Tempting Whispers: The Kategan Alphas 6 (20 page)

Dmetri nodded gravely, a grin splitting across
his face. “You love her.”

Brayden might have laughed if his body
wasn’t strung so tight. “I don't love her. I care for her. She’s mine to
protect.”

“And I suppose what you guys did in my
guest bedroom the other night has nothing to do with it.”

Brayden clenched his fists until his
nails dug into his palms. “What?” he asked darkly.

Dmetri shrugged. “It’s not like we
couldn’t hear. That woman can scream.”

He’d taken several steps toward him
before he stopped himself. He had to close his eyes and remember that Dmetri
was a friend, if a bit of a jackass. He was just jerking him. Dmetri’s grin
fell, his eyes getting a soft look to them.

“I’m happy for you, friend. I didn’t
know if you’d ever find someone to fit you. I’d suspected...with Vanessa.”

Brayden stalked back to the window.
Better to look outside then at his friend’s face right now, else he might throw
his fist at it. “What are you talking about now? None of this is helping the
situation.”

“Maybe not, but I’d wondered a bit back
when we first met Vanessa. The way you acted around her. I thought it was odd,
but now I just see...it was early on attraction.” Dmetri’s low chuckle drifted
like a wave. “It’s okay to care for her. It’s okay to let yourself feel for a
woman. It might bring you some shit here and there, but none of that matters;
none of it even compares to the rest.”

Brayden found himself hanging on to his
friend’s words. “The rest of what?”

“All the good stuff that love brings, my
friend. I think you’ve found that. That’s why you’ve been going batshit crazy.
You love her.”

Brayden didn’t say anything. He didn’t
know what to say.

He listened to the sound of Dmetri
standing, his footsteps as he crossed the room. Dmetri rested a hand on his
shoulder. “You’ll work things out. I know you will. Take a break, relax. Do
some work, anything. Once your mind clears a bit, the fog will lift, and you’ll
be thinking smarter. You’ll figure something out. Best of luck to you.” Dmetri
turned and started leaving.

Sighing, Brayden called out. “Thanks, Dmetri.
You are a...good friend.”

Dmetri grinned, then closed the study
door behind him.

Brayden listened to his friend’s advice.
It felt strange being on the other side of it. Usually, he was the one giving
orders, giving advice to his younger friend. Yet Dmetri had spotted his
problems and feelings more precisely than he ever probably could have on his
own. He did care for Vanessa, a lot. The word ‘love’ trickled through his mind
like dripping water. Did he love her? Maybe; maybe it explained that suffocating
tightness in his chest that hadn’t left since she’s been gone. Maybe it explained
the utter humiliation of his actions—that he’d let her get taken away. He’d
broken his promise. His manhood had taken a mighty blow with that one—he might
never be able to have children now.

Sighing, he pinched the bridge of his
nose. Dmetri was right. Maybe if he got back on the Brunes case, he could
settle his mind enough to figure out what to do. God, he missed her so damned
much. It was an actual physical ache in his body. Everything muscle seemed to
hurt. Headaches switched to migraines and back and forth, and hadn’t gone away
since she was taken. To work then.

He grabbed his briefcase, got in his
SUV, and headed to work. He needed something to break in this case. Brunes was
guilty and not just of one murder, but two. Brunes’ ex-wife and Justicar Daniel
will be the last souls Brunes takes.

* * *

Brayden read over the sentence in the
Givens woman’s witness report for the fifth time. Hell, the words were just
starting to run together.

“Fuck!” He slammed his fist on the desk,
feeling a little better when his pen holder spilled over making a mess. He
normally would have righted it straight away, but he didn’t give a shit at the
mess.

Well, Dmetri had been wrong on one
thing. Coming to work hadn’t gotten his mind off of Vanessa. How could it? He’d
even gone over every piece of evidence they had on the Brunes case several
times and still nothing popped. They couldn’t even try him on conspiracy to
commit murder. The man had no evidence against him, yet Brayden’s gut told him
Brunes did it. Maybe if he put enough pressure on him the man would pop and
confess. It was looking like that was the only way this was going to work.
Brunes was too smart and powerful to slip up. His influence had helped him to
get away with the murder of his wife, but damn if Brayden would sit by and
doing nothing now.

