Trent (13 page)
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Trent found himself walking around the house
just looking at things that he had absolutely no idea what he was looking at.
Not that he didn’t know the items, but he couldn’t have told someone had they
asked what he’d looked at to save his life. Things were just going too quickly
for him to think beyond the second. He looked behind him when he heard his name
called softly.
“Do you like this room?” He looked around the
room when Joe asked him. “I do. It’s well-lit, and coming in here makes me feel
safe. Which is silly, I suppose, since there are more windows than walls
really.”
“I wouldn’t think that Noah could spend a
great deal of time in this one. Unless it’s dark out.” She told him he rarely
came in here even if she was here. “Why is that?”
“This is my domain, as he calls it. Somewhere
that is all mine.” She came more into the room and sat on the fainting couch.
He’d seen them before, of course, but only in pictures or movies. “What’s
bothering you? You’re acting like a caged animal, when I know for a fact that
you are as free as I am.”
“Everything and nothing at the same time. I’ve
talked to the council for this region, and they’re very happy with the turn of
events concerning Casey and myself. I guess he’s been fucking up big time, and
they were hoping for someone to come and kill him. Their words, not mine.” She
nodded, and he moved toward her. Joe was beautiful laying there watching him,
and he had a feeling that she was humoring him for some reason. Or she was
trying to help him work things out. “My dad is happy that I’m in this position.
I thought for sure he’d tell me he’d take it for me, but when I told him what
had happened, he said he was happy for me. And you as well.”
“Why for me?”
He told her he didn’t know and sat on the
chair that was across from her. Leaning back, Trent let his mind drift while
she said nothing. Then he remembered what he’d been thinking about. “The pack
is not without funds, just so you know. I mean, not a great deal, but enough to
sustain them for a little while. We’ve also found out that not only was Casey
in on this robbery, but the police were able to attach his name, and those of
the other robbers, to a string of other robberies in the area.” He closed his
eyes as he continued, his body finally feeling slightly relaxed. “His mate told
the council and myself that he did it because he could and he was good at it.
She seemed to think it was all right for him to do whatever he wanted…he was
the pack leader, after all. And the money that he took in the previous
robberies had gone to buying some property in another country, as well as
several houses. The council is trying to figure out what to do with that.”
His mind began the pleasant task of closing
down. He’d not been sleeping well, mostly due to the fact that he was worried
about everything, but he was staying up later and later just to make love to
Joe. Grinning, he wondered if she’d let him shift and chase after her before
dinner.
When he woke, the room was dark. Not
completely blacked out, but just bright enough from the moon shining into the
room for him to see that Joe was no longer on the couch. Stretching as he stood
up, he nearly cried out when he realized that he wasn’t alone in the room. He
sat back down when Noah began speaking.
“I need a favor from you.” He told him he’d
do anything for him. “Not so hasty, my good man. But this won’t cost you overly
much. I should like to have a small sampling of your blood. Just to be able to
communicate with you and find you should I need to.”
“Joe said that when she was in the bank, you
couldn’t contact her until she reached out to you. Why, do you know?” When Noah
didn’t answer him, Trent continued. “Casey has been named as one of the robbers
yesterday. There is some question as to why he was found naked at the scene,
but no one is overly concerned with that. The cameras, as you know, have been
replaced and the bank will open in a few more days. No one even mentioned us
being there other than the manager, and he’s been carted off to jail as well.”
“She is your mate.” Trent nodded, not sure
where the man was headed. “When she became your mate—and I’m only guessing here—my
contact with her was severed. Not entirely, because she was able to contact me,
but I think that with you there, being her mate, you became a priority to her. I
think. It’s the reason that I think I was unable to contact her when you told
me she was in trouble. I should like to have a small taste of your blood so
that in the event that I can’t find her, I can talk to you.”
“Sounds like…I have no idea. I’m still trying
to wrap my head around this house and all the money.” They both laughed. “But
really, I’m working through this. The money is the most important thing. Not
that I’m not thrilled to have it, but it is more than I’ve ever had. Being the
pack alpha was something that I had hoped for someday, so now that I have it, I
have some things to work out with actually dealing with it. Having Joe at my
side, I think we’ll do a great job at it. And as for you wanting my blood?
