Eternal Craving (4 page)

His soul crept closer to the mouth of its cave, but Al wouldn’t allow a repeat of last night. He tightened his grip on his control. Squeezing, squeezing, squeezing…

Hot liquid spilled over his fingers. Shocked, he glanced down. His mug lay in pieces as coffee soaked into the tablecloth.

“Very good.” Fin sounded surprised but pleased that Al hadn’t gone primitive on him.

Al could only nod as Greer rushed to mop up his precious table.

How could you hate a guy while at the same time knowing he was right? Al understood that Fin had to shut him down. One loose cannon could out them and throw every human in the city into a panic. Fin couldn’t take a chance on that.

With the violence option off the table, Al satisfied himself with silently cursing Fin. He used every word Fin had poured into his head and some that he hadn’t.

“Inventive. I’m impressed. Just make sure when you’re with Jenna you keep your emotions under control. Don’t broadcast, and for God’s sake don’t turn your soul loose. Ty made a mistake with Kelly because he let her feel his rage and lust, and then he let his soul escape. She didn’t have to do a damn thing. He connected all the dots for her.”

The voice in his head didn’t surprise Al. He welcomed it. After all, what fun would mental curses be if Fin wasn’t listening?

Then Fin turned his attention back to the others. “I know being around me and close to each other is working on your tempers, but keep it cool. I want Jenna to see a bunch of really kind and gentle guys.” He seemed to think about that for a moment. “Okay, that might be tough. But at least talk a good game. Make her think you’d throw yourself in front of a bus for your fellow man.”

There was a collective groan that was cut off suddenly as Jenna entered the room.

Coffee. Jenna needed a shot of caffeine before she could think about last night. Following her nose, she paused in the doorway to the dining room.

Kelly hadn’t told Jenna she would have to eat breakfast with the savage hordes. Missionaries, ha. Jenna took a deep breath and scanned the men sitting around the long table. Eleven pairs of eyes stared back at her. None of them looked friendly except for Ty’s and Fin’s. And Fin’s friendliness was dipped in sinister.

Jenna propped up the walls of her determination with some false bravado and tried to decide where to sit. There were two empty seats next to Ty. Probably for Kelly and her.

Ty was still smiling, but his eyes looked worried. Why? Interesting. He pointed to the seat beside him. Jenna shook her head.

She’d never find out the truth of what was going on here if she attached herself to Ty. She had to set up shop in the belly of the beast. So taking a last survey of the empty chairs, she walked around the table and settled herself next to the guy Fin had called Al.

Jenna didn’t look at him, but she could feel the virtual darts of dislike he was sending her way. And beneath that, she sensed something stronger, emotion that raged and roared, fought to escape. She did some mental eye-rolling. Talk about an overactive imagination.

But she hadn’t imagined his dislike. Too bad Al hadn’t talked to Kelly about her. Kelly could’ve told him that Jenna only had one reaction to anything negative flung her way. She caught it and heaved it back.

Jenna poured herself a cup of coffee, added sugar and cream, stirred it, and then took a gulp. A sip wasn’t big enough to get her through the next few minutes. Turning her head, she smiled at him, showing lots of teeth. “So how long have you been a missionary?”

She had to keep her smile from wobbling because…Wow, just wow. Last night she’d been dead on her feet, and he’d been standing in shadows. In the bright light of midmorning, he was a sight to behold.

Jenna had already done her body inventory of him last night—almost as tall as Ty, muscular, über alpha-type, but she’d missed his more subtle points…“What’s your last name?”

“Endeka.”

The ghost of a smile touched lips so sensual she wanted to reach up to skim her fingers across them.

“We’re all Endekas. Ty’s my cousin.” The smile disappeared completely. “I’m into the missionary life. It’s been such a blast that it seems like only minutes ago I first took my vow to help others.”

Yeah, right. Jenna’s bullshit hat was planted firmly on her head. She spent lots of working hours squeezing stories out of people who were professional liars. No matter what Al’s luscious lips were saying, he wasn’t one of life’s nice guys.

