A Fire in the Blood

  “I sensed something was bothering you. Do you want to talk about it?”

  “I was worrying about you.”

  “Me? Whatever for?”

  “I hadn’t heard from you . . . I was afraid you were . . . that she . . .”

  “No one’s ever worried about me before.”

  “She tried to kill you!” Tessa exclaimed. “How can I not worry? Where is she, anyway?”

  “Resting.” He squeezed her hand. “I miss you.”

  “I miss you, too.” She pressed her lips together to keep from asking the question that was ever present in the back of her mind.

  “Tessa, don’t ask.”

  “I won’t.” Her gaze searched his, as if she might find the answer there, even though she kept telling herself she didn’t want to know.

  Andrei blew out a sigh. “I’m not sure how much longer I can hold her off. But whatever happens with Katerina, you must believe it has nothing to do with my feelings for you.”

  Tessa nodded. “Has she said any more about me?”

  “No. I’m trying to find a way to ask what she wants with the woman the fledgling described without arousing her suspicions about you.”

  “Is she suspicious?”

  “I don’t think so. I stopped by your place earlier to check in on Bailey.”

  “How’s she doing?”

  “There’s something about her . . .”

  “I knew it! She isn’t what she seems, is she?”

  “Not exactly.”

  Something in his tone sent a chill down her spine. “What do you mean?”

  “I didn’t notice it last night, what with everything else that was going on, but today . . . you remember I told you vampires aren’t the only supernatural creatures?”

  Tessa nodded. “Is she a vampire, too?”

  “No. She’s a shape-shifter.” At her blank expression, he said, “You’ve heard of werewolves, right?”

  “So, they’re real too? Good heavens, please tell me I’m not harboring a werewolf under my roof!”

  “No. She’s a were-panther.” Andrei gave her hand another squeeze. “She’s not like a werewolf. She won’t go crazy when the moon is full.”

  “But she can turn into a panther? Like, a real panther?”

  “When she wants to. I don’t think she’s done it in a long time. If ever.”

  “Jilly will never believe this,” Tessa muttered. “Not in a million years.”

  “I’ve got to go. Walk me out?”

  Alone in the elevator, Andrei stopped the car between floors. Tessa’s heart thudded against her ribs when he pulled her into his arms. She forgot about Katerina, about were-panthers, about everything but the man whose gaze burned into hers. Though his kiss was gentle, she felt his power wash over her, the tightly leashed strength of the arms that held her tight. Tighter. His tongue stroked hers, inflaming her senses.

  She moaned in protest when he lifted his head.

  One last kiss, and he was gone.

  Head reeling, lips still tingling from his kisses, Tessa returned to her office to find Jilly waiting for her.

  “Where have you been? I was about to leave you a note.” Jilly frowned. “Are you coming down with something? You look a little flushed.”

  “I was with Andrei.”

  “Oh, well, that explains it. Listen, I can’t meet for lunch today. I forgot, I’ve got a dental appointment.”

  “Okay, call you later. I’ve got a lot to tell you.”

  “Uh-oh. Is it good news or bad?”

  “I haven’t decided yet,” Tessa replied as her phone rang. “Gotta go.”

  * * *

  Tessa drove home slowly. Was Bailey still there? Should she mention the shape-shifter thing?

  After parking in her space, Tessa sat in the car, reluctant—and a little apprehensive—about facing her houseguest. Vampires. Were-panthers. What next?

  She glanced around, making sure she was alone before she got out of the car and ran up the stairs.

  Inside, she locked the door, then dropped her handbag on the sofa, and kicked off her heels.

  She found Bailey in the kitchen stirring a pot of spaghetti sauce.

  “Hi.” Tessa gestured at the pot. “Smells good.”

  “Thanks. I hope you don’t mind.”

  “Not at all. How was your day?”

  “Quiet.” Bailey filled a pan with water, set it on the stove, and turned on the burner.

  “Well, that’s good, I guess.” Needing something to do, Tessa began to set the table.