Let’s just say as weird shit goes, that doesn’t even register as much of a
concern.”
“You’ll do a great job at it. You were born
to lead, as was Joe.” Trent thought about his first request and told him he was
fine with it. “You will never be able to take it back, Trent. I will have your
scent as well as be in your mind for the rest of my days.”
“As will I with you. I’d like to do a fair
exchange. My blood for yours.” Trent wasn’t sure Noah was going to agree with
it, but he smiled and nodded. “Taking your blood into me, will that do anything
to me later?”
“To be honest, I hope so.” The smile made him
a little nervous. “What I have, Joe has; in return, you too have it. Taking my
blood might enhance what you have. But for sure? I don’t know.”
Fair enough, he supposed. As he put out his
wrist for the man, several things popped into his head at once. He’d be
basically in bed with a vampire. A very old and very powerful one. As Noah’s teeth
sank into his wrist, Trent thought of something else. Noah was now and would be
forever his friend.
“I thank you for that. I think of you as my
family as well.” Trent nodded and took the wrist of Noah. “I will cut it for
you. Someday you might develop fangs, but for now, we’ll do it this way.”
The blood that was there was dark. And when
he pulled it into his body, licking the beads of blood with his tongue, Trent
tasted not just the richness but also the strength in it. The power of it raced
over his body in a long shuddering race to fill his cells, and Trent felt
slightly dizzy. Leaning back in the chair and closing his eyes, he felt the
connection immediately.
“I must take my leave.” Trent nodded, nearly
drunk on the blood. When Noah laughed, Trent looked at him with one eye
slightly opened. “You will do very well, my friend. Very well indeed.”
The next thing he knew, Trent was waking
again. This time it was to Joe sitting on his lap. She smiled at him when he
sat up and pulled her into his arms more securely for a long and much needed
kiss.
“I missed you too,” she told him when he let
her up. “I was thinking you were never coming to bed, and I find you here
sleeping it off in a chair and not our bed.”
“I had a short talk with Noah. And we exchanged
blood.” She told him she knew that and had felt it. “I figured as much. He is
very powerful, isn’t he?”
“He is. And now, so are you.” As much as he
wanted her to explain that, he wanted her naked more. “I think we’d have more
fun in the bed.”
“Maybe. But for now, I’d like to have you
ride me.” He helped her to stand and watched her hungrily as she stripped down
for him. “Christ, you are so beautiful. And all mine.”
When she was naked, he pulled her to him. He
had thought to taste her, to eat at her pussy until she was as needy as him. But
as soon as he touched her, he felt her need spike, and his wolf moved along his
skin. He wanted his mate as well.
“I’m going to shift and let my wolf have you
first. If I don’t, he’s going to distract me when I take you.”
As she sat down and spread her thighs by
putting them up and over the arms of the chair, Trent nearly took his dick off
with his zipper. He didn’t move as Joe’s fingers slowly slid down her belly to
her pussy. His pants were open, his cock freed, and he’d stopped breathing. Watching
her pleasure herself, hearing her moan and say his name, Trent knew that if he
were to die now, he’d be one happy wolf.
“Hurry. Or do you expect me to do this all on
my own?” Her fingers disappeared inside of her. “I want to feel your cock here,
Trent. Tell your wolf to hurry or there will be nothing left for him.”
Pulling off his pants the rest of the way, he
licked her while bent at his waist. Letting his wolf take him, the beast inside
of him moved along his skin until Trent the man was no more. His wolf moved
closer to her, whining quietly as she spread her nether lips for him.
“Taste me.” His wolf moved his head to her
and licked her. The taste, Trent knew, was spectacular. And when his wolf
licked her again, Trent knew that she was enjoying it. As soon as she came,
holding his wolf’s head to her, his wolf fucked her with quick, hard strokes
with his tongue until she was screaming again.
He took him then, his wolf giving him up so
calmly that Trent knew that he’d had his fill. For now anyway. Trent took over
where his wolf had stopped. Joe held his head too, holding him there as he ate
ravenously at her. Sliding his finger into her, fucking her as his tongue was,
cream slid down his hand to his elbow. Still he ate her, drinking as deeply of
her as he could. When she jerked his head up, holding him away from his prize,
Trent growled low, his need too powerful to be denied.
