10. Ten

ten

The world glided by in a cotton candy-coated haze. Sensations and thoughts fleeting.

Every once in a while, I became conscious of how tired my body was. How nice it might be to stop and get a drink.

Then the music would swell and I’d be carried away again.

An eternity later, a cool pair of arms closed around my waist. Their owner’s scent curling around me like the cold bite of an arctic winter night.

“Liam,” I breathed on a dreamy sigh.

It felt inevitable that he was the one to find me. As if this was what I had been waiting for all this time.

Breath stirred the hair on the back of my neck as he placed his lips against my ear. “ Mo chuisle , this is not where you’re supposed to be.”

I leaned back against his chest, letting him support the majority of my weight as I ground my ass into his groin.

Liam didn’t move as I danced against him, holding still as I turned, my breasts brushing his torso, to get my first look at him. As usual, it was like being punched in the chest. The masculine beauty of his face stealing the thoughts from my head for a moment that made time skip.

When I came back to myself, Liam was cradling my jaw with one hand, his forehead pressed against mine as we swayed gently to the music.

I focused on the electric blue of his eyes, letting the color steady me.

Tonight, his black hair was uncharacteristically disheveled. As if he’d raced here from something important.

I trailed a finger across his sharp cheekbones. Down to his stubborn jaw before I played with his bottom lip.

The arousal that had been doused by the stranger’s earlier proposition returned full force.

I tucked my face into the crook of his neck, inhaling deeply. “I’ve missed you. Where did you go?”

Liam’s arms tightened around me. “I’m sorry. There was something I had to look into. I’m here now. I won’t leave you again.”

It was hard to focus, the magic threatening to sweep me up again.

Vaguely, I heard Liam speaking to someone else.

“I’ll deal with you later.”

Then the magic grasped me and away we went. In a kaleidoscope of color and sound that never stopped.

Suddenly, I was standing in front of a craps table, a creature with horns and a chilling smile saying, “Place your bets.”

I tossed the chips I was holding onto a square with an odd symbol on it.

Liam hugged me close, his gaze intent. “Are you sure about this?”

My response was a sultry smile as I moved my hands up his chest to drag him down into a kiss that made me forget everything else.

Ding. Ding.

“The gentleman wins. What will be his prize?”

Liam put the smallest of spaces between our lips. His eyes were deep and dark, the intensity in them making my heart tighten.

“Don’t hate me later, mo chuisle .”

Cool metal being slid over my finger. A funny looking room with a big foot dressed up like Elvis and pews lining an aisle.

“You may kiss—”

The rest of the words drowned out as lips claimed mine. I got lost in a new type of music. A primordial melody that was written with the movement of our bodies. Until the sun’s ascent cut short our song, rendering me to the abyss again.

The godawful taste in my mouth was the first thing I noticed as I surfaced from unconsciousness. Still groggy. A little—no. Make that a lot—out of sorts. And feeling like someone had taken a mallet to every muscle in my body.

I ached.

Everywhere. From my head to my toes. Like I’d run a marathon and then decided to go partying afterwards.

An apt description given the snippet of memories I had of last night.

“That is the last time I drink with those two,” I groaned into my pillow.

I might never touch alcohol again.

“A wise choice.”

I stilled, recognizing that voice. The familiar timbre sending little sparks of pleasure down my spine.

No, he couldn’t be here.

Except I had a hazy memory of him on the dance floor. And later playing a game of craps.

I propped myself up on my forearms, blinking blearily at the man by my bedside. “Liam?”

It turned out he hadn’t been a figment of my imagination after all.

“What are you doing here?” I rolled onto my side, propping myself halfway up as I glanced around a room that I didn’t recognize. “Where is here anyway?”

It wasn’t the hotel of a casino. I knew that much.

Black out shades made the room cool and dark, not letting even a speck of daylight slip past. The room was cavernous. At least twice the size of my room at home.

And that wasn’t exactly small.

There was also none of the ambient noise you’d expect while staying in a hotel. Doors opening and closing. The murmur of voices passing by. The hum of an air conditioner.

It was quiet. Blessedly so.

Then there were the sheets I was nestled in. Made from the highest quality fabric money could buy.

“The better question is what you are doing in Vegas,” Liam rumbled, bringing my wandering attention back to him.

