Hunger Untamed H3 (21 page)

“Please,” Victor said, unable to recall the last time in his life when he’d been this close to begging. “You helped us with Sage, and I can’t thank you enough, but I’m here because the woman I made, my progeny, she’s everything good in this world. I can’t lose her.”

Corin didn’t flinch a muscle. “I told you last time you were here that I’d dispatch you myself if you ever returned.” His hand tightened on the stake still less than a few inches from Victor’s head. “Why shouldn’t I just do it and save the Council the problem?”

Victor searched for something profound to say, something that would sway the executioner or buy him some time. He’d driven the long two hours because he had no other choice. With only one thread of hope left, he had to grab on to it. He had to try.

Now, as he stared death in the face, words failed him. His memory supplied him a visual of his Lucy, flushed and drowsy and in his arms. Her hazel eyes looked at him with an emotion she hadn’t yet spoken, but he knew existed anyway. The subtle tilt of her lips, the beginning of a smile, lending her a celestial beauty. His heart hurt without her in his life.

“Because I want a little girl, too,” Victor said softly. “Our little girl who looks just like her.”

He looked up in time to catch a flicker in Corin’s eyes. The latter man slowly lowered his arm, the stake no longer an imminent danger. “Fuck,” he muttered. “What has this world come to when men such as us are brought to our knees by little toes covered in pink nail polish and afternoons of pretend tea parties?”

“Don’t tell anyone,” Victor grunted.

“If any of the others found out that I kiss six stuffed animals before bed every night, I’d never hear the end of it.” Corin jerked his head toward the doorway. “Come, fill me in. Let’s figure out what we’re going to do about the Council and your progeny. I don’t guarantee you anything.”

“I know.”

Victor figured he should know why they’d wanted Sage, so after they sat in a small study, he gave the bare bones of Lucy’s history with the man. Enough to make a case for his elimination. Like Victor, Corin found the introduction of spice into humans, treating them as a conduit, abhorrent.

“I have a friend,” Corin said, once he’d finished, “who also created a progeny without the Council’s approval. They are alive and well and living free of the Council’s hassle.”

Victor sat up straighter. “What?”

“It’s a well-kept secret, and I trust you’ll keep it also. If everyone knew about him, vampire creations would run rampant. I’m only telling you that much to give you a little hope. It’s not impossible to skirt the law, you just have to come up with a really, really good reason to get the Council to ignore you.”

“How did they get away with it?”

“He’s only part vampire. The other part apparently scared the shit out of the Council members present to see it.” Corin chuckled to himself. “Do you happen to have an ability to eat a vampire if he pissed you off enough?”

Victor blinked, not sure if he was joking or not. “Uh, no, but I keep thinking what they did to Lucy...there has to be consequences for it. Something they’d want to hide.”

“It’s a place to start. I wish I had an answer for you, I really do. I wouldn’t want to be alive without my wife. When she gave me a baby too...words fail me. Find a way to keep your woman safe. One exists.”

Less than an hour later, and Victor was back on the road. He and Corin had twisted everything they knew about the Council, reasons why they could bend the laws to their advantage, but neither came up with anything useful. If Victor thought staying there another hour would have helped, he would have, but they were getting no closer to a solution. Corin gave him as much as he could offer without putting his other friend in danger, and Victor was grateful for the tidbit of information. He left without any answers, but at least felt like he now had an ally.

The two-hour drive home went by quickly, his mind churning with ways to distract the Council away from Lucy. By the time he pulled into the final road to his house, though, he’d somehow abandoned thoughts of Council and reminisced on his feisty progeny.

He didn’t wonder if she’d gotten rid of Sage. He’d given her some of the skills she needed; new vampire strength helped even the odds. Her righteous hatred toward the man leveled the playing ground.

He didn’t have to worry about her one bit. Not until an executioner found her.

Fuck
.

Victor slammed his hand against the steering wheel. The pain shocked him, but it kept him from doing something stupid like tearing off the wheel and throwing it out of the car. He’d never been so fucking frustrated in all of his life and never, never so close to failure before.

What kind of shitty mercenary was he? He could track down anyone, living or dead, break into cars and houses, kill a person without blinking. But keeping alive the one person who mattered the most, stayed out of reach. If he thought for a split second sending Lucy to live among the werewolves would help—

Wait a minute.

He veered the car sharply to the side of the road and then stomped on the brakes. His damned hands were shaking when he withdrew the phone from the console and scrolled through recent numbers. He recognized a few of the digits without having to read the name associated with it.

“Merc, if you don’t fucking stop calling me,” Cicero growled into his ear.

“I need a favor—”

“God d—”

“Next job’s on the house if you do this for me.”

The pause that followed went on for so long, Victor couldn’t be sure they hadn’t been disconnected. About to pull the phone away from his ear to check, at last Cicero said, “Go on.”