“Fuck me.” He shook his head, tugging on her
hand to go back to his feast. “Fuck me now. I need to feel you fill me, Trent.
Fuck me.”
Standing up, he growled at her to do the
same. As soon as she was standing up, her legs wobbly, he turned her to the chair
and bent her nearly in half. Pulling her ass to him, Trent plowed her as hard
as he could, fucking her like his wolf would have had he been able.
“Come. Let go and come for me.” He wasn’t
sure she understood him, his voice was still so thick with his wolf. When she
cried out she was coming, Trent bent over her, pushing her face into the chair cushion,
and bit deeply into her shoulder. As soon as she tightened around him, coming again,
he let his own climax take him as he sucked on the wound he’d just created.
Tearing into her flesh made his cock fill
again. And when she took his arm to her mouth, his wrist exposed for her fangs,
Trent fucked her until he was sure that he was going to pass out. The moment
her mouth moved over his pounding pulse, he came, screaming out her name as she
bit into him. Trent felt his entire world shift and center in a matter of
seconds.
Noah opened his eyes. The room was pitch
black, but he, like most of his kind, could see movement in the darkest and
deepest inkiness. But when someone or something entered his lair, he could see
better than at any other time.
Rising up slowly, he kept track of where the
human was that had dared to enter his domain. Moving off his bed, lifting
himself up by his own magic, he hovered above his bed enough that he not only
knew who was there, but also that the man had brought a gun. There was no
silver in the casings, nor was there any on the person himself. But there was
something—more than likely a stake made of the purest walnut—in the man’s hand,
held at the ready.
Are you all right?
He smiled when he felt
the touch of Trent in his mind.
I have no idea what’s going on right now,
but I can feel something from you. Danger, I guess. My first instincts are to
come and save you, but I have a feeling I’d just be in your way.
I have a visitor in my room.
He knew that he should
tell the wolf to come to his aid, but for now Noah was going to try and deal
with this fool on his own
. I have no idea why Max thinks that being here is
going to go well for him, but for now I shall see what he has to say. You are not
here, are you?
No. We’re at my house, packing up my stuff. It
was so late when we got finished, we decided to stay here. I’m going to come
there and—
Oh no. Don’t do that. I have this under
control. He has no silver on his person, and the stake he has, while expensive,
will not penetrate my flesh. Again, with age comes a great deal of magic, and
walnut is something that I have guarded myself against.
Noah watched the man
knock against an end table and hastily set it to rights
. He’s never going to
be any good at sneaking the way he’s fumbling around in my rooms. Dispatching
him will be a great pleasure.
He wouldn’t, of course. There were many
reasons why the man would walk out of here on his own, and one of them was that
Noah had no idea who he had told about coming here. Not to mention who might be
waiting for him to come out when he was finished. Noah was thinking about how
best to approach the man when Trent laughed.
Joe said to tell you that he could fall down
and break his neck. Trespassing is a horrible offense, and that alone could get
him arrested.
Noah laughed as well.
We’re up now should you need us. And we’ll be at the
house when you rise tonight, Joe said to tell you.
Fine, I’ll expect you then. For now, I feel I
must pay attention to the man here. His stake, while a fine one, can’t kill me,
as I said, but it will hurt me.
He thought of the changes that he’d made to
his household, and knew that the couple he’d hired would be most upset with him
if there was a mess to clean up
. When you come this evening, bring along
your family. I have a need to travel for a while, so I’d like to say goodbye.
Actually, Noah had been able to ward himself
off all sorts of manmade things over the years. Stakes, while capable of killing
a younger vampire, wouldn’t destroy him. There were a lot of other things that
would kill someone younger than him, but he wasn’t worried about that. The only
thing that he’d been unable to keep himself safe from was olive tree wood. And
he didn’t smell that on the man now.
