Edge of Night (30 page)

Sympathy shone in Erin’s blue gaze. “No one
wants
to be a victim.”

“Not usually, no.” He rubbed one of her curls between his thumb and forefinger, mostly because it was impossible for him to be so close to her and not touch her. “Tess has a lot of emotional baggage to deal with about what happened—she’s avoided doing that by blaming me. I hope she gets the help she needs. I hope Peyton can help her with that.”

“So you did know she was banging Peyton.” Her eyebrows scrunched together. “Holly wasn’t sure.”

And that confirmed what she knew and the source of her information. A grin twitched his lips. “Yes, I know. They seem to fit well together.”

“Because they’re both werewolves?”

Wouldn’t that be the easy answer? It might have been one he’d give six months ago, but not now. “No, because she’s grown into someone that I think suits what I know of him. Not that he’s an easy man to know, but with any luck, as she keeps growing beyond what the terrorists did to her, they’ll grow together rather than apart.”

“Do you think that’s what happened with you and Tess? You grew apart?” She focused intently on his face, her gaze sharp and seeing more than he probably wanted.

“Yeah.” He waved a hand through the air. “Something like that changes you—it just does. We aren’t who we were when we met, and who we are now doesn’t…quite…fit as well as it used to. Does that make sense?”

“It does.” She let out a long, slow breath. He saw in her eyes the moment she started to believe, really
believe
, that he was over Tess—that it wasn’t just some front he was putting up to protect his heart or his pride.

Since he doubted dwelling on Tess and his more available status would do anything to keep Erin from freaking out about his relationship with her, he decided a subject change was in order. Best not to push, especially when he wasn’t even sure which direction he wanted to push. “So…what kind of sexual favors does a guy have to perform to get some breakfast around here?”

An impish little grin formed on her full lips, and the desire that rose so easily between them grabbed hold of him. He hooked a hand behind her neck and pulled her down for a kiss. She tasted of mint and woman, and he licked his way into her mouth with a groan. Her palms pressed to his chest, her fingers brushing over his nipples. His cock responded, going diamond hard. He insinuated his hand between them and tugged on the belt to her robe so he could spread the fabric wide. Ah,
yes
. The feel of her silken flesh against his body was exquisite torment. The ripe scent of her desire teased his nose. He slipped his hand up to cup her full breast and thumbed the tip until it went taut. She moaned against his lips, and the kiss grew wilder, fiercer. Their tongues danced together, their breath rushing against each other’s skin. She bit his lower lip and he snarled, his hands clutching at her hips.

He was a half-second away from flipping her onto her back and plunging into her tight, wet sheath when his stomach rumbled, and a dangerous craving gnawed at the back of his consciousness. Bloodlust. Too much time had passed since he’d fed, and losing control of his passions might mean losing control of his need to feed. Reluctant as he was to ruin this hot, sweet moment with Erin, he knew there was no choice. He turned his head to break the kiss. “Erin, I—”

“Mmm?” She went after his mouth again, capturing his lips. His lust spiked, his dick throbbing with painful insistence. The pounding of her pulse called to him as much as the scent of her arousal. Every one of his baser instincts craved her now.

It took far more effort than it should have to set his hands on her shoulders and hold her away from him. “Sweetheart, I skipped lunch and dinner yesterday. I haven’t had any elixir in over twenty-four hours.”

Normally, he could go as long as two full days without feeding if he had to, but her lying across his chest, so lush and inviting, tested boundaries he never wanted to cross.

She blinked, the haze of desire clearing slowly. “Oh.
Oh
.”

“Yeah, exactly.”

“I, uh, don’t have any more here. You got the last of my supply when—” She coughed, glanced away. “You got the last of my supply.”

He sat up, forcing himself to retie her robe before he did something incredibly stupid. “I brought some with me. It’s in my bag.”

After reaching up to run her fingertip over his lip, she flicked her nail against one of his extended fangs. “Such a shame.”

