Return of the Assassin (All the King's Men) (20 page)

Lakota entered the locker room of the training center behind Micah and tossed his filthy jacket over one of the benches. They all smelled like smoke. Not cigarette smoke, but rather the kind from a structure fire. The kind of smoke that stuck to your skin and hair—your very DNA— for days, clinging to every hair follicle and laying waste to the insides of your lungs. Good thing he wasn't human, or he would never breathe normally again.

"Motherfucking arsonist." Micah unlocked his locker and swung the door open with a clang.

Trevor, covered in soot, wandered in behind Severin. The guy was a mess. "You get this shit a lot in Chicago?"

Micah growled. "Quit bitching, Trev."

Lakota stared at his son as he wandered past without glancing at him. From behind, Lakota heard a faucet turn on. He turned and watched Trevor spit in a sink and rinse his mouth out. He paid the newcomer a split second of attention, and then glanced back at his son. Sev looked worse for wear, his face covered in soot just like the rest of them, but he wasn't a puss like that Trevor guy. He took the vile taste of smoke in stride, like a warrior.

Pride swelled inside Lakota's chest. That was his son. He had grown up to be a strong fighter and an even stronger asset to his team. Lakota only wished he could take credit for Sev's fortitude, but he had given up that right from the start, before Sev was even conceived.

He lowered his head and turned toward his locker.

After saying sayonara to Gina and Malek earlier, he and Micah had teamed up to hunt down information on who was kidnapping and selling vampires to Bishop while Trevor and Sev struck out to see what they could find out about the Dacians.

They hadn't been out long when a call came in about a potential pre-mutant on the South Side, so he and Micah hightailed it that direction, only to be rerouted when word of a structure fire with entrapment came in. Micah had really wanted to go after the potential mutant, because with Dacians possibly prowling around Chicago, and drecks who were kidnapping vampires for lab experiments, the last thing they needed was a trifecta of trouble, especially one that included a mutant, the deadliest creature known to vampires aside from a mated male without his mate.

But members of Stryker's team had been closer to the mutant's location, and he and Micah had been closer to the fire, so decision made. It was fire patrol for them.

Micah pulled a towel and change of clothes out of his locker. He kicked off his boots and yanked his shirt over his head. "Fuck this shit. I'm taking a shower, finishing up some paperwork, and going home to bury myself in my mate for the next six hours. I've been here nearly three days straight."

Lakota sat down and glanced at Severin, who was unusually quiet.

Trevor took off his boots. "Anyone got a spare shirt and some shorts I can wear until I can get up to my room?"

Micah nodded. "Yeah. Follow me. We keep spares in back."

The two disappeared and their jabbering grew quieter as they walked away.

Lakota grabbed his towel out of his locker and stood back up. "How's things with you and Ari?"

Sev stiffened and grabbed his own towel. "Good."

"You happy?"

Sev looked his direction, but kept his gaze averted. "Yeah. We're happy."

Lakota nodded. It was good that Sev was happy. He deserved it, especially after the hell he had put that kid through by being such a bastard, absentee father all his life. If only he could go
back in time and do things differently. He wanted like hell to fix all the trouble and heartache he had caused, but it wasn't entirely his choice. Sev still avoided him when they weren't being forced together like they were now, and tonight was the most Sev had talked to him since he reentered his life, which wasn't saying much since he'd said only four words.

"I'm glad, son. I mean Sev. Sorry." Severin didn't like when he called him son, but it was so damn hard not to.

"No, that's okay." Sev waved his hand and sighed, then finally turned and met Lakota's gaze.

Shit, but sometimes it felt like he was looking in a mirror when he looked at Severin.

Lakota took a step toward the showers and shook his head. "No. I know you don't like it."

"Dad." Sev sounded impatient. Looked it, too, with his head cocked to one side and one eyebrow up.

But that wasn't what nearly caused Lakota to trip on thin air. Severin had called him Dad.

"Don't look so surprised," Sev said, as if reading his mind. "You are my dad, aren't you?"