  “Andrei stopped by while you were at work,” Bailey said.

  “Yes, he told me.”

  “Oh. What else did he say?”

  Trying to decide how to answer, Tessa laid the silverware.

  “He told you, didn’t he?” Bailey said.

  “Yes.”

  “Do you want me to leave?”

  “No. No, of course not. It’s just . . .” Tessa pulled one of the chairs from the table and sat down. “It just came as a . . . a surprise, that’s all.”

  “You’re scared of me now.”

  “No, I’m not.”

  “I can smell your fear.”

  Tessa blew out a sigh. Andrei could read her mind. Bailey could sense her emotions . . . good grief, could the girl read her thoughts too?

  “I’m not really afraid of you, exactly,” Tessa said, choosing her words carefully. “It’s just that, until a few weeks ago, I never knew vampires were real, and now . . . well, it takes some getting used to, that’s all.”

  “It took some getting used to for me, too.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Bailey turned the fire down low on the sauce, then sat across from Tessa. “I didn’t know about the supernatural part of me until I turned sixteen. It freaked me out.” She shook her head. “One night I was just like everybody else and the next I had this amazing, scary power.”

  “Have you met any other . . . ah, people like you?”

  “No. Maybe there aren’t any.”

  “Well, there must have been at least one or two others, or you wouldn’t be here,” Tessa said, grinning. “And there are probably a few more. Maybe Andrei could help you find them, if that’s what you want.”

  “It’s something to think about,” Bailey remarked. Pushing away from the table, she went to the stove to add a package of spaghetti to the boiling water.

  She was quiet during dinner.

  Tessa glanced at her from time to time, wondering again what being a shape-shifter entailed. Were there rituals? Rules? Did were-panthers hunt prey, like vampires? That was a scary thought and she shied away from the question, thinking she didn’t want to know the answer. But even as she sought to ignore it, she remembered Andrei telling her there were werewolves, too. Were were-panthers ferocious killers like the werewolves portrayed in books and movies? How closely related were werewolves and were-panthers?

  Her appetite gone, Tessa carried her dishes to the sink and rinsed them off, then covered the leftover spaghetti sauce and put it in the fridge.

  “I can finish cleaning up,” Bailey offered.

  “Great, thanks. I’m going to go get into something more comfortable.” Tessa paused a moment. “Listen, we need to get you a couple of changes of clothes, some shoes, maybe a jacket and a pair of boots. Why don’t you go online and see if you can find anything you like? Just make a note of colors and sizes and I’ll order it later.”

  “I can’t ask you to do that!”

  “You didn’t ask,” Tessa said with a wink. “I want to do it.”

  In her room, Tessa changed into a T-shirt and a pair of sweats, then called Jileen, who didn’t bother with hello.

  “So, what’s the news?” Jilly asked.

  “Are you sitting down?”

  “I am now.”

  “Andrei rescued a girl from Katerina’s clutches last night. Saved her life.”

  “Go on.”

  “Her name’s Bailey. She’s only sixteen and since
he couldn’t very well take her home, he brought her here.” She didn’t tell Jileen that Katerina had almost killed Andrei, or that her blood had somehow saved him.

  “Is that the good news?”

  “Just listen. It turns out Bailey ran away from a foster home. It sounds like she’s run away from more than one. Anyway, not only is she a runaway teen, she’s a . . .”

  “A what?”

  Tessa sighed. Might as well just spit it out. “A shape-shifter.”

  In the silence that followed, Tessa knew Jilly was trying to decide if she was joking or not.

  “It’s true,” Tessa said. Then, taking a page from Jilly’s playbook, she sighed dramatically. “So now I’ve got a runaway teenage were-panther on my hands.”

  And if there were werewolves and were-panthers, were there also were-lions and tigers and bears?

  Oh, my.

  Chapter Twenty

  Andrei stood in the shadows under a tree, arms crossed over his chest, impatiently waiting for Katerina to stop playing with her food. She had been teasing and tormenting the poor man for the better part of thirty minutes.

