“You have your magic, but I get this feeling...” Viktor leaned over the table, reaching for Ant’s hand. “I’ve lived for over eight hundred years, and that feeling I get is probably as important to me as your magic is to you. I’ve relied on it for a long time.”
“I understand that, I do.” Ant sighed. “But what does that feeling mean to you?”
“It’s as if I know something big is about to happen. I’ve had it before, but this time, when I look around, there’re no enemies to fight. There’s nothing to do. I am playing happy families with my mate, and I enjoy every minute of it,” Viktor added quickly, as if Ant didn’t know that was already true. Ant realized in that moment that Viktor had similar concerns to his own.
“I just feel…” Viktor frowned. “I don’t know whether it’s because I’m so used to always being on alert, and this is just a throwback to that. Perhaps I’m simply struggling to let go of those old habits. I’ve considered that, but then I wonder if there is a genuine danger coming for us, but I just don’t know where it’s coming from.”
Ant nodded. He had been feeling something similar. Unfortunately, because of his close proximity to Viktor, it had been very difficult to work out if he was simply responding to Viktor’s agitation, or if it was his own magic recognizing there was a threat.
“I’ve got a similar problem.” Ant quickly explained his unease and how he wasn’t sure where it was coming from. “So, you see, when I’m around you, all I’m conscious of is your agitation. That makes it all the more difficult for me to rely on my magic and instincts as well. Does that make sense? Am I being clear?”
“Yes, that makes perfect sense, and you telling me that has helped me realize I’ve not done our mating any favors, because I didn’t talk this out with you.” Viktor’s thumb was warm across the back of Ant’s hand. “I used to think that it was easier always knowing where the enemies were. I know you’ve never understood why I spent so much time associated with the Manzanos, especially when that meant living a dangerous life. You called it my living in the shadows, and that is what I used to do. But for me, knowing the dangers around me was the safest place for me to be.
“For many, many centuries, vampires had a target on their backs. If anyone suspected what we were, or how we lived – you can imagine it for yourself. With superstition rife, and people naturally suspicious of anyone who didn’t fit in, our kind were often hunted, usually for no other reason than we looked slightly different or had more resources than other people.”
“We don’t live like that now.” Ant frowned.
“No, I know, and I’m not really blaming that, but those habits are deeply ingrained in who I am. Being around Tony and his family made sense to me. I knew I wasn’t safe. I knew every minute of every day that there was that target on my back again.”
“Then why?”
“I already knew where the threat was coming from. I was also cocky enough to know I could beat that threat if it ever hit me in the face. This business now, not knowing where the threat is coming from, or from who, or even why - that’s an unsettling position for me to be in.”
“Is this because of what Captain Bain tried to do?” Ant asked. In a lot of ways, he had been feeling the same way, although he didn’t live his life in the shadows and indeed made a point of always living as honestly and true to himself as he could. “I was explaining the business with the captain to Bridget. I don’t understand why it’s happening. I don’t understand why he pressured us the way he did. I don’t understand where the threat is that’s pressuring him or why someone would do that.”
“Did Bridget have any good ideas?” Viktor asked. “You did say she was the one with the legal and financial or business knowledge, who could help better pinpoint where our threat was coming from. You even mentioned she’d likely have a plan to neutralize that threat in a more acceptable way than tying people up into a pretzel.”
Ant chuckled. The medical examiner’s office couldn’t work out how Viktor had tied Mike and Colin Banks together the way he did. Apparently, it took a long time to get the two bodies separated. While Ant didn’t approve of violence most times, in that case and in his mind, the punishment fit the crime. He had even received an email from the Mage Academy asking if he and Viktor could go in once classes were in session, so Viktor could show his process with life-sized dummies.
But that didn’t help their current predicament. “Is it possible we’re looking at this from the wrong direction?” Ant was still thinking about Captain Bains. “Is it possible that it was the captain himself who just didn’t want you around for whatever reason. He seemed really keen on my staying to work for the police. He just wanted me to work alone, the way I had before you and I had claimed each other.”