Was this some kind of joke? Was he dreaming? He swore to God that if someone jumped out and shouted, "April Fool's Day," right now, he would kill them.

"Sure, I'm your father, but until now I didn't…you were…I thought…" Well, hell's bells, he was lost for words.

Sev held up his hand, saving him from tripping further over his tongue. "Look, I'm tired of hating you. It's exhausting, and I just want to get on with my life. And since you seem to be so keen on being part of it…" He took a deep breath and shook his head once. "What I'm saying is that I can see you're making an effort…
Dad
. Okay? And Arion and I have been talking, which has made me think, and…" He paused and stood. "Look, I'm not saying it'll be easy, and I'm not saying I'm crazy about the idea, but I'm willing to work on it."

This was more than Lakota could ever have hoped for, and it came as such a shock that he didn't know what to say.

Once again, Sev saved him. "On one condition. About Gina…"

Lakota bristled. Mood broken. "What about her?"

Sev held up his hands and gently arched one eyebrow. "I just want you to be nice to her?"

"Nice to her? She tried to kill you, Sev."

Sev took an aggressive step toward him. "And I forgave her." The scowl on Sev's face showed how close he was to reverting back to the old, standoffish Severin with a cursory
fuck off
his way. "You weren't involved in what happened. You don't know the circumstances. She thought she was doing the right thing, and I don't blame her. I'd have done the same in her shoes. From her perspective, she was doing what she felt needed to be done." Sev huffed and began to walk away, but then stopped. "You should know better than anyone that a person can make mistakes and change their stripes. I mean, you
are
the person who raped my mother and made me a bastard, and now you claim to have changed. Or is that all just an act,
Dad
? Or should I go back to calling you Lakota? Or not talking to you at all? Because I can easily do that. No sweat off my balls." Sev fixed him with a deadly glare.

Point taken. Lakota still had much about his past to atone for, especially where Sev was concerned. He frowned back his emotions and looked away as heat flushed his face and a dull ache echoed deep inside his chest. "I'm sorry. You're right. I don't know the whole story."

Sev sighed. "I'm willing to give you a chance to make things right with me as long as you give Gina the same consideration, but I want to know Gina's safe around you."

Was Gina's safety that important to Sev that all it would take was him refusing to play nice with her to push Sev away again? He didn't want that. Even though Gina had tried to take his son
from him, and she had trampled all over his heart in the process, he couldn't lose Severin over what had happened. Sev needed to know Gina would be safe around him. End of story. Lakota wouldn't lose this opportunity to be a part of Sev's life. Nothing was more important than that.

"Fine, Sev. You have my word. I won't hurt her."

Severin relaxed. "Thank you."

Really, how could Lakota not do what Severin asked? This was more of an opportunity to make amends with his son than he dreamed he would get. So, if excusing the actions and behavior of Sev's would-be assassin was part of what it took to get his son back, so be it. He would kiss her ass if that was what it took.

Micah reappeared with Trevor, and cast him a questionable glance. "I really don't want to know what you two were just talking about, do I?"

Obviously, Micah had seen that last bit of his thoughts. He would need to get used to being around Micah with that mind probe shit of his.

He shook his head. "No. You don't. And with that, I'm taking a shower." He snagged his towel.

Sev joined him, and they walked into the shower room together. A first.

"You know, it wasn't just Arion who convinced me I should give you a break."

Lakota stopped outside one of the shower stalls and reached in to turn on the water.

Sev dropped his towel and turned on the next shower over. "Yeah, Mom wanted me to be nice to you, too."

Felice? She had gotten involved? "Oh?"

Sev nodded. "It was pretty important to her."

That made him smile. "How is your mom?"

Sev shook his head and looked away with a low growl that sounded more forced than natural. "Don't push your luck.
Dad.
" Then he paused and looked back at him with a half-smile. "You just be nice to Gina and you'll score major Brownie points with me. What she did to me wasn't her fault. Keep that in mind when you feel more inclined to stab her than help her fit in here. Understood?"

Sev fixed him with an icy stare that would have made lesser men tremble in fear, but it made Lakota proud.