If Nathan had a bachelor’s degree in uncovering all of Aileen Travers’ secrets and tricks, then Liam was equipped with the equivalent of a PhD. Even at my best, he was impossible to fool. Let alone when I was weak and tired and not operating at full mental capacity.

The best thing to do in a situation like this was to run.

Since I couldn’t physically escape, I chose the next best option. Sleep.

With that in mind, I stopped fighting the pull of the sun, laying back down and allowing my eyes to slip closed.

“Don’t you dare,” Liam warned.

His warning fell on deaf ears. I was already fading, my mind starting to drift as sleep caught me.

There was a rumble from Liam, his words indistinct, but I could tell from his tone that he wasn’t happy. Under other circumstances that might have worried me, but I was too far gone, floating half in the waking world and half in the dream one.

Strong arms extracted me from my nest of blankets. I got the sensation of being carried. Then I was being set down on a cold, hard floor.

A second later, icy rain poured over me.

A strangled scream left me. I bolted upright, finding myself on the shower floor, Liam standing well outside the range of the deluge.

“Are you kidding me?” I snarled, reaching up to turn the faucet off.

I jerked as a blast of lava fell on me before I finally figured out which way to turn the handle.

“Awake now?”

“You asshole. Was that really necessary?”

“You seemed to be having trouble concentrating. I figured this would wake you up.”

It had definitely done that.

The last vestiges of sleep had vanished, leaving me in full control of my faculties.

I sluiced the water off my face. “You couldn’t wait until the sun went down?”

“I wanted answers. This was the most expedient way to get them.”

I reached for the bottom of the sleep shirt I was wearing and dragged the sopping wet garment up and over my head before tossing it on the floor at Liam’s feet.

His eyebrow quirked. “Hoping to distract me, lover?”

I hid my shiver as his gaze trailed down my body, a look of masculine appreciation in his eyes.

“Who said you were invited to this party?”

He’d be lucky to get touching privileges back before the end of this trip.

“Is that a dare?”

I shrugged, knowing I was playing with fire. “Take it however you want.”

With that I hooked my thumbs through the waistband of my panties, pushing them down and stepping out of them. Liam’s sharp inhale made me smile in satisfaction. Ignoring him, I adjusted the temperature and water pressure.

There. Perfect.

Stepping under the shower, I leaned my head back, letting it cascade over my front.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Liam gripping the shower door frame, the metal crumpling from the force. The muscles in his arm and neck bulged as he remained locked in place.

A thrill filled me at the effect I had on him. Liam looked like he was in physical pain as he watched me reach for the soap and lather it on my body.

Vampires, I’d come to discover, were hedonistic creatures. We loved pleasure in all its forms. Right now, I was offering Liam a buffet and then telling him he couldn’t partake.

Vampires were also cruel.

There was a soft snarl and then Liam was in the shower with me. He pulled his shirt over his head, exposing a torso covered in muscle. His abdomen and chest a tapestry of hard lines that made my fingers itch with the need to explore.

“You’re a menace,” he informed me, pinning me against the shower wall.

“And what does that make you?”

“Caught.”

He lifted me, wrapping my legs around his waist. The rough fabric of his jeans against my sensitive skin excited me. There was something about being entirely naked while your lover was still half clothed that made this feel forbidden in the best type of way.

Liam palmed my breasts, eliciting a moan from me as he squeezed then tweaked my nipples. The bite of pleasure/pain shot directly to my center.

“I know what you’re up to,” Liam breathed.

“Oh?”

“Yes.” He scraped a fang along the column of my throat. “And it’s not going to work.”

I started to say that it seemed to be working plenty fine when he struck, burying his fangs in my skin as two of his fingers plunged into my center.

Climax crashed over me without warning. A scream ripped free as my inner muscles clenched around him.

Liam withdrew his fangs, not closing the wound he’d made and letting it bleed as he drew the tip of his nose along the same line he’d traced earlier. “But I’ll be happy to humor you until you come to the same realization.”

A gurgle of protest left me. The word “wait” was on my tongue when he struck for a second time. This time on the opposite side of my neck.

Climax detonated within me.

