Memory of an Immortal Heart (Immortal Hearts) (15 page)

“Jesus,
Brand,” Joshua muttered and quickly pushed back from the table, and Brand
turned away. He forced his claws back into his fingers, but couldn’t keep the
tension from his shoulders as he crouched down and snagged a pair of dark gray
pants from his luggage.

Control
yourself. Don’t kill him.

Yet
Brand’s instincts roared for him to turn around, to rip Joshua’s fucking throat
open, and to Marque that laughing female so she
knew
she was his. So
every male in the world knew that Eva was
his
.

Then to
do whatever it took to get her to complete the bond with him.

“
Control
,”
Brand snarled at himself, then stalked back into the bedroom to take a second
– much colder – shower. He couldn’t Marque Eva. Not here. That was crazy
– dangerous. Fuck, he’d barely gotten her to agree to come to Stronghold.
He couldn’t frighten her off right away.

And he
wasn’t possessive.

Much.

When
Brand came back into the living area, the sky outside had darkened into a deep
blue, and the room’s central lights were turned on. The dining table had been
cleared and abandoned, and Eva was curled up on the large white leather couch,
paging through the hotel’s guidebook as she watched some old movie. The sound
was low, and Joshua was gone.

“We put
your food in the fridge,” Eva said, and Brand watched her silver eyes flicker
over him with a measuring wariness that cut straight to his heart. “Joshua
wasn’t really going to eat it. He was just saying that.”

Brand
pulled his tray from the mini fridge and put it in the microwave before turning
back to study her. Eva was staring at the hotel guidebook again, but her eyes
weren’t moving across the page.

“I’m
sorry,” he said quietly. He had enough to apologize for with her. No point in
stinting on the small apologies. And hell if he knew what else to say.

That
silver gaze rose to hold his for a long moment before dropping back to the
guidebook.

“I
think,” Eva’s soft words were pointed, “that you should be apologizing to
Joshua
.
Not to me.”

Like
hell
. Brand regretted what he had done, but if that was what it took for
Joshua to realize that – when it came to Eva – he needed to tread
carefully, then Brand wouldn’t retract it. Not if Joshua played it safe from
now on.
“Kaspian grow unreasonable…”
Joshua had commented. Brand
snorted. ‘Unreasonable’ just didn’t cover it.

Try
mentally unstable.

The
microwave beeped, and Brand pulled the hot tray out, dumping the food on one of
the plates. Then he pulled the coffee table closer to the couch and settled on
the end near Eva’s feet before digging into the steak. Eva studied him as he
ate. She lowered the guidebook.

“Why
did
you get mad at Joshua?” she asked, genuine perplexity in her voice.

“He
didn’t tell you?” Brand countered, lowering the fork. If Joshua had told Eva
about the amati bond, Brand would put that fork through his cousin’s eye. Eva
flushed.

“He
said he had provoked you. But then he called you a raging psychopath,” Eva’s
eyes narrowed. “Not that I believe either of those things, but just what
was
the problem?”

“You
really don’t want to know,” Brand said dryly. “You’ll probably start believing
him about the raging psychopath part.” His eyes dropped to her clothes; Eva
wore a sleek pair of black leggings that hugged the length of her slender legs
and a dark blue sweater that smoothed over her curves. Brand wanted to bury his
face against the warmth of her throat, to lick his way down her neckline to
those soft full breasts.

Then he
realized Eva was no longer wearing anything he recognized.

“You
have new clothes,” Brand commented, and took a careful hold on his uncertain
temper. He had a suspicion about what was coming next…

Eva’s
small smile shot through him like a lightning bolt as she smoothed her fingers
down a sleeve. “I needed shoes. When I told Joshua, he said that you would be
fine by yourself. So we went uptown. I don’t remember where, but he said Cat
–
Cateline
– always shopped there.” Eva shrugged, meeting
his eyes, “Once we were there, he passed me off to a store clerk, gave her a
card and said ‘
Spend
.’ I should mind,” Eva’s lips quirked, “I
should
feel bad for spending Joshua’s money…but he’s been such an ass to me. I think
the extra clothes were his version of an apology.” She laughed softly.