With that thought in mind, he packed up
his briefcase and headed for Brunes’. The LED lights on his clock in the SUV
stated it was nine o’clock. Not too late to make an official call, but too late
to be polite. Fuck pleasantries, the man was a murderer. His hands tightened
over the steering wheel. If he got lucky, Brunes might piss him off enough to
start a fight. He could use a good fight to get the unsettled, anxious energy
out of his blood.

It was late when he rolled up through
the gated driveway of the Brunes mansion. Small spotlights lit the front and
sides of the house as if trying to notify the world that a rich person lived
there. As if they couldn’t already tell by his massive house. Just the drive to
the house itself was ridiculous. Took a good couple minutes before he pulled up
in front of the house and jumped out of his SUV.

Brayden strode to the door and without
hesitating, beat his fist on it. On the third knock, the door swung open and
the old butler waited there. His black suit jacket was off and the sleeves of
his white button-down shirt were rolled up.

“How can I help you, sir?”

“I need to see King Brunes. Justicar
matters.”

“I’m afraid Mr. Brunes isn’t taking any
visitors now—”

Brayden shook his head, then pushed his
way past the old man. He looked left and right, finding nothing but empty dark
rooms. A deep voice came from the end of the hall. He followed it down to
Brunes’ study.

“Uh, sir, I will have to call the
Justicars if you do not leave. You are not welcome here.”

If the butler was going for threatening,
he did a piss poor job. He sounded about as intimidating as a fledging kitten.

“Go ahead; I might need backup.”

“As you wish...” the butler’s voice
trailed away.

Brayden paused in front of the double-wide
study door. He cocked his ear to it as he glanced back up the hall. The butler
had disappeared. Brunes was speaking inside, but almost as if on cue, the
talking ceased once he listened. Brayden didn’t hesitate. His blood had been
churning at a slow boil for days.
Four days
since Vanessa had been taken
right from under him. Four days since he failed a woman that meant much more to
him than he’d even realized, until she was gone. He opened the door and stepped
inside.

The room was brightly lit. Every lamp
turned on, even the grand crystal chandelier. Not a shadow appeared. Brunes
stood in front of his desk, a small smile on his face. Brayden wanted to grapple
the motherfucker to the ground, pound his fist into his face until bones cracked
and blood spurted. Yeah, that was about the mood he was in right now.

“How unexpected, Justicar Brayden. What’s
brought you all the way out here?”

Brayden took his time searching the
room. Brunes wasn’t one to keep his back unwatched. He couldn’t see anyone, but
that didn’t mean some guard wasn’t close.

“I think you know that already.”

“Then why did you even bother coming
here? You and I both know you have no evidence to support your claims. You can’t
prove a crime that I didn’t commit.”

Brayden walked to the center of the
room. He didn’t want that door at his back. He stood so he kept an eye on
Brunes, the windows behind him, and the door. “We both know you did it. Hell,
even Sarina knows. What I want to know, is why.”

Brunes’ derisive chuckle skated along
Brayden’s nerves like a serrated knife. He moved his tall body around the desk
and folded himself into a chair. His smile was cold, but pleased. “My wife and
I took a vacation. Left Sarina here with the butler, some guards, a nanny, that
sort of thing. Clara and I had a steak meal that she cooked below deck on our
yacht. We have a vacation home in Seattle. That’s where we keep our yacht, you
know. That night we had dinner. I remember Bach or some such music playing over
the system. I went below deck for another bottle of wine, came back and she was
gone. That’s all there is to it, Brayden.”

Brayden stared at Brunes with hard,
unrelenting eyes. “Do you know what I think?”