Liam shoved into me at the same time, the blunt point of his cock stretching me. I keened, having enough of myself left to wonder when he’d had time to unfasten his pants.

“Liam!”

Blood leaked from the wounds he’d opened, the bright scarlet provocative before the water muddled its vibrancy.

Liam withdrew until just of the tip of him was inside me before thrusting hard. “What was that, mo chuisle ? I didn’t quite hear.”

A high-pitched noise left me as the slap of our bodies filled the shower stall.

Oh God. He felt so good.

One of Liam’s hands dipped to the front of my sex, tweaking the sensitive bundle of nerves there as he plunged in and out of me.

“Ready to talk yet?” Liam crooned.

I snarled. My climax was right there. A glistening promise that threatened to undo me.

Liam’s touch lightened, his strokes slowing.

“No,” I moaned, struggling to get closer. To force him to give me the friction I was craving.

Liam pinned me harder against the wall, using his lower body and arms to thwart my attempt. I was at his complete mercy.

His little sex doll.

“Liam!” I cried, feeling my climax recede.

A husky chuckle sounded in my ear. I squeaked as he thrust into me hard, the force almost enough.

Almost.

He stilled.

I screamed. A long, enraged sound that grew into the pissed off yowl of a feline by the end.

“You know what I want,” he whispered.

I dug my claws into his back, drawing blood.

He groaned, the sound one of pleasure. “The reason, mo chuisle . Then I’ll give you everything you want.”

Another slow glide that was accompanied by a soft touch skating over my clitoris. So light. So gentle.

I sobbed.

I wanted it. It was right there.

What had made me think it was a good idea to use sex to distract this man?

In the game of seduction, Liam could have taught a master class while I was still just a student acquainting myself with the basics.

Liam scraped a fang along my shoulder, lapping up the bead of blood that rose and making me tremble.

“So stubborn,” he murmured.

He slammed into me, pinching my clit at the same time.

I fractured, coming apart at the seams. Black spots danced at the edges of my vision as Liam started moving inside me, faster and harder until he found his own release.

When it was over, I slumped in his hold. A rag doll deprived of bones.

“Shall we continue?” he rumbled.

My alarmed gaze met his. The devilish smile on his face made trepidation curl through me. I didn’t think my defenses would survive another round of that.

I darted forward to bury my fangs in Liam’s throat in a mirror of what he’d done to me. His groan of pleasure was followed by the flex of his cock as he hardened inside me.

The moment his blood hit my mouth, I realized the mistake I’d made.

Blood and lust were a potent combination. Never more so than when I was with Liam.

A frenzy descended.

I was lost. A creature of lust and sensation.

I had no memory of how we got from the shower to the bed. Just the feel of soft sheets against my skin, our bodies tangled together as one climax blurred into the next.

The storm didn’t calm for hours. When I finally regained control of my faculties, fang marks dotted my body. In addition to the ones on either side of my throat, there were more in the crook of each arm. Several on my thighs near my groin. A few on my breast.

Liam hadn’t fared any better.

My inner vampire had marked him well and good. The sight of my bites filled me with a satisfaction and pleasure I chose not to examine too closely.

Liam lay on his back next to me, his eyes closed. “As nice as this distraction was, you never did answer my question.”

“Maybe you should take the hint then.”

I pulled the covers over me, nestling deeper into their comforting embrace and inhaling deeply. His and my scent intermingled, embedded in the fabric.

Mmm. Yummy.

Liam opened his eyes, pinning me with a look. “Aileen.”

“Liam,” I mocked.

“This is not a game.”

I pushed the covers away from my face, a little irritated all of a sudden. “Check your phone, Lover. Any missed calls?”

The faint tightening around his eyes brought a humorless smile to my face. Gotcha.

“I tried to tell you all about this,” I said in an even voice. “You’re the one who didn’t pick up.”

He had no right to complain. He was the one who hadn’t been there. This was me improvising the best I could. If he’d answered, I would have told him about the barrow falling. The pack and Brax too. All of it. Because he was my person and that’s what you did when you were in a relationship.

Regret showed on Liam’s face. “There wasn’t a signal where I was.”

“I figured that much out.”

It would have been nice if he’d given me a warning beforehand. Just a heads-up. A “Hey, Aileen, I’m going to be out of communication for a while.”

