Night Huntress 02.5 - Happily Never After (10 page)

That
did
make
Isa
uneasy.
"Um, the permanent way?"

Chance smiled faintly. "No.
The mind-altering way.
After I was done with the
Saluccis
, I went back to your restaurant and pulled aside the lead detective there. He now believes he's spoken to you and that you didn't see who fired the shots. I can't imagine Robert would say anything to contradict that, whenever he surfaces again."

"So Robert wasn't hit earlier? He's okay?"

"For now."

There was that coldness to Chance's voice again.
Isa
shivered. The man—no, the
vampire
—kneeling just a foot away from her had admittedly killed two people today, and from his tone, he wanted to up that number.

"Robert struck you," Chance said, as if reading her thoughts. "You think I'd let him live after that?"

"Robert's done much worse to a lot more people,"
Isa
countered. "If you're going to kill him, kill him for them, not for me."

Chance shrugged. "Dead is dead, darling. I suspect those other people will care more about the end result than my motivation."

"I care about your motivation,"
Isa
said sharply.

Green began to swirl in Chance's blue-gray eyes. "Do you?"

It seemed like he caressed those two words, as if they had a taste he enjoyed.
Isa
shivered again, but for a different reason this time.

"Why didn't you show up last night?" she asked, mostly because she was worried about Frazier, but also to cut the growing
pull
she felt toward Chance. "Was it because of what Paul did to you? I mean… did it take a while, to, ah, heal?"

Chance must have seen her refusal in her gaze, because he stood up and walked to the other side of the room.

"No, my head healed very quickly. That's how it is for vampires. Why I didn't show up was because Robert confessed he didn't know where Frazier was. He thought I'd stolen him away, that I was someone the
Salucci
brothers hired to make him look incompetent. So I paid them a visit last night. An all-too-kind one, as it turned out, since I should have just killed them once I'd gotten what I needed to know out of them. Nevertheless," Chance waved his hand curtly, "that's been remedied."

He hadn't killed the
Salucci
brothers last night when he could have. She wasn't upset by that, though it had ended up almost costing
Isa
her life. In fact, she was relieved, because it reinforced her grandmother's claim that vampires weren't random killers despite their vicious legend. Chance had killed the
Saluccis
today out of necessity. She didn't need him to tell her how violent a power struggle between two competing crime lords could be. She still had the evidence smeared around the hole in her shirt, in fact. If they were alive, the
Saluccis
would have only become more dangerous. They'd know Robert would retaliate, and anyone caught in the crosshairs would end up as collateral damage.
Like she nearly had.

"Did they know anything about Frazier?"

"I'm sorry, no. They truly believed Robert still had him. In the gangster world, Robert holding your brother hostage to ensure you'd marry him isn't the shameful act of cowardice it should be, but just a strong-minded way to get a woman to behave."

The scorn dripping off Chance's words echoed
Isa's
own anger. All right, now she didn't feel the
slightest
bit bad that they were dead. In fact, she hoped it had hurt.

"This does complicate things, however, since the two most likely sets of suspects in Frazier's disappearance are innocent," Chance went on. "Is there anything about your brother you haven't told me? Anything at all that might shed light on where he could be?"

Isa
got up as well and began to pace. "I have no idea where he is. When he called me a couple weeks ago, he just told me to play along being Robert's fiancée and that he'd contact me again, but he hasn't."

A low sound came from Chance. "You neglected to tell me that."

Isa
swung around, shooting him an accusing glare. "Oh, don't
even
! If you want to talk about withholding information, I'd say you, Mr. Vampire, are far more guilty than I am!"

Chance inclined his head.
"Touché.
However, I intended to tell you about that. Remember when I said yesterday we had to talk? It wasn't to discuss a new dish for your menu, darling."

"Yes, well, I don't think
artery
d'jour
would go over big with the locals, anyway,"
Isa
muttered.

"You might be surprised. There are more of us than you realize. No doubt you've served several vampires in your establishment already."

"You're the only person who's sat there for two hours without eating,"
Isa
replied, rattled by the thought of the undead mingling among her patrons without her knowing it.

"We can eat solid food, and we can drink liquids aside from blood. It just doesn't nourish us, but if we're out with humans and we're trying to blend in…" Chance lifted his shoulder. "When in Rome, as they say."

It still seemed unbelievable to
Isa
that he wasn't human, because he looked so
normal
. Well, aside from being pale, but then most people were this time of year in Philly.

"Does your heart beat?" she found herself asking.

Chance stared at her. "Come and find out."

She walked over to him, her own heart rate accelerating with every step. It sounded so loud to
her,
Isa
knew Chance had to hear it too. Did it make him hungry? Was that why his eyes began to tinge with green whenever she got close to him?

"Do I need to worry about you eating me?" she joked when there was less than a foot between them.

There was a bright flash of emerald in his eyes. "Not the way you're thinking of."

Her hand froze in mid-reach to his chest. Chance caught it, pressing her palm inside his shirt over where his heart was. Cool, hard flesh met hers, but there was no throb of life underneath.
Just stillness.

"You see?" Chance almost whispered. "My heart doesn't beat, I don't breathe,
I
will never age in appearance, father children, catch diseases, or die of natural causes. I am a vampire. Nothing will change that."

Isa's
hand was still on his chest. Chance dropped his hold on her and backed away, letting her fingers slide off until he was out of reach.

"Why are you telling me this?" she asked, equally hushed.

