“Miss Jordan?” His voice was low and deep as his eyebrow rose with his question.
My spine reacted to his power, going stiff and straight. “Mister Delmont.”
“May we sit?” His eyes flicked to the open table in the back.
“I was just thinking the same thing.”
He strode over to the table, and I looked back to the counter for my drink.
The young girl behind the counter had my coffee in her hands, her mouth wide as she stared over at Delmont. Good. So it wasn’t just me.
I waved my hand in front of her face so she would relinquish my coffee. The girl jumped and spilt a bit of the coffee, sloshing the white porcelain counter.
With a sigh, I took the mug and headed back to the table. Usually, I would have said something about the waste of good caffeine, but I was going to need my strength for the conversation ahead. I had a feeling my usual new member spiel about safety in numbers and checking-in and full moon responsibilities wasn’t going to work with this one. I sealed my borders, keeping my power close to my vest, and knew the macchiato would get me through this.
This man had his suit, and I had my twelve ounces of hot coffee.
Delmont had turned my usual table into his personal office, his briefcase already popped open. “I’m sorry this meeting is so delayed.”
An apology? Now that was unexpected. I sat slowly on the chair across from him and waited for him to stop shuffling papers. “No problem. I’ve had a few things to organize.”
He closed the briefcase, opening up the space between us. In the right light, he was handsome—slender and broad shouldered. But I knew underneath this forced perfection was an animal, a silver-mantled wolf, easily the size of my panther. His energy had been primal when we’d bonded six weeks before, when he had pledged his power to me and that pledge connected our magical souls. Even now, as we sat civilly across the table from one another, Peter Delmont was different. Where the others’ connections were silvery threads that I gently nudged this way and that, his was a rough-hewn twine that bound him to me as his Prima.
Now, more than with any of the other fourteen, I was wondering why me. He was powerful, in this incarnation and in his animal form. He had been a high-ranking member of the Haverty Pride before I’d come in and destroyed it all. Yet when push came to claw in the battle between my few and the darker Wanderers, he had chosen me as his master.
That was the story I wanted to hear. The story I was slowly coaxing out of all the Wanderers who had given me a piece of themselves, chosen me as their leader.
Delmont looked down at the papers in his hand. “I was Haverty’s lawyer and the executor of his will.” His voice was quick and succinct, with so very little affect that I would have believed his act, if it hadn’t been for the twisting of the twine between us, something undulating under the coifed façade that pulled at me.
“Must have been an honor, with you being so young.”
All he gave me was a curt nod as he slid the stack of papers across the table toward me. “Reade Haverty directed that the next leader of the pack should get all of his properties and assets.”
A sudden void of white formed in the space between my ears, and the words bounced around in there as if it were a wind tunnel. “What?”
Delmont licked his lips. “Of course, he meant it to be his son, Spencer, but, well, we know that didn’t quite work out, what with you throwing him into the Neveranth and all. So, it seems, as the new leader of a majority—by one—of the pack, you are now the beneficiary.”
“I didn’t throw Spencer into the Neveranth. He jumped,” I corrected. I looked down at the stack of papers. “I always got the impression Haverty was loaded.”
“A full list of assets is included.” He folded his long fingers in his lap. “Including houses, foreign accounts, and domestic holdings, it would come out to around 1.3 billion if you were to sell everything. Which I don’t recommend in this market.”
I gulped and set my coffee down on the table. No need to waste the coffee by spilling it all over my new dress, though I thought this meant that I could buy a million more cups of coffee if I needed, and a million new dresses for that matter.
“Why?”
His steely blue eyes finally rose to meet mine. “With the crown comes the kingdom.”
His words settled around me like an ice-cold blanket, and my skin prickled. It had taken me over three months to assume the title of Prima. I wasn’t ready for a kingdom.
“I never asked for this.”
The smooth monotone of his voice didn’t help. “No, you didn’t.”
I licked my lips and cursed Haverty. Yet another burden he’d left me with. Like the Legacy, the collected family power he’d forced upon me as he lay dying, this fortune was just another trap to tempt me in the direction everyone else in my line had gone, straight into the darkness.
“I know this is a lot to take in, Miss Jordan, but I will need a decision on the next step fairly soon. The property has been in limbo far too long.”
“Of course.” It had been in limbo for five months, since last December, when I’d killed Reade Haverty and his cowardly son had jumped into a parallel dimension. Don’t imagine they have paperwork for that sort of thing.
A million storylines ran through my head about wealth, including a few scenes of Scrooge McDuck swimming through his money piles and all the horror movies I’d written with insane benefactors and large mansions and late-night feasts. But wasn’t that one of the special little bonuses of being Violet Jordan, knowing the darkness so I could avoid it?
I wrapped my hands back around the hot coffee. “I’ll need a little more time to think about it, Mister Delmont.”
“Very well. Call my office for an appointment.”
He moved to leave the table, as if this meeting was over.
I chuckled and wrapped my fist around the charm on my necklace. It usually kept me hidden from other Wanderers, specifically the baddies out for blood. But covered like this, it let me push my power out and flow over Delmont.
