Page 9 of Bad Luck Vampire

Alasdair’s gaze slid back to the lass and he gave a polite nod of greeting, then simply stared at her as Colle did his usual charming routine, starting with proclaiming that he was fortunate enough to have already met the lass when he collected her and the boys from the helicopter, and going on to say how pleased he was to meet a lovely lassie like her again and so on.

Normally, Alasdair found his brother’s ability to charm members of the opposite sex amusing. Especially since he knew Colle would never do anything more than compliment and flirt with them. Colle, like he himself, had lost interest in sex centuries ago as was wont for immortals past a certain age, but Colle did still like to flirt for some reason, and Alasdair was usually fine with that. This time, however, his brother’s effusive compliments and charming smiles kind of annoyed him. Alasdair wanted to cuff him in the back of the head and tell him to shut up. He did neither. Instead, it was Marguerite who interrupted Colle’s charm-fest.

“Goodness, Colle, you’ll turn the girl’s head,” Marguerite said with a laugh. “Save your charm for the other unattached females here. Sophie isn’t for you.”

The way she gently emphasized the word you and then turned a solemn, meaningful look on Alasdair had him stiffening where he stood. She met his gaze, gave a small nod, and then smiled and added, “Besides, she’s Tybo’s date . . . for tonight.”

That pause was another message, Alasdair was sure, but he wasn’t certain what it meant. Had he misunderstood the first look and she was telling him that Sophie was Tybo’s life mate? Or was she a possible life mate for someone else, maybe even himself, so was only Tybo’s date for tonight? He had no idea, and since Marguerite was older than him, he couldn’t read her mind to find out, so he simply turned his attention back to the beautiful lass.

She had a petite figure that showed nicely in the lovely dress she was wearing. She was no more than five foot three or five foot four, slender, but with definite curves and shapely legs.

“Come, come, we should sit down,” Marguerite said suddenly, making him realize he’d been gawking at the lass. Fortunately, a quick glance back up to her face reassured him that Sophie didn’t seem to have noticed. In fact, she was doing a little gawking of her own, her gaze traveling over his body like a caress he could almost feel now that he was aware of it. He was so distracted by the sensations suddenly rolling through him—sensations he hadn’t experienced in centuries—that Alasdair wasn’t paying much attention when everyone began to take their seats. Not until he realized he and Sophie were the only ones still standing.

Sophie appeared to notice that at the same time, and a pretty flush covered her cheeks as she hurried to claim the chair Marguerite directed her to . . . which was right beside the only empty seat still remaining, between Sophie and Colle. His twin had taken the seat next to Lucian that Alasdair had been occupying prior to this. Refraining from comment, he simply settled into his brother’s now empty chair, but he did wonder why Colle had moved. Apparently, he wasn’t the only one to wonder.

“Why are you sitting there, Colle? Alasdair was sitting next to me, not you,” Lucian said suddenly, sounding suspicious.

“Marguerite waved me over when I started to sit in my own seat,” Colle explained quietly enough Alasdair was sure Sophie couldn’t have heard it. He did, however, and glanced at Marguerite in question.

The woman merely smiled and gave a slight nod toward Sophie and then raised her eyebrows and nodded toward her again. Alasdair knew his aunt was trying to tell him something. He just wasn’t sure what it was. Letting that fact show in his expression, he raised his own eyebrows in question. This brought an exasperated roll of the eyes from Marguerite, but then she heaved a sigh and glanced at Sophie, who was peering at the flower-covered arch on the temporary dais at the front of the tent and wasn’t paying them any attention. Marguerite quickly pointed at her forehead and then to him, and finally to Sophie.

Alasdair narrowed his eyes, trying to translate.

“She’s telling you to try to read the girl,” Lucian growled with impatience and then leaned forward to peer at Marguerite and said, “Stop it.”

“Stop what?” she asked innocently.

“Stop stealing my men. Alasdair and Colle are supposed to be here to help out until Valerian gets back from his honeymoon. The last thing I need is for you to hook up one of them with their life mate. You’ll make him useless.”

“Oh, do not be silly, Lucian,” Marguerite said on a chuckle. “You cannot stop destiny.”

“The hell I can’t,” Lucian snapped, and then narrowed his eyes and added, “You’ve gone through my men this last decade like women go through toilet tissue. It has caused me nothing but headaches trying to keep the Enforcers numbers high enough to do their work. I will ban you from being anywhere near my Enforcers if you keep up with this nonsense.”

“You would not,” Marguerite said with fond amusement. “You want your men happy. Besides, you’d have a mutiny on your hands if you did. Every immortal wants their life mate, Lucian. You know that better than anyone,” she added, her gaze sliding to Leigh, Lucian’s life mate.

Lucian growled under his breath, but didn’t argue the point, and simply sat back in his seat and bent to the side to press a gentle kiss to Leigh’s lips as she slipped her hand into his.

Alasdair smiled faintly at the loving look the couple shared, and then turned his gaze to Sophie. She didn’t appear to have heard the exchange, her attention was still on the flowers on the dais. It was possible that she was pretending not to hear, but he didn’t think she was. Aside from the fact that Marguerite and Lucian had kept their voices low enough that a mortal would have had trouble catching the conversation, he suspected one or the other was also controlling her. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have spoken so freely.

“Well?” Lucian said after a moment had passed.

Alasdair leaned forward slightly to peer past his brother and see that Lucian was looking at him. “What?”

“What are you waiting for? Read her,” Lucian said dryly. “Or try to. We all know you will not be able to, else Marguerite would not have brought the girl to you.”

Alasdair raised his eyebrows at the command. First the man was griping about it, and now he was demanding he prove Sophie was his life mate.

“Just get it over with already,” Lucian muttered with a combination of irritation and resignation. “As Marguerite said, you can’t fight destiny. Besides, whether you can read her or not does not mean you will end up together. That’s up to her.”

Alasdair frowned at that comment and shifted his gaze back to Sophie. He didn’t try to read her right away, though. Instead, he allowed himself a moment to look her over again. She really was a beautiful lass... to him anyway. A bit small, though, he noted, suddenly worried that if she was his life mate... Well, he could crush the girl with his mass if he—

“Do it,” Lucian growled impatiently.

Alasdair turned a hard stare on the man for a count of three just to let him know he found him annoying, and then shifted his gaze back to Sophie and this time tried to read her. Despite the fact that Marguerite had become renowned for pairing life mates, Alasdair was still a little surprised when he came up against a blank wall of nothing and could not read the lass. It was just so... well, unexpected. The last thing he’d imagined while preparing to attend this wedding was that this would be the night that he found his life mate.

But there were other considerations running through his mind now that he knew he had met his mate. Not least of which was his brother, Colle. They were twins and while it wasn’t always the case that twins were close, or that their lives were intertwined, both were true for he and Colle. They worked together, lived together, and did pretty much everything together short of showering and shitting. They were the best of friends and as close as could be, which was interesting considering the two of them were somewhat opposites. Colle was the lighthearted, charming, chatty, and impulsive one, while Alasdair was quieter, more introspective, and as far from impulsive as it was possible to be. Alasdair always thought before acting, and that was what he was doing now, thinking about how this would affect various aspects of his life. First, and most importantly, his relationship with his brother.

As twins, Alasdair and Colle couldn’t read or control each other, so had been able to live together with few issues. In truth, Alasdair supposed their brotherly bond had taken the place of a life mate for the last more than three hundred years. While many immortals grew lonely and bored with life after centuries alone, he and Colle had always had each other to prevent that. This was definitely going to change their dynamic. On top of that, he almost felt guilty that he was finding his life mate before Colle.

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