drive. You could have come there.”
Lucian gave up stabbing the peas and instead scraped them across the plate into the mashed potatoes. He then scooped up a forkful of the combination before saying, “I had a favor to ask you and didn’t want anyone at the house to overhear.”
“There’s no one at the house,” Armand murmured, watching with fascination as Lucian popped the forkful of food into his mouth and began to chew. Judging by his expression and murmur of pleasure, he really seemed to be enjoying the food, which was kind of depressing since the smell wasn’t even tempting Armand, and really the food looked like slop to him; brown meat, white potatoes with a brown sauce, and ugly green peas. Not very appetizing at all. Grimacing to himself, Armand asked as Lucian swallowed, “So what’s this favor?”
Lucian hesitated and then raised his eyebrows. “Not going to ask me how Thomas and his new life mate are doing?”
Armand felt his mouth tighten at the mention of his son and his new wife, but couldn’t resist asking, “How are they?”
“Very well. They’re in Canada at the moment, visiting,” Lucian answered, and then turned his attention back to his food as he asked, “You haven’t met her yet, have you?”
“No,” Armand muttered, watching him stab some salad and eat it.
Lucian chewed and swallowed and then asked with mild curiosity, “Did you ever get to meet Nicholas’s Annie?”
Armand hesitated, but then simply said, “No. Now what’s this favor?”
Lucian peered at him for a moment, but then turned his attention to cutting into his beef and announced, “I need a safe house for one of my enforcers for a couple of weeks.”
“And you were thinking I could supply that?” Armand asked with surprise.
Lucian shrugged as he chewed and swallowed and then said, “You’re surprised? I don’t know why. You live way the hell out here in the backwoods. No one but myself and Thomas know where the farm is, and this is a rinky-dink little town where no one’s likely to see her.”
“Her?” Armand asked curiously.
“Eshe d’Aureus,” he said, cutting off another piece of beef. “Castor’s daughter.”
“Castor d’Aureus,” Armand murmured with respect. He’d never gotten the chance to meet the man, but he certainly knew the name. Castor was a hero to their people. Way back in the early days when the immortals had joined the rest of the world, one of their number, a no-fanger named Leonius Livius, had caused trouble for both the mortals and immortals alike. So much trouble, in fact, it had forced the other immortals to form a council and hunt down him and his progeny. It was Lucian and Castor who had slain the monster that Leonius Livius had become. In the middle of the battlefield while rogue no-fangers and the Council’s fanged army had fought all around them, Lucian had pinned the man to the ground with his spear, and Castor had severed his head from his body. Both of them had been considered heroes for that, but Lucian was his brother, someone he knew on a day-to-day basis, while Castor was unknown and more of a mythic hero in his mind.
“He wasn’t a hero,” Lucian said quietly. “He was just a good man and a fine soldier. He was also my friend, and before he died he asked me to look out for Eshe and the others of his family should anything happen to him. Well, as you know, he died, and I’ve tried to look out for Eshe and it’s what I’m trying to do now by getting her out of harm’s way until we get this matter resolved. I’m thinking that will take about two weeks.”
“What is the matter you have to resolve?” Armand asked.
Lucian sighed and set his fork and knife aside, his appetite apparently affected by thoughts of the matter. His voice was grim when he admitted, “Apparently we didn’t get all the sons when we took out Leonius. At least one survived. He calls himself Leonius Livius the Second.”
“You mean there’s been one of his spawn running around all these centuries?” Armand asked with amazement. It was hard to imagine he’d gone without notice. If he was anything like his father, his atrocities should not have gone unnoticed all this time.
“He’s been alive and flourished,” Lucian assured him dryly. “The man has at least twenty sons that we know of. Or had,” he added with satisfaction. “We’ve weeded some out. Apparently he’s smarter than his father, though. That, or he has someone who has managed to keep him on a tight rein. He hasn’t gone in for wholesale slaughter like his father enjoyed, or started any breeding camps. He’s kept the numbers he attacks to one or two women at a time and the occasional unfortunate family. He only came into notice earlier this summer. He kidnapped two women from a grocery store parking lot up north. My men got one of the females away and killed three or four of his sons, but then had to hunt down the other female and the man who had taken her. Eshe was in on the search and was apparently spotted and recognized. Now my sources say he’s targeted her for revenge for his father’s death.”