Careful not to scrape her with his sharp canines, he drew her finger into his mouth and sucked until she shuddered, her gaze darkening with need. Gods, he loved how responsive she was. “I’ll make it up to you later.”

When he rose from the bed, she gave his ass a quick smack. “I’m going to hold you to that.”

“I’m counting on it.” He laughed as he walked over to where he’d dumped his bags on the floor before he’d showered. He sucked down a full canister of elixir in short order and the bloodlust buzzing through him eased until he felt almost normal. His stomach grumbled again, reminding him of his other hunger.

“All right, all right, I’ll make you some food.” With a pointed glance at his midsection, Erin hopped out of bed and went over to her closet to dress. “You know, before I tie you up and use you as my love slave again.”

Chuckling, he stepped up behind her and nipped at the back of her neck. “Anything you need, sweetheart.”

It surprised him a little that he meant what he said, rather than it being a flippant comment. He’d rarely had enough faith in any woman to let himself be bound during sex. The lack of power and control was something he’d usually avoid. But for her? He trusted her not to do anything he wouldn’t want, just as he’d expected all of his lovers to trust him. The reverse had only been true for a few, and Erin was in that minority.

They filed out into her main room, and she flitted about the kitchen with practiced ease. A pile of buttery toast and fluffy scrambled eggs loaded with melted cheese and a bit of sour cream were on a plate in front of him before she asked, “Where’s Gregor? I expected him to turn up the moment he smelled food.”

“Call his phone.” Then he paused, a faint rumble of the elevator reaching his ears, followed by Gregor’s distinctive scent. “Never mind. He’ll be here in about thirty seconds.”

“I’m not even going to ask how you know that,” she muttered, and added three more eggs to the skillet.

“How do you know he’s hungry?”

Her eyebrow arched an arrogant inch. “When I cook, people eat.”

“Modesty is so sexy.” He fought a grin and lost.

She laughed, the sound rising and falling like a music scale. Listening to it made his smile widen. He forked the first bite of eggs and groaned. “I thought it would taste strange with the sour cream in it, but…this is amazing.”

“I told you—when I cook, people eat. And they love it like a fat kid loves cake.” Her expression was smug. “Especially if I baked that cake.”

“Is there cake? Because I only smell breakfast.” Gregor came through the front door, sniffing the air like a hunting hound.

“No cake, just toast and eggs.” Erin used a spatula to serve the other vampire, then set his plate at the stool next to Luca’s. “Sit and have some.”

She put another couple of eggs on the stove while the redhead set a stack of files on the counter, slid onto the stool, and dug into his food. He paused his chewing just long enough to say, “I found out something interesting about Mr. Kondan.”

Luca jutted his chin toward the files. “Those look like hospital records.”

“They are.” The redhead’s nod was easy, as if he hadn’t just broken into a doctor’s office and stolen confidential information.

Luca snorted, but ate a few more bites of his eggs before he commented. “You know I could have gotten copies of them legally.”

“What fun would there be in that?” Gregor’s sideways glance questioned Luca’s sanity.

Erin broke in with a roll of her eyes. “So, the interesting thing about Asher?”

“Right.” Gregor offered one of his chipper smiles. “You said your car was vandalized five days ago?”

“Yes, why?” She ducked down to turn the stove off, then slid the last round of eggs onto a plate for herself.

He opened the file and spun it around so she could read it. His fingertip tapped the part he wanted her to see. “Asher Kondan couldn’t have done it. He was in the hospital for a medical procedure.”

Instead of reading, she gave the redhead a look of patented disbelief. “What kind of medical procedure would a vampire need?”

“A cosmetic one,” Luca answered. Even upside down, he could see what Gregor had pointed out. Interesting. Several possibilities filtered through his mind—those that involved Asher being involved in the vandalism anyway and those that didn’t. Either way, this situation was more complex than it first appeared. He needed to get his hands on whatever information the FBI had on this guy. He hadn’t finished looking Kondan up yesterday, but his laptop was in his bag so he could clear that problem up after breakfast.

