Now or Forever (3 page)

The third king had noticed her. And that’s when Tassanee had been poisoned. Akron had come to her that night, appearing out of the dark beside one of the pools. Tassanee had crawled there and dropped, driven near mad by thirst, yet too numb to drink. He’d been there just as darkness was climbing through every section of her body. He’d offered her an eternity, a position in his corporation. Told her about vampire mating, and finally he’d guaranteed revenge. That’s why she’d done it. She’d taken the bed that belonged to the king’s favorite. Nobody had noticed more bloodshed and missing women, especially if they disappeared along with their bed.

But all of that was ancient history when placed beside this moment. Now. With Leonard.

Her
mate
.

She rolled her belly like she’d been taught so long ago and felt his rod-part slide against her lower abdomen. He shuddered, and sent a whispered curse into the spot right above her left ear. The man was better than blood to her. He had no idea. Which was an oddity. He was a league member. He’d been around vampires. Surely he knew all about vampire mates. His body certainly did. She knew exactly what that signified. His desire was more than tantalizing. It was close to swoon-inducing.

He was still trying to ignore her, though. That was evident the moment they reached the open air once again. Twilight was settling in. It was still misting rain. That combined to show her how incredibly handsome her mate really was. She was glad he didn’t wear a hat. It would’ve have shielded how the rain flattened his hair to his scalp, as well as slid over the planes of his face. He was studiously looking over her head with his teeth clamped shut, if the line of his jaw was any indicator. She looked in that direction as well. His partner was just disappearing around a tree.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?”

Her mate snapped it. The sound was still sweet. Deep. And reverberated through where she had him locked against her bosom.

“Oh. You’re back. Finally. I thought you guys might need help.”

The guy turned back around and just stood there, with a hand on his hip.

“Me? Or the vampire chick?”

“It’s Tassanee,” she told him.

Leonard looked aslant at her, stopping her newly awakened heart for a full beat. And it felt amazing. She almost laughed.

“I don’t want to know your name, ok?”

“Too bad,” she replied, and blew him a kiss. And watched his eyes go wide and his breath skip.

“Uh...you.”

It was his partner interrupting. They both turned their heads toward him again.

“Why? We were gone what? Four minutes... and...,” Len lifted his wrist and checked something before finishing. “Eight seconds. It’s not even dark yet. We’ve got at least five minutes left.”

“More. They sent a message. Check-in is cancelled.”

“Well. They are dumb pricks. Nice to know they keep proving it.”

“Don’t you even want to know why?”

“I’d rather know if you handled collateral damage.”

“None found.”

“The bullet that grazed my head found a home somewhere. Find it.”

“You have a head wound? No wonder you’re acting funny.”

“Put me down, sister.”

Len dipped his chin and whispered it at her ear. The result was a blizzard of gooseflesh. She had to swallow to get her mouth to work.

“Don’t make me ask again,” he continued.

“Why don’t you ask once?” she replied.

“Please.”

It wasn’t asked. But he gave her another sidelong look, and she really liked the kick her heart gave over it. So Tassanee hovered above ground for another pulse beat of time and then lowered both of them to the stone. But she didn’t loosen her hold around his waist. Not just yet.

“Who shot you?” his partner asked.

“Camo pants.”

“Right. That puts the trajectory from there... to over here. Add in a slight deflection from grazing your hollow head, and...”

His partner was moving. His voice gave it away. Leonard wasn’t watching. Tassanee wasn’t either. Leonard was studiously looking over her head, more like he was avoiding her than watching anything. Tassanee was observing him. It was totally fascinating. And then he looked down.

“Tassanee. You need to let me go, already. I’m the senior operative here. He’s the novice. I need to check his work.”

“You’re my mate, Leonard.”

He took a breath so deep it moved her. And then he let it out in a rush with air that cooled. And that had the opposite effect on her as something sparked deep into life. In her lower belly. Maybe lower. She had to narrow her eyes to hide it.

“How about we discuss that issue... uh, later?”

“What’s wrong with now?”

“How about you do one thing I ask?”

“What if I don’t want to?”

