Primal Call (3 page)

“The Corbett twins tell me that several pictures like this have popped up on the Internet, from different angles. So this is not a lone phenomena.” His last words came out as an accusation.

So, he’d been ratted out by the Corbetts. Which made sense, as the media-manipulating geniuses of the paranormal world worked for the safety of the whole population, not just their individual clients. Still, James couldn’t help the twinge of betrayal, or the annoyance that he had to deal with the Shagals when he had something more important to do.

Barak’s fury hit him like a blast furnace. James held up a hand in conciliation. “No, sir. I’m not normally reckless. You know that.”

“Are you sure playing at being a Hollywood playboy movie star isn’t taking over your Prime nature? Being in the public eye is not safe for you. And not safe for our society if you screw up.”

“I know that,” James answered.

He’d had to defend himself to Barak before, and to Barak’s bondmate, the Matri of Clan Shagal, who was the female head of the Clan who ruled the territory. He didn’t want to get sent packing, thrown out of his nice mansion, and the profitable and emotionally satisfying persona he’d established.

“The very nature of what you’re doing is reckless and stupid,” Barak said.

“The Matri of my Family approves of it. The needs of my Family have to come first for me. That said,” James went on quickly. “I apologize for this.” He tapped the image on the screen. “I didn’t realize I was doing it at the time, but I can explain why I reacted on instinct.”

“Instinct?” Barak was skeptical.

James kept smiling. He couldn’t help it. “I believe I met my bondmate today. The woman in the photo. That’s her. I’ve never felt anything so strong as the connection between us when I touched her. If I vamped out, well, how could I help it?”

Barak’s annoyance instantly turned into pleasure, his frown into a wide smile. He clapped James on the shoulder. “Bondmate! Congratulations!” He looked around the VIP lounge. “If you’ve found the love of your soul, what are you doing here?”

What he’d been doing was easing into telepathic contact with her when Barak interfered, but James didn’t point that out. Psychic communication with the girl of one’s dreams was very much a private matter.

“I’m contractually obliged to spend time here on Thursday nights when I’m in town,” James said. “Venues pay celebrities to hang out, you know, if they want to remain hot and trendy.”

###

Gennie and Mimi came back to the table as soon as Barak was gone. They settled down in their usual spots on either side of James, and he put an arm around each of them. Being surrounded by beautiful women was part of the James Wilde persona, and pretty much the natural condition for Vampire Primes too. Gennie was James’ half-sister if one went by mortal standards. Their sire was a Clan Prime. His mother was a Family female, and Gennie’s was a mortal woman. James had been born from a brief sexual liaison for the sake of producing a child for her Family. Gennie was much younger, the child of a bonding between Prime and mortal woman. Like most children of a Prime/Mortal bond, she was mortal, but with benefits. Gennie was a very strong telepath.

Mimi Bleythin was a black-haired, blue-eyed, tall, long-legged, gorgeous werewolf. Mimi was in mortal shape at the moment, but could transform into her were-shape in an instant. Which would wreck her clothes if she didn’t get the chance to strip before shifting. James always appreciated when she returned to human form, delightfully naked.

“I can smell what you’re thinking,” she said.

“Merely a pleasant, casual thought. My heart is given elsewhere.” And it was. Goddess, it really was, after only one meeting. He sighed.

“Happy to hear it,” Mimi said. “You’re not sexy to me.”

She growled when he scratched behind her delicate human-shaped ear, but he knew she liked it. Mimi glared at him over the edge of a champagne flute. Then her attention switched to a trio of acquaintances as they came up to the table. She took her security job very seriously, even if, as a Prime, he was stronger and faster than a werewolf. He didn’t live most of his life as a Prime, and Mimi didn’t protect him in her shifted form. She was very efficient without having to grow fur.

Not that any intervention was required from her at the moment. She relaxed when James nodded. He said hello to the newcomers, invited them to sit. They did, and stayed just long enough for people to see them being seen with Jimmy Wilde. They soon went back to working the room. James sighed with relief, and settled back with his head against the tan leather of the booth’s high headrest. He left his companions on watch, closed his eyes, and got back to what he desperately needed to be doing.

Athena! Thena, are you there?

Fire flickered through a thick crystal egg where Athena ought to be. The crystal was sharp and cold and pushed him away.

“You know what I mean.” When she shook her head, James explained, “I was out of my body—or trying to be. Got kicked right back into my own head before I was really aware of being out of it.”

