Impulse (31 page)

“Let’s just hope his real family doesn’t come calling.”

Christian stood up. “I want to play.”

Simon handed him the controller. I crossed my legs and absently placed my hand on Logan’s thigh. He eased down in the seat, stretching out his legs. That one, subtle movement caused my hand to slide farther up his leg and his breathing grew heavier, but he said nothing.

Justus and Novis left the room in the middle of a conversation about one of the locks on the doors. Simon was rubbing his nose as if he were psyching himself up to watch a fight.

Boy, was he ever
.

What happened next was so explosive it was like an accelerant on a fire. Christian managed to single-handedly strip down all civility in Logan with two simple words.

I glanced up at Logan. “Do you want to see my bedroom?”

His eyes never looked away from my hand and his lips parted as if to say something. I squeezed his leg and he let out a short groan and nodded.

The game started and Christian made a deliberate turn of his head so that he was looking at us over his shoulder. There was an odd sense of déjà vu and my brows knitted together.

“
Watch me
.”

Unexpectedly, my face flushed and I became aroused. I touched my hot cheek, unsure of what triggered such a reaction. The sensation that swam over me was erotic—a familiarity that I couldn’t place and I scooted away from Logan and cupped my arms. Logan leaned forward and his nostrils flared.

Faint spotted patterns—the color of honey, cream, and desert sand—rippled across his skin. When his canines punched out, my eyes went wide.

“Logan, no!”

I locked my arms around his neck, feeling every muscle in his body flex.

“Christian,
get out
!”

Another man’s name on my lips was the last thing Logan needed to hear. His switch flipped and he lunged.

With one shove, Christian sent us airborne and we hit the edge of the sofa. Logan’s arm hit a small glass table and it smashed against the floor. He was about to take this five-star Justus hotel down to a one.

Logan’s venom had no effect on a Vampire, but he still bared his teeth threateningly. Christian grabbed Logan’s arm and twisted hard. The skin wrinkled around and Logan belted out a painful roar.

“Let go of him!” I shouted, afraid that he would break it.

Logan swung his other arm and it should have knocked Christian down, but it didn’t.

It knocked me down.

The momentum caused me to lose my grip and I went spinning around like a drunken ballerina until I landed on my knees. Justus and Novis flashed in and stood warily by the door; one bite from Logan with all four fangs could kill a Mage. Novis took in the scene and stepped forward with an alarming confidence.

“Don’t,” I pleaded, uncertain what kind of power he might hold. Novis was a Creator, but it wasn’t uncommon for a Mage to possess multiple gifts.

Justus came up from behind and hooked his hands beneath my arms to pull me out of the brawl.

“We can’t leave him this way; someone’s going to get hurt,” I argued, pushing him away.

Justus squatted beside me with one hand on the floor and his eyes on Logan. “We have no time for you to tell him a story.”

I grabbed a shard of glass from the broken table and cut my arm. A rivulet of blood trailed down to my elbow and Justus barked out, “Learner!”

I winked at him and he clenched his jaw.

Simon wasn’t the only one with a flair for the dramatic. I doubled over like an actor in a play, allowing the blood to trickle down my arm.

“I’m hurt,” I cried.

“Well played,” Simon remarked from the sidelines.

Logan’s predatory gaze lowered and one breath later, his eyes returned to normal.

“Show me your wounds,” he said in an urgent voice. He dropped to his knees and turned my arm over to examine at the cut. The slice was deliberate and he looked at the shard in my other hand. “I don’t like trickery.”

“And I don’t like you smashing up my new house and spilling blood on the floor. What’s this all about?”

He took hold of my other arm and lowered his voice. “Did that male put his hands on you?”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

My honesty was a heavy perfume and his expression twisted when he looked at Christian. Something transpired between them and Logan rose to his feet. “Give her back her memory.”

Guilt blanketed Christian’s face and my jaw hung open. “What’s he talking about?”

“Do as he says,” Novis demanded, stepping forward with a hardened glare.

Christian walked stiffly to my side. “I was saving her the embarrassment and trouble with Justus,” he mumbled. Christian fell to one knee and we locked eyes. I remembered him telling me to look deep for several frustrating minutes and then everything went away.

Everything except a memory of the hotel.

Marco had left a message for me to meet him. I went to get Christian and when he didn’t answer, I slid the extra card-key through his door and opened it.

“Christian?”

Dim light filtered in through the heavy drapes, but it was too dark. I stepped cautiously inside of the room and froze, puzzled by what I saw. Christian’s arms were raised and he was leaning against the wall with his bare ass to me. His hips rocked in slow, clockwise movements. It took a second to realize that someone was in front of him. A thin leg curved around his and greedy fingers locked around his neck.

“Something you need, Mage? I’m entertaining company at the moment.” He didn’t so much as pause in his hip swivels, but quickened them, and I heard someone beneath him moan softly.

“I have to talk to you, this is urgent.”

“So is this.” He punctuated his meaning with a thrust and a crooked smile as he continued to watch me over his shoulder.

In the darkness of the room, I felt my cheeks flush. “Marco left a message and wants to meet with me. It doesn’t say what it’s about, but I think I have a good idea. If you want to stay here then go ahead, do your thing,”

“No,” he said with an annoyed sigh. “Justus gave me specific instructions to watch over you.” He paused and gave me a frustrated look. Slender fingers gripped his ass, leaving a shadow where the skin pinched in and he moaned. My heart quickened a beat.

“Finish what you’re doing and uh… I’m going to call a cab,” I said.

“Whatever you say, Mage.”

My foot inched back.