She knew that because? His eyes. He had eyes that could lure a woman into all kinds of sexy or possibly even illegal situations. Maybe both at once. They were hazel. She’d wondered about that. A lot. It was a little unsettling to realize how much she wondered. And if eyes truly were the windows to the soul, Al’s soul was a scary place. So many emotions, all of them dark.

Jenna blinked and broke eye contact. “I admire someone with your kind of calling.” She didn’t even try to sound sincere.

His soft laughter walked up her spine on silent predator’s paws. “You’d be surprised at what I do for my ‘calling.’ ”

No, I wouldn’t. And I’ll find out soon enough.
She shifted her gaze to his hair. Dark brown. He’d braided it, and the braid fell almost to the base of his spine.

She wondered on a purely impersonal level what that hair would look like freed and falling around his shoulders. Things got a little less impersonal as she wondered what those silky strands—they’d have to be silky because he was that kind of a guy—would feel like skimming across her bared body. Drawing in a deep breath, she banished that thought to the trash bin where it belonged.

“Kelly told us you were a journalist. What kinds of stories do you write?” His expression said, “Making meaningless conversation here.”

Jenna smiled. She always loved this part. “I write about vampire attacks, werewolf maulings, ghost infestations, and alien abductions.” Her theory was never act defensive about what you do. Always attack first.

Instead of the expected snort of derision, he simply nodded and continued eating. How…disappointing.

It didn’t look like he intended to hold up his end of the conversation, so she shifted her attention to the man on the other side of her. He had the requisite great body and face that was evidently required to join this missionary society, but there his similarity to Al ended.

He had short spiked blond hair, brilliant blue eyes, and a gorgeous smile. But she wasn’t sure she believed that smile. She glanced past him and realized the two men who sat next to him were carbon copies.

She grinned. “Triplets?”

“Yeah.” His smile widened. “We do everything together.”

Jenna didn’t find that particularly comforting.

He nodded at the two other men. “These two are Tor and Rap. I’m Utah.”

She didn’t ask him to explain who was who because she’d never be able to tell them apart anyway. Jenna leaned forward and smiled at the other men.

Tor, or maybe it was Rap, spoke up. “How long do you think you’ll be here?” The unspoken addendum was, “I hope it won’t be long.”

She was sure of that. He was still smiling, but his eyes had a “get lost” gleam to them. Ah, it was great to be wanted. “A week or two. I don’t have to worry about my job. My laptop’s in my room, and I bet Philly has as many weird stories as Houston.”

Jenna could’ve sworn they all looked a little wary, but maybe she was imagining it. Could be she was seeing deceit everywhere she looked because she was worried about Kelly. Maybe she should back off and give these guys the benefit of the doubt until they proved they didn’t deserve it.

She considered that for a nanosecond.

Nope, couldn’t do it.

Her intuition was scarily accurate, and her intuition was pointing fingers and taking names. And so far it had the names of everyone she’d talked to since she’d arrived last night, including her loving but lying sister.

Utah’s smile faded, revealing a face that could only be described as predatory. “Some stories shouldn’t be told.”

A warning? It sure sounded like it. Jenna had never considered herself a coward, but she quickly shifted her gaze to the man across the table from her.

Jenna recognized Lio from last night. There was something really sexy about his square-neck chunky sweater. It wasn’t the color. Dark gray wasn’t a huge turn-on. It was the way he wore it, as though he could stride down any street in the country and women’s heads would turn. His hair, his clothes, his attitude said, “I’m too rich for any woman’s blood, but for the woman who dares…” Jenna couldn’t finish that line, because she didn’t know what would happen to a woman who dared.

Lio’s smile was cool, his gaze assessing. “What do you want to do while you’re here in Philly?”

She tried to look casual as she took a sip of coffee before answering. “Visit with Jenna, see Independence Hall, maybe take a look at your soul-saving techniques.” Jenna deliberately met his gaze. “Just in case I ever have the urge.” Okay, that sounded ridiculous.