"Like I said, you have my word."

Sev fought back a grin and as he stepped into his shower stall. "Get cleaned up, old man."

As the shower curtain closed behind Sev, Lakota cleared the emotion from his throat. Not much got to Lakota, but tears stung his eyes. He wouldn't let them fall, though. He was too tough for that.

Micah and Trevor strolled in a minute later.

"What the fuck. Are you crying?" Micah said.

"Fuck you. No." Lakota rubbed his palm over his filthy face. "Fucking fire irritated my eyes. They sting like a bitch."

"Uh-huh."

A tight chuckle came from Sev's stall.

Lakota swiped his shower curtain aside and stepped into the stream of hot water. "Shut up, Micah. You too…
son.
"

Lakota picked up his soap, ignoring the laughter coming from Micah, Severin, and that newbie, Trevor. Let them laugh at him. He didn't care. Because, for the first time, Sev had called him Dad.

And that was all that mattered.

The female was glued to Malek's side as he unlocked the door. Lorena, she said her name was.

Fine. If she wanted to play, he would play, because he sure couldn't dip into what he really wanted, which was a long, luxurious soak inside an ocean called Gina. And his balls ached so badly he needed to find release somehow.

When Lorena first came to his table at Four Alarm and introduced her hand to his dick, he had wanted no part of her. All he wanted then was Gina. His mind had been overflowing with thoughts of her.

And now, an instant after pushing open the door, Gina's scent rushed forward, flooded him, drenched him in warmth so soothing, he almost changed his mind about bringing Lorena inside. The sound of the shower in the spare bathroom told him Gina was in there, naked, water spilling over her pristine skin. He imagined his fingertips tracing the trails of water down her breasts, over her nipples. What did her nipples look like, anyway? Were they large or small? Dark or light?

"Oh, you have company?" Lorena sniffed the air and pushed up beside him, breaking him away from his fantasy before he could act on it.

"A coworker."
My mate.
He shut the door and shoved his keys in his pocket, feeling surer on his feet now that he was home and had a whiff of the female who ensnared half his heart.

"Mmm, will she join us?" Lorena pawed her hands up his chest, and her red lips curved into a coy grin.

Just the thought of introducing Gina to his debasement was enough to spark his anger and put full life back in his veins. "No." He glared at Lorena, whose eyes lit with lust against his reawakened emotional storm.

"Excellent. Because I don't feel like sharing." She took his hand and lifted it to her throat, opened his fist, and positioned his fingers around the slender column of flesh. "Now..." She grinned, and her gaze grew dark. "Hurt. Me."

Malek stared into her light brown eyes. But it was Gina's scent that invaded him. The shower beckoned, but he couldn't relent. Gina deserved better, and this…whore deserved nothing. Which was really quite perfect, because he had nothing left to give. To anyone. All he had was pain and suffering, and if this bitch wanted that, she was welcome to it.

He gazed down on his hand around Lorena's throat. It looked good there, and he slowly lifted his fingers and closed them again in a tighter grip.

Lorena moaned quietly and her eyelids drooped closed. "Yes."

If he went to Gina, he would only hurt her. Gina meant something to him. Lorena, on the other hand, meant nothing. She
was
nothing. Just a vessel—a receptacle he could fill without harming Carmen's memory in the same way accepting Gina as his mate would harm everyone involved.

The difference was that Lorena wanted him to hurt her. He could give her the physical torture she seemed to crave, and so much the better, because that was exactly what he wanted to give to himself. By hurting Lorena, he killed two birds with one stone.

His gaze lifted to her face…to her eager expression of anticipation.

"Hurt me, Malek," she said on a low whisper.

She got off on the pain. He could use her as his outlet, pour all his suffering out on her, and she would never complain.

"You want pain?" he said, leaning down until his nose touched hers.

She nodded, practically panting. "Yes."

Her acrid arousal, sour and vile, fed his carnal debasement even more. Lorena was all he was worthy of now. Someone as nasty and decrepit as he was. Weren't they just perfect for one another?

"You don't know pain."

