Jules (Golden Streak Series Book 5) (11 page)

“Save him.” She looked up at him from the body of her
lover. “He’s all I have. You have to save him for me. You owe me.”

“Owe you? Whatever for?” She looked up at him
, her mind scrambling to think of anything at all to make him save Grunt.

“I gave you my kid.” He snorted
, and she stood up, covered in Grunts’s blood from the knife wound she’d given him when he’d pissed her off. “I did and now you owe me. You must save him for me or I’ll…I’ll—”

“You’ll what, Divinity?
Take her back? I think not. She is living well and awaiting her twenty-fifth birthday.” He laughed and her skin crawled at the sound. “You do remember our deal, don’t you? I take her and you lose it all when she matures. Do you have any idea what awaits you when that happens?”

“You said I’d lose all my powers.
How can you do that to me? I’ve never done anything wrong to you other than a few things. Certainly not enough to make you take everything from me.” She stepped over Grunt and to the man who had the power to harm her. “Please reconsider that demand. What is to become of me if you do that?”

“Not me, Divinity
, but your daughter. It’s her birthright. You’ll give them to her and I can only imagine what goodness she will do with them. Then you will become human again.” She had a moment of panic. Then she looked at him again.

“She was sickly when you took her. Maybe she
won’t live that long.” She hadn’t had any idea how long it had been since she’d handed her over, but it couldn’t have been that long. “You said yourself that I was a bad parent on more than one occasion.”

“You are a bad parent.
But she is well. No reason for you to concern yourself with her dying before she can take her gift from you.” She looked at him closely as he continued. “She will live and you will be human.”

She took a step back and nearly tripped over Grunt. She’d forgotten about him and
wondered how she was supposed to survive without him at her side. But when she turned back to ask—no, beg—Viktor to give her this last thing, he was gone. And so was Grunt a few seconds later, becoming nothing but ash.

Sitting in the dark stain
, she ran her fingers through what was left of Milo and thought about being a human again. She knew that she’d not be able to survive as one again. It had been so long since she’d thought of herself as anything but a vampire, and longer still since she’d even been a human. She would not survive and knew it even back then. She had to do something. And that was when she came up with the plan to kill her daughter before that date.

It had taken her nearly ten years to hunt her down.
Ten years of searching and waiting to see if it was really her. Milo, of course, had done most of the work, killing off children after finding them for her. Then she’d realize that she was still there, a small, yet constant reminder that her life was going to change.

She reached for the vampire
who had informed her about Lamb and found him easily enough. She thought about summoning him to her, but decided to see what sort of riches her daughter was living in. But first she needed to feed and feed well. There was no reason to take the chance that there might be an encounter with her daughter, and doing so in a weakened state was just stupid.

Finding her prey took longer than she’d hoped
, and it was closer to sunrise than she’d hoped when she got back to the house. Once she opened the vein, drinking from him made her slightly ill. She hated to drink from drug addicts and worst yet, ones that had been so riddled with all sorts of diseases that she had to work to filter them out of her system. So instead of leaving him with an open wound, she snapped his neck and left him to die. She had things to do. Arriving at the point where the vampire was nearly made her laugh.

He was treed. There was no other term for what was going on. Two wolves had him in a tree and were snapping at his feet. She watched as the fool tried to reason with them, beg them to let him pass freely.
She wondered if he realized that he could simply disappear. Then she remembered just how young he was. He probably had no idea of what he could do even as a newborn.

“Kill them.”
He looked up at her in her perch higher in the tree than him, and she could see the confusion on his face. “Just kill them and be done with it. You do know how, don’t you?”

“No.”
He looked back at the barking wolves, then at her. “Couldn’t you just do it? I really would be happy to get out of this tree.”

The sudden shot sounded and had both wolves running for cover
as the vampire below her rained as ash to the ground. She looked at the man who came toward the tree she was in and knew immediately he was the wolf she’d been trying to contact for days now. She landed in front of him and grabbed him around the throat.

“You’ve been avoiding me.”
He didn’t struggle but let her hold him. “What the fuck am I paying you for if you’re going to kill my children and not the one I sent you to kill for me?”

“She’s not here and he was drawing unwanted attention to you.” She hadn’t thought of that and looked around.
“The girl hasn’t been here for two days. All her things are packed up, and the old woman who watched over her is gone, too. I’ve been waiting to see if she returned today, but as she hasn’t, I was going to the tiger’s lair where she’s been known to be.”