“You know I can’t always tell you where I’m going.”

The laugh that scraped my throat was bitter. “Just like I can’t always share when something pertains to a client.”

Our divided loyalties were our biggest issue. Liam to Thomas. Me to my business.

So far, we’d managed to navigate the potential pitfalls. Partly because I understood operational security and the need to keep some things secret. I could thank my military background for that.

But I had a feeling a reckoning was coming. When Liam or I would have to make a choice we didn’t want to. The things we valued—or each other.

“Caroline’s your client,” Liam guessed, sounding very certain.

I lifted up to fix him with a hard look. “What makes you think that?”

“I’m aware that Columbus’s barrow fell.”

Under the sheets, my hands clenched. “Aren’t you well informed.”

Here less than a day and he already knew everything.

Liam snagged me around the neck, bringing my front flush with his side. His thumb brushed a caress along the side of my jaw.

I closed my eyes, struggling with the urge to snuggle into that touch.

“The Summer King has the pack, doesn’t he?”

The moment was ruined.

“He has Brax,” Liam continued.

I sat up, the sheet pinned to my chest, to scowl at Liam. “I hate when you do that.”

His lips quirked in the slightest of smiles.

“How did you figure it out?” I asked, a little sulky.

“Thomas got word about the barrow the night it fell. You show up with Caroline the next day. It wasn’t hard to put together.”

“That doesn’t necessarily mean anything.”

“When you also factor in her maker’s presence—a woman I know your friend avoids whenever possible—and the company of two other pack members that she’s not particularly close to, the picture becomes clear. Your antisocial nature is well established. I doubt you would have allowed anyone on your vacation except those you trusted.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “You’re spying on Caroline.”

How else would he know that tidbit about Sondra and how she wasn’t close to the other two pack members.

Liam’s smile was microscopic. “I’ve found it wise to keep abreast of the people in your life.”

“By spying?”

“I prefer to consider it preemptive surveillance.”

His response reminded me of the conversation I’d had with Caroline regarding the difference between the two just days ago.

Should I be worried that Liam’s and my responses were pretty much the same?

“The thing that really clenched it was that while you and the wolf were under the Playground’s enchantment, her maker and the other two were gathering information from its underbelly.”

Well, damn. I’d hoped no one would notice that.

Liam sat up to drop a quick kiss against my lips. “Nathan doesn’t miss much.”

“I’m aware,” I said grumpily.

I’d known it would be pretty much impossible to fool him. It looks like I was right.

“Why didn’t you just tell Thomas what was going on?”

I plucked at the sheets in my lap with a troubled frown. “I don’t know.”

That was what bothered me. In the moment, it had seemed perfectly rational to keep what was going on from him. Now, looking back, I had to question what made me think that.

A thought tickled at the back of my mind. Something else about this situation that Liam needed to know about.

Before I could grasp it, it was gone.

“I do not like the thought of you being in this city,” Liam was saying when I tuned back in.

“Why?”

I shivered as Liam trailed his fingers up and down the bare skin of my back. It was hard to concentrate when he did that.

“Outwardly, Vegas is considered a neutral zone. It has to be to fulfill its function as a playground.” Liam dropped a kiss on my shoulder. “But in reality, the Fae’s strong presence here is a cause for concern.”

“You think the master of this territory is somebody’s puppet,” I guessed.

“We didn’t. The djinn is powerful. It’s difficult to imagine him bending to anyone’s will.” Liam tangled his fingers in the hair at the back of my head. He massaged my scalp, the sensation almost drugging as my eyes slipped closed. “Recently, however, there’s been a change. Fae with close ties to the Summer King placed in positions of authority in Saul’s court. There have been incidents.”

The hesitation before that last word told me everything I needed to know about what sort of “incidents” he was talking about.

“Thomas wasn’t happy to find Saul waiting for him at the airfield when we arrived,” I said slowly.

I knew there’d been something between them. Tension. Unhappiness. Whatever you wanted to call it.

“It’s unusual for him to welcome someone to a territory in that fashion. Normally, the visitor goes to the city’s master. Not the other way around.”

“You think Saul was trying to keep Thomas’s arrival a secret?”

If so, that would be good news for us. It meant the city’s master wasn’t as fully under Muiredach’s thumb as they thought.