She closed her hand over his, still around her throat, and squeezed. "Then show me."

Oh, he would show her all right. He would take out all his frustration on her. If she wanted to be hurt, he would hurt her, because right now, all he was, was misery, suffering, sorrow, and distress. He had reached his final breaking point. Game over. His white flag flew in surrender. He could no longer fight himself. He wanted Gina but had no future with her. He still loved Carmen, but she was dead. So it was time to embrace the future he
did
have.

He swung Lorena around and shoved her toward the kitchen. The scent of her arousal stung deep, hard at his soul, and he prowled after her.

"I'll show you pain, Lorena." He pointed to the door at the back of the kitchen. "Downstairs. Now."

She panted and grasped the doorknob, threw the door open, and backed down the stairs, keeping her lust-filled gaze on his as he stalked after her.

Yes, whores like Lorena were his future. They were all he had left.

* * *

Gina had been standing under the water for the last twenty minutes. The reality that she was ready to move forward rather than live in the painful past had left a smile on her face for the first time in forever.

She would never understand the phenomenon known as mating, or the tremendous power it held over those of her kind. The call to mate affected each vampire differently, but all to one end. To keep the race alive and thriving. Why she had tethered to Malek more strongly than other females bonded to their mates was a mystery. All she knew was that she had and that she was now a changed female. No longer was she broken and damaged. In fact, she had never felt more whole.

After another five minutes, she shut off the water, dried off, and got dressed as she worked through how she would explain to Malek what had happened. Would she even need to explain? Perhaps she would just show him.

She grinned affectionately at the idea of surprising him in his bed. There was no way he would turn her away. As a mated male, he wouldn't be able to resist that kind of temptation.

Her mind was in midfantasy when the hair on the back of her neck bristled and she caught a whiff of—

What the hell?

With her senses leaping to high alert and sharp as razors, she yanked open the door and stuck her head out in the hall. Was there a female on the premises? A foul, nasty…
aroused
female? And were those sounds coming from behind the door in the kitchen the sounds of…
sex?
Hard, body bruising sex?

Oh bitch, no way.

Her mated side lit up like a solar flare. Who did he think he was to give to another what belonged to her? This shit wasn't going to happen. Not now. She had finally realized what had been sending her head into the commode for weeks—that Malek was her life partner—and she refused to share him now that her invisible hooks had sunk in. Like she was going into battle, she charged through the kitchen, ready to kick some bitch ass. That was her male.
Hers!
If Malek was going to fuck anyone, it was going to be her, damn it! Not some secondhand slut. Not some stank ass, gum-on-the-bottom-of-her-shoe piece of trash.

She threw the door open and tore down the stairs into what had to be Malek's bedroom. From behind the door across the room, the sounds of sex grew louder.

"Harder. Fuck me harder!" the bitch said.

From the sound of something hard hitting the wall, followed by glass breaking and the intense way she grunted and screamed, "Yes!" it sounded like Malek had given the little home wrecker exactly what she asked for.

Little bitch! That was her mate in there!

Gina leaped from the foot of the stairs and landed in front of the bathroom door a split second before her booted foot shattered the damn thing off its hinges.

Malek had the bitch on the marble counter next to the sink, one hand around her throat, his pants around his ankles and hers on the floor. Her legs were over his shoulders, and the mirror behind her head was shattered. Shards of glass lay scattered around them. As soon as Gina busted in, their eyes swung toward her.

Knife meet heart.

"Gina!" Malek shot backward and struggled to pull up his pants while the female on the counter shrieked in protest.

Without wasting a second, Gina was on her.
What lovely hair you have. All the better to use as a handle and toss you across the room with.
She grabbed a handful of brunette waves and threw the bitch into the bedroom with the ease of a finger flicking a piece of lint off her blouse.

Ah, the power of unleashed mated aggression. It did a body good.

Before the cunt could stop rolling and get her bearings, Gina jumped on her, held her down with one hand, and used her face as if it were concrete and her fist were a jackhammer.

Bash! Bash! Bash!