“There was an assassination tonight. And I know who did it. I’ll give up what I know in exchange for the safety of my progeny.” His heart kicked hard, every part of him knowing they had no reason to trust him. No reason to not kill him for the fun of it. But maybe, maybe someone there would be curious enough to find out what he had to say.

Lucy’s life depended on it.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Victor stumbled his way into the bar. It didn’t matter if people stared at him. Never did. He just wanted to get his drink and keep drinking until he stopped hurting. Until he stopped thinking about her.

Three weeks of sending her letters and emails and phone calls. None answered.

It hadn’t taken long to track her down through her credit card trail. Not many places sold the type of lingerie she’d bragged about owning. After cracking a few databases, voila, he’d hit pay dirt.

His skills hadn’t mattered though. None of it mattered now. He’d fucked up so badly, and the only thing he wanted to do was set things right. She wouldn’t let him.

His Lucy in the sky, smile like diamonds. At least she would be safe from the Council for the rest of her life. He’d done one thing right.

The bartender placed a tumbler of whiskey in front of him after he sat down at the bar, and Victor threw it back. Smart woman waited for him to get through three more shots before finally pouring the fourth and moving away to tend to other customers.

He couldn’t feel either side of his face right now and if he timed the next drink just right, maybe he’d stop feeling the ache in his chest too. At the very least, he’d stop feeling his toes.

Victor laughed to himself.

Must have made the next guy over nervous, because he picked up his beer and moved a few seats down. Victor studied the amber liquid, wondering if maybe he should have some O-neg thrown in to spice it up a little. Damn, he couldn’t even remember the last time he’d had something to eat.

“Need to eat,” he muttered. Needed nutrition too, because he could smell her and that had to mean something.

“Tell me why.”

That voice.
Victor opened his eyes, his heart double-thumping madly.

The world spun when he whipped his head around to look at the strawberry blonde sitting next to him. She wore her hair pulled high and away from her face, the red glyph on her slender neck like food to a starving man. He ran his gaze over the smoothness of her skin and traced the plump outline of her lips. It took him a second to remember that she’d spoken.

“Why what, doll?”

“Why did you sell me out? Why give Sage to the lycans before you gave him to me?”

He rubbed a hand over his face, regretting the alcohol he’d consumed. His physiology would burn it off soon enough, but for this he wanted a clear head. When she walked away from him again, he wanted her to leave knowing the last time she’d seen him hadn’t been at his worst.

Help me say this right.
Help me keep her.

“I didn’t sell you out. Sage had a price on his head, coming from multiple places. When you got done with him, it would have been over. The end.”

“You thought I’d kill him?”

“Thought? Hell, I knew you would. Lucy, if there’s one thing I’ve learned about you, it’s you are not a woman to be underestimated. You want something and you’re going after it, consequences be damned. If you had to walk through fire to get to Sage, you would have doused yourself with gasoline and done it.” He burped. “Excuse me. And I knew once you had him, that was it for everyone else. No one would get another chance.”

She wrinkled her nose before her gaze dropped to his mouth. She seemed to study the downward turn before shaking her head loose of whatever thought had grabbed her. “But that doesn’t tell me why you gave him to Locke first. Why didn’t you think the lycans would have killed him, robbing me of my chance?”

“That’s easy. He wasn’t guilty of the crime they were accusing him of.” His head began to clear.

“What?”

Victor shrugged. “It didn’t make sense for him to be. Using tech that accidentally ended up hurting you and your sister, that made sense to me. Hurting people with his own two hands just for the thrill of it? Nah. Sage was too into himself to get dirty like that. Locke would question him and never get the answers he wanted, no matter how he tried. Sage was walking away from Locke.” He looked her directly in the eyes. “But he wasn’t getting away from you.”

“And you were sure of this?”

“I bet my life on it.”

Lucy looked surprised. “What does that mean?”

“You,” he said. “If I was wrong, I was going to lose you and I knew it. Like losing my heart if I lost you. Losing the best part of me. I bet my life when I handed Sage over.”

Her eyes widened, the hazel green in them captivating him. “What am I supposed to do with that?” she whispered.

Victor shrugged. He’d only told her the truth.

She licked her lips and then searched the room. A few men and women stared her way, their gazes inevitably going to that glyph she insisted on displaying. He took perverse pride in having her sit next to him while others were forced to drool at a distance. This woman who held his heart...

“And Sage’s men?”

“What about them?”

A crease appeared between her brows. “Never mind. I suppose it doesn’t matter. But I do have one final question.”

“Shoot.”

“Are you really available to the highest bidder?”

“That’s the way mercenaries operate—”

“Oh.” Lucy visibly deflated.