Lio dismissed her comment with a contemptuous twist of his lips. “We don’t save
souls
, Ms. Maloy.”

She opened her mouth to blow his sarcastic butt off the chair when Fin saved him.

“We’re not missionaries in any religious sense, Jenna. I’m sorry if you got that impression. We search the night for people who’ve been cast aside by society, who need a second chance at life, and we give them that chance. We’re sort of hands-on philanthropists.”

Jenna nodded. “That makes more sense. You guys don’t fit the missionary mold.”

“and what’s the missionary
mold
?” Al sounded as though he was holding back laughter.

She hated anyone laughing at her. Always had. Jenna turned on him. “Gentle, kind, caring, and good.” And yes, she’d just insulted all of them, but maybe they needed to know from the beginning that she wasn’t a naïve ninny.

He watched her from eyes backlit by something savage and hungry. “What
are
we then?”

Jenna wasn’t sure who was more surprised when the truth popped out. “Hard, predatory, and…” She shrugged. “Only as good as you need to be.” Fine. So she wasn’t sure about the last.

“An interesting judgment.” Fin’s voice was the purr before the pounce.

Suddenly, Jenna knew she had to get out of there. Panic was an invisible hand clapped over her mouth, her nose, smothering her until she didn’t think she could take another breath. Where, how…She never panicked. “I think I’ll pass on breakfast.”

With no other explanation, she pushed her chair away from the table. Fin watched her from those strange eyes, and for a moment she thought she saw satisfaction there. “I want to save my appetite for a Philly cheesesteak.” She kept her walk to a slow stroll even as her breaths came in short gasps. These guys wouldn’t see her run.

Jenna was leaning against the wall outside the dining room trying to catch her breath when Kelly showed up. Her sister looked a bit wild-eyed.

“Where were you? I knocked on your door, but you’d left.” Kelly must’ve realized she sounded a little strident, because she smiled. “I thought we could have breakfast together, just us.”

“That’s okay, I grabbed something. Ty’s waiting for you in there.” Jenna wanted to talk to Kelly alone but not right now. She needed time to recover from whatever had just happened. “I have a couple of things to do in my room. Knock when you’re ready to go shopping.”

Once back in her room, she avoided all thoughts of breakfast as she turned on her laptop and pulled up her file on the Endekas. She’d put it together back in Houston, but no matter how hard she had dug, she’d found zip. Fin and the others seemed to have sprung up fully grown from, well, nothing. No record of parents, past jobs, or just plain living.

For a short while, she immersed herself in adding the details of who had said what at breakfast and a description of each man.

Finally she shut down the computer, leaned her head back against the couch, and allowed herself to think about the panic. It hadn’t come from inside her. No amount of psychobabble would convince her it had. Then where the hell did it come from?

Jenna had no answer to that. Yet.

Hell was shopping with her sister at the same time she tried to wring information from her. Jenna knew this for a fact. She’d been working at it all afternoon. But Walnut Street had too many damn stores. Every time Jenna brought up Fin or his men, Kelly ducked into another shop and bought something expensive.

So now it was almost dark, Jenna’s feet hurt, and she hadn’t squeezed even a squeak out of her sister. The thought of walking back to Fin’s condo carrying a mountain of bags made her want to groan.

She played with the idea of letting Kelly win this round, but too much was at stake. Sure, Jenna had avoided things in her life when it suited her, but this wasn’t one of those times. This time the safety of her sister was involved.

Without giving her sister a chance to fight her, she steered Kelly into a small restaurant. “Look, you’ve dragged me to every store on this street, and now I want my reward.” Once they went back to the condo, Jenna would have Ty’s presence to contend with. This might be the last time today to get her sister alone.

Looking weary for the first time, Kelly allowed herself to be led to a dimly lit corner of the restaurant. With a huge sigh, she piled her bags beside her.