Naomi dropped him and walked to the house.
She could smell the cats around and several humans. There was even the strong smell of bear and panther. What the fuck was she doing here, running a fucking zoo?

“She’s mated to someone as of last night.
Is there one of the weres here that she could be especially close to?” He shrugged. “What do you know? What am I paying you for if you’re not doing what I need?”

“She’s
not stupid. Smartest person I’ve ever come across in my work, as a matter of fact. You should have told me she has some training in that regard. She carries a gun loaded with silver, works out three times a day even if she is hurting. I’ve seen her fight, too. It was with a dummy, but she didn’t have any trouble breaking it to shit when she needed to. And her knife throwing ability is amazing. She can hit dead center every time.” He leaned against the wall where they were standing. “She’s very beautiful, too. Flaming red hair, green eyes, and a complexion that could only be referred to as milky. I almost don’t want to slit her throat.”

“But you will and before midnight tomorrow night.”
He nodded. “Then what are you waiting for?”

“You.”
She looked at him, confused by what he meant. “I need more money. You’ve said I’d get payment when the job is done, but I want it now. She’s as good as dead by the time you’re having sleepy time and when it’s done, I’m out of here. She has beings around her that…well, frankly, scare the shit out of me. And a vampire that is as old as I’ve ever felt.”

She knew it could only be Viktor.
“I don’t carry that kind of money on me. You’ll have to wait, and the sun is rising now in the event you haven’t noticed. Come to me when the sun is going down and I’ll have it.”

He nodded and she disappeared.
She was standing in her lair a few seconds later. She didn’t have any money. She’d never found any use for it, and Milo again had taken care of whatever she needed to purchase. She was beginning to think he was more of a problem than she’d thought. She went to her bed to lie down. Things were not progressing in the direction she wanted them to. And she was going to have to step in if she didn’t want the wolf to kill her after the daughter.

Chapter 11

The shower felt good on her abused body. Smiling
, she thought the word abused wasn’t quite right. She was sore from a night of sex and more sex. Jules was surprisingly strong when he needed to be. And very thorough. She doubted very much if there was a part of her body he’d not touched, kissed, or licked last night and through the night.

The shower door sliding
on its tracks was all the warning she got before he was suddenly there.

“Why didn’t you wait for me?” He wrapped his hands around her waist
, and she turned to look at him. “I thought we’d shower together. I would love to wash your back if you’d wash mine.”

“I thought you said you had to work this morning.” He nodded as he kissed her throat.
“And you said you had to pack up some things to be shipped out today for a show.”

“I do, I did.
I called the studio, and as we speak, it’s being taken care of. I have to go in later to finish the things I started last night, but other than that….” He nipped at her pulse, which tripled in speed the moment he touched her. “Have I told you how much I love your taste?”

“Yes. Several
times. We’ll never get out of here if we take a shower together.” He grinned as he moved his mouth to her breasts. “We really don’t have any time for you to be doing this. Your mom said that we had to be at her house at twelve-thirty. It’s almost eleven now.”

“
Plenty of time to do what I need to you.” He was down on his knee before she realized he’d sat her on the little bench in the stall. She’d been thinking that it would be a wonderful way to shave your legs, and what he was doing now had her thinking she’d like one in every bathroom she entered.

He pulled her to the edge and spread her legs wide.
She felt so exposed and tried to squeeze them closed when he shook his head. She watched as he moved his fingers up her leg to her pussy and then slipped them inside of her, and she nearly came up off the seat.

“You’re so tight.
I love watching your face when you’re enjoying yourself. Every time I hit you in that perfect bundle of nerves,” he said, touching them, “you light up like a Christmas tree and have me wanting to make you twinkle.”

“Please.”
He leaned down and took her clit into his mouth and sucked hard. She leaned back further and moaned. “More. I need more of you.”

“I want to drink from you until you fill me
. Then I want to stand you against the tile and enter you. Would you like me to take you like that? Fuck you hard while you’re wrapped around me?” She hissed out her answer, and he grinned. “Good. Don’t hold back. We’re on a time limit.”