“But you of all people should know that you never have to question my loyalty to you. I don’t care who’s offering me a job or how much they’re paying, my loyalty to you is absolute. You’re my progeny.” He reached for her hand, curling it in his. A part of his mind still didn’t believe she sat here in his presence after finally believing that he’d lost her forever. The moment he touched her, his heart began to beat again. “And you’re my world. I am humbled by your goodness and your beauty and who you are. I’ve fallen so hard for you I’ll lose my cool card the minute the others find out.”

A slow smile pushed at Lucy’s lips. “Your cool card, huh?”

“Gone.” He snapped his fingers.

After a long minute of consideration, Lucy leaned into him, and Victor wanted to whoop at the top of his lungs. He wanted to hold her forever and if she let him, he would. “I’m still scared that the spice is running through my system and maybe all of this is just some sort of residual effect.”

“Could be, but I don’t think so,” he murmured against her head. “I think you’re just stuck with me for the rest of our lives. Do you think that might be alright?”

Her arms wrapped around his waist, and a peace enveloped Victor. Whatever more they faced, they would be doing it together, and that was alright with him.

“So...where do we go from here?” Lucy asked.

“Wherever you want, doll, so long as I’m by your side.”

Lucy wrapped his shirt around her fist and tugged until he leaned closer. Her mouth brushed his, the taste of her familiar and welcoming. There wasn’t anything more in this world he could have asked for beyond this woman.

“Can I ask you something now? Why did you come back? I thought...”

She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a piece of notebook paper. It had been folded into a square, which Lucy straightened. Her gaze went to the words on the page, a smile lifting her cheeks as she read from it. Then she looked at him and said, “In all my years as a blood slave, I have been wooed by captains of industry, leaders of small countries and the gloriously wealthy. In exchange for my affection, they would offer me jewels and furs and cars and anything my heart desired. But I always turned them down. Never thought what they were saying was sincere. But then I got this letter from a vampire who could make me laugh and who’d held me when I’d cried. I read his letter and I knew I couldn’t give him up. I’d needed to cool down, but I would have been an idiot to let him get away.”

The first letter he’d sent her had been pages long. In between apologies, he’d explained meeting with the Council and striking a bargain that kept them safe. They’d known about Sage’s death and as he’d suspected, would do anything in exchange for more information. An ex post facto sanctioning of Lucy’s turning seemed a small price to pay. After he’d told them about the lycans’ interest in Sage, he’d gotten their documented approval. He’d been light on the details about the lycans, not pointing to Locke or anyone in particular, but supplying just enough to plant a seed. What they did with it was up to them. The vampires’ hatred for lycans alone would have them spinning for the next hundred years in a futile search.

Hell, he’d even notified Locke of the Council’s interest in his pack. The lycan seemed to shrug off the additional attention, almost as if he expected nothing less. Without evidence, he doubted the Council would make a move against any of them because it could lead to very bad things, he’d said.

Whatever. Victor had eased his conscience by telling him about the scrutiny. If Locke didn’t think anything of it, then neither would Victor.

As the days passed and Lucy hadn’t called him back or even sent a text, he’d tried to be less intimidating with his intensity and stick to the basics of what he needed her to know. Something in his words must have struck a chord, thank the universe. He tilted his head to read the words, curiosity building. From his vantage, he couldn’t read the page. “Which one did it for you?”

“They were all lovely. All of them. You have a way with words.”

For fuck’s sake, was he blushing?

Lucy slid the page forward. “But this one? It grabbed on and wouldn’t let go. It’s one of the short ones. It says,
I
bought a cookbook
.”

His ears burned. “I like cooking for you,” he muttered.

Lucy reached for his face, her soft hand stroking over the good side of his jaw. It didn’t matter who else was in the room with them, because at the moment he couldn’t see anyone else. She had his undivided attention.

She leaned forward, and Victor met her halfway, their mouths brushing. He pulled her closer, drawing her into his lap so he could kiss her properly. They’d been apart for too long, and he missed her.

“You know I love you, right?” she asked in a soft voice.

He kissed her again, getting drunk on her taste. Memorizing it. “You are my heart,” he murmured, his lips brushing hers. “I love you, too.”

Tucking herself next to his body made everything right in the world. “Now that I’ve got all these great skills and no job, I need to get a new one.”

“Oh, yeah? What kind of job are you thinking?”

“I’m a crack shot and know how to gouge a man’s eyeballs out. I’m thinking mercenary might not be a bad deal. I bet I could get Locke to hire me for my first job.”

Victor growled before he could call it back. “Over my d—”

“Shh,” she said, hushing him with a finger over his mouth. A quick touch of her lips followed. “Gotcha. I have no interest in a werewolf. I’m more interested in a vampire who can take me home to his bed and while he’s deep inside me, drink his fill.”

Victor stilled, aware of the depth of trust she showed him now. Aware he’d never break it again. “You and me, forever,” he said softly.

“You and me,” she agreed.