Chapter 5
Nick had just dropped Steven and Jewel off at Night Light when he got the call. Jewel had been very quiet since Dean’s little stunt at the church but he could tell that whatever the fallen had done to keep her calm was starting to wear off. The further away from the church they got, the more paranoid she’d become. He could only imagine the hell his friend was about to go through.
Waving to Steven, Nick quickly picked up his phone and juggled it for a moment when he almost lost his grip. Finally he caught it on the third ring and flipped it open.
“Speak,” he growled. His expression melted into one of deep concern before pushing the gas pedal to the floor. Luckily, he had decided to drive the Hummer to take Steven and Jewel back to Night Light.
He did a quick mental inventory and breathed a small sigh of relief when he remembered that Warren still had some extra sets of clothes in the vehicle from their last camping trip. No one had bothered to remove them and it saved Nick the trip back home. It was a good thing that Warren and Quinn were around the same size… there was nothing worse than trying to squeeze into clothes that were too little.
Turning on the GPS tracker in his phone, he got Warren’s exact location. Turning the next corner without slowing down, Nick knew he wasn’t going to like what he saw once he got there.
As an afterthought, Nick took out his cell phone and called Devon to let him know the new developments. Devon may have left the city willingly, but he’d made Nick promise to call him several times a day to keep him up to date on everything.
*****
Steven got Jewel inside the club and quickly escorted her upstairs. When they made it to his room, he closed the door but didn’t lock it. He didn’t want her to feel trapped.
Jewel blinked her eyes and looked around at the room she’d been brought into. The bed was king sized with a deep green comforter spread over it. A couple of decorative pillows sat on the bed and, of all things, a stuffed animal… a cougar. She couldn’t help but smile at that and a nervous giggle escaped before she could stop it.
The dresser was a black lacquer with a large mirror and in the center was a small bamboo plant. On the other side of the room was a pair of beanbag chairs, a huge flat screen television mounted on the wall, and a game console with numerous games scattered around in front of it.
Jewel couldn’t understand why she felt so calm but it was slowly fading and being replaced by dread. What the hell did she think she was doing here?
“Why did you bring me here?” Jewel asked spinning around to face Steven.
“Because you’ll be safe here,” Steven answered. “You’re not going back to your fiancé or your father.”
What was left of the calm feeling immediately fled and Jewel shook her head vigorously. “No, I have to go back! If I don’t, Anthony will kill me.”
“He can’t kill you if he can’t find you,” Steven reasoned in a voice that was so cold it sucked some of the warmth right out of the room.
“What about Father Gordon?” Jewel demanded her voice level rising. “If they go to him, they’ll find out where I am.” Jewel started pacing. “Daddy’s gonna be so mad and Anthony… I don’t want to think about what he’ll do.”
Steven had a flashback of the handprint-sized bruise she had been wearing earlier. “Why the hell would you protect your daddy when he obviously doesn’t protect you!”
“Who gave you the right to give a damn!?” Jewel yelled back more comfortable now that he was yelling at her.
“You know what? Fine,” Steven opened the bedroom door. “There’s the way out, go back to your fiancé and a marriage you’re being forced into because of Daddy’s inability to take care of business. No real father would ever sacrifice his children to pay off a debt he created.”
Jewel stared at the door and took an uncertain step forward before backing up and sinking down on the bed. She gazed toward the alarm clock and knew it was too late to sneak back in ether way. Two AM… that’s when the guards changed shifts and that had been the only time she could return without being caught.
“What do I do now?” Jewel asked and looked up at him with tears in her eyes. “Where would I go?”
Steven shut the door and knelt down in front of her. “How about you start by telling me everything?”
“Like what?” Jewel asked.
Steven gave her a small smile, “We can start with your last name.”
Jewel sighed, “My last name is Scott and my father manages a resort in Palm Springs for my… fiancé. God that word leaves a bad taste in my mouth.”
Steven felt a huge weight lift from his shoulders seeing again how much she hated the fact she was being forced to marry this guy… not that he would ever let that happen now. “Okay, calm down and back up. Try starting from the beginning,” he suggested.
Taking a deep breath, Jewel calmly started talking, just letting it all go. “I was in boarding school when Daddy ran into some trouble at the resort. A government agent had checked in undercover and was trying to uncover all the mafia activity going in and out of the place. When Daddy found out what the man was… he was given orders to kill him.”
Steven nodded, “What happened?”
“Daddy waited too long to kill him… the agent had already given his superiors all the information. When the agent didn’t check in or whatever it is they do, the FBI sent more agents and Daddy was arrested. Anthony Valachi bailed him out of jail after he did something, probably bribed one of the top officials, and all the charges were dropped.”