Before she could tell him she
was already close, he nipped at her. She felt his tongue join his finger, and when he touched her nerve again and again, she knew she was going to come. He lifted her legs and put them over his shoulders, then she cried out and came apart when he pressed through the tight muscles at her ass.

That’s it
, baby. Come hard for me again.
She was surprised to find him in her head and tried to touch him.
Think of me. You’ll find the link.

It was hard not to think of him when he was doing such delicious things to her body. And when he
filled her more with another finger, she grabbed his head and held on as a climax took her. She was nearly on top of another one when he lifted his head and picked her up. She was over his cock and against the wall before she could take a breath. He kissed her as he slammed her over and over against the wall with his body.

“Come.” She moaned
when he barked at her. “Come for me and let me bite you. I want to feel your body come around mine while I mark you again.”

She held him tightly
to her and screamed loudly without holding back. As soon as he bit her, she came again, rolling on top of the second climax before the first one was finished. When he rocked incredibly harder into her, she bit the first thing she could touch with her mouth and soared over the top yet again. She couldn’t hold on and let the darkness take her away.

Lenny woke
in the bed. She looked around and realized she was alone. Smiling, she rolled to her side, pulled his pillow to her, and inhaled him. She was just putting it back when she heard a noise and looked up as he came out of the bathroom, smiling.

“You killed me.”
He lay down next to her as she continued. “I don’t think a person is supposed to come that hard or that many times, do you?”

“Only if it’s done correctly.”
He kissed her mouth quickly. “But we have to move. Your little nap is going to make us late. It’s a little after twelve-thirty now.”

She jumped out of bed only to freeze. The mirror in front of her was a full
-length one, and she could see her entire body. Lenny turned and looked at Jules. He hadn’t moved and she was sure he’d noticed what she was seeing, and not for the first time.

“When he licked the wounds
, he gave you more of him than I thought.” She looked back at the reflection and touched her smooth skin. “Your legs are better as well. I’m not sure why the scarring is gone, but the ones on your back are almost gone as well.”

“It looks like nothing ever happened to me.
And it doesn’t hurt either.” She looked at him in the mirror. “Did he do this to help me, or did you do it?”

“I didn’t. I know it’s hard to understand
, but the tiger has a mind of his own. I can control him, but not entirely. He’s a different being altogether. We’re all like that with the exception of Brock. He can control his cat like me, but he has a second cat, one he calls his beast. He’s actually bigger than his cat and much harder to control. Most of the time he can’t.” Jules sat up on the edge of the bed. “About last night when he licked your pussy…I didn’t know he was going to do that, either. I didn’t want you to think I was perverted or anything. I’ve never…I’ve never even thought of doing that before.”

She closed her eyes at the erotic
memory and looked at him again when he growled. She took a step away from him when he stood up, and felt a little fear when he pulled her roughly to him.

“I can smell
your arousal. My tiger is racing along my skin because he wants to bite you to change you. He’s very aggressive right now.” She nodded and leaned back to his chest. “We’re going to be more late if you don’t get dressed.”

“How do you change me?”
His hand had been moving down her arm when it suddenly stopped. “Is there something special we have to do to get started?”

“You want to be a tiger
like me?” His voice was husky, dark almost, and she nodded at him. “I would have to bite you and you’d have to want to change. I could change you without it, but I’m in enough hot water with Ryland right now.”

“When?” He looked at her in the refection as she’d been doing to him.
He turned her around and looked into her eyes when she asked him again.

“You’re going to hurt for a while and it takes a great deal out of you.”
She bared her neck to him and he growled again. “You’re sure? If I bite you now and it starts, there is no going back.”

“I’ve never been surer of anything in my life as this.” She licked his throat
, the need to do so nearly taking her to her knees. “It’s my birthday tomorrow. Can you do it tonight and I’ll have reason to celebrate?”

He kissed her
, and she felt all his love for her pour from him. When he let her go and leaned his head to hers, she pulled his face to hers and looked him in the eyes. She had to tell him now.

“I love
you, Jules. I never thought I would but…I’ve got some issues and some major hang-ups, but I love you.” He kissed her quickly on the nose. “That’s all I get for giving you my heart?”

“No. I’ll show you just how much I
love you later. Right now my family is about to bust through that door, and you’re naked.” He swatted her ass and pushed her to the bathroom. “I would prefer that no one sees what I have, if you don’t mind.”

