Indeed, Ramsey could handle a lone, rotten human being, and even Phoenix could bite, fly away, or assert his will over a mortal female, as long as he understood what that will was; but—and wasn’t there always a but?—Brooke had made the call without consulting Napolean. The king was busy on official duty, and she hadn’t wanted to interrupt his engagement. Still, that raised her personal level of responsibility and accountability, as well as her general concern. She wasn’t about to leave things to chance, even if there was zero chance, really, that a human could ever get the best of Ramsey Olaru.
She watched as the Escalade rounded the curved apex of the driveway, made a right-hand turn onto an unpaved road, and disappeared into the distance. And then she headed straight for her own sapphire-blue Jaguar. She would be right behind her best friend and her best friend’s new mate, following them to Tall Pines Village Park, where she would wait, and watch, from a distance.
The couple would never know she was there.
She sighed.
Well, maybe Ramsey would figure it out in some preternatural, vampiric way, but even if he did, so be it. He would just have to understand.
Brooke loved Phoenix more than life itself, and she felt pretty much the same about her smart but impetuous friend. Tiffany might still be learning the ropes; she might still be getting her toes wet in the house of Jadon’s deep internal waters—after all, she’d only had three days, so far, to make the adjustment—but Brooke was no longer an acolyte. If Ramsey needed some backup, another vampire who could kick some ass, and the bait being used was Prince Phoenix? Well then…
Brooke was momentarily startled by the deep, feral growl that rumbled in her own throat.
Enough said.
She climbed into her car and placed her key in the ignition, chuckling a bit at her own foolish antics. Who did she think she was? One of the sly female detectives from one of her favorite mystery novels? Oh well, she thought, what can I say?
Where the little cub went, Mama Bear was sure to follow.
thirteen
Ramsey Olaru scanned the entire dimly lit park in the breadth of two heartbeats. The playground was empty, the benches were abandoned, and there were no other humans present, no cars parked nearby for several blocks, and that meant it would be easy to keep an eye on Tiffany and Phoenix.
There would be no distractions.
He stilled his mind, tuning out all other senses for the moment, and concentrated solely on the layout of the park. There were two logical entrances, which meant only two exits: one, on the south perimeter, where he and Tiffany were parked, about 200 yards from the playground, and the other, on the opposite side of a grassy field, in the north, which led to a narrow, winding path, edged on both sides by a series of short, well-trimmed bushes, more or less restricting patrons to the designated trail. Visibility to the actual playground was unobstructed from his vantage point.
He glanced at Tiffany, watching as she climbed from the cab of the SUV, opened Phoenix’s door, and began to unbuckle the little prince, wishing he could get out, too, without potentially scaring the boyfriend or provoking a jealous rage, at least too soon. “Keep your eyes and ears open,” he told her. “If anything feels off, if anything makes you even the least bit uncomfortable, you hightail it back to this spot: Understand me?”
Tiffany visibly shivered. “Yes, Ramsey,” she replied, lifting Phoenix from his seat. She headed back toward the passenger door and peered in at the warrior. “I’m just going to be right there”—she pointed at the playground—“near the swings with Phoenix.” The child also pointed at the swings and giggled, and Tiffany’s face lit up with satisfaction. “He’ll have a good time, one way or the other.”
Ramsey nodded. He gestured toward the bramble-lined pathway, on the other side of the park, and inclined his head. “Your friend, this woman,” he corrected, “she’s either going to approach you from that path or from right here. Don’t turn your back on her—it’s just not good form.” He felt his hackles rise, and he forced himself to settle down. Good lords; was this what it was like to finally have a destiny? To be consumed by defensive instincts and overprotective impulses? He dismissed the thought. It wasn’t like he didn’t possess more than his fair share of both attributes, already. “I’m going to stay right here in the truck, hopefully out of sight from the boyfriend, but rest assured, I’ll deal with him the moment he steps out of his car, unless he remains seated and tries to watch, of course. In that case, I’ll just show up in his backseat and handle it.” He pointed at the opposite one-way street, located behind the playground, on the other end of the park. “If he does drive off too quickly, then I’ll follow him, so you may be alone with her for a couple of minutes, tops. Are you good with that?”