“Now Daddy’s in debt to his boss. Not knowing how else to pay off the debt, when I came back from school, Daddy told me I was engaged to Anthony and he was actually happy about it.”
Jewel took another breath and swiped her hand over her eyes. “I don’t want to be married yet… I wanted to do something with myself, go to college and work for a living, maybe travel a little bit. This man is twice my age. Now I’m a prisoner, a slave to that bastard and my father’s mistake.”
Steven nodded and fought the urge to get up and pace the room. Losing the battle, he did start pacing. “I can fix this,” he stated firmly but kept pacing. His mind was going a mile a minute.
“Yeah right,” Jewel frowned, “you and what army?” She suddenly remembered the angel she had seen at the church and glanced up hopefully.
Steven recognized the name as the same guy Micah had gotten into a fight with a couple weeks ago before he vanished. Micah had thrown the man out of the club after giving him a face full of his fist, knocking the smart ass right out of his chair. Steven still had trouble not laughing when he thought about it.
Quinn hadn’t thought it was too funny though. Maybe Quinn had known Anthony was a big wig in the mafia and was trying to just watch out for Micah. As a matter of fact, it was the same night Micah had disappeared.
He glanced back at Jewel as he passed in front of her. She was right… Anthony Valachi had been twice her age and a self-righteous asshole to boot. There was no way in hell he was going to let her anywhere near that man or her abusive father… father… the priest at the church. Now that man owed him a favor, and with a little help from Dean… he was going to pay up.
Flipping open his cell phone, he clicked in several numbers and smiled as the other side picked up. “Dean, are you still at the church? Good, retrieve the priest and wait for me there.” He ended the call and closed the distance between him and Jewel. Dropping back to his knees in front of her, he took her hands in his, rubbing his thumbs soothingly over her soft skin.
“How far are you willing to go?” he asked in a steady voice as he searched her face.
“It needs to be more than just running away,” Jewel hated how her voice had sounded so tiny. She hadn’t meant for her fear to show through like that. She bit her lower lip wondering what Steven was up to.
“If we can do this right, you won't have to run any further than here.”
“What are you thinking?” Jewel started to pull her hands away but he held them firm.
“I’m thinking that you can’t get married twice.” Steven flinched when she jerked hard enough to gain her freedom. Pushing up from the floor, he stared down at her as she nearly crawled across the bed in her attempt to put distance between them.
“Listen…” he started.
“No,” Jewel almost yelled as she climbed off the other side of the mattress, feeling a little safer now that the bed was between them. Her face instantly went up in flames realizing the bed was between them in more ways than one if she agreed to go through with this insanity.
She snapped her gaze from the bed. “I didn’t want to get married in the first place! Why the hell would I marry you?”
Steven’s eyes narrowed at the insult but he wasn’t going to let her pride get her killed. If he had to scare the hell out of her then it would be worth it. Besides… at the moment, she was the only lead he had on Micah. Steven’s lip hinted at a devious smile now that he’d successfully added another reason for doing what he was about to do.
“Why marry me, you ask? Because if you can pretend that the marriage is real in front of my family and yours… then in the bedroom it will be in name only. And that army you were wondering about, remember I’m not human and neither are my family or friends. So when you’re jilted ex tries to retaliate… we will be waiting on him.”
“Why would you do any of this?” Jewel shook her head. “And what do you mean pretend?”
Steven held his hands out indicating the bed between them. “To answer your first question, I have a brother who’s been missing for a couple weeks now and the last person besides his family that he was seen with was your intended and it wasn’t friendly. So, what better way to get his attention then to yank his chain.”
“As for your second question, in order for this to work, everyone will have to think we are in love and intend to stay together. But when we are alone, you sleep on your side of the bed and I’ll sleep on mine. It’s not like I want to give up my freedom ether. If you can fake… it then so can I.”
Jewel relaxed some of the tenseness in her shoulders seeing where he was going, “no one else will know the truth?”
“Just our guardian angel… Dean,” Steven smirked when her fingers instantly rose to brush across the cheek that Dean had made a show of healing.
“And once Anthony is no longer a threat?” she murmured.
“Then our good friend the priest will give us our annulment and we will go our separate ways. But first, he has to marry us and, in order to get him to do that… he has to be convinced we are in love and have already consummated it.” When she gave him an appalled look he shrugged, “He’s a priest and above lying so we will just have to do the lying for him. Once it’s over, then we can tell him the truth.”
‘But there will be no consummating our marriage,” Jewel confirmed with a hard look.
“I can control myself if you can.” His pointed gaze matched hers knowing he’d just won the first battle. Now he would just have to pray he could control himself because right now it was taking every ounce of willpower he had not to come across the bed after her and claim her before Anthony Valachi got another chance.