She slammed the bathroom door just as the one in the front of the little house opened. She heard Ryland roar out a command
, but didn’t care what it was about. She was in love and loved. He could fuck off for all she cared. When she stepped out, Sandra was standing there and no one else. She was pulling on her shoes when Sandra sat down.

“There’s been another killing.” She looked up in mid
-tie. “Brock and Em have gone to the scene, but they would like to know if you could join them. They want your input as well.”

She stood up
, as did Sandra. “Where is Jules? Is he already there? I don’t think anyone else should…Brock is the one with the second tiger.”

“Yes.
He and Em work for the Holders of the Realm. They are the ones that hunt down this sort of killer. And Jules will meet you there. Ryland needs him at your house. There has been a break-in.” Before she could ask about her grandma, Sandra told her. “Your grandma is with Viktor and Peter. I guess she works for them.”

Lenny had figured that out a couple of days ago. She didn’t know why or what she did for them
, other than be her pretend grandma, but figured it had something to do with her raising her. She’d known for some time that she wasn’t any relation to her when she’d figured out her mother and father weren’t human. And that they were a great deal older than they looked.

“I don’t have a car.” Sandra nodded and looked over her shoulder.
Peter was standing there, and he didn’t look happy.

“
He’s to take you. Bronwyn told him…she had a few words with him, and he’s not happy to be pissing off Jules by touching you.” Lenny was confused. “Jules is your mate and mates can get very…pissy I’ve heard it called…when another male touches what is theirs.”

“She’s making him
touch me as some sort of punishment so Jules will what? Beat the shit out of him?” Sandra smiled. “That is the most asinine thing I’ve heard of. Would he really try to hurt him?”

“He will be allow
ed to.” Peter put out his hand. “It is part of what I owe her. Would you like to go now? They are waiting for you.”

She took his hand and nearly fell over when
dizziness swamped her. She stepped away from him when they arrived at the scene, and had to grab him a second time before she felt like she could stand. She looked around and swallowed.

“It’s the same thing.
Just like before.” She looked at Brock when he stepped toward her. “I need gloves, a note pad, and pen. And if you have a cola, I’d like that, too. It stops me from being sick on the first body.” He stood staring at her. “Well, what the fuck are you waiting for? We need to process these right now.”

~~~

“Four dead and all of them murdered within minutes of each other.” Brock handed the file to Viktor. “The first body was found in the living room. Lenny said she was more than likely making sure the house was locked up, and whoever killed them was already in the house. The woman was eviscerated and then made up with her blood. Her lips, hair, and cheeks were saturated with it, and her intestine was used as a sort of cover for her. How the hell are they getting into the houses without being invited?”

He hadn’t been thrilled
to have Lenny come and help them, but she’d known more in the first five minutes than he or Em had known the entire two hours they’d been there. He handed a sheath of photos to Viktor as well as he continued with what he knew.

“The first bedroom at the top of the stairs had two kids in it.
The older boy had had his neck broken and the younger had been…his head had been removed. Lenny said that was different from the first time she’d been called in. Also the blood on the lips of the wife…that and the cheeks hadn’t been done to other women.” He sat down and tried to breathe through what had happened to the man. “The male had been in the bathroom when he was hit the first time. He had raised his hand up, more than likely in defense, and it was removed. And she said to make sure that you knew it was removed, not cut off or even broken. It was taken off by pulling it from him. He bled a great deal as he tried to get away. There was blood on the walls where she said…. Why isn’t she doing this?”

“I wondered the same thing.”
With a snap of his fingers, Lenny was suddenly standing in front of them. She was just putting a hotdog to her mouth when she tossed it at Viktor, and had her gun out and on him before either of them knew what was happening.

Neither man moved.
Brock was pretty sure that Viktor could smell the silver in the gun. Lenny didn’t drop her weapon, nor did she look like she planned on it. He moved to stand just in front of her and toward Viktor. She stopped him with a single word.

“Don’t.” He nodded. “You
didn’t tell me you worked for him. That would have been nice to know. Not to mention being transported here without a bit of notice.”

“You were point on the investigation and could answer the questions better than I was.
He brought you here. I’m sorry. Do you think you could put the gun down now?” She didn’t move. “Lenny, he was the one that told us to bring you in. He said you’d know better than anyone what was going on.”