“I would be reluctant to assign a motive to Saul’s actions. Djinn are notoriously difficult creatures to understand. They’re like the Fae in that way. They were never human.”

And as such they didn’t subscribe to the same ideas of right and wrong.

“We can’t trust the master of the city. That’s not exactly news,” I said.

Liam and his vampires made me look like a normal, well-adjusted person. Each of them as paranoid as the last.

“Honestly, I don’t see the problem,” I told him.

“You don’t see the problem?”

I rolled my lips between my teeth and shook my head. “Nope.”

“You don’t see the problem with being in a city controlled by a powerful Fae whose daughter you helped kill.”

“No one knows about that.”

Or almost no one.

I was safe. They might have their suspicions, but that was all. Technically, I wasn’t even the one to wield the blade. That had been all the Fae I’d freed from her enchantment.

“Are you counting Arlan among that number?” Liam murmured.

His scalp massage had stopped, his body very still beside mine. A predator waiting for its prey to wander into its trap.

“He only guessed what I did. Nothing has ever been confirmed,” I defended stiffly.

The twins, on the other hand. They might be a problem.

They knew the truth of what and who I was. The fact I was a magic breaker. That I was the daughter of Noctessa’s former would-be king. All of it.

“Muiredach won’t wait for confirmation. His station will demand he make an example of you, and he won’t think twice.”

If Liam was hoping to scare me, he’d succeeded.

“If that’s the case, it won’t matter if I’m here or in Columbus,” I pointed out.

He’d already made it clear that Muiredach’s reach extended into our city. A word from him and it was goodbye Aileen. I didn’t think distance would make much of a difference.

“Besides, you’re assuming this is about his daughter. He’s had years to avenge her.”

Yet he’d waited to make his move.

Why?

Maybe because this wasn’t about Niamh at all.

“You’re thinking like a human again. A handful of years is a blink in time for them. Muiredach is nothing like Niamh. She was a weak shadow of his power. It’s the only reason she lived to adulthood when he’d slaughtered every other child of his that might hold the potential to threaten his hold on his throne.”

“Sounds like an awesome guy.”

“He’s cruel and sadistic. He is a monster in the truest sense of the word. If he ever finds out what you are, he won’t hesitate to break your mind and will with his power. He will turn you into something you don’t recognize.”

Great. Just when I thought I’d understood the danger I was in.

“If the barrow was attacked, I can guarantee it was under his orders,” Liam added, not taking his gaze off mine.

“Is he here? In Vegas?”

If so, Caroline and my plans might need to change. We’d been counting on getting to Brax and the rest of the pack before they crossed into the Summer Lands, but that may no longer be a possibility.

That was with the assumption that I could convince Caroline to abandon them. I didn’t like my chances. If the situation was reversed, I’d no sooner be able to walk away from Liam and the enforcers than she could the pack.

“There’s been no sign of his presence,” Liam said, choosing his words carefully.

“Then there’s time.”

Liam bent an exasperated look on me. “Aileen.”

“If it was you, I wouldn’t let anything stop me from coming for you,” I said, holding his gaze with a serious expression.

I’d pull apart realms to get to him. Risk anything if it meant saving him.

My confession had his face softening, his eyes searching mine as he cupped the back of my neck. “You are so hard to argue with.”

“That’s because I’m infinitely reasonable.”

Liam pressed his forehead against mine, a derisive breath escaping him. “You’re certainly something.” He lifted his head, his gaze finding mine. “I want you to promise me something.”

I stayed quiet, waiting to see what he had to say.

His lips quirked. “You’ve gotten smarter.”

“With you, it was that or continually be taken advantage of.”

“I’ll let you stay, but you’ll have to take direction from me. None of this running off alone business.”

“It’s cute how you think you can tell me what to do.”

A slow smile tugged at his lips. “Sweetheart, if I gave the order, I could have you bound and on a plane heading to the middle of nowhere in a second.”

I reared my head back, giving him a look that dared him to try it.

“I won’t,” he said when it was clear I didn’t believe him. “As long as you agree to do this together.”

Some of my resistance softened, my shoulders loosening. I could do that.

“And if Muiredach is here, you run,” he finished.

I scoffed. “Because that won’t be obvious.”