Tiffany made an affirmative gesture with her hand. “I think I can handle one single confused and frightened woman, Ramsey.”
He chuckled, easing the tension. “Ah, so we’re on a first-name basis now?”
She rolled her eyes and hauled Phoenix even closer to her side. “Besides, I have a few protective instincts of my own, Mr. Olaru.” She instinctively kissed the child on the top of his head, nuzzling him with her nose.
Females, Ramsey thought.
It was as if they were all given an extra dose of kindness where little ones were concerned. He sure wished the gods would’ve given Tiffany a little extra something when it came to him, and then he immediately regretted the short-sighted thought. Of course they had. She was his destiny after all. It just might take a little time for her to connect to it; that’s all.
He brought his attention back to the moment at hand and snorted. “I’m sure you do.” And then he immediately switched back to all-business mode. “Just the same, I’m here for a reason. Don’t be a hero. If this woman makes you feel uncomfortable in any way, pick up Phoenix and walk away.” He paused, considering his next words. “And damn, I hate to break it down like this, because I know Phoenix is a prince, not a dog, but just the same, he’s a vampire. And he can bite. If the woman does anything erratic, and I mean anything, however insignificant, something that makes you feel physically threatened before I’m done with the knucklehead, tell him Ia-i sangele.”
Tiffany wrinkled up her nose. “Ia-i sangele?”
Ramsey searched for an adequate interpretation. “Loosely translated, it means to seize or claim.” He sighed. “It means, take her blood.” Tiffany recoiled, and he immediately threw up his hand, trying to head off another debate. “As a vampire, Phoenix is always aware of the pulse, the heartbeat, the movement of blood through any given human’s veins. We all are. If you are projecting fear or urgency, and you tell him Ia-i sangele, it will trigger a natural instinct. It’ll at least make him feral.”
Tiffany took a step back, away from the SUV. She looked like she wanted to plant her hands on her hips and give him a piece of her mind, but luckily for him, her arms were full with the toddler. “Are you serious?” she said, anyway. “I mean, really? You want me to tell this sweet child to eat the woman?”
Ramsey bit back a snicker. “Blondie—”
“That is not my name,” she interrupted.
“Baby,” he interjected, “it’s not that serious, or unnatural. All I’m saying is—”
“What’s your middle name?” Tiffany asked.
“Excuse me?”
“Your middle name. What is it?”
“Demetrios.” He sounded as hesitant as she felt.
“Well then, Ramsey Demetrios Olaru: I will not tell this child to become feral or to seize, claim, take, or drink a human’s blood. Oh, and while we’re at it”—the ew factor practically coated her suddenly tight lips—“thank you very much for making me uncomfortable with my best friend’s son for the very first time in his life.”
Ramsey shrank back, just a tad, and then he bit down on his tongue, leaving an indentation in the tip. He needed a toothpick. The woman was way too sassy for her own good—someone needed to tame her one day, and he was looking forward to the challe
nge. “Just remember what I said,” he intoned calmly, and then he instinctively glanced to the left. There was a dark gray sedan approaching from the northern side of the park, a BMW 750i, no less. Apparently, the dysfunctional couple wasn’t hurting for money. “Looks like your friend is here.”
Tiffany quickly backed away from the door, her gorgeous sea-green eyes meeting his intense hazel stare, and their gazes remained locked for a fleeting moment. Without another word, she shut the door and walked briskly toward the playground, crossing the large grassy field and heading for the swings with laser-like focus. Since the meeting was supposed to be a coincidence, she paused on three different occasions to play nonchalantly with Phoenix, point at the swings, and pretend to notice everything around them, except the approaching gray sedan.