He froze six inches from the seat as if I’d pushed the pause button on his movements. His eyes darted to me as he felt the power again and smelled the burned magnolia fragrance of his Prima.
“Not so fast, Stretch. I booked you for an hour.”
He gulped, and his tanned face went pale. It was the first crack I’d seen in his façade since he’d come in. He returned to his seat and smoothed out his jacket.
I released the pendant and leaned back in my chair. Like this, the world was a little duller, but I’d gotten used to it. It was better than jumping at every shadow in the window, convinced the undefined they had found me again.
“I do appreciate the business portion of our meeting.” I tried to ignore the packet of potential just sitting between us and get down to the real meat and bones of this confrontation. “But I coordinated this to learn about you.”
Delmont licked his lips and was seemingly speechless. He finally mustered, “What do you want to know?”
I figured we’d start simple. “Did Haverty place you in your law firm, or did he get to you afterward?”
He adjusted in his seat again. “You really don’t play around, do you?”
“No,” I answered quickly. “But I’m also not testing your alliance. We both know what you did. I just want a little more as to why.”
Delmont’s eyes dropped to the stack of papers. “Haverty treated me very well. And yes, he did help me get a place at the firm. In return, he asked only that I waive my retainer fees.”
I frowned. “That seems tame for him.”
“I was a little fish in his very big pond.”
I nodded. “And what do you think about the pond now?”
He looked down at his briefcase and measured his words, seeming to roll them around in his mouth before he spoke. “I’ve been tol
d you appreciate honesty.”
“Above almost all else.”
Delmont cleared his throat. “Dallas isn’t better, just different. There are still holes that need to be filled, and if they aren’t, I predict there will be chaos.”
I was glad for the charm around my neck that helped keep my power reined in, because it also helped me hide when my emotions made my power jump, as now. His comment had just made my whole being tense in fear. What could he know that I didn’t know?
I took a sip of my drink to buy some time for my answer. The coffee soothed my frazzled nerves. The sheer power of him was making me fray by the second. “Chaos is a strong word, Mister Delmont.”
His blue eyes were brave enough to look straight into mine. “It is an accurate word, Miss Jordan. You may have secured the affections of the shapeshifters in Dallas, but what of the witches and the vampires and the elementals, some of whom are still nursing their wounds from six weeks ago?”
“They can’t all be treading on the dark side. I watched them fight against Carlisle’s men. They helped us defeat him.”
“That just means they didn’t want him to rule things.”
I ran my fingers through my hair in frustration. It was a habit I’d picked up from no less than three men in my life. “None of them have made a move to try to challenge me.”
He began to pinch the flesh of his pinkie finger as his hands lay in his lap. “They might not see a need to. The shifters have their own way of doing things, other breeds have theirs. I wouldn’t be surprised if the elementals were naming their Akasha as we speak.”
I would have let the sentiment go as a concern, but the fidgeting of his hands got me. Little things, like the fall of a shoulder and the pinch of a pinkie, had greater meaning to a person who had spent most of her adult life watching from the outside than a string of words put into a sentence. “You’re not telling me everything.”
His eyes darted down to his hands, and he spread them wide on his thighs. He knew I’d caught his tell.
I was right. He was keeping things from me. Dangerous things about the others in the city. I could force him to tell me, literally pull the information from him, but then where would I be? Connected to an embittered pack member? Not the best way to start out this whole leader thing.
“The other breeds have not made a move. Dallas has been quiet. I’d rather focus my efforts on my pack, making them feel safe, protected. I don’t know what you knew of Haverty’s methods, but given the stories I’ve heard in the past month, these people need healing, and I won’t use them as pawns in another war.”
“For now,” he said.
I straightened, looking into the deep blue eyes I knew to be almost silver when he shifted. “Excuse me?”
“To protect them, you will need to use them, their strengths and their weaknesses.”
“And how are you so sure about that?”
Delmont took in an unnervingly calm breath. His long fingers traced the edge of his briefcase. “This is not my first pack. Been in one or another my whole life, Miss Jordan. It will happen.”
I licked my suddenly very dry lips. “If you knew this, then why choose me? Why bind yourself at all?”
Delmont opened his mouth. A sliver of cold wavered around him and pushed against my own radiating power. He shut his mouth just as a cold, stony look covered his face, and he hid behind his borders for the first time in our conversation, creating a void before me. He was nothing like the confident man who had strode through the place, power out all willy-nilly.
I knew in an instant there was a story here, a painful memory he shut away with his steel trap border. Those bound to me were like books, and stories like that are best served willingly. Just like the information that I would need to get from him about the others in the city. Mother always said you catch more flies with honey.
I took in a breath and exhaled, again formulating the right words to use. “Unfortunately, I will need to use your legal skills. And if you happen to see a little of that chaos, I might want a heads-up.”
Delmont nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
I grimaced at the title but went on with the same speech that I had given all of my new wards. “I want you to feel safe. I want you to live your life. But I do expect you to be at the next full moon.”
“I’ll have my secretary put it on my calendar.”