Erin walked around the island and parked herself in the stool on Luca’s other side. She leaned forward to address both men. “He had plastic surgery? No way. Not Asher. He thought he was the prettiest thing to ever grace the planet.”

“Not that kind of cosmetic.” Luca pulled the file away from the other vampire to read it properly. “It’s the latest fad for vampires—a full transfusion.”

“You mean he had a blood transfusion
for fun?
” Incredulousness rang in her tone.

It was a struggle to keep the smile off his face. “Some of the more—”

“Idiotic, yuppie dipshit vampires,” Gregor interjected.

“—think their blood becomes weakened by using elixir, and strengthened by vampiric blood-sharing, so they undergo a transfusion to replace all their blood with donated vampire blood.”

The disbelief didn’t entirely fade, but the idea had piqued her curiosity. She shifted in her seat to read over his shoulder. “Seriously?”

Luca touched a fingertip to the dates of the hospital stay, which clearly overlapped the day her car had been trashed. “The process takes a while to complete, so there’s no popping in and popping out. Usually you’re hooked up to needles for a good twenty-four hours with blood draining out of you and being pumped back in.”

Suspicion shone in her gaze when she raised her eyes from the file to his face. “How do you know so much about this?”

Right. As if he’d participate in this kind of bullshit. “I have a cousin or two who’ve undergone the process. They claim it’s invigorating.”

“Morons,” Gregor muttered, using his toast to mop up what was left of his eggs. It looked as if he’d licked the plate clean when he was done.

“That was my thinking too.” Luca nodded and finished his breakfast. “Some of my cousins qualify as ‘idiotic, yuppie dipshit vampires.’”

Gregor’s gaze gleamed appreciatively at that, but he refocused on Erin. “Anyway. He’s not our guy for the vandalism.”

“Doesn’t mean he couldn’t have an accomplice,” Luca said. “I’m not ready to rule him out as a suspect.”

“Agreed.” Gregor got up to fetch himself some coffee, and brought steaming mugs back to Erin and Luca. “I’ve already got my contacts trying to run down everything on his friends, family and associates. Discreetly, of course.”

Sipping the coffee, Luca sat back on his stool. “I’ll put some of my people on it too. Let’s see what kind of rocks we turn over.”

The redhead toasted him with his mug. “And what kind of slimy crawlers are hiding under those rocks.”

“That too.” He inclined his head to acknowledge the point. “We also need to look more closely at other possibilities though. Disgruntled customers, employees, friends, family.” He looked at Erin, saw the fear building in her blue gaze. “We’ll find whoever’s doing this to you.”

“I just…was so sure it would be cut and dry. Asher did it.” Her hands trembled as she lifted her cup to her lips.

Luca rubbed a palm up and down her back, hoping to give her some comfort, but there was no escaping what was happening to her. “It might still be him. We just have to make sure we don’t overlook anything. Your safety is too important to take this lightly or make assumptions.”

Assumptions got people killed in his experience, but he kept that to himself. The look in Gregor’s eyes said exactly the same thing Luca was thinking. Erin was innocent of the kind of depravity Gregor and he had witnessed, and Luca wanted her to hold on to that innocence. He wished he could shield her from everything, but they’d need her cooperation as they dug into every aspect of her life—personal and professional.

More than just her home was about to be invaded.

What if it wasn’t Asher?

Erin’s mind spun in sickening circles. It was easier to deal with all of this when she had a target for her rage, when she had someone to blame for stalking her. But this new evidence from Gregor meant her stalker might not have been Asher after all. Her heart constricted, her throat closing over the whimper that wanted to escape. It was even more terrifying not knowing who was doing this. When it was some nameless, faceless menace, it made her feel that much more vulnerable.

It could be anyone. Even someone she barely knew, who she’d never suspect if they passed her on the street. Bitter bile flooded her mouth, and her stomach heaved on the food she’d so recently consumed. She clamped a hand over her mouth.