Finally, his curiosity got the better of him,
and he lowered himself to the floor to confront Max on his grounds. But he did
keep himself at a safe distance, just in the event that the man was smarter
than anyone thought. Noah thought that was giving the man a great deal of
credit where it wasn’t deserved. He was in the lair of a vampire.
“You should have a very good reason for being
here.” His voice was purposely low, and he barely managed to keep himself from laughing
when Max not only knocked the end table over and broke the lamp that had been
sitting on it, but upended the chair it had been sitting near as well. “Max? Or
should I call you Benson? Either way, you had better explain how you got inside
of my home.”
“Where is she?” Noah asked him who he was
talking about. “That woman. Joe, or whatever the hell her name is. I want you
to tell me where she is. I know she’s at your beck and call. Bring her around
to us now. I want to see her.”
“With her mate, I would assume.” Max looked
confused. Turning on the light, Noah waited for both their eyes to adjust
before he continued. “You came to my home looking for Joe? Whatever reason you
have for wanting her had better be worth your life, because that’s what it’s
going to cost you for being here.”
“You think you scare me? Well, you don’t.
I’ve come prepared.” Noah disarmed the man and moved back to his seat before Max
knew what he’d been about. He put the gun on the bed, a safe distance away, and
the stake, which was cheaply made, in the wall behind him. It was a show of
force, yes, but he’d made his point well, it appeared. As he stood there
looking at his empty hands like a moron, Noah took that time to look at Max.
He’d been through a great deal, it appeared.
Not only was his suit mussed up, but his hair looked like something had moved
into it and built condos. And his tie, usually so straight and clean, now
looked as if he’d been using it as a napkin, as well as something to keep his
face mopped. The man was a mess, and Noah could smell the fear on him.
“What did you just do?”
Noah said nothing, his mind working out how
the man had gotten into his house instead of what he’d done to him.
“I came here to talk to Joe. Where is she? We
have business to attend to.”
Noah reached into the man’s mind none too
gently and raped it. He found out a great deal from the search, and the reason
he was there in the middle of the night. Sitting down and leaning back in his
chair, Noah commanded Max to sit. He did, right on the floor.
“Do you have any idea what I am? I’ll save
you the trouble of trying to figure it out. I’m a very old and powerful vampire
whose lair you just entered. I don’t have the energy or the inclination to
argue with you on the finer points of breaking and entering, but coming here to
kidnap my child is going to get your throat ripped out.” Max claimed that people
knew where he was. “No one knows where you are, and if you had bothered to tell
anyone, no one would care. You are simply on your own. As you have been for
quite some time. Now don’t lie to me again. I won’t tolerate it.”
“You claim you’re a vampire. And I’m just
supposed to believe you. I don’t, in the event you care. But my business is
with Joe. She owes me.” Noah said nothing, knowing exactly what Max thought Joe
owed him. “As for kidnapping her, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Of course you do. You think that because you
came in here without anyone being the wiser that you can do as you damned well
please about getting Joe to go with you. She’s told you no before, Benson or
Max or whatever the hell you’re calling yourself now, and I’m sure she will do
so again. Joe has a mate now.” Noah knew that, although Max said that his
business was with Joe, his intentions were to take her from Noah and use her to
finance his way to Europe to get to his funds. “The money is gone, you know.
All of it. I could tell you where it’s gone to, but I won’t. I think it will be
more fun for all those involved for you to find out on your own.”
“What do you mean it’s all gone? I have
millions of dollars in those accounts, and I aim to get it. Once you pay me for
getting Joe back, I’m going to get out of here and never return.” He was never
going to return—he had that much right—but as for the money, not only was it
gone, it had been put into a nice fund for the victims of senseless crimes. “Tell
Joe to get her ass down here and I’ll be on my way.”
“Do you seriously think that I’d just call
her down to my lair for you to kidnap?” Max looked confused again. “I told you
already, she’s not here. She and her mate have gone to their own home and shan’t
be returning.”
“Shan’t? What the hell does that mean?” Noah
started to explain. “I don’t really care. And you make her come with me. I need
to get out of here. Someone has been calling me and saying things that…well, I
don’t care for it. So I’m not telling you again to get that bitch down here.”