“Look. Lady. You got me. You can outmaneuver me. Out-dexterity me. You got me hands down on strength and ability. Agility. Speed. Stamina. About the only thing I can do better than you is bleed to death. You say I’m your mate? Fine. We’ll argue for points later, after the assignment is finished and we check in with the boss. That puts us in a dead-lock here. And I can’t change it. Only you can. So, how’s about taking a timeout on the mate thing? You’re making me look bad to the kid over there. And I don’t need much assistance with that at the moment.”

“You need help?”

The other guy asked it. He chuckled through the words. He was pretty loud, too. Tassanee watched the skin of Len’s lower jaw darken as he flushed.
Ah.
This was a man ego thing. She didn’t have much experience in real males. It was mystifying. She not only made him powerless, but she did it in front of another. She shouldn’t do that to her mate. She took one last lingering look and opened her arms. He didn’t move. Only his head swiveled, giving her a nice view of neck. And jaw. And everything on her went up another degree in heat.

“What happened to quiet and covert, Stan? We’re surrounded by Hunters.”

“Thought you’d never ask.”

“And the answer is...?”

“Oh. They carried walkie-talkies. Message came through about action over at Krol Ko. Dust cloud coming from temple doors. Possible cave-in. That’s where I was heading.”

“Seriously? Why? You planning to stand in for the missing Hunters?”

“I thought it might involve you and your new friend... Miss uh... her. The vampire chick.”

“Her name’s Tassanee. And it did involve us. She hit the light switch with a little too much punch. It’s a vampire thing. They can’t seem to figure out how much power they’re packing.”

Len stepped out of her embrace. A second later her arms fell. She instantly felt weird. Odd. Bereft.

“And... found it. Looks like we have a .38 slug in this tree. You got a pen-knife?”

“You lose yours?” Len asked.

“It’s in the Flying Hunter’s neck. I figured he could keep it. It’ll give the forensics team something to do. If they even have forensics teams here.”

“I’m really starting to like you, Stan. You should talk like me more often.”

Len shuffled through a jacket pocket with one hand, while the other was pulling at the material of his crotch. He found a metallic looking thing in his jacket and tossed it. His partner caught it and turned back to his work.

“Don’t worry. I won’t let it go to my head. So... tell me. Did you ask your new friend how she knows English, yet?”

Len looked back at her and raised his brows.

“I taught myself,” she answered.

“Right. Let me guess. You had a set of encyclopedias down there. Damn. And I was worried about collateral damage topside. Having them stumble on an underground library at Angkor Wat – in English – is really going to spark some publicity.”

“I have a laptop,” she replied.

He tipped his head to one side next and tried to look stern. She almost smiled.

“Okay. I’ll just wait to ask the how, but first I need to know why, if you actually have a laptop, did you leave it back there?”

She lifted her burlap sack, and saw his eyes flick to the distinct flat bulge in the bottom before returning.

“Okay. Now answer the why. And then the how. Why do you have a laptop and how the hell do you power it?”

“I had power. Didn’t you notice the lighting?”

He was giving her an indecipherable look. It sent worse than sparks. Even her nipples tightened in reaction.

“That’s the how. And it’s out of order. But, let’s just say no, I didn’t notice, and move on.”

“A man was drilling holes for electric lights in the temple walls back in ‘09. It woke me. I think he had twenty of them done before he stopped. It was an International incident, reported everywhere.”

“Let’s just say I might have read that. Go on.”

“He disappeared. Nobody ever claimed responsibility.”

“Let me guess some more. You let him live long enough to wire your place?”

“Longer.”

“He’s still alive?”

“I didn’t say that. Hong-Ye left... a bit ago. I didn’t care. He gave me what I needed.”

“What?” His voice was a grunt.

“He became my teacher. In English... and modern affairs. We bartered.”

“With what?”

“His life and my protection. For his knowledge. And the use of his cellular telephone.”

“His cell?”

“I’d check my language skills with it. Nobody ever checked if the system got linked up. Or how much power gets used. And nobody shut down my connection. They just keep paying the bill. I don’t think anybody’s ever going to claim responsibility. They’re still hiding it.”