  A sharp cry of pain and denial told him the unfortunate man’s suffering was approaching a cruel end.

  Andrei was looking forward to going home when Katerina turned away from her victim. Striding toward Andrei, she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. It was all he could do to keep from recoiling as her tongue—still heavily coated with her victim’s blood—plunged into his mouth.

  With an oath, he shoved her aside. “What the hell, woman!”

  She glared at him, her eyes red and glowing in the darkness.

  Andrei spat the man’s blood from his mouth.

  “I want you,” Katerina said. “I’m your wife. You’re my husband. I command you to fulfill your husbandly duties.”

  “Command me? Command me!” he exclaimed, his voice rising with his anger. “You’re lucky I don’t take your head off.”

  She snorted. “As if you could.”

  “Don’t tempt me,” he muttered, even as he wondered if he had the strength necessary to defeat her. He would have tried right then, but he was afraid of what the consequences might be for Tessa if he failed. In the past, he’d had only himself to worry about. But Tessa had changed that.

  Lips compressed, eyes still red with fury, Katerina glared at him—and then vanished from his sight.

  “Shit!” Fear for Tessa swamped him. She was the best thing in his life, his only reason for existing. He couldn’t lose her. Not now. Not ever.

  A desperate thought took him to her apartment.

  * * *

  “Andrei!” Tessa blinked up at him. “What are you doing here?”

  “Mind if I come in?”

  “Of course not.” She stepped back to allow him entrance, then closed and locked the door. “Is something wrong?”

  Needing to hold her, he drew her into his arms. “I think I just made a big mistake and I’m afraid you’re the one who might pay for it.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Katerina. She wanted me to fulfill my ‘husbandly’ duty and I refused.”

  “Oh.”

  “I’m afraid she’ll take her anger out on you.”

  Tessa shivered. She remembered all too clearly the woman’s malevolent gaze—and razor-sharp fangs—as she warned Tessa to stay away from Andrei. “What are we going to do?”

  “Unless you want to stay locked in your apartment indefinitely, there are only two options that I can think of—do what she wants or destroy her.”

  “Can you? Destroy her?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe.”

  If he tried and failed . . . Tessa wrapped her arms around his waist and held on tight. She didn’t want to lose him. She didn’t want to die. She didn’t want him to make love to Katerina, either, although it wouldn’t be love, she thought, just sex. But he would still be lying in Katerina’s bed, holding her in his strong embrace. Her stomach roiled at the thought.

  Andrei brushed a kiss across the top of her head. “I’ll think of something.”

  She nodded. “Maybe, if you do what she wants, she’ll go away.”

  And maybe she wouldn’t.

  “Okay if I spend the night here?” he asked.

  That question, more than anything he had said, told her how worried he was for her safety.

  It also took her mind off Katerina, at least for the moment. Should she offer him the sofa, or invite him to share her bed?

  “The sofa will be fine,” he remarked with a wry grin. “But I wouldn’t say no to the other.”

  Tessa bit down on her lip, tempted more than she wanted to admit.

  It didn’t help when Andrei lowered his head and claimed her lips with his, sending a thrill of anticipation racing down her spine. Lordy, the man could kiss. His mouth moving over hers drove every other thought from her mind and she clung to him, her senses reeling as his tongue plundered her mouth.

  “You don’t play fair,” she gasped when he lifted his head.

  “Just trying to sway the jury,” he replied with a wicked grin. “Is it working?”

  “You said . . .”

  “That I’d only go as far as you’d let me. That didn’t mean I wouldn’t try to change your mind.”

  “Andrei . . .”

  “Okay, love, have it your way. The sofa it is. But I’m not giving up.”

  * * *

  The sound of footsteps tiptoeing across the living room floor woke Andrei instantly. For a moment, his senses were on high alert. Then, realizing it was only Bailey heading for the kitchen, he relaxed.

  “Sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

  Curious, Andrei followed the girl into the other room. “How did you know you woke me?”

