13. Nic
Chapter 13
I nodded as Sebastian pointed to the tract of bayou land on the map we'd spread out over the desk. "Well, it's closer than I intended to advance in one move, but—"
I stopped, the rest of my words suddenly caught in my throat as I struggled to breathe for a moment.
"Nic?" Seb's eyes widened. "You okay?"
Kyle stepped forward. "You don't look so good. Sit down. I'll get Jason."
"Leia," I hissed. "It's Leia." I shook my head, trying to dislodge the fear obscuring my thoughts. I needed to get to her. Something was wrong.
Holy shit. There was nothing slow or creeping about the sensation. It blared like a four-fire alarm inside me, and I couldn't think of anything else but my mate. I shoved my desk aside, ignoring the way it cracked against the wall, and left the room at a run.
I didn't have time for explanations—I was being drawn down the stairs and through the nightclub almost like an invisible thread connected me to my mate, like I could find her anywhere.
There she was. I raced into the ladies' bathroom, but it was okay. Leia was okay. Her hands were clasped to her neck and her eyes were wide, but her scent filled the room, and her heart still beat.
A body lay at Aimée's feet, but it was headless, and Aimée was breathing heavily.
"What happened?" I tossed the words over my shoulder as I moved with purpose toward Leia. She was my focus, my priority. Every other last person in this room could go to Hell and burn there. I only needed to save one.
"You were right," Aimée ground out, her voice heavy with regret. "She's safest in the house."
I nodded, echoes of the fear I'd felt in my office still sending chilling waves through me. I was used to being right, but this time it brought me no pleasure.
I reached Leia, and it was like when I'd rescued her in the New Orleans street all over again. She was frozen. She'd frozen in Francois's house, too. In the street, I'd destroyed the vampires who'd scared her, but Francois still roamed free.
Thanks to Aimée, Valérie now lay in pieces at my feet. Valérie. Fuck. The number of people I could trust grew increasingly small.
"Get this cleaned up." I gestured around me and glanced at Aimée, who nodded.
When I reached Leia, she stared right past me, her eyes glassy as she wrapped her arms around herself. I reached for her and drew her toward her. "Shush," I murmured, even though she wasn't making a sound. "Shush, it's all right. I've got you."
How many fucking times had I told her that? And how many fucking times would she hear it again? What about a time I didn't make it to her? I almost hadn't this time. It could be next time or the time after that when it was too late. It wasn't reasonable to keep Leia chained to me for protection.
Leia wasn't safe as a human.
I folded her into my arms, my heartbeat slowing even as I cupped her head, holding it against my chest. My heart had raced since the moment in the office when fear first gripped me.
"I've got you," I said to Leia again, although I was sure I was soothing myself more than my mate, reassuring myself again that this time I hadn't been too late.
She trembled in my arms, and my chest tightened. She whispered something, and I had to bend lower to hear it.
"For fuck's sake," she ground out, and I realized she wasn't trembling as echoes of someone else's fury filled me. "I only came to the bathroom. What the hell, Nic? Your fucking assistant? I just… I can't even with all you… All you…people." Her eyes blazed before she stopped talking, her mouth snapping shut as she closed her eyes like she could unsee the things she'd just witnessed.
"I'd take it all away," I whispered into her hair. "I'd take all the memories away if you wanted me to."
She stiffened slightly in my arms.
"I'm sorry, Leia. Let me take you home?" I tilted her chin with my forefinger so she faced me, and anger still simmered in her eyes when she opened them again.
Good. I approved of anger. I could work with that. It would make her vigilant.
"Nic?" Jason burst through the door.
"Where've you been?" I kept my voice low and flat, even though I wanted to rage. Not at Jason particularly, but at everyone who was closer to Leia than I wanted them to be.
"What… What happened?" He closed the door behind him. "Kyle's closing the club. Plumbing issue in the bathrooms."
I nodded. That was sensible. "I'm taking Leia home. Help Aimée get this mess cleaned up." I gestured at the pieces of Valérie again. "Looks like I need to reevaluate some of my staff."
"She always had a thing for you, man." Jason knelt down and studied the pool of blood soaking into the carpeted area. "But, damn, Aimée. Why couldn't you have aimed for the tile? This is going to be a bitch to steam out."
While Jason was complaining, I scooped Leia into my arms. "I'm taking her out the back."
She could walk, and the set of her mouth indicated she thought she should, but I wanted her close. For me.
"Kyle has called Jenkins. He'll be ready. I'll bring your car when I return." Jason spoke like he could truly preempt every one of my needs, and maybe after so long by my side, he could.
I touched his shoulder as I walked by. "Thank you, Jason."
"Anything for you and my queen," he murmured before opening the bathroom door to allow me to carry Leia through.
She remained quiet, although she twined her arms around my neck as her body relaxed against mine.