He started chuckling. And shaking his head. “Dang. You are sharp. Impressive. And really cute. It’s almost a shame—no. I’ll just stop there. So. You ran across an electrician in Cambodia in 2009, and he just happened to be drilling holes in a world protected site – and nobody copped to the deed. Bet you were a surprise.”

“Well. He did wake me.”

“And this Hong-Ye just happened to have an English-speaking laptop that was registered to Electronic Zone One?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Rewind. You had him wire the place and you’re using his connection and IP address...and it wasn’t Zone One?”

“He had a smart phone. One of the first models, I think. It spoke several languages. I learned them all while I made calls and listened in.”

“You pranked people with random calls? This is classic. And I’m really starting to like you. And that’s a really bad thing.”

“But why? You’re my mate.”

“That’s a timeout violation, Tassanee. We’re talking smart phones, illegal wire tapping, theft, and...I might as well toss in murder. None of which sounds like eternal damnation to me. You want to keep on task, please?”

“Eternal damnation?”

“You call it your way. I’ll call it mine. The phone?”

“Oh. That. It was fun at first. And then it got slower and slower. I didn’t know how slow it was until recently.”

“Recently?”

“I got the laptop a few months ago. From a scientist fellow. Or one of his men.”

“Ah. The doomed archeological team rides into the mix. And look. You stole their equipment after killing them. Damn. I do like vampires. They’re so compassionate and gentle.”

“It was their fault. They shot at me. I got angry. Besides...they didn’t need it.”

“Wow. Okay. You about finished, Stan?” He turned his head and said the last toward his partner. But he didn’t take his eyes from her. “You know, the more I hear, the more I think I like you. It’s almost a shame I’m such a confirmed bachelor.”

“But, you’re my mate.”

“That is another timeout violation.”

“You brought it up.”

“Woman argument. Unfair advantage.”

“What?”

“When women argue, it’s unfair. They keep changing the rules and taking advantage.”

“What rules?”

“And just when you figure out what debate method they’re using, they snap in another direction entirely.”

“What debate?”

“You know, we need to get moving. Hunters may be at Krol Ko, and they could be right behind that wall. We’ve got bikes parked near the gates. It’s quite a hike. Oh. I might as well tell you. We opted for the pedal kind, for covert purposes. Not that you’ll have trouble.”

“We can fly.”

“Let just say, I don’t want to do any more vampire shit at the moment, okay?”

“Leonard. I am a vampire.”

“No kidding? You got anything new you want to tell me?”

“I’m immortal. I suck blood to survive. I sometimes kill. And I have extraordinary powers. One of them is I can fly.”

“None of that is new, lady.”

“But you don’t want to hear the mating part.”

“Ah. The eternal damnation thing again.”

“I’m your mate, Leonard. And that does mean...you are mine.”

“I’m afraid you got short-changed, lady.”

Tassanee smiled. Oh. He was very fun. Fast. Quick-witted. Even more so than the eunuch that guarded her for years, teaching her not only the cut and thrust of repartee, but the basics of the Cambodian martial arts called
Bokator.
And her mate was handsome. Fit. Lean in the right places...hard and muscled in others. Very hard. Firm. Rigid. She dropped her gaze to the one thing he couldn’t control. Oh. He was large, all right. Immensely fascinating. And delineated by the amount of rain his trousers had absorbed. And she’d been trained in just about every art of love.

“Oh. I don’t think so.” she replied, lowering her voice to a throaty purr.

He jerked before lurching back a huge step. His eyes went huge and she could have sworn he gulped. And then he turned his head and yelled at the other man. Which was stupid. He was right behind Len.

“You about done, Stan?”

“On your six, Boss.”

“Of course you are. Figures. Duffle bag?”

The man lifted a hand and shook the big bag he carried. That was impressive for a human. It looked two-thirds his size and almost as heavy.

“Backpack?”

That must be what Stan carried in his other hand. He lifted it and shook it.

“Then we better get moving.”

“Why don’t you have her pick us up and fly?”

“Because I’m not doing any vampire crap at the moment. Since you’re such a good eavesdropper, you should have already heard that part.”

“I did.”