“I’ll
pay Joshua back,” Brand said abruptly. “You don’t need to worry about that.” He
took an iron grip on his killing instinct.
No wonder the bastard vacated the
room – he saw this coming
. Knowing Joshua, his cousin had been
laughing the entire time. Brand leaned forward, cut another careful bite of
steak and placed it in his mouth. He chewed. Hard.

He
didn’t care.

Eva
shook her head and closed the hotel guide. “No, don’t…this is just between me
and Joshua. I’m willing to accept his apology, Brand,” she looked frustrated,
“And I already owe you so much anyway. It’s…” she glanced at her fingers,
rubbed her right wrist where it had been sprained, “You should know it’s been a
while…”

Everything
in Brand went still at that, until Eva continued with:

“…several
weeks, actually. And there’s no way they would have held my job. It might take
me a while to pay you back for everything.”

Brand
pushed his plate away. He leaned back and studied Eva, then examined the
slender sock-covered feet that were curled beside his right thigh. She
had
needed new shoes. God knows, he should thank Joshua, not curse him.

But
what the hell was it about Joshua that made Eva feel like she could accept
gifts from him, but not from Brand?

“Eva,”
he said quietly, “I don’t give a damn about money. I don’t give a damn whether
you pay me back or not. In fact, I’d rather you didn’t. Besides. Remember our
deal? You’re helping my Gens. Everything else is even between us.”

“Brand,
I don’t know.” Eva looked pained. “You have to let me do something. I’ve only
brought you trouble. And I heard Joshua mention earlier – he was talking
to Seth – that they’re afraid the Sakai might follow us. To Stronghold.”

Brand
cursed. “Stronghold’s safe, Eva. Don’t worry about that.”

“But…”

“
Eva
.
I really don’t care.” He rubbed his temples. “What will it take for you to stop
worrying about this?”

A
pause. Brand looked up, met her gaze. Eva looked like she was about to cry.
“You don’t care at all?”

“No.”
Brand didn’t want Eva to pay him to keep his distance. He wanted Eva here, with
him. And he didn’t want her to be wearing clothes another male had bought.
Those
were the things he cared about. Not any goddamned money.

Eva was
his amati, not Joshua’s, and…hell.

“Okay.”
Eva heaved a sigh. She withdrew her slender foot slightly from his thigh, so
they were no longer touching. “Okay,” she repeated, and fixed her gaze on the
TV.

Damn it
. He
had done something. Brand looped his hand around her ankle, tugged it back
toward him. “Eva. What is it?” He prayed she wasn’t crying. Eva looked back at
him, lip held firmly between her small white teeth, but no…she wasn’t crying.

It
occurred to him that she never had cried, not after that first night.

“Are
the Kades really that rich…that they can afford this sort of thing?” She
gestured to her clothes, to the hotel room, and Brand looked around for the
first time – in a long time – and saw things through her eyes.

Brand
shrugged, suddenly uncomfortable. “We invested well. It wasn’t always this
way.”

“Ah.
Okay.” She stared at the TV again.

“Is
that
Casablanca
?”

Eva
nodded, and Brand sighed, tugging on her ankle again. “If you come over here,
and turn up the volume, I’ll watch it with you.”

Eva
didn’t say anything. She just slanted him a narrow look from her silver eyes,
as if
considering
his suggestion – then shifted across the couch.
She raised the volume with the remote before smoothly settling down beneath his
arm to watch her movie.

Brand
tucked Eva closer, breathing in the clean rain scent of her hair as her slight
body molded against his own. And for the first time in a long time, he relaxed.
His cock was another story, but his body, his mind…Brand exhaled.

For the
first time in a long time, everything felt right with the world.

As soon
as darkness fell in Chicago, men assembled on the roof of the Lentz Hotel.

