Page 20 of The Way You Bite
Chapter Six
Vee eyed her apartment building from her car. She loved her place—sleek, modern, and in a safe, upscale downtown neighborhood. The neighbors were quiet and private.
A mental scan of the area came up with no vampires in the area. Dominic’s goons would come unless Ambrose brokered a miracle deal. Unlikely. When her father got an idea in his head, he stuck to it. He probably determined the only way to force her to quit work was to get her pregnant and married, in that order.
Her phone buzzed with a voicemail. A number flashed on the main screen, one she knew by heart as the Scarpa estate main line.
She clicked the message to play. “Velvet, why must you always be difficult?” Dominic purred into the phone. “Requiem” by Verdi played in the background. He only listened to this opera aria when in the foulest of moods. “Hsu-Li says you were…hurt. I do hope you are okay. Go home, my dear. Sleep tonight. Heal. Tomorrow I expect you here at precisely one hour past dusk. Ambrose will be here as well. He informed me you are moving permanently to his country estate. Good, good. So, you may come with him to our meeting tomorrow, if you prefer. If you fail to show… I know you will not disappoint me.” The call ended.
Her freedom plan would have to begin tonight. Maybe a little under budget, but she’d make it work. Phase one was to fake her death.
Her back throbbed, reminding her she might not need to fake her own death if she didn’t take care of herself. Fortunately, her car had dark leather seats. Easy to clean. And, good for masking blood stains, not that she’d bought it with that thought in mind. She craned around to see the knife’s entry point, which hurt. A lot. The seat didn’t show the blood’s color, but it was wet. The coppery smell in combination with light-headedness suggested significant loss. It was almost two a.m., an unlikely hour for a neighborly run-in.
The trek from her car into the apartment building guaranteed to be painful. After a few deep breaths, she pushed out of the car. Vertigo slammed her hard. She stumbled, catching herself on the side of the car before she asphalt face-planted.Get inside.She stumbled to the foyer elevator. This wound might require a lot more than one day of sleep and a few liters of Type O. She didn’t have the luxury of a day’s sleep ahead, not when she’d be on the first possible flight out of Charlotte in the morning.
She flipped the light on as she entered her apartment and threw the keys on the side table. As she turned, her heart took off in a drag race toward panic. “Why areyouhere?”
“How’s your night going,catifea?” Lexan rose from her suede sofa. His long, powerful legs were encased in denim. His hair was drawn back, throwing his striking face into relief. A black T-shirt with a logo she didn’t recognize was pulled tight over his wide, flat chest beneath a biker jacket. Was there anything sexier than a black T-shirt and jeans?
Not sexy.Scratch that thought from your brain.Think: dangerous, uninvited werewolf in your apartment.
Making a break for it wouldn’t work. She’d be lucky to stumble a few feet down the hallway before she collapsed.
“We need to talk,” he said.
Everyone had an agenda that involved her tonight. She whispered an exaggerated scream, “Get out.”
“Why are you whispering?”
“Dominic has this place wired for surveillance.”
“We swept it. Removed a couple of bugs and a camera.”
“A camera? He had no right.” Who had seen her on film? All those times she’d paraded around naked or in underwear. She couldn’t shake off the creepy sensation.
Lexan closed the distance between them. She feared what would happen when he reached her but was struck immobile. The guy wasn’t just hot. He was throw-your-clothes-off-and-beg magnificent, and he smelled incredible—pure male mixed with a subtle cologne that could be aftershave, and there was a hint of fine port. Her mouth watered at the memory of the aroma of his blood.
It’d been far too long since she’d last had anything fulfilling to drink.
A smile twitched the edges of his lips.
Her neck snapped backward to meet his gaze, unwilling to be intimidated by the fact the most lethal and powerful wolf in existence had broken into her home. The intensity in his pale blue gaze burned her as if he knew her secrets and wasn’t bored.
If she wasn’t about to collapse from blood loss and pain, she might find his gaze hot.
“Are you here to kill me?” An attempt to read his thoughts caught only hazy images of two naked bodies. That couldn’t be her in his head. Her quick glance to his jeans showed a bulge that made her more nervous. Apparently, she wasn’t the only one afflicted by this abnormal attraction.
“I’m not going to hurt you.” He shot her a devastating smile again.
Obviously.
“Then to what do I owe the honor of your presence twice in twenty-four hours?” Nervousness tinged her voice. She started at his chest, unable to maintain eye contact. When she stared at his eyes they made her want things she couldn’t have.
“We have a few things to discuss.”
She got no distinct thoughts from him on the topic he wanted to hash out.
“I can’t keep patching you guys up. I will not contract any further with your people to be a wolf doctor. It’s become life-threatening for me to help any of you again. Everything has become…complicated. You in the mix right now? Let’s just say I can’t handle it. Please go.” She pointed at the door, proud of herself for holding it together when she was seeing sparkles around the edges of her vision. She wobbled and put a hand on the entryway table for support when weakness hit her brain.