I smiled. I doubted he could resist the full moon. It was just a line to make him feel more important, probably said out of habit more than necessity. “I’ll get her the information.”
He moved again to stand, and I nodded. He rose, buttoned his suit coat, and picked up his briefcase. He turned to me and paused.
I expected him to simply say goodbye, but as of late, I wasn’t about to assume anything about anyone. Nearly cost me my life last time.
He spoke slowly—and with a little hope, if I was reading his tone correctly. “This was an interesting conversation, Miss Jordan. I’d like to do this again.”
I was in a state of shock for a moment. “Well, I do have some papers to sign for you.”
“Thank you.” He nodded and walked across the coffee shop, leaving a small bit of sandalwood in his wake.
As his exit from the shop sent the bells on the door into fits, my entire body relaxed. I was exhausted. The others had been easy. Mothers, students, hermits. No one had set me on edge like Delmont, testing me like he did. And no one else had as much of the information I desperately needed to maintain this peace.
An Excerpt from
LAST VAMP STANDING
by Kristin Miller
Kristin Miller’s Vampires of Crimson Bay are back and facing their most dangerous fight yet. Dante, not quite a vampire, not quite a shifter, stumbles onto a secret vampire hideout—and its sexy protector, Ariana—just in time for war to break out. True love is put to the test as Dante and Ariana fight to save their lives . . . and their love.
PROLOGUE
Dante threw up his hand to guard against another one of her attacks. “You finished yet?”
She thwacked him again, right across the shoulder. And again, upside the back of the head, for good measure. She couldn’t have thought she was actually hurting him. “I wasn’t ready to leave, dammit, take me back!”
“That’s not happening.” He shooed her with an annoyed wave of his hand, glad the shakes and chills had finally subsided. “Now just calm down, would you?”
After glaring at him for a few moments, she planted her hands on her hips like a pissed-off little teapot. At least she wasn’t hitting him. He supposed it was progress. To think, not twenty minutes ago, at the elder black market, Dante had wanted her hands all over him. Ask and ye shall receive, right?
Stifling a laugh, Dante sat forward on his haunches, rubbed his aching head, and tried to slow her words down. Take me back. “Why on earth would you want to go back there?”
“Why on earth would you think I needed your rescuing?” She mocked him, a stubborn yet downright adorable pout pushing out her heart-shaped lips.
The elder black market wasn’t exactly the slime-slathered gutters of San Francisco, but it was a far cry from the Hilton. She’d been captured. Bound. Restricted from using her mawares. That bastard Juan Carlos was beating her around. She’d been sold, for Christ’s sake!
He’d saved her.
Only as Dante looked around from his position squatting in a mound of wet, muddy earth, spotted an unfamiliar forest and a woman who looked like she’d rather kill him than thank him for removing her from that place, Dante realized he looked more like the one who needed saving.
To hell with that.
Mustering all his strength, Dante tested his legs by shooting one out from beneath him, kneeling on it, then following suit with the other. He crouched in the mud, listening to the elder take sharp, quick breaths over him. When he finally got to his feet, he regained his
balance by grasping a thick Douglas fir tree on his right. Teleporting always wiped him physically, but this time his head felt painfully muddled. Like he would’ve chopped off his left leg for an adrenaline drip.
Dante looked around. They were in some sort of tiny clearing, surrounded by fir trees with a hollowed-out mud pit in the middle. From where they stood, the forest went uphill in every direction until the land crested just out of sight, no doubt leading to hundreds of other tree rings and mud pits. Thick trunks popped up like daisies through moss-clotted earth. No city sounds buzzed on the cool midnight air. Was that salt he picked up on the breeze? Ocean? They were far from San Francisco, Dante figured out that much right away. But the ocean? How far had he traveled? Pain seared through his temples. Disorientation must’ve been fucking with his head.
Although teleporting wasn’t an exact science, he’d have liked to think that over his fifty years on this earth he’d learned a thing or two about it. But he’d never, not once, teleported to a place he hadn’t been before. And for the life of him, he couldn’t remember his head ever hurting so damn much.
“Hel-lo?” she asked, leaning into his line of sight to catch his eye. Her long braid swung to and fro like one of those freaky pendulums in psychologists’ offices. His mundane parents had insisted on taking him to dozens of those places throughout his childhood to figure out why he wasn’t “normal” like the rest of the kids. Why doesn’t he sleep? Why doesn’t he ever eat? That had been before he’d realized being abnormal wasn’t always a bad thing.
“I asked you a question,” she said, louder, with more fire behind it. “What the hell kind of right do you have to scoop me up like some knight in shining armor? Did you hear me ask for your help?”
No. He hadn’t. He couldn’t remember hearing much before this moment, actually. Although anger was pitching her tone octaves too high, causing his ears to ring, it was still the most beautifully ringing orchestra he’d ever heard. Like wind chimes blowing in a soft southern breeze. “I thought I was doing you a favor.” He heeled his boot against a tree and scraped off a clod of mud, thinking about how off-target her questions were. She should’ve been asking how he’d teleported. Not why. But he sure as hell wasn’t about to pony up any information she could use against him.