Embrace the Night (10 page)

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Authors: Crystal Jordan

BOOK: Embrace the Night
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She met his gaze, dared him to look away. “You may not, but you can bet your ass Luca would use it as a way to draw them out of hiding. That agent is ruthless under all the charm.”
A muscle twitched in his jaw, but he said nothing to contradict her. Luca might be his colleague, but he obviously understood the cold-blooded core in the vampire. Chloe would rather not be his sacrificial lamb.
Alex interjected for the first time. His gaze was fixed on something out the window. “There are other ways they could get the information, even without you, Chloe.”
“Well, yeah, they'd have to perform those kinds of spells on me when I'm at work or find a way to hack . . .” A horrible, ugly suspicion ripped through her mind. She focused on Alex, on the closed, composed features of his young face. “Alexei Mohinder Nemov, I think you have a lot of explaining to do.”
His gaze didn't flicker; his voice was steady. “What should I explain, Chloe?”
“Tell me why they wanted to kidnap you.” She sat up straight in bed, folding her arms, and arching an eyebrow. “Suddenly, I don't buy that they want to use you as bait for your father. You
know
something.”
His lips twitched for just an instant. “How could I know anything?”
“How could you—” She cut herself off, unwilling to dance around the main question. “Damn it, Alex, did you hack into my files?”
He didn't blink, didn't show even a glimmer of remorse. “Yes.”
“Fuck.”
“This Smith guy would have to be really good to figure out it was me that accessed those files.” His head cocked, eyebrows drawn together in consideration. “If he knows, it's a good bet Desmodus knows now, too. There goes my internship.”
Like that was the most relevant conclusion he could have come to. Chloe let her head drop back. “Fuck.”
Merek watched the conversation flying back and forth like a tennis match. “There had to be a lot of files. He probably doesn't remem—”
“He's a computer genius, Merek. He also has a photographic memory.” She raised her head and rubbed a hand over her brow. “He remembers everything he saw in my files, so even if he has no idea what it means, he can sure as hell recreate the data for someone who does.”
Or be forced to recreate it, though she didn't say that out loud and neither did he. Everything had just gotten a hell of a lot more complicated.
“Fuck.”
She let her hand flop down. “You said it.”
He opened his mouth to speak again, but the door swung wide, and Luca and Tess walked in the room, followed by an agent who'd been at Chloe's house the night before. Warlock, she'd guess. He didn't have the points to his ears that elves did, the odd energy that Fae did, or the animalistic edge that vamps and wolves had. The man nodded politely. “Ma'am. I'm Special Agent Jack Laramie.”
“Chloe Standish. Don't call me ma'am.” She stared at him harder, and he grinned back. He didn't have a hum of magic at all. Either he was the best she'd ever come across at hiding it or Luca had a Normal on his team.
“I come bearing gifts.” Tess carried four paper cups tucked into a cardboard holder.
“Coffee.” A moan that could only be described as orgasmic rolled from Chloe's throat. The scent of dark roast didn't quite mask the smell of Tess's lavender perfume as she stepped forward to set the tray on the bedside table with a flourish.
Tess grinned at Chloe's eagerly wiggling fingers, a demand for her cup. Being a smart woman and a good friend, Tess handed over the goods. “I know exactly what you mean. I need an IV drip to make up for the caffeine intake I
haven't
had today.”
Nothing came between that woman and her coffee. She was worse than Chloe about it. The piping hot cup of java burned all the way down, and Chloe didn't care. She moaned again without a single shred of shame.
Merek and Alex accepted cups from Tess, and when Chloe met the detective's gray gaze, it glinted with carnal amusement. She flushed, remembering she'd moaned for him with the same amount of abandon. Then she also remembered how he'd shut her down the night before, and she blushed harder. Gods, she'd been a mess and probably looked like death warmed over and she'd
thrown herself at him.
She appreciated that he hadn't taken advantage of an injured woman, which said good things about his character, but in hindsight, she felt like an idiot. Poor man. What must he think of her? She sipped more of her coffee and refused to consider it.
That she was even worried about his opinion of her was telling, and she hated having to acknowledge that. It meant he mattered, and that scared her to death. She had enough problems right now, starting with terrorists and ending with a teenage hacker. Adding a man who
mattered
to her list was just foolish, especially when she was probably going to get towed off into protective custody for the gods knew how long.
She sighed, closed her eyes, and shook her head at her own stupidity. All those years of schooling should have knocked the dumb out of her, but apparently not.
When she opened her eyes again, all the males were gathered in one corner drinking coffee and talking. She wasn't sure she wanted to know what they might have to discuss with Alex, but she knew she'd find out soon enough. Tess was standing there staring at them with the strangest faraway expression on her face. She was also blushing, not something the straightforward pathologist had ever done in Chloe's presence.
“Tess?”
Tess blinked and turned to meet her gaze. The blush deepened, and an embarrassed grin creased her lips, as if she'd been caught doing something naughty.
Covering an inappropriate whoop with a cough, Chloe grinned as the pieces fell into place. “Someone's getting laid. Finally.”
The flush went straight to fluorescent red. “Shut up,” Tess hissed. Her gaze flicked to the men again, and Chloe's eyebrows arched so high she wouldn't have been surprised if they met her hairline.
“So . . . which agent is it?”
Tess closed her eyes, swallowing a low moan. “Jesus.”
“Well, there are only three adult options standing over there, and unless he's perfected time travel, I know Merek didn't have time to be with anyone last night but me.” Actually, time travel was a magical impossibility, so unless he was pulling out some scientific technology she'd never heard of, her assumption was pretty safe. She checked the men again to make sure none of them were listening. They seemed intent on their own conversation. “So . . . which one?”