Ramsey’s muscles twitched as he sat in the cab of the SUV, watching her, even as his heartbeat grew eerily calm and steady. He had wanted Tiffany to be in position before the couple arrived, but oh well. Things rarely went off as planned. He bided his time, glancing back and forth between the sedan’s tinted windows and his destiny, waiting for her to secure Phoenix in one of the park’s two allocated baby swings.
It seemed like it took forever.
The sedan finally pulled to a complete stop, and a nervous, skinny woman stepped out of the passenger seat, looking both timid and afraid.
Once again, Ramsey’s hackles rose, but he didn’t quite know why. This wasn’t the same instinct as before. It was something ominously different. He growled deep in his throat as he watched her approach the swings, all the while preparing to dematerialize from the Escalade and insert himself in the boyfriend’s car. Damnit all to hell, he thought, just as abruptly. The woman had barely gotten out of the car, and the boyfriend was already pulling away from the curb. He didn’t have time to watch Tiffany’s interaction before he took chase…
He hesitated.
Sons of the original house of Jadon, something was simply wrong.
Amiss.
Unexplainable.
As foreign as it was… familiar?
He stayed a moment longer than he should have, watching the female approach the swings, letting the sedan pull away and gain speed. He couldn’t help it. There was something inexplicably off about this woman. Something he just couldn’t put his finger on.
The female made it to the circular enclosure, the gravel pit beneath the swings, and she seemed to sigh with relief—it was as if her entire body relaxed with the awareness that she had finally broken free from her abusive boyfriend, that he had finally, albeit unwittingly, let her go. And then Tiffany whispered something in her ear, and the two of them turned toward Ramsey’s Escalade and watched him, together, even as he continued to watch them, right back.
Tiffany glared at him then, growing increasingly impatient.
Apparently, she assumed he could see her expression from a distance, and naturally, he could. She smiled, waved, and cocked her thumb in the direction of the sedan, trying to hide the gesture from the woman, while simultaneously indicating that she wanted him to follow the car and take care of the boyfriend. “We’re fine.” She mouthed the words, and he sharply inhaled, willing his mind to believe her…
Because his heart was simply not on board.
He hesitated a moment longer, growing increasingly uncomfortable, and then he watched as the woman—Tawni, right?—gave Tiffany an awkward hug, glanced in the direction of the disappearing BMW, and shuddered as if she were still terrified by the very thought of her tormentor.
And truly, nothing stood out as amiss.
Her posture was submissive; her countenance was meek; and her expression was appreciative. But her energy was inexplicably dark, almost primitive—or savage?—in a way that just didn’t fit.
This female was damaged to the core.
Ramsey tilted his head to the side, trying to place the vibration, trying to make sense of what his sixth sense was telling him.
There was no explanation.
He just couldn’t pin it down.
For all intents and purposes, she was a five-foot-six, fairly scrawny human female, with ghastly black-and-red dyed hair; and she was clearly terrified of the man who had just driven off in that car. No one could fake that kind of terror.
Maybe the best thing to do was to get the whole business over with, as quickly as possible, so he could retrieve his destiny, secure the prince, and send the poor broken woman on her way before anything could go wrong.
The man would be no problem.
Ramsey could catch up to his car, head him off on the roadway, and be in the fool’s backseat faster than the bastard could say, Who the hell are you? He could erase his memories and implant a suggestion—time to get the hell out of Dodge—just as swiftly.
And the sooner he got that done, the better.
The sooner he could get Tiffany away from the strange, enigmatic woman.
He shut his eyes and tried to concentrate, struggling to dismiss his apprehension, whatever it was, and then he shifted the SUV into gear and pulled out of the lot at breakneck speed, whispering an inaudible prayer to the sacred star of Gemini, his own ruling twin lords:
Sacred Geminorum, watch over my mate and protect my prince while I finish this silly task. Please safeguard their immortal souls.
fourteen
Brooke Mondragon tightened her grip on the steering wheel of her dark sapphire metallic Jaguar XJ and watched the odd scenario unfold through her dim, tinted windows.