“You’ve been getting calls? About what?” Noah
didn’t know what Jefferson was doing about calls, but apparently it was
working. Max was about as scared as he’d ever seen a human be. “Someone has
been haunting you, Max? About what deed this time? I’m sure there are plenty to
choose from.”
“Never you mind. None of them are true, but
they have to stop, and they will as soon as you pay me to give you back Joe.” Max
sat there looking at Noah expectantly. “Well? When are you going to call her to
me?”
“I’m not, and I have no idea why you think I
would. The police are looking for you.” Noah had no idea if they were or not,
but it got a reaction from Max. “Yes, they’re wondering about a murder that
happened long ago. A woman had been living alone when you were there. If I
remember correctly, you knew her quite well.”
“Cindy? So what about her? No one is going to
miss a tramp like her. I did her family a favor by doing what I did. Or if
you’re talking about Addie Mae, then that’s another one that no one cares
about.” Noah said nothing, but did reach out to Trent again to tell him the
names of the two women. “I’ve been waiting here patiently, Noah. Where is Joe?”
“Gone. And I was referring to Sydney Carlin. You
remember her, don’t you, Max?” Max’s face paled and he stiffened. “I can see
that we’ve touched on a memory. Is that who you’ve getting calls about? Poor
Sydney, who you raped and left dead on her living room floor? Why? Because she
wouldn’t give you what you wanted?”
“That was all your fault and you know it. She
was mine and you told her to stay away from me, that I wasn’t good enough.” Noah
asked him how it was even possible that it was Noah’s fault. “You told her to
make me look bad, and that I was a crook. Then you had her family come after
me. Did you know that they ran me out of town?”
“Sydney had no family, Max. Whoever ran you
out of town wasn’t her family. Perhaps it was the people who liked her and not
you. But you had to go and kill her, didn’t you? For no other reason than you’d
been found out.” Max stood up then and began pacing across Noah’s room, and Noah
let him. The man was obviously unhinged, and Noah was going to get as much
information as he could out of him before he let him go. “What about her haunts
you so much? Could it be that she was going to have a child and you murdered it
as well?”
“It wasn’t mine.” That sounded to Noah like a
justification rather than a confession. “All she had to do was marry me and
then give me all her money. It’s not like she spent any of it. What the hell
did she think she was going to do with it?”
“There was no money.” Max told him he lied.
“No, I don’t lie, and there was no money to speak of. She was living in the
brownstone that belonged to another, and she was working for pennies a day,
almost, just to keep food in her belly. The only thing she had in her whole
life was her goodness, and you took that from her.”
Max continued to pace. Noah told Trent to
contact Jefferson and let him know that Max was running scared. It was time the
man was brought down, and he wanted Jefferson to be the one to do it.
All right. But are you okay? Max is off his
rocker, his butler said. The guy that works for you, Michael I think Joe said,
is a friend of his, and he said that in order to get their money, they took
some things of value from the home. There’s not much there, I guess.
He’d have to have a
talk with Michael and see what else his friend said.
Oh, and Joe said to
tell you that you should also mention Benny by name. Not anything about him,
but just that Benny misses his friend.
Good idea. Keep him on his toes until
Jefferson gets here.
Noah asked if they were coming there.
I think you should both stay where you
are. It’s a lovely night. You should go out in the woods with your lovely mate.
We’re there now.
Noah nearly laughed
at the man’s tone, like he’d had his candy taken from him.
She’s very
worried about you.
Tell her that I’m fine.
And he was too.
All
right. I have to lay groundwork before Jefferson comes and saves the day. You
two have a lovely evening. I shall speak with you both tomorrow.
“You’ve never gotten in touch with Joe. I
need her to get her ass down here and help me out. It’s the least you can do
for me. The two of you have been fucking me over for years, and now it’s time I
got a little payback.” Noah asked Max how he thought he owed him anything. “You
shouldn’t have done that to me. I would have been a very rich man had you just
kept your nose out of my business.”
“Benny misses her too, you know.” Max’s
entire demeanor changed. He’d been pacing back and forth, his body seemingly
lax in his movements, but now he was stiff as a rail and his face was blood
red. “You do remember him, don’t you? The neighbor of the woman you raped and murdered.”