One thing was for sure. His family was already at war with the vampires, and they weren’t equipped to take on another war right now unless they believed it really was for a family member.
“How good of an actor are you? Because if my family doesn’t think we are completely in love… this will be doomed before the ink dries on the marriage certificate.”
Steven’s lips parted when Jewel slowly smiled at him and started crawling back across the mattress toward him. He didn’t move a muscle, waiting to see what she would do. Coming up on her knees in front of him she slid her hand around the back of his neck and pulled him forward and down until their lips were touching.
It was an innocent kiss and the realization that she was still a virgin slammed through Steven without mercy.
Jewel tried not to flinch when his arm went around her back and he pulled her flush against him. Her lips were still closed against his but when she felt his hot touch slide across the seam of her lips, she parted them in surprise feeling it tingle somewhere in the bottom of her stomach.
Just a taste… Steven repeated the words to himself as he leaned into the kiss and deepened it. Feeling himself instantly harden, he placed his palms on her shoulders and gently pushed them away from each other. Seeing her startled eyes snap up and lock with his, he detected the desire he’d barely flamed within her and smiled.
“Yes, like that… just like that.” He touched his fingers to the bottom of her chin and then turned away. “Shall we go get married?”
*****
Warren and Quinn both looked up when the Hummer pulled into the alley and slowly drove toward them. Nick barely had the vehicle in park before he was out and going around the back to get the extra clothing out.
“What the hell happened?” Nick asked handing over the clothes.
“It appears Kat decided to leave the club,” Warren answered, pulling on a simple white tee shirt. “We’re not sure why Trevor is with her.”
Warren handed a shirt to Quinn to place on Kat, along with another shirt for the cougar and a pair of pants.
“Well, she was talking with him at the bar when we left,” Nick said. “You don’t think he talked her into going out tonight do you?”
“I think it might be the other way around,” Quinn responded while gently pulling the shirt down over Kat’s body. “We’ll get it sorted out when we get them back to Moon Dance. However, if blondie over there talked her into going out, doctoring him won't help because I’ll rip him apart.”
Warren was now dressed and pulling the extra pair of jeans onto Trevor’s legs. “There will be no tearing apart. We’ll find all the answers we need when they awaken.”
With everyone dressed, or half dressed as the case may be, they loaded up into the Hummer and started the short drive back.
*****
“Okay, let me get this straight.” Envy said with her arms crossed over her chest. Devon had just finished explaining to her what Nick had told him. “We need to go back because your family is now in the middle of a war against the remaining vampires?”
Devon winced at the tone of her voice. He didn’t like it when she got like this. “That about sums it up.” He answered then reached for her, dragging her back against his body.
“We just got here, Devon,” Envy complained as she pushed back from him again. “Not only that, but how are we going to convince Kriss to go back? You don’t know him like I do. If Kriss doesn’t want to go, he isn’t going to budge.”
Devon immediately got a mental image of him, Envy and Tabby all pulling on a rope that was tied around Kriss’ waist and the fallen was just standing there with his arms crossed over his chest and shaking his head. The imaginary Kriss grabbed the rope and pulled on it, making them all land on their faces.
“He doesn’t dictate what you do,” Devon stated, ignoring the messed up image in his head. “Whether he goes back or not, I still need to. But, if he returns with us… it will even up the odds.”
Envy sighed, “Devon, I understand what you’re saying. Your family is my family now too, but we can’t just drop everything we’re doing at the first sign of trouble.”
“Your brother is going to be in the middle of this mess, Envy.” Devon said in frustration. “He’s human and you know that he won’t just sit on the sidelines waiting for everything to settle down. He’s a cop, so this is just as much his war as it is ours.”
When Envy spun around so she wouldn’t have to face him, Devon frowned and pulled her back against his chest, wrapping his arms around her. “Plus, according to what Nick just told me, Kat’s hurt. She and that idiot of an ex-boyfriend of yours have been getting their asses kicked from one end of town to the other.”
“Trevor?” Her voice was soft with worry and she realized her mistake when Devon’s arms tightened possessively around her. Making her voice a little harder she added, “What does he have to do with anything?”
Devon’s eyes narrowed. He didn’t want to point out that Trevor had been telling her the truth in the parking lot the night she’d broken up with him. Instead, he pointed out another lie. “Did you have any idea that Trevor isn’t even human?”
This time Envy didn’t even bother with pretense. Twisting around within the circle of his arms, she gazed up at Devon in startled confusion. “What?”
Devon tried to smile but it was hurting his face. “Do you care more about Trevor then you do about me and Chad?”
“No,” Envy corrected quickly. “But I would rather no one I care about come face to face with those vampires. They’re mean, nasty creatures.” She shuddered at the memory.