Some of
them came through the side entrances, dressed as staff. Others arrived from the
back, wearing the coveralls of janitors and delivery men, and worked their way
through the ranks of the hotel’s security with a secrecy and efficiency that
spoke of long practice and careful training.

One
strolled through the front entrance, wearing two swords at his back. When the
hotel’s security team moved to stop him, he smiled and lied so well that they
believed him.

He took
the elevator to the 63
^rd
floor, stepped off, and made a call. “
Go
,”
he ordered. And then he turned, pulled a small gun from his pocket, and calmly
shot the Kaspian who had just walked around the corner with a capsule of the
venom Rohe had developed.

The
Kaspian’s eyes turned gold, sparked red. He swore, convulsed, and struggled
against the tranquilizing effect. But he didn’t run. Instead, he fought.

The
Sakai noted the blood tiger’s claws, and kept his distance. It had been many
years, but he knew what those claws could do to him. As the Kaspian staggered
forward, almost fell; he gripped at the wall, shredding it so that plaster and
gold-striped paper rained down into the hallway. Then he fell to his knees.

When
the Kaspian finally stopped moving, Corin King stepped forward to crouch over
his prey.

“I
thought you would fight more,” he said thoughtfully, meeting that furious gray
gaze. A vague disappointment moved through him. “Rohe is always speaking of the
legendary strength of the Kaspians. And yet,” he shook his head, “when I
finally face a warrior, you fall so easily.”

He
leaned forward, breathed in the scent of his prey to fix it in his memory.

The
Kaspian’s gloved hand flexed. It was fast – and when it rose, it was not
claws that found King’s throat, but the long end of a seven-inch blade. 

Corin
King felt the bite of the knife into his flesh and pulled back just enough to
salvage his windpipe and major blood vessels. He stood, holding his neck and
regulating his blood flow while he watched the Kaspian rise and stagger –
at a still-impressive speed – back around the corner of the hall.

King
approved. Most warriors were too proud to feign weakness. And this Kaspian
hadn’t fully succumbed to Rohe’s venom.

“He
must be older than I thought,” King murmured, intrigued, then removed his hand
from the cut across his throat, “And much more foolish.” The Kaspian’s claws
could have hurt him, but the knife, no. King’s will alone would keep the blood
flowing smoothly through his body while his flesh re-knit.

It was
always annoying when they cut him.

Corin
King sighed and carefully shook his head, then unsheathed a sword from his
back.

He may
as well follow. Likely, the tiger would pass out in the hall.

The
movie had ended. “I should go to bed,” Eva yawned, her head falling back to
reveal the enticing slope of her throat, her gaze so lovely that Brand leaned
forward to kiss her eyelids. She blinked, waking slightly as she smiled up at
him. “Or,” she murmured huskily, “you could do that again. Except, perhaps, to
my cheeks…and my lips…and my throat… Finish what you started the other night…”

Brand
smiled and nipped Eva’s ear; she laughed as he slanted his lips across her own.
The low purr Eva made electrified him, so that Brand pressed forward, deepening
the kiss – and then the air changed. A shadow flitted across the
skylight…

The
huge window over the dining area crashed inwards.

The
sound of shattering glass, the splintering of crystal on the dining area table,
and the scent of Sakai filled the room. The crackle of coms and rough boots and
the crash of wood furniture.

Brand
snarled, “
Stay down
,” and shoved Eva below the protective curve of the
couch. He didn’t think: he Changed.

It was
like coming itself, but Brand didn’t have time to glory in the sensation. A
moment after the fur settled on his shoulders, he was over the couch, claws
unsheathed, and ripping out the throat of the first intruder he saw.

A
protective metal collar grated between his jaws, and Brand roared before
ripping off the Sakai’s head instead. He turned and eviscerated a second
attacker, tasting the rich deep flavor of blood. Silver winked through the air,
buried into his side, and deadness spread a path into Brand’s flesh, trying to
dull his muscles, trying to dull his thoughts and reactions.