She was just getting into a nice rhythm when arms wrapped around her and yanked her off.

Malek!

She elbowed him in the gut, swung around as he dropped her, and hissed at him. He might be her mate, but right now she was beyond pissed at what he had done. What was he thinking? His dick was hers and hers alone. If he was going to stick it anywhere, it was going to be inside her, not some random slut.

She was tackled from behind and landed face-first on the carpet, and the fight was on again. She grappled with the bitch and rolled over just in time to be coldcocked in the cheek.

"Stop, Lorena!" Malek grabbed her arm as she pulled it back to hit Gina again.

Lorena kicked him and sent him stumbling backward.

"Get off me, you bitch!" Gina freed one leg and shoved her heel against Lorena's chin until she fell backward. Then Gina was on her again.

She clawed, slapped, and pounded, wild with adrenaline and mated fury.

"Gina! No!" Malek dragged her off the half-naked bitch on the floor. "This is my fault, not hers!"

Gina didn't want to hear it. She was too pissed off. "Let me go! Get off me!" She flailed and broke free, and then spun around. Her fist shot out and cracked Malek in the chin. "You bastard! How dare you!"

Lorena jumped up and was about to tackle her again when Malek's arm shot out and caught her by the waist. "No!"

Gina glared at the two of them—angry, hurt, and pissed. Malek was just like Armand. Maybe he hadn't hit her, but his actions hurt nonetheless. He had left her alone to go God-knows-where, and then brought back this filthy tramp and fucked her right in front of her nose.

"Why?" Her eyes pleaded with him for answers, but he only stared back, speechless.

Malek hadn't laid a finger on her, and yet what he had done caused her more pain than any physical abuse Armand had ever subjected her to.

"Face it," Lorena said with a satisfied smirk. "He just doesn't want you."

Gina swatted her across the cheek, leaving streaks where her nails broke the skin. "Bitch!"

"Sticks and stones, sweetheart." Lorena thrashed and tried to break out of Malek's hold, but he yanked her away.

What? Was he protecting Lorena? From her? Shouldn't it be the other way around? Shouldn't he be defending her honor instead of Lorena's?

Gina looked between them, disgusted and mentally shredded. "I hope you both rot in hell." She slapped Lorena again, hard enough to leave welts, and shot a glare so lethal at Malek it was a wonder he didn't go up in flames. Then she charged up the stairs two-at-a-time.

She needed to get out of here. No way would she stay here tonight after this. No fucking way.

Making sure her phone was in her pocket, Gina hit the front door and bolted as Lorena screamed a stream of profanities after her.

* * *

Malek struggled to push Lorena back into the bathroom. She was livid, her body thrashing like she was a trapped wild animal.

"Get dressed." He shoved her away from him and turned for the stairs to go after Gina.

With a screech of protest, Lorena latched onto his arm and pulled him back around. "Finish what you started!"

"No!" He jerked his arm from her grasp and frowned at the crazed expression on Lorena's face. She looked almost manic. Not good.

"The bitch is gone. I'm here." She clapped her hand on her chest. "You owe me."

"I owe you nothing! Now get dressed and get out." He hurried toward the stairs, but Lorena shrieked and jumped him from behind.

They fell to the floor. The bitch was a frenzy of physical strength, on the brink of violence as she struggled against Malek's defenses to unfasten his pants and take what he no longer wanted to give. At least not to her.

"I said NO!" He gripped her wrists and flung her to the side, but the bitch wouldn't give up. She rallied and attacked him again as he pushed off the floor and tried to scurry away, but she had hold of his ankle.

Goddamn! What had he gotten himself into with this one? He was wasting precious time. Gina was getting away. Not that she would forgive him if he went after her. What he had done was unforgiveable. He had taken another female in front of her—
his mate.
Damn him!

But this was what she could expect as his mate. Constant pain. A never ending supply of suffering as he struggled against his nature to pull and push her away. This was why she needed someone better.

Lorena leaped onto his back as he rolled and scrambled to get away. "You will finish me, Malek!"

For the love of God! What was this bitch's problem?