  “I heard the change in your breathing. Why?”

  “So, your senses are enhanced, even in human form?”

  She glanced at him over her shoulder. “I guess so.”

  “Your vision, too?” He braced one shoulder against the doorjamb, arms folded across his chest.

  She nodded. “Funny, I never gave that any thought until you mentioned it.” Opening the fridge, she pulled out a carton of orange juice and poured herself a glass. “Would you like a . . . no, I guess not,” she said, grinning sheepishly. “Too bad Tessa doesn’t keep a bag of blood handy for midnight snacks.”

  Andrei grimaced. “I wouldn’t drink it if she did.”

  “No?”

  He shook his head. “Tastes like plastic. I almost forgot. I bought you something.” Reaching into his pocket, he withdrew a pink cell phone and handed it to her.

  “For me?” She looked up at him, her eyes sparkling like a child’s at Christmas.

  “I figured you didn’t have one. I’ve programmed all of our phone numbers in it so you can get in touch with us—and we can get in touch with you—if the need arises.”

  “Thank you so much.” She tucked it into the pocket of her robe. “Tessa said maybe you could help me find other shifters.”

  “Probably.” In his long life he had run into a shifter or two. “Why?”

  “I was hoping I could find someone to teach me what I need to know.”

  “Like what?”

  “I’m not sure. I’ve only had these new powers for a short time . . . I don’t know what to expect.”

  He grunted softly. He’d had to learn how to use his vampire senses—his preternatural power—but he had assumed that shifters knew what to do instinctively, since they weren’t made, but born that way. “What do you need to know?”

  “How to shift when I want to. I’ve only done it once, and that was right after my sixteenth birthday. It just happened. I haven’t been able to do it since.”

  “Have you tried concentrating? Picturing your other self in your mind?”

  “Sort of.”

  “Do you want to try it now?”

  She looked doubtful; then, putting her glass aside, she nodded. Closing h
er eyes, she clenched her hands, her face screwed up as she concentrated.

  “You’re trying too hard,” Andrei said. “It’s part of you, part of what you are. Embrace it. Reach for it.”

  Bailey opened her eyes, shook her arms, took a deep breath, and tried again.

  Andrei watched in fascination as her body began to shift. One minute, a slender teenage girl stood in the middle of the kitchen. The next, a sleek black panther stood there amid a pile of tattered clothing, ears flicking back and forth, tail twitching.

  He grinned, somewhat surprised that she hadn’t thought to undress first. “Would you like to go hunting?” he asked.

  When the big cat nodded, Andrei went into the living room and unlocked the door. “Wait for me on the landing.”

  He let the panther out, then double-locked the door. Going into Tessa’s room, he spoke to her mind, assuring that she wouldn’t wake up until morning. After kissing her on the forehead, he dissolved into mist and slipped under the front door.

  Bailey the panther was waiting for him.

  Resuming his own form, Andrei warded the entrance and the windows against intruders.

  Convinced that Tessa would be safe in his absence, he transformed himself into a wolf and led the way out of town to a thick stand of timber that grew along a narrow stream. Rabbits and squirrels made their homes among the trees. If they were lucky, they might even find a deer.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Katerina stood in the deep shadows, looking up at the apartment where Andrei’s woman lived. What, exactly, was their relationship? That he drank from the woman was obvious. She had smelled the female’s blood on him. Was that all the woman was to him? A source of fresh blood? Or was there more going on between them? Andrei was an attractive man. A stallion in bed. The woman was . . . pretty, she admitted reluctantly. Beautiful, even—for a mortal female.

  She sniffed the air. And frowned when she caught the scent of the girl Andrei had taken from her. Why had he brought her here? Was she also prey?

  She lifted her head as a vagrant breeze carried Andrei’s scent.

  He had passed by here only moments ago. The girl, too. Why had they gone off together?

  And where were they now?

  More importantly, why hadn’t her bite destroyed him? Not that she regretted the fact that he was still alive. She wanted him in her bed and she intended to see him there, one way or another.