“I didn’t pick up anything from the captain that suggested that he was prejudiced against vampires, paranormals, or mates,” Viktor said, clearly thinking about it. “He also said himself that he was under pressure from other parties to separate us. He just didn’t say who those people were. But anything is possible.
“However, I think it’s more important to consider that you and I need to be more open about talking among ourselves about those feelings we both try to hide. For example, I wasn’t aware that if I get physically hurt, that you would feel physical pain through our bond. I also wasn’t aware that my - what I thought was suppressed energies and I was doing my best to suppress them - was also impacting your ability to trust your instincts and your magic. Neither one of those situations is ideal for either one of us, particularly if we are under threat again.”
“I guess that means we have to talk about our feelings more often, even though neither one of us is comfortable doing that.” Ant smiled to show he was teasing, looked at his empty coffeecup, and then up at the clock on the wall. “Are we going to wait the next fifteen minutes to see if Carmine turns up?”
Looking over Ant’s shoulder, Viktor glanced out the front window of the restaurant. “I think you’ll find he’s already here. I’m sure I recognize that black town car. From memory, Carmine was always the impatient sort, and arriving early, when he thinks we might still be eating, would be another subtle way he thinks he can exert his control. Did you want to have our meeting here?” He indicated the half-empty restaurant. Most of the lunch crowd had already headed back to work.
Ant shrugged. “I don’t want him in my office because Bridget is there. And I don’t want him at our home because he would seriously mess up the vibes of our private space. So, here’s as good a place as any. He’s not likely to start a scene or be violent, is he?”
Viktor shook his head. “No. I imagine the Carmine we’re going to meet today will be the same charming, definitely pushy personage you probably met when he was dating Bridget.”
Ant vividly remembered that night. Bridget had been more than a little upset over how she’d been deceived. Carmine was a very persuasive and very attractive man. Ant beckoned to the waiter who was over by the counter. “Can we have another coffee order, please?” he asked. “It looks like we might be here for a little while longer.”
He could feel his magic bristle, and Able sat up under the table, resting his head on Ant’s knee, as Carmine and two of his bodyguards came in and strode over to the table.
Chapter Four
“Viktor, you don’t look like you’ve aged a day in years.” Carmine’s greeting was overly effusive. Viktor had stood up, out of habit, more than anything else, but he was glad that he did when Carmine immediately extended his hand to Ant. Moving around the table, Viktor leaned over and lightly slapped Carmine’s hand down and away from his mate.
“Really, Carmine, haven’t you learned anything in all these years? My mate is highly skilled. Unless you want a rap sheet written up within half an hour of this meeting, I suggest you don’t touch him. I really don’t want my mate bombarded by the images of you fighting with your mistress this morning because she thought the diamond in the necklace you bought her was too small. My mate doesn’t need to relive your domestic hassles.”
Carmine tilted his head for a second, his face froze, and then his booming laugh rang around the restaurant. The man had put on a few pounds since Viktor had seen him last, but the designer suit still made an impression, and the Rolex on his wrist seemed new. “Oh, Viktor. You always were so good at looking out for the bad guys. Didn’t you know I’m a reformed man now? Betsy loved that necklace.”
That was a damn good guess.Carmine pushed his hand in his direction, which Viktor shook, but as he did, Carmine pulled him in, slapping him on the back in the manly hug action that Viktor had always despised. “This is nice, isn’t it? We should sit, have a drink, catch up on old times, just like old friends. You know how it is.”
“Yes, because everybody turns up to a friendly meeting with two of their bodyguards.” Viktor scowled at the two hulking menaces that stood behind Carmine as he pulled away from the annoying gangster. Viktor knew that even though they were in a publicspace, if he so much as caused Carmine to break a fingernail, they would be pulling out the guns causing bulges under their jackets.