“Aileen,” he said, the warning in his voice letting me know he was serious.

“I will try to exercise caution,” I allowed. “But I can’t promise anything. Based on the circumstances, running may not be an option.”

In fact, it might do more harm than good.

Then there was that whole going off alone thing. I’d try. I really would. But things had a tendency of getting away from me.

Liam stared at me for a beat longer as if sensing what I wasn’t saying. Finally, he gave me a faint nod. His way of letting me know that my compromise was acceptable.

For now.

“Now that we’ve gotten my business taken care of, why don’t we discuss what you were doing coming out of the barrow with Alches. That was you, wasn’t it?”

Some of my memories from last night might be a little hazy, but that was one thing that I recalled with crystal clarity.

“Don’t even try to lie and say it had something to do with Thomas or council business,” I warned. “I know enough to realize you wouldn’t involve Alches in anything official.”

My shadow-hound might have a short attention span and a tendency to wander, but he wouldn’t help Liam unless it had something to do with me.

Or Noctessa.

“Liam,” I prodded.

His impassive mask did nothing to stem my worry.

“Is there something going on with Noctessa that I need to know about?” I asked.

“There are rumors that Brin has resurfaced.”

Caught off guard, I blinked, not sure how to handle that news.

I’d only met my biological father once, during what one might call extenuating circumstances.

I’d been dying. And he saved me.

“Are you sure?” I asked.

“He attacked the Summer Lands and slaughtered a number of the Luigseach. Then he disappeared again.”

I let out a bitter snort. “Yeah. He seems to be good at that.”

“That may have been why Muiredach went after Arlan’s barrow.”

“Why do you think that? There’s no connection between the two.”

Unless you counted me.

“It’s likely an attempt to shift focus from what happened in his realm to something else.”

I drew my knees up to my chest, resting my chin on them as Liam climbed out of bed. Gloriously naked, he strolled over to a duffel bag that I hadn’t noticed before.

There was something about a man’s backside. Broad shoulders that tapered down to a narrow waist before rounding into a hard ass.

My fangs ached with the desire to take a bite of those rock hard globes.

I must have made a noise. A hum or something.

Because Liam looked over his shoulder just then, his eyebrow quirking as he caught me red handed staring at his ass.

I didn’t look away, pretending confidence as I quirked my eyebrow right back.

Why should I be embarrassed to be caught admiring my lover’s body? It was a work of art. It deserved a little appreciation.

At least that was what I told myself as Liam bent over, displaying the chiseled lines of his torso to riffle through his bag.

My snort was soft. “Now you’re just showing off.”

The masculine smile he shot me was all too intimate. “I wouldn’t want you to get bored.”

As if that would ever happen.

Grabbing a pair of boxers and jeans from the duffel, Liam stepped into them before snagging a black t-shirt from its depths.

“What’s Thomas doing in Vegas anyway?” I asked.

Despite my paranoia last night, I wasn’t so arrogant as to think he’d rearranged his entire schedule to hop on a plane and travel to the other side of the country just to keep an eye on me.

Liam paused in the act of pulling the shirt over his head. “I’m surprised you don’t know.”

“Why would you say that?”

Thomas wasn’t known for his forthright nature.

“How exactly did you convince him to let you come?”

“I asked?” I couldn’t help the way my voice rose in a question at the end.

That’s what had happened, right?

“I also promised him weekly family dinners,” I added with a shrug. “In return, he’s going to talk to Ahrun.”

“Ahrun?”

“For some reason, your sire got it in his head that he’s moving in with me.” I rolled my eyes to let Liam know how ridiculous I thought it all was.

“When, exactly, was this move supposed to take place?”

“Tonight.” No, that wasn’t right. “Rather—last night.”

Time was getting away from me.

“What?” I asked, unnerved by the odd way Liam was staring at me.

“Oh, nothing. Just realizing how much you have left to learn.”

“What’s that mean?” I watched Liam finish dressing and walk to the door. “Liam—what’s that mean?”

He tossed a smile at me. “I’m going to leave that to you to figure out. It’ll be more fun that way.”

Then he was gone, leaving me staring at where he’d just been with an open mouth.

“Why do I get the feeling that I just missed something critical?” I muttered.