A small, despairing smile curled his mouth. "Because I want you to know everything I am… and accept me regardless. My feelings for you have gone far past mere friendly accord. In fact, these are feelings I haven't had for anyone in a very long time. I want you in my life, Isabella, so I'm telling you what that life consists of. Whether you choose to be a part of it is up to you."

Isa
glanced down, oddly enough, at her hand. She'd felt no revulsion when it had been pressed to Chance's skin. Yes, he was cooler than she was, but how important was temperature, really? Was it enough to risk the first true tug on her heart she'd experienced? Okay, Chance was a vampire, and that was undeniably a large relationship hurdle. But did it mean she shouldn't even try? Was she going to always run from people because of the pain she'd felt when those closest to her, her parents, had been taken away? Wasn't it time she risked getting hurt again, instead of just accepting the numbness of never letting anyone in? If she kept going on like that, then the real dead person in the room was her, not Chance.

Well, not anymore,
Isa
thought, and stepped toward him.

Chapter 10

Chance watched her approach. He didn't move, because he was afraid the slightest unexpected motion from him would stop her. She paused when she was a foot away, reaching out to slide her hand around his neck, and then pulled him down to her.

Chance closed the space between them, wrapping his arms around her and—
at last
—covering her mouth with his. Her lips were soft and she parted them at once, letting his tongue penetrate into the warm sweetness of her mouth.

She tasted like whiskey and honey, so intoxicating, and Chance inhaled through his nose to absorb the waves of desire coming from her. Her heartbeat was a rapid vibration against his chest, the race of blood through her veins like singing, and Chance moaned as he pressed her closer.
I need you,
he thought with a surge of lust so strong, it made his hands itch to tear her clothes from her body.
Give yourself to me
.

Chance didn't dare utter the words aloud, let alone open his eyes to look at
Isa
. This was where the power of vampiric mind control could cross unintended lines. With how aroused Chance was, there was no controlling the light in his gaze that would take
Isa's
decision away from her. He wanted her, yes, so badly—but never enough to steal what should only be given.

Isa's
fingers curled into his hair as her head fell back. Chance followed the motion, letting his lips slide to her neck. Her pulse pounded so strongly against his mouth, it seemed to be begging him to bite it. Chance licked it instead, swirling his tongue around the throbbing apex and hearing
Isa
moan with pleasure.

He wanted to hear her moan again, but louder, and while he was licking a different part of her. The thought of her scent surrounding him while he filled his mouth with her juices made his blood nearly scream to travel elsewhere. Chance let it, directing the flow, feeling himself thicken and harden as it flooded his cock.
Isa
must have felt it too, because she pressed herself there in a long slow rub that almost ripped Chance's control away entirely.

He'd grasped her hips and ground himself against her before he could form another thought.
Isa
let out a strangled noise,
then
her hand was ripping at his shirt while the other one tangled in his hair.

"Chance," she gasped. "I want you."

A blaze of exultation made his words choppy. "Not here. Come."

Chance picked
Isa
up and went swiftly to the guest room, not knowing or caring if Greta would object. Once there, he kicked the door closed and rent
Isa's
shirt from her with one hard tug. Her pants met the same fate, as did his clothes, until at last his bare skin pressed against hers. She blinked at the speed of his actions, but Chance didn't give her an opportunity to be bashful. He dropped to his knees, pulling her underwear down with him, and buried his mouth between her legs.

Her whole body shuddered. She would have fallen, but Chance gripped her thighs and held her as he took long, greedy licks into her wet hot depths. Her nails dug into his shoulders while gasping cries reached him above the pounding of her artery, so deliciously close to his mouth. She tasted salty and sweet, not unlike blood. The deeper Chance penetrated his tongue inside her, the more
Isa
shuddered against his mouth, until her cries became sobs of ecstasy. Chance licked her harder, faster, glorying in the rich scent of her lust and the fiery wetness slicking his mouth.

She ceased clawing at his shoulders to push on them instead.

"Now, Chance,
now
. Fuck me."

Something primal flared in him hearing
Isa
say that word for the first time. In response, he lifted her up and set her on the side of the bed, his tongue still thrashing deep within her.

A groan that ended in a roar came from her. "Damn it, for once, do as I say!" And she yanked at his head hard enough to pull out a clump of hair.

Her mouth flew open in horror as
Isa
stared at the dark strands around her fingers. Chance just laughed, fiercely delighted with her impatience and burning with the need to be inside her. He pushed her back along the bed until they were both stretched out, and then settled his hips between her legs.

His eyes met hers in the instant before he thrust forward. Her mouth was open, breathing in short rapid pants, and her hair was a dark tangle framing her wide cedar eyes. Chance groaned, wanting to tell
Isa
how beautiful she was, or that he'd never forget how she looked at this moment… but a more powerful need took over than the one to talk. He pushed inside her even as she arched up against him—and then he couldn't think anymore. There was nothing aside from the hot sweet embrace of her walls, the indescribable rapture of plunging deeper and faster within her, her sweat clinging to his skin, their scents merging into one… and the twisting spasms of her orgasm that seemed to squeeze his cock with a thousand tiny hands.

Chance knew he should have let himself climax then, too. After all, if he were thinking, he'd remember
Isa
was tired and she'd had a difficult day from being
shot,
for God's sake. But he wasn't thinking. He only knew he didn't want to stop, so he didn't. He held her and kissed her, sucking on her breasts or between her legs to tease her into a fevered state of excitement, before he'd plunge inside her over and over again. He finally allowed himself to come when he realized
Isa
was close to exhaustion. She was drenched in sweat, and her cries had a distinctively hoarse note to them.