“Luca.” Tess sighed, and the sound was more infatuated pleasure than resignation. “He calls me
‘mia diletta.'
It means ‘my delectable' in Italian. Or is it ‘my delight'? I don't remember. Hell, I usually hate pet names. I've gone insane.”
Yeah, and the fact that vampires fed during sex made the
delectable
pet name even funnier to anyone who knew the truth about Luca. Chloe wasn't laughing though. Cavalli was from a family that ruled the Vampire Conclave. His father sat on the All-Magickal Council with Aunt Millie. Likely he was playing with a human for a little variety in his sex life. Slumming with the Normal. Chloe wouldn't usually judge anyone on his or her love life, but the fact that the Normal in question was her best friend pissed her off. She didn't like that Tess might be a means of entertainment for a vampire, something to toy with and discard when it became boring. While Luca might be casual about burning up the sheets, Chloe
knew
Tess wasn't. Tess might not be head over heels for Luca, but she wouldn't sleep with a guy because he was handy and she was horny.
That was Chloe's forte. And it had landed her in hot water this time. She bit off a groan and focused on Tess again. This wasn't about Merek; this was about Luca. Chloe thought it might be a good idea to have a little chat with the vampire. Armed law enforcement officer or not, he wasn't going to mess with her best friend and not get a clear understanding of the consequences for breaking her heart, Normal or not.
Vampires, oy.
Maybe he had a familiar she could hex into a lampshade.
Voices rose from the men's corner, which drew Tess's and her attention to their conversation. For the first time, Luca's face wasn't a mask of amiable urbanity. His mouth was tight with irritation, his hard gaze locked on Alex. “That is a foolish decision, boy. You cannot—”
The teen wolf folded his arms, his voice unruffled as he swept the men with a look. “Gentlemen, I'm not interested in protective custody. I don't believe you can force me into it.”
Agent Laramie arched an eyebrow. “With your father missing and your mother dead, you—”
Alex interrupted once more, his tone unchanged. “My parents designated Chloe as my godmother and custodian if anything happened to them before I turned eighteen. I've seen their will; I have copies of it. If Chloe wants me here, I'm not going anywhere.”
“Chloe wants you here.” She extended her hand, and the wolf came to take it. They presented a solid front against the agents. “I don't know what you're trying to pull here, gentlemen. Alex is neither a suspect nor bait to lure out his father, or whoever has his father.” If Ivan was even alive. “Alex isn't going anywhere without me. He's staying where I can be certain he's safe, where I can
see
that he's safe.”
The frustration on the men's faces would have been comical under any other circumstances, but she didn't feel very amused by any of this. She'd fight dirty to keep Alex if she had to. Even if she hadn't adored the boy, she owed that much to his mother's memory. She favored the men with the kind of look Aunt Millie had perfected a century ago. It meant anyone who disagreed could just get the hell out of her way.
“Alex is my responsibility. I'm his
godmother.
I took
unbreakable vows
when he was born.” Unbreakable
magical
vows, at that. How many times did she have to say this before it got through? She spoke slowly and clearly, as if they had some kind of impairment. “I am his guardian. Anywhere he goes, I go, and vice versa. This is not negotiable.”
“Those men were chasing him for a reason. He has something, knows something, or is somehow of value to Leonard Smith. As are you. Together you're far too tempting a target for them.” Luca ground the words out between his teeth. “The kid has a death warrant out on his life.”
“If you're asking if I'm willing to die for him, then the answer is yes.” Her fingers fisted in the blankets. “That's the end of the discussion.”
“Not quite.” A tiny whirlwind in a vintage Chanel suit swept into the room, the door whipping open so quickly, it was obvious to anyone with magical powers that she'd breached some sort of warding spell to get in.
The first real, wide smile of the day stretched Chloe's lips. “Aunt Millie!”
A short, broad middle-aged man in a nondescript black suit stepped in after Millie, closed the door behind them, and stood in front of it at soldierly attention. Millie's driver-cum-bodyguard, Philip Bakke. Chloe thought he might also be her aunt's lover, half her age or not, but had never had the nerve to pry into Millie's private life. Her aunt shared or she didn't.
“How did you know I was here?” And if her aunt had known she was in the hospital, why had it taken her so long to show up?
“I called her.” The sentence echoed in three different voices—Alex's, Tess's, and Merek's.
Luca growled a low curse, and he met Merek's gaze, raised an eyebrow, but neither man spoke. Then again, what could either of them say? They'd both stepped outside the lines of professionalism recently. Merek wasn't involved in her case anymore, but banging her in his office had hardly been good conduct. Ditto Luca's banging of Tess the night before. Her connection to Chloe made her a connection to a case he was actively working on. That didn't leave either man much room to point fingers. Nothing they'd done was strictly unethical, but neither were they squeaky clean. Chloe had a feeling that was a rare occurrence for both of them. She wasn't sure whether to be impressed or not that she and Tess had apparently tempted them beyond reason.
In Merek's case, she was just glad, since she was just as tempted, if not more so. She was definitely more tempted than she wanted to be.
Millie's lips quirked in a grin. “My telephone was busy today.” She offered a stately nod to Tess. “If you wouldn't mind, dear. Philip can drive you anywhere you need to go.”
Tess looked as if she wanted to protest, but a pointed look from Millie was all it took to keep her silent. She turned to Chloe and hugged her tight. “Take care. Of you and Alex, you hear me? Call me if you need
anything.
”
Tears stung Chloe's eyes, but she squeezed her best friend, praying this wasn't the last time she saw the redhead. “You know I will. To all of that. I love you, honey.”

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