Brunes smiled. “Enlighten me, of course,
but make it fast. This has been a very rude interruption and know that I am
only flattering you with this conversation to be polite.”

Yeah, right. “I think that you learned
that your wife had been sneaking out while you were gone on your business trips
with council. I think you found out that she’d been spreading her legs open for
an eager vampire, one who was more than happy to give her the pleasure you
couldn’t.” Brayden paused to let his words sink in. He’d struck a chord. Brunes
stiffed in his chair, his lips pulling into a nasty frown, his face deepening
with color. “I think she was fucking him all the time. Maybe even sharing her
dreams of being free of the great King Brunes. Does that sound about right?
Though I do wonder, what makes you angrier? That she was fucking a lousy vampire
behind your back, or that she took her daughter to meet him. After all, she was
a protective woman, never left her child alone, even in your care. Your own
wife didn’t trust you around your daughter. That says something to me, Brunes.”

Brayden took in Brunes’ facial
expressions, his tics. He’d finally found a way to apply pressure to the
bastard. Most of what he’d just said was pure speculation, part bullshit. There
was never any sign that Clara had had an affair, but she might have. And
judging from the reddening of Brunes’ face, Brayden had hit the mark spot-on.

“So, let me keep guessing. She finally
told you that she wanted to leave you. You threw in the fact that she’d never
get custody of Sarina...but then what? How did you get her to agree to the vacation?
I doubt she trusted you further than she could throw you if she was smart
enough to try to leave you. So, explain to me, just how did you get her to go
with you? Did you drug her and fly her out to Seattle on your own private plane?
I checked your assets; you do own one. Was your excuse that night all bullshit?
No dinner, no wine. You took her out on your yacht with a story you concocted,
then beat her ’till she was unconscious and tossed her over the side. Lykaens
aren’t impervious to drowning and you damn well knew that. You killed her.”

Brunes’ face paled back to its normal
color. He looked down as if thinking...or remembering. “You think you got it
all figured out, don’t you, Mr. Erickson?” Brunes stood, his arms crossed, then
slowly stepped around the desk until he faced Brayden once more. “Well, you’re
wrong about a few things, I’m afraid.”

Brunes uncrossed his arms then leveled a
silver pistol on him. Brayden’s only response to the change in the game was a
soft breath he let out. Brunes waved the gun around like a witch with a wand.

“Don’t worry, they’re silver infused
bullets, just like the Justicars use. They’ll kill you before you can get to
me.”

Brayden kept his gaze on the door to his
right. “What was I wrong about?”

Brunes’ face morphed into a mask of
vicious, seething hatred. “That bitch wasn’t fucking a vampire! She was fucking
my guard!
My
guard! Riding his damn cock like a fucking whore. She was a
whore. I am the last king of the lykaen community. The last thing I need is a
whore to rule at my side. She did it right here. Right in this house. Under my
nose when I went to bed at night. In our
bed
when I left the house.”

Brayden kept his focus on the gun and
the door. Brunes wasn’t one to act alone, that he knew. Some stealthy bastard
might be creeping up behind him as they spoke. “How did you not smell him?”

“He was defective. I chose him to be my
personal...guard because of a birth defect. Something was wrong with his
hormones and he never left a trace. Made him quite useful for certain jobs.”

Yeah, he knew just what kind of jobs a
man with an untraceable scent could do.

“How did you find out?”

Brunes narrowed his wild eyes then
cocked the hammer of the gun. The hard metal snap made every muscle in Brayden’s
body tense, ready. What Brunes didn’t know, was that he was in love and had a
woman to find. He wouldn’t be dying here tonight.

Brunes bent over to his knees with
laughter. When he stood back up, he was sucking in deep, unsteady breaths.
Tears of laughter rimmed his eyes and he wiped them away with his gun hand. “The
last person you’d suspect. My own precious daughter.”

Brayden stilled. “Sarina?”

“I’ll tell you...the innocence of a
child. She came to me crying one day that she’d seen mommy hugging a man without
clothes. It frightened her.”