Ramsey and Tiffany had arrived at the park and chatted a bit at his truck. Despite herself, she couldn’t help but giggle as Tiffany seemed to be giving the fearsome warrior the what for, and he seemed to be, amazingly, taking it in stride.
Well, as much as Ramsey Olaru could take anything in stride.
And then the unhappy human couple had pulled up, and Tiffany had rushed to the playground, secured Phoenix in a swing, and given him a gentle push—aw, it was so sweet to watch—before placing her body squarely between the baby and the strange woman, who had summarily approached them. Brooke had no doubt, whatsoever, that human or not, Tiffany would tear out the throat of anyone who ever tried to hurt little Phoenix. So that’s not what had given her pause…
What had seized her attention was what had happened next.
The boyfriend had immediately driven away, a scenario Ramsey had anticipated—at least it was one of the scenarios Tiff and Ramsey had mentioned earlier—but Ramsey had not immediately followed. Rather, he had sat there in his SUV, watching the woman like a hawk, his intense hazel eyes deepening with interest.
And concern.
Brooke had sat up rigidly then, her back arched, her muscles taut. She had leaned over the steering wheel and braced her hands on the dash, focusing one hundred percent of her keen vampiric vision on the slender human female in order to take in every subtle nuance of the lady’s behavior. The woman had spoken softly with Tiffany, or vice versa, and then she had given her an awkward hug. And for all intents and purposes, she appeared to be exactly as Tiffany had described: a somewhat distracted person with an unusually anxious demeanor, who was desperate to get away from her boyfriend and probably just a little bit neurotic. She was obviously rattled. She was clearly afraid. And her posture was both appreciative and nonthreatening.
But there was something inexplicable in her eyes.
Something just not-quite-right and certainly unusual.
Her pupils were haunted with shadows, but not the kind cast by nightmares, not the reflections of terrible memories or recollections of being battered. They were haunted by unseen demons.
And the demons were her own.
Brooke knew that it didn’t make sense, that this ad hoc, psychic tea-leaf assessment, this sudden rush to judgment, was not in any way supported by the poor woman’s actions, but just the same, Brooke felt it in her bones.
And apparently, so did Ramsey Olaru.
It was not until Tiffany finally waved him away, giving him an enthusiastic thumbs-up and
a not-so-subtle signal to get going, that the seasoned Master Warrior had driven off, but even then, he had seemed hesitant to do so.
Now, as Brooke watched the two women standing beneath the swings, talking in hushed, amiable whispers, she hoped Ramsey would hurry back.
She rolled down her window, just a bit, in order to listen in on their conversation. Although she was several blocks away, she could still see and hear everything as acutely as if she were standing right there. Score one for the Vampyr.
She closed her eyes and tilted her head to the side: Tiffany was telling the woman, telling Tawni, that Tiffany’s boyfriend, Ramsey, was going to follow Saul from a safe distance, make sure he didn’t do a U-turn and head back that way, before they whisked Tawni out of there—they didn’t want to take a chance that this Saul guy could find her.
Hmm, Brooke thought, Tiffany’s boyfriend, Ramsey.
Interesting.
Now Tawni was asking Tiffany if Ramsey could protect himself.
Brooke laughed and opened her eyes.
“Don’t worry about it,” Tiffany said. “I promise you: He can hold his own, and you will never see Saul again.”
All of a sudden, the woman drew back in alarm, asking if Ramsey was crazy enough to confront Saul, and Tiffany laughed. “No,” she reassured her in that feisty, clipped way that she had. “He’s just going to watch him from a distance, follow a little ways, and then he’ll be right back.”
“But what if Saul sees him?” Tawni asked.
“He won’t,” Tiffany said.
“But what if he does?”
Tiffany sighed. “Don’t worry,” she insisted, “one way or the other, it’ll all be fine. Trust me, Ramsey can take care of himself, and he can be very persuasive when he has to be.”
“Mmm,” the woman said. “But then so can my boyfriend. Very, very persuasive.”