I hurried through the nightclub and out of the back door, finding Jenkins already waiting in the alley, the engine to the limo purring as he waited. He jumped out and scurried around to open the door so I could lower Leia to the seat. I leaned over to buckle her in then closed the door to follow Jenkins back around the car and climb in beside her.
I let my hand lie on the seat between us, hoping that this time she might accept it. Not like the ride home after Sebastian's attack on her.
Fuck. I shook my head and looked out of the window. Everyone wanted to hurt her or kill her. And it was because she was mine and too fair, too fragile, too human.
I had to turn her. For her own safety and because I…I couldn't keep coming so close to losing her. My heart wouldn't survive it.
Her fingers crept into my palm and I glanced down, closing my hand around her gentle touch, keeping her close.
"Are you hungry?" I murmured. She hadn't spoken since we left, and she was still too pale. When she didn't respond right away, I spoke directly to Jenkins instead. "Next fast food place, please Jenkins."
He nodded and slowed the car almost immediately. The limo was a little big for the drive-thru lane, so I jumped out and ran inside. Shit, I never came into these places. I studied the menu. So many choices, so many numbers. I ordered everything, one through ten, then carried it back out to the car with the help of one of the servers.
Jenkins chuckled when he saw me. "Really, sir. You're as bad as Chef."
"I didn't know what she'd like." I scratched my head as I spoke, and Jenkins chuckled again.
"That's what Chef always says."
"Don't you dare tell him we've been here." I issued the warning with mock severity, but Jenkins replied with bland seriousness.
"Of course not, sir. He'd forgive you a lot, but I'm not sure that feeding Miss Boucher fast food is on that list." He nodded at me once in the rearview mirror before he steered the car in the direction of home again.
I spent the remainder of the journey hand-feeding Leia French fries and small bites of cheeseburger.
"I can feed myself, you know." Her voice was grouchy, but amusement lit her eyes for a moment. "I'm done being the damsel every time a monster attacks me. Now I'm just mad about it." She squared her shoulders.
I chuckled. "I like feeding you. It makes me feel useful."
A small tremor of delight ran through me every time my fingertips brushed her lips, but I clamped down on my body's reaction to her.
When her eyes twinkled a little as her tongue touched my thumb, I sucked in a sharp breath.
"You're a tease, woman," I ground out.
"I just need something." She closed her eyes in a long blink. "Something that isn't more death."
"Anything." And I meant it. I'd do anything she wanted. Any time. I'd vanquish all her enemies, give her immortal life, make her mine forever, and give myself to her… If only she'd say that was what she wanted.
But it wasn't something I could discuss with her tonight. Her emotional state was probably too fragile to fully understand the consequences of the decision. It could look like manipulation on my part, and I wouldn't sully a turning like that. Not the turning of a mate.
Still, two could tease, and the next time I offered her a fry, I smoothed my thumb over her lip first. "I'm sorry about the nightclub. I had no idea Valérie—" I stopped. "Shit. I left you with her yesterday."
"Yes." Leia closed her eyes again. "She wasn't very nice, but she's never been nice to me. I had no idea she'd do anything like this, though." The steel returned to her gaze.
"Neither did I, or her head would have left her shoulders days ago." I clenched a fist in my lap. "I'll have Kyle double-check all of my staff. I want only the most loyal by my side."
How had I let Valérie so close to me and so close to Leia without any inkling of her end game?
"Did you know she wanted…wanted…" She swallowed then met my eyes. "I mean, I know you have women who want you, who are better matches for you, who are vampires… But did you know Valérie was one of those women?"
I shook my head. "No. And if I had, she'd have been given the same warning as Aurelia. And she wouldn't have been allowed anywhere near you." I brushed back a lock of hair from her forehead as I spoke.
She nodded. "Okay."
I didn't know what she thought was okay, or why she'd said it, but she seemed calmer. "Are you still hungry?" I gestured around at the brown paper bags, some of them still unopened, but she shook her head.
"No. I'm just… I'm just tired now. Is Aimée all right?"
I nodded. "Aimée has seen worse. She's done worse." My temper rose a little. "And she's far more all right than if she'd reached that bathroom even a second later." I was torn between anger at Aimée for being so complacent with Leia's safety and thankfulness that she'd saved her.
"I'm lucky she was there," Leia murmured as she glanced out of the window. "I wasn't fucking strong enough."
We'd turned into my driveway and were approaching the house. "We're both lucky she was there," I said.
I couldn't have forgiven myself if something had happened to Leia on one of my properties while I'd been upstairs looking to advance a war. Territory and politics and revenge weren't as important as Leia's life, and that warning, that reminder, had nearly come too late.
I brought her hand to my lips. "I'll take you up to bed so you can sleep."
She nodded.
Jenkins drew the car to a stop. "I'll dispose of this—" He waved his hand regally around the car. "This evidence, sir."
I half chuckled. Chef's hurt feelings or hot kitchen temper were really the last things on my mind, but there was no good reason to annoy him. "Thank you."