“Just one thing?” He licked his lips. “I like your eyes on me,” he said with smooth seduction. “I’ve never been watched before.” He rocked faster and faster until I could hear the smacking of flesh against flesh and a woman’s urgent cry.

“Watch me, Silver.”

I didn’t just hear the sex, but I felt the energy pour out from the human beneath him. His eyes never looked away. What held me there had nothing to do with Christian and everything to do with the energy that was dripping off them like honey. It was like something I’d never felt before, even amid the intense energy that pulsed in the clubs.

“I’m going alone,” I said, forcing myself to turn away.

“Do not move,” I heard him mutter.

Faster than I could track, Christian crossed the room and seized my wrist. “This isn’t the time for solving mysteries, Nancy Drew. It’s a setup.”

I tugged my arm but he backed me into the wall. The last thing I remembered was Christian’s liquid eyes.

With my memory intact, everyone got the short version because Christian was right—it
was
embarrassing. The fact that I stood there and
watched
? What the hell was wrong with me? Aside from that, I learned an important fact about myself: I wasn’t completely immune to the gifts of other immortals. It was a naive assumption on my part.

“I didn’t meet with Marco?”

Christian casually stood up. “Too dangerous to meet a Mage on his terms.”

“What if he wanted to help us? What if—”

“Christian is right,” Justus interrupted, rubbing his chin with two fingers. “It would have been a poor decision without knowing the reason you were summoned. Marco is a cunning and convincing man; I wouldn’t trust him alone with you.”

“Why did you erase my memory?” I snapped.

With a dramatic sigh, Christian fell into a leather chair. “To see if I could? You have a problem not doing what you’re told and I don’t enjoy spending my evenings guarding your door when I could be banging a stewardess. This way it saved you the embarrassment of remembering and I didn’t have to worry about you wandering about.”

“I thought that I was immune to your talents,” I said to myself.

“It took a long time, lass. You’re not immune, but it requires a lot of concentration and work on my part. It’s safe to say that a passing suggestion or attempt to scrub your memory by another Vampire would not work. Unless he pinned you down and—”

Logan bent over the chair and studied him so fiercely that Christian shielded his face. “
No
such thing happened. I’m not a brute with the ladies.”

I wagged my finger at him. “Don’t you ever use your gifts on me without my consent, do you understand? Embarrassment I can handle.”

“Amen to that,” Simon remarked.

It made me realize just how conniving a Vampire could be and how vulnerable I was. Sunglasses were going on my shopping list.

Justus divided the room and stood between us, giving me his back. “I have respected you as a friend for many years, Christian. You gave me your word that you would look after her. A man doesn’t have to take a woman to bed to violate their trust and you have crossed the line. If I ever find out that you’ve scrubbed my Learner again, I will sever our friendship. Yes, she would have defied you and tried slipping out of the hotel to meet up with Marco alone.” Darkness swelled in his voice and he folded his arms. “But it gave you no right to impose your gifts on her. This is your only warning, and if you ever break my trust again, then I have a few barbed stakes that haven’t been broken in.
Never
again. Are we clear?”

“Crystal.”

While Justus walked Novis out, I gave Logan instructions on how to get into my bedroom. Simon stayed behind.

I put pressure on my cut until the bleeding stopped and all that remained was a raw wound. It wasn’t necessary to borrow light for something so superficial when I would heal naturally—faster than a human and without scarring.

“Vampires are limey bastards and always have an agenda.” Simon kicked a few shards of glass. “Go easy on Logan; I admire the hell out of him for trying to take the Vamp on with his bare hands.” Simon laughed and lifted a small wastebasket to clean up the mess.

“Look at the table,” I said with disgust.

“It’s not as bad as all that. Pillow stuffing is everywhere and a few chairs are turned over—nothing that can’t be righted. And the table was an atrocious addition to the ensemble anyhow, so I totally approve of its demolition.” He kicked the leg of the fallen table and a few pieces of glass clinked on the floor. I’ll have this place spotless in two shakes. Go pet your cat.”

As I left the room, I gently placed my hand on Simon’s shoulder. “Beneath your sexual arrogance lies a really nice guy. I hope you know that.”

Chapter 24

Logan stretched across my bed with his arms folded behind his neck
. I admired them, particularly where the muscle popped at the bicep. His Adam’s apple undulated as if it had something to say, but he was merely swallowing. A grim expression darkened his features and he looked at me sideways.

“Did I ruin my chances with you?”

My fingers made a soft sound as I ran them along the blanket. “I’m beginning to understand your traits as a Chitah, but as a man, you have an explosive temper. Obviously you can’t control it when your switch is flipped, but you need to avoid getting to the point where that happens.” I smoothed my hand over his arm and he turned his head to look at me, lips slightly parted. Logan was extremely responsive whenever I touched him because I didn’t initiate touch as much as his Chitah companions clearly did. “Thanks for stepping back when I needed that moment with Christian.”

“You can fight your own battles,” he said, rubbing his forehead. “I have more respect for your Ghuardian after tonight. That was the right thing for him to do—standing up against a friend in your defense. But if any man ever hurts you I’ll put him six feet under.”

I pinched his nostrils. “You’re slacking, Mr. Cross. Aren’t you able to smell my innocence?”

His brow quirked. “Arousal mingled with confusion and fear?”

I hadn’t thought about it that way, but Logan could pick up a whole flavor of emotions and that one must have set off alarms.

“Learn to control your anger before it controls you,” I said.

“I’ve always been in control of it, but I’m not sure that it’s possible to stop myself from reacting where you’re concerned.”