Jenna waited until the waiter had taken their order before easing into what she wanted to say. “Jeez, sis, I can’t believe you bought all this stuff. Why didn’t you go shopping with Ty sooner if you needed clothes and shoes and purses and everything else under God’s blue sky?”

Kelly cast a disgusted glance her way. “Oh, come on, you’re smart. How long do you think Ty would’ve lasted after I hit the first shoe store? Only a woman can shop with a woman.”

Some women weren’t born to buy, and right now Jenna hated Ty for sacrificing her to the gods of obsessive shoppers. He’d given Kelly this idea. Only her need to ferret out the truth about Fin and his tribe of really weird but beautiful men had kept her trudging from store to store. “Yeah, well, I think the shop owners of Walnut Street are going to erect a statue to you and your credit card.” She took a deep breath. “Okay, sis, you know what I’m going to ask. What the hell is going on with Ty and his relatives? Oh, and by the way, I don’t believe that relative crap either.”

The expected denials didn’t come this time. A promising sign. Kelly seemed to wilt in her seat.

“This isn’t the place, sis. I’ve got a lot of things to explain, and I don’t want you going ballistic in a public place.”

Whoa, that didn’t sound good. “Have you read the kind of stuff I write? There isn’t much that can shake me.” Jenna hoped.

Silence stretched between them as their waiter brought the food. Afterward, Jenna poked at her salad, waiting for Kelly to begin. When she didn’t, Jenna gave her a gentle sisterly nudge. “For God’s sake, stop with the mysterious silence. Just spit it out.”

Kelly abandoned what she was trying to eat and leaned back in her chair. “Fine. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Hey, mind if I join you?” The voice was deep, male, and had “in bed” tacked onto the end of that sentence.

No, no, no! Jenna turned with a snarl on her lips to the man who’d interrupted them. And then she blinked. Somehow she’d thought he’d be one of Ty’s “cousins.” She was wrong.

What was it with Philly? There must be some kind of magnetic field around the city, because Jenna had never seen so many extraordinary men gathered in one place before. He towered over them, at least as tall as Ty. Hair that blended shades from intense to pale blond fell in a tangled glory around a face that at first she didn’t think could possibly exist outside the imagination of an artist. Al and the others were great looking, but in an earthy, savage,
human
way. Except for Fin. He was different. Like this man was different. Both of them had a kind of unearthly—had she really said that?—beauty that made them hard to describe. It was in this guy’s icy blue eyes. Stare into them long enough and you’d freeze solid.

Exhaling deeply, Jenna let the bullshit go. She wasn’t writing one of her tabloid pieces. This was just a stranger who’d interrupted her very important talk with Kelly. “Do we know you?” She tried to send a “get lost” message his way, but it was hard to sound imperious while she was sitting down and he was looming.

Not waiting for an invite, he slipped into one of the two remaining seats. “No, but I think you’ll want to, Jenna.”

She stiffened. How did he know her name? Not only had she never seen him before—and she certainly would have remembered that face and body—but this was her first visit to Philly.

Jenna got her second shock when she looked at her sister. Kelly had turned white as she stared up at the man.

He smiled at Kelly, and the temperature in the whole place seemed to rise a few degrees. No matter how cold his eyes might be, that smile was pure sizzle.

“Kelly knows me.” His attention returned to Jenna. “We met back in Houston.”

“Kelly?” Jenna looked to her sister for an explanation.

“Jenna, this is Seir.” There was something in Kelly’s voice. Not exactly fear, but a deep wariness.

Which immediately raised all of Jenna’s be-careful antennae. “Since I
didn’t
meet you in Houston…” She wasn’t going to give her sister a chance to explain this man away as no one important. Every journalistic cell in her body was screaming in caps that he was very IMPORTANT. “Why don’t you tell me a little about yourself so we can be on the same page?”

Amusement gleamed in his eyes as he glanced at Kelly. “Why don’t you explain who I am? Ty must’ve told you.”