I helped Leia from the car, and lifted her against my chest again.
"I can walk, you know." But her protest was lackluster, and I grinned.
"I might never let you walk again. I'll just carry you all the time, everywhere. Just like this."
She laughed. "I think that would become a chore."
"Never." I paused at the top of the steps as Baldwin opened the front door and Mrs. Ames hovered anxiously behind him, wringing her hands. Then I dropped a kiss into Leia's hair. "This is an honor."
She smiled at me, mischief warring with sleepiness as they played through her eyes. "Then you'll take me anywhere I want to go?"
I paused. "Only if the place you want to go is bed."
For a moment, she looked disappointed, then her slow smile was back. "Bed with you? Always."
I chuckled as I climbed the stairs, my movements effortless even with Leia in my arms. Maybe because Leia was in my arms. She made my world complete, and she was here with me. I'd almost lost her, and even that idea felt like final death.
I wanted to reign as king, but I couldn't do it without Leia at my side. And that wasn't because of the power she sparked inside me.
Her bedroom was dim and soothing as I carried her inside, but Mrs. Ames had already turned on one of the lamps, which glowed warmly. I walked straight to her bed to sit her at the edge so I could remove her shoes and help her to be more comfortable.
I leaned over her to undo the zipper at her back, and she pressed her hand flat against the front of my pants.
"What are you doing?" I murmured, even though my body reacted to her right away, and I pressed my lips together to maintain my focus on simply helping her.
"I don't want to be alone." Her words were almost a command. "I don't want a headless body to be the last thing I remember about today."
I closed my eyes, trying to ignore her hand as she stroked my cock, coaxing me to full arousal. My gums aches as my fangs threatened to descend. "We can't." I'd made up my mind. I couldn't take advantage of her right now by taking my own pleasure from her body.
"Please, Nic."
I let loose a shaky breath. My name on her lips always undid me.
"Please," she whispered again, a teasing curve to her mouth. "Make me forget."
Desire rumbled through my chest and I slid my hand into the gaping neckline of her dress. Because I'd undone the zipper, access was easy now, and I cupped her breast before flicking my thumb over her nipple. "I can make you feel better." The words dropped from my lips before I even gave myself permission to think them. I bent and captured her mouth beneath mine, moving my body to slowly press her back against the bed.
She worked her hand against me, stroking and gripping my cock through my pants, and I groaned before grasping her fingers and drawing her touch away.
"Not that," I muttered, as I sank to my knees and pushed her skirt up to her waist. "Let me please you."
I looked up her body, watching her as she nodded. Then I lowered my face to her right thigh and pressed a soft kiss to her skin as I slide my hand up the left. She trembled beneath my touch, but the sweet scent of her arousal invaded my senses, and I breathed deeply.
She parted her legs, a silent subconscious invitation, and I nuzzled higher, creating a trail of open-mouthed kisses and quick, soft laps of my tongue. I hesitated over her femoral artery, aware of the blood and life coursing through her body.
I wanted her very badly, but I contented myself with the merest of grazes and she thrust her hands into my hair as I did.
"Yes, Nic." The words were a breath and I kissed higher, until I nudged my nose against her thin panties, already damp as her body readied for me.
I slipped my finger inside and withheld my groan. "You're so wet," I muttered. My cock jerked with the desire to be buried inside her, but this moment wasn't for me. Still, I reached down and stroked myself… Once… Twice. Just enough to remind myself to be patient. Just enough to make me so hard I ached.
I drew her panties aside, revealing her glistening pussy. Mine, all mine. I bent forward and touched her gently with my tongue, and she gasped softly.
"These are going to be in the way." I spoke softly as I lifted her hips and slid her panties down her legs, crumpling them in my hand before dropping them into my pocket.
With one hand, I gently parted her lips so I could lay a long lick between her entrance and her clit, and she writhed a little beneath me. I grasped her hip in a gentle hold, helping to position her just as I wanted while I lavished her with my attention. I swirled my tongue around her clit before sucking it into my mouth, and she rewarded me with a gasp and her fingernails against my scalp as her legs curved over my shoulders and her heels pressed against my back. I grinned against her before plunging my tongue inside her and stroking her with my thumb.
"Nic." She breathed out my name again. Once, twice, until it seemed to be all she could say as she moved against me and I stroked her over and over with my tongue, fully focused on her pleasure as I sucked her into my mouth and toyed gently with the most sensitive part of her.
I kissed her through an orgasm, my fang grazing dangerously against her as I grinned and she cried out again, and then I lapped softly as she relaxed and moaned, becoming little more than Jell-O on the bed.
I kissed the insides of her thighs again as I drew away, and I finished undressing her before tucking her under the comforter and joining her, drawing her against me as we both lay naked in her bed. She fell asleep quickly, totally relaxed, and I held her for a while longer, aware of her every breath and small movement, gratitude swelling in my heart that she was safe with me.