With his thick collar-length black hair shot with silver at the temples, sculpted face, and piercing black eyes, he looked like a displaced pirate from another era. Jody knew they looked alike and was always irritated when people mentioned it. She wanted to believe that any resemblance to her father stopped at the physical.
“You said you wanted to see me. I’m here.”
“Sit down,” Zachary said, indicating one of the leather club chairs with a sweep of his arm. “Can I get you a drink?”
“I can’t stay.”
Zachary went to a circular polished wood bar in a sitting area filled with leather sofas and chairs and poured several inches of scotch into two crystal glasses. He walked back and held one out to Jody. She took it and put it down on the table next to her chair.
“How is your investigation of Sylvan Mir coming along?” her father asked.
Jody kept her expression blank. “I’m not investigating Sylvan Mir.”
“Really? I was given to understand that you and a reporter—Becca Land, isn’t it?—have been investigating—”
“Your information is wrong.” Jody got to her feet. Whatever her father was after, she wasn’t going to let Becca be drawn into his dark games. “I don’t work with reporters.”
“Jody,” her father said with a tinge of disappointment in his voice. “We want the same things.”
“No, we don’t. I’m not interested in power or politics.”
“You should be. You’re in line to rule one of the largest families in the territory.”
“I don’t want to rule, and I expect you will be in power for a long, long time. You do want to be Viceregal, don’t you?”
“I have no desire to challenge Francesca.”
“Somehow I doubt that. Isn’t that why you supported the Exodus? To gain public support when you move against her?” Jody clenched her jaw. “You needed a new power base—a public one with money and influence behind it, but I think you’re wrong in hoping the humans will involve themselves in Vampire politics.”
“Humans will overlook species differences if the price is right.” He shrugged elegantly. “You and I don’t need to be at odds. Our immediate goals may differ, but there’s no reason we can’t share information. For example, I was given to understand that there might be a problem with the Weres. An outbreak of some kind?”
“I am a police detective. I don’t share information with anyone, especially politicians.”
“So noble.” Zachary smiled. “You’re very much like your mother.”
Jody took two steps toward him, her incisors slicing from their sheaths. “I hope so.”
“You should be careful where you place your loyalties, Jody,” Zachary said softly. “You’re a Vampire before anything else.”
“I don’t need you to tell me who I am.” Jody spun on her heel and walked out, her father’s laughter following her.
When she drove through the gates, they swung closed and locked behind her. She drove two hundred yards along the narrow twisting road and pulled over after rounding a bend. She watched her rearview mirror, waiting for the car that had been following her to catch up.
When it was almost alongside her, she flew from her car and landed with her legs spread wide in the middle of the road. The car screeched to a halt a few inches from her body. The driver’s door shot open and Becca jumped out.
“Are you crazy? What is the matter with you? I could have killed you!”
“I don’t think so.”
Becca marched to within a few inches of Jody and planted her hands on her hips. “Well, I don’t want to find out. Don’t ever do anything like that again.”
“Why are you following me?”
“Because I knew if I went home I wouldn’t be able to sleep.” Jody grinned. “Why not?”
“Never mind why not. Who lives here?”
“My father,” Jody said grimly.
Becca looked over her shoulder at the sprawling estate. “Nice.”
“Not really.”
“You promised me information.”
“In the morning,” Jody said with exaggerated patience.
“It’s four a.m. That’s morning in my book.”
“I have work to do.”
“At four a.m.?”
“I’m a Vampire. A lot of my sources are Vampires. We live and work at night.”
“I know what you are, thank you very much.” Becca rubbed her arms. She could still feel the heat of Jody’s body pressed against her back. She’d remained in the car watching the club after Jody went inside, wondering what Jody was doing and who she was doing it with, imagining Jody making someone orgasm while she fed from them, coming herself while she drank. She’d made herself crazy with the images. She knew if she went home she’d give in to the fantasies and have to masturbate. Then she’d feel pitiful for being so aroused by someone whose idea of intimacy consisted of mind games and anonymous sex.
“Funny,” Jody said, “everywhere I go tonight, people seem to think they know what I am.” She turned and walked back toward her car.
“Hey!” Becca followed her. “Where are you going?”
“Go home. I’ll call you in a few hours.” Becca grabbed the edge of the door before Jody could close it.
“Look, I’m sorry.”
Jody slid behind the wheel and regarded her coolly. “For what?”
“You’re right, I don’t know you. But I know you’re a good cop. And I’m a good reporter.” Becca leaned down. “You’re going to talk to me in the morning anyhow. So let me come with you now.”
“Are you going to keep following me otherwise? I knew you were behind me when I left the club.”
Becca grinned. “So I’m not very good at it.” Jody laughed. “I’m going to the morgue. I’ll meet you there.”
“Why did you change your mind?”
“Can’t you just be satisfied that I did?” Jody countered.
“No. I like to know the reasons why people do things.”
“Not everyone wants to be known, Ms. Land.” Jody gently removed Becca’s hand from her door, closed it, and drove away, leaving Becca racing to catch up.
After her hunt with Andrew, Sylvan returned to her private quarters to shower and dress. Niki and Lara were already waiting on the porch, having tracked her and Andrew through the forest. She sent Andrew back to the Compound although he hadn’t asked to be relieved. He was excited after his run with her, and she suspected he needed a tangle.
She stood for a long time under the cool spray, waiting for her body to settle. The run and the kill had helped dampen some of her urgency to claim Drake again, but the hunger had never entirely abated. Almost as soon as the intense pleasure of her release faded away, she was ready again. She’d had to get away from Drake, satisfy her primal needs in some other way, or risk losing control completely. Drake was newly turned, still struggling for harmony with her wolf, still adjusting to the tremendous physical and psychological shock of her transformation.
Sylvan couldn’t expect her to understand what had almost happened out there in the forest. Drake inflamed her, called to her in some deeply instinctual way, stirred her need to guard and protect and cherish as no one ever had before. The first time she’d seen Drake, when Drake was still human, she’d been aware of the connection. Drake hadn’t feared her, and even in the midst of the danger to Sylvan’s young, Drake had managed to calm her. To steady her wolf.
Even Niki, who she loved with all her heart, could not touch her in the places Drake had touched.
Sylvan toweled dry and held the damp cotton against her face. She smelled Drake. The chemical mix that marked her as unique, as Alpha, had absorbed Drake’s kinins and incorporated them. Drake had marked her with a bite. She had marked Drake in turn. They were very close to completing a mate bond. She was still ready, full, her wolf demanding she finish the mating. Another bite, another intense coupling when their victus—their essence—erupted and fused, and they would be mated.