Armand nodded solemnly. “Has he targeted your Leigh too or anyone else in the family for your part in his father’s death?”
“I don’t think he knows about Leigh. In any case that doesn’t matter, I can keep her safe. But Eshe is another matter. She’s one of my enforcers and as stubborn and proud as her father ever was. She was ready to walk down the main street in Toronto nude to get his attention and have her chance at him when she heard he was looking for her.”
“So she’s like a female you, huh?” Armand asked with amusement.
“Ha ha,” Lucian said dryly.
Armand chuckled at his sour expression. “If she’s as bad as all that, how do you plan to convince her to hide out on my farm in the country until you catch this guy?”
“Yeah…well…that was a problem,” Lucian muttered, picking up his knife and fork again. His expression was surly as he admitted, “She delights in flouting my orders as a rule. The best way to get her to do anything is to have me tell her to do the opposite. If she weren’t Castor’s daughter…” Lucian glowered briefly, but then sighed and shook his head. “Fortunately, even she wouldn’t dare disobey a direct order from the Council.”
“I see,” Armand drawled slowly, his eyes narrowing suspiciously on his brother. “And she’s agreed to stay on my farm twiddling her thumbs for several weeks?”
“I said two weeks,” he pointed out, avoiding his gaze. “And as I said, even she wouldn’t disobey a direct order from the Council.”
“So she isn’t going to be happy,” Armand surmised dryly.
Lucian shrugged. “She’s too polite to take it out on you…probably,” he added with a grin, then suggested, “Just keep her busy. Take her on picnics and hayrides, or whatever you hayseeds do.”
“Hayseeds?” Armand echoed with disgust.
Lucian rolled his eyes. “Just keep her distracted and I’ll call the minute it’s safe for her to return to Toronto and work.” He started to lift a bite of beef to his lips.
The fork was almost at his lips when he suddenly glanced past Armand and froze. His eyes widened, a curse slipped from his lips, and then he almost whispered, “I’m going to kill her.”
“Who?” Armand asked with confusion, and then turned to glance in the direction that Lucian’s gaze now seemed fixated. He was staring past him at the dark road outside. Armand peered at the long stretch of dark highway for a minute, slow to recognize the fiery vision approaching for what it was, a motorcycle with red, yellow, and orange LED lights around the tires and across the body that made it look like the bike was roaring up the road aflame. It was one hell of a magnificent sight.
“Eshe,” Lucian snapped, finally answering his question. “That’s her.”
The motorcycle roared into the diner parking lot, spitting up gravel, and then eased to a halt beside Armand’s pickup. He had a moment to get a closer view of the array of lights on the machine before the engine fell silent and the rider disembarked. The woman was tall, at least six feet, and she appeared to be all lean muscle in the black leather she wore. She also moved with the predatory grace of a panther.
“She looks like she was born to ride,” Armand murmured, his eyes devouring her.
“More like born to bite,” Lucian muttered.
Armand glanced curiously to his brother. “Why so annoyed?”
Lucian’s mouth twisted with irritation, but he admitted, “I told her to make herself less conspicuous.”
“Ah,” Armand murmured, biting his lip to keep from grinning. It was the rare person, immortal or otherwise, who went against Lucian’s orders, and he couldn’t help but be amused that Eshe d’Aureus was apparently one of them. This was far away from being inconspicuous. There were probably eyes peering out the windows of every house she was passing and fingers excitedly punching in numbers on phones as word spread about the super-cool motorcycle that just rode past their place. It would be the main topic of conversation tomorrow in the diner as those who had seen it described it to those who hadn’t. Not much went on in this small community.