He hoped no one had overheard what he’d just said. Though they’d probably think he was talking about some sort of acting exercise.

He remembered what Athena had been doing just before Barak interrupted him. “I think she’s set up some sort of psychic shielding. She has no idea how good she is,” he added proudly.

“You’ve barely met the woman. Hardly spent any time in her brain,” Gennie said. “You seem awful sure of her talent.” She sipped from a huge martini glass. “Give it another shot, Jimmy.”

Of course he was going to try again! He’d prefer to go to Thena physically, to talk to her, to make love to her. To taste her. His fangs ached with the longing to taste her. But that would have to wait until later, wait until he was absolutely sure there was no one watching him, spying on him, following him. Soon. But in the meantime, he needed to touch her thoughts. She needed to get to know him, trust him—like him. And he ached to know her, as well. Bonding was about so much more than sex and blood.

James didn’t close his eyes, this time. He took a sip of good Irish whisky. tasted the smoky sweet burn of it down his throat while a part of himself went searching for a different place, and mind. People were watching, and he didn’t
need
to look zoned-out to practice telepathy.

Crystal wall. Cold and sharp and slippery. Wall of fire. Get past the crystal and the fire waited.

Thena!

She was inside the barriers.

Thena!

Right in the middle. Alone. By herself.

Afraid.

Afraid of him? Afraid of herself?

Come out! Touch me! Let me touch you!

Please.

She couldn’t hear him, not behind those thick barriers.

He circled. He ran. He clawed. He aimed all the fire of his being at one spot on the crystal, trying to burn his way through.

Forever passed, and all that came of it was a tiny black speck of ash on a miniscule patch of the crystal surface.

James was soaked with sweat when he brought all of his attention back to the nightclub. He glanced from Gennie to Mimi, who were staring at him.

“What happened?” the werewolf asked.

“She’s locked herself away from me.” He wiped the back of his hand across his brow, fought off the urge to howl in pain and frustration. “Why would she do that?”

“Because she’s a woman with a crush on a movie star,” Mimi said. “That makes her feel weak and stupid, and she doesn’t like it. So she built herself a wall, put her feelings inside it.”

“Of course,” Gennie said. “The answer is simple, bro. If you can’t do it the easy Prime way, you’re going to have to do it the mortal way.”

###

The flight was delayed. All Thena wanted was to get out of Los Angeles, and the flight was delayed. Thena didn’t resent that Carla’s flight to New York had gotten off just fine, but she did wish it was her winging her way back to her quiet refuge from the manic world. Well, you did what you could with the time you had.

Thena took her laptop out of the carryon, with the intention of getting some work done. She was
not
going to finish watching the James Wilde movie she’d downloaded. Though she couldn’t stop the stray thought that maybe he was naked in
Under Everest.
Better to check her email using the airport’s WiFi than find out.

She went through her inbox, answered some, sent a message to her farm manager who was picking her up at the airport. Then she clicked over to the junk file to check if there was anything not spam among the ads for generic Viagra and announcement of winning international lotteries.

One subject heading read: Hello Athena Sophia, We met at Lunch. The address was JamesS at a provider she didn’t recognize called crowtwin. Her heart leapt with excitement, as there was only one James she’d met at lunch yesterday. Had James Wilde emailed her? Why would he?

How had he gotten this email address? It wasn’t the one listed on her website or her business cards. The email was in the junk file. She ought to dump it.

She opened it despite the warning in her head and on the computer screen.

Thena,

I meant to call you last night, but it was after 1 before I knew it. Thought you might not appreciate being woken up. And it was too late to send flowers by then too. Thought you might prefer knitting yarn. Call me before you leave. No, text me. We like to keep it quiet on the set.

James

He left a phone number at the bottom the message.

Thena checked the departure time on the board behind the gate counter. The time had been moved up another hour. Too bad she had time to consider her options on this.

Maybe his mother had taught James Wilde to send thank you cards and he was just being polite. Maybe it wasn’t him. Maybe he was messing with her mind. Why would he do that? Why would he want to talk to her in the first place? She wasn’t some hot young thing he wanted to have sex with. She was at least ten years James Wilde’s senior.

The logical part of her brain kept going on and on about why she should blow off his suggestion to call him. In the meantime, her hands got out her phone and her fingers punched in the number in the email. She worried about it being the right number, as her hands were shaking when she called.

The word Hi! popped up on her screen.

Thena wasn’t used to texting, but she was thankful she at least had a phone with a teeny little keyboard. She typed, Mr. Wilde? Is that you?