Jenna didn’t like this guy. She didn’t like the way he’d managed to upset Kelly, and she sure didn’t like the way he’d taken a seat with them and made himself comfortable. On the other hand, he might open a crack in Kelly’s information box that so far had remained locked down tight.

Kelly refused to meet Seir’s gaze. She stared fixedly in Jenna’s general direction. “Seir knows Fin. I guess they’re not on speaking terms. The last time Ty met up with him, Seir had Ty pass a message to Fin.”

“Coward.” On Seir’s lips, the word wasn’t an insult. It was a warm caress and irresistible temptation. “You know more than that.”

Jenna agreed. Kelly was talking in half-truths. She saw it in the way her sister’s eyes darted from side to side, never quite looking directly at her.

When Kelly didn’t open her mouth to defend herself, Jenna spoke up. “Uh-huh. And who are you when you’re not busy passing messages to Fin? And by the way, since no one will tell me anything, who the hell is Fin? I know who he says he is, but who is he
really
?”

Seir laughed. It was a good laugh, low and sexy enough to make all the women in the restaurant shed a layer of clothing. “I’m the man who’s watching out for you. For example, I can tell you that someone’s been tailing you all day. Thought you might want to know.”

Even surrounded by people, Jenna felt a chill. “To know that, you had to be tailing us too.” What was going on here? It was her job to follow people, not the other way around. The cloud of doubt and suspicion that had been building ever since Kelly first told her about Ty might just be ready to rain on her. She chanced another glance at Seir’s eyes. Change that prediction to snow. One thing for sure, they weren’t walking the rest of the way to Rittenhouse Square. She’d call a taxi before they left here.

Kelly reached over and touched Jenna’s hand. Jenna shivered. Her sister’s fingers were ice cold.

“Don’t talk to him, Jenna. You don’t know what he is.”

“
What
he is?” Jenna thought this whole conversation was getting weird.

Seir didn’t look upset by her sister’s hints of something dark in his background. He stared at Kelly. “You couldn’t even begin to guess what I really am, sweetheart.” That sounded almost like a threat.

Jenna pushed her plate away and tried to catch the waiter’s eye. “I think it’s time for us to head home, sis.” If she’d been alone, Jenna would’ve made a scene and had his ass thrown out of the restaurant, but Kelly really looked upset. And her sister didn’t let too much bother her, so this guy must be serious bad news.

“Eating and running? Now you’ve hurt my feelings.”

From the expression in his cold, hard eyes, Jenna figured it would take a lot to put a dent in Seir’s feelings.

“Then I guess I’d better give you my message,” he added.

Ah, the important stuff. In Jenna’s mind, her tabloid self’s fingers were poised over the keyboard, ready to pound out a headline.

“Tell Fin he has a mole in his organization, and Zero is trying to eliminate one of the Eleven in retaliation for Fin’s getting rid of Nine.” He shrugged. “I don’t have the mole’s name, but I guess you’ll know soon enough if Fin doesn’t find him.”

Nine? The Eleven? What was that about? Code names. Ah, she got it. Organized crime. It couldn’t be anything else.

Suddenly, another man slid into the remaining seat. “I don’t know who you are, but I think you need to leave.” Al’s voice was a threatening growl.

“Hey, Al. Taking a chance coming in here, aren’t you?” Seir glanced toward the ceiling. “Not much expansion room.”

Al’s eyes flared with shock. Then they narrowed. Fury sharpened the lines in his face. He was death in high definition.

Seir didn’t look scared. Jenna sure was. But her curiosity, which didn’t respond to piddling emotions like fear, waited breathlessly for more info. She’d opened her mouth to ask a question, but Seir spoke first.

“Handling all that inner rage okay?” His smile lifted his lips, but his eyes remained frozen and flat.

Al looked like he’d taken a blow. But where Jenna would’ve moved away from Seir, Al reacted by leaning across the table and locking eyes with him. “Who. Are. You?”