“Then help me even out the odds for everyone involved by convincing Kriss that it’s time to go home.” Devon lowered his lips to her shoulder, reassuring himself that his mating mark was there and not Trevor’s.
Envy paled knowing Devon was right and hated him for knowing her greatest weakness… always protect those you love. She loved her brother and Kat and Devon… even Trevor. Her chest felt heavy at the thought of any of them being hurt.
“You suck,” Envy whispered.
Devon smirked knowing he’d just won the debate. “Your confused darling... I lick.”
Envy glared for a moment before tackling him onto the bed behind him and made a show of playfully trying to hit him. Devon chuckled and grabbed both her wrists in his hands.
“Now, no play fighting unless you want to risk ending up naked and crying out my name,” Devon exclaimed.
“I’ll come back later,” a male voice said from the open doorway.
Envy and Devon stopped in mid-motion and stared at Kriss who was standing in the doorway with an idiotic smirk on his face. Tabby was peeking over Kriss’ shoulder grinning at them.
“We’re going out to lunch, want us to bring you back anything?” Tabby asked giving Envy a wink.
“Steak!” Envy and Devon said simultaneously.
“Do you want it cooked or still mooing?” Kriss asked.
“In between,” Envy said.
“Still mooing,” Devon answered.
“Rare and medium rare it is,” Tabby said.
“Hey,” Envy called when they started to leave and scampered off of Devon’s belly. “Let’s order in.”
Tabby tilted her head to the side. “Why? It’s a beautiful day out.”
“We need to talk.” Envy said and looked at Kriss. “All of us.”
Kriss frowned, “Whatever it is… the answer is no.”
Envy shook her head at Kriss’ answer. “You don’t even know what it is we need to talk about.”
“Devon needs to go home and you want to go with him.” Kriss said as he leaned against the door frame and folded his arms over his chest. “You can go back if you need to, but I’m staying here with Tabby.”
“Why does Devon need to go back?” Tabby asked as she ducked around Kriss and came into the room. She kept her eyes trained on Envy. They’d just been through the same ordeal… had been kidnapped together. So if Envy was in such a hurry to get back, then Tabatha definitely wanted to know why.
“Kat was hurt during one of their hunts to find the rest of the vampire population.” Devon said. “That and from what Warren told me earlier, we’ve made peace with the cougars and they’re helping us out. Even that crazy vampire Kane has jumped on the bandwagon.”
“There is no way in hell I am going to fight in a war on the same side as that blood sucking bastard,” Kriss growled as he stepped closer to Tabatha on pure instinct.
“Kane,” Tabby said thoughtfully. “Are you talking about the same vampire that bit me?”
Devon nodded, “Yes, but there are some things you don’t know about him.”
Kriss scowled at the jaguar. “Like what! Like the fact that his soul is so weak that I could barely detect it. He’s no better than the vampires your kind are hunting.”
“I’ve been talking with Nick three or four times a day since we left,” Devon answered trying to calm the fallen.
“Just listen to me. Forty years ago Kane was betrayed by Malachi and blamed for killing my mother. He didn’t do it… he was set up by Nathaniel… the leader of the cougar clan. Not knowing the deception, my father bound Kane using a spell from his own book and they buried him alive.”
He shrugged not knowing all the details, “it was some kind of blood spell so I’m not sure how he got out, but he did… minus quite a bit of his sanity. But he’s like Michael… they used to be best friends. Something happened the night Envy and Tabby was taken that brought Kane back to the side of the angels.”
“So… he’s a good guy?” Envy asked quietly, remembering the fear Kane had spiked within her. Her gaze slid to Tabby seeing some of the color drain from her friend's face and knew Tabatha was remembering the same thing.
Devon nodded, “Yeah, there’s more to the story, but that’s it in a nutshell. Kane is the way he is because he was betrayed by his best friend… my father. Now he wants to help us out of some really messed up sense of honor. If it were me in the same situation… I’m not so sure I would be as noble.”
Kriss looked over at Tabby, the pieces of what she’d told him over the years finally falling into place with what he’d felt within Kane’s soul. Only the blood of a soul mate can undo a blood spell that binds someone to the earth. It was her blood that had freed Kane that night when she witnessed the battle between the cougar and the jaguar as a child.
He knew Kane’s soul was pure and he knew the vampire had a strong connection with Tabby… but soul mates?
Looking away from everyone in the room, Kriss walked over to the window and stared out at the beautiful beach beyond it. He’d lost her before he even had her. The very thought caused his chest to tighten painfully, but he wouldn’t let that get in between Tabby and who she was destined to be with. But until he was sure Kane had shaken the grave’s insanity from his soul… he would not allow them to get too close.
“Okay,” Kriss whispered as he gazed out at the night sky. “It’s time to go home.”