Seir’s expression turned thoughtful. “Looks like Fin made Ty keep his mouth shut.” His gaze shifted briefly to Kelly. “But Ty wouldn’t keep secrets from his loving wife.”

His attention moved back to Al. “I’m Fin’s brother. I’m deeply hurt that he never mentioned me.”

Al couldn’t hide his surprise. “Why didn’t Fin tell us about you?”

Seir shrugged. “Black sheep of the family?” He waved that explanation away. “No, that’s not right. I’m definitely not the blackest sheep in our family.” He smiled. Evidently that thought amused him.

“How do you know me?”

Al seemed awfully intense about the whole thing. But then, she supposed everything in organized crime was about life or death. Not too many shades of gray. Jenna didn’t want any part of it, and she sure didn’t want Kelly mixed up in it any more than she already was.

“I met you a long, long time ago, Al.” Seir’s gaze captured Al’s. “You don’t remember, but then you don’t remember a lot of things.” After watching that last missile explode in Al’s face, he stood. “I’ve done my good deed for the day, so I’ll be on my way.”

“So you’re on our side?” Al’s voice suggested that being on anyone else’s side would not be a good thing.

Seir looked surprised. “No. I’m on my own side.” His expression darkened. “Never forget that. I only do what will make my life better. Maybe you should hope we have a lot of common goals.” And he simply walked away.

Jenna could track his path by the women’s heads turning to stare at him. There was a lot to stare at. Even though he was just wearing jeans, a T-shirt, and a leather jacket, no man could even begin to compete with his wow factor.

Except for…Jenna looked back at Al. Sure, she was furious at him for following them and wary because of his possible criminal ties, but she hoped she could still be objective about some things. Al didn’t have Seir’s unearthly beauty going on, but he definitely called up a woman’s primitive memories. His face had a primal savagery that would send most women searching for a cozy cave. This was a man who could make a woman drown in everything female about herself. He was a hormone enhancer.

Al was still staring at the door where Seir had disappeared. Finally he looked back at Kelly. Jenna might’ve been invisible for all he seemed to notice her. And that bothered her on some level.

“Why didn’t Ty or you tell the rest of us?” His voice was hard, suppressed rage behind it.

Now that Seir had left, Kelly’s courage seemed to have returned. “It wasn’t my call. Fin didn’t want anyone else to know.”

“So? Last time I checked we still had free will.”

Kelly glanced away. “Look, you’re going to have to talk to Ty or Fin. This is about the Eleven, not me.”

Jenna frowned. The Eleven again? She mentally added that to the list of all the things she wanted to ask Kelly next time she got her alone.

Then Jenna forgot about her list as she remembered she was really ticked at Al. “If what Seir said is true, you’ve been tailing us all day. Who gave you the right?”

Fin did. But Al couldn’t tell her that. Damn Fin to hell. He glanced at Kelly, but she only looked away. She’d understand why Fin had put a tail on them, but she wasn’t about to keep his ass above water. So he was on his own.

“I don’t need anyone’s permission to go wherever I want.” Attack first had always been his motto. But that was in another time. It might not work so well now.

Jenna seemed puzzled by his reply. She looked as if she was waiting for him to tack an excuse on to his statement. Well, she could wait until her pretty behind took root on that chair.

Pretty behind
. Not a safe thought. But once locked onto the mental image, his mind went crazy with it. He remembered the torture of watching the swing and sway of that behind as he followed her all day. Small, round, and compact, each cheek would fit his hands perfectly. And from there he could…

Both Kelly and Jenna’s eyes widened and focused on him. Crap. He was broadcasting. Thank God they could only lock on to his emotions, not his thoughts.

Kelly’s eyes narrowed as she glared at him. “Stop it. Stop it now.”

Jenna was on that so fast her mental processes must’ve been just a blur. “Stop what?”

“Nothing.” He and Kelly answered at the same time.

Al expected Jenna to demand an explanation, but she only nodded. Probably figured she’d corner her sister at home and get lots of answers to her questions. He didn’t envy Kelly that interrogation.