Chapter Twenty-Six
The Payami wine soothed Benic’s frayed nerves as he waited in the pack gathering room with their alpha. He hadn’t spotted Kele since arriving. He had important tests to run on the human and needed to convince the pretty shifter to help him retrieve her. If his hypothesis proved right, it would change everything.
Inali kept their glasses full. The drink washed away the travel dust caught in Benic’s throat. He’d ridden hard this morning once he’d seen the test results.
Clicking his fingernails on the table top, he watched the entrance. He’d requested Kele as soon as he arrived. What kept her? He ground his teeth. Maybe he should go find her instead. “Where is your daughter?” Benic swirled the red wine in his cup and admired the way the thick liquid clung to the sides.
Inali leaned forward. “Kele’s aware you’re waiting for her.” The alpha set his hand over Benic’s cup to still its motion. “Is there something I should know?”
Benic scratched his cheek. “About?” Kele had not told her parents about Susan. Smart female.
“About you and my only offspring.” Inali released Benic’s cup but not his gaze. “I may be mated but I still remember how a male’s mind works around a pretty female.”
“Hmm…no doubt.” The vampire sipped his drink, struggling not to down the whole cup. “Do you wish to warn me from your daughter? I don’t see any prospective mates in your den for such a special person.”
Inali clenched his fist. “Take care.”
Propping his chin on his palm, Benic observed his host. “I always do, but do try to remember who you threaten. Biting the hand that supports you will only lead to a fall.” The alpha needed the reminder every once in a while. His pack lived in a forest that occupied a very, very small piece of land in the vast Vampire Nation.
Kele slipped into the room, closely followed by Ahote. She spun around and poked the huge shifter male in the chest as she spoke to him.
Benic couldn’t hear the exchange but neither appeared happy. Good. He didn’t like that hunter always guarding Kele. Couldn’t Inali choose someone mated to watch his daughter?
An omega female filled his cup again. He relaxed into the cushions, enjoying Kele’s attempt at dominance from across the room. No one gave them any attention. Arguments were common; however these two didn’t fight in public often. Not that he’d ever seen.
Ahote bared his teeth as he spoke to Kele before stalking out of the room.
The vampire didn’t need to hear the words to know they were sharp.
She stared daggers at his back until Ahote was out of sight. Her pale hair spilled down her back.
Benic ran his finger around the lip on his cup as he watched her cross the room. He couldn’t recall ever seeing her appear so alive.
Perching on a cushion at the end of Inali’s sitting area, Kele kept her gaze turned toward the activity in the busy pack room, avoiding Benic’s stare.
“Are you well, daughter?”
“Yes.” She seemed short of breath. A rosy flush graced her cheeks.
Benic edged closer. Had she run here? He gave her a small, delighted smile and poured her some wine. Was she that anxious to see him again? “Here.” The racing beat of her heart was music to his ears.
She sipped and finally met his gaze.
Leaning closer, he whispered in her ear, “I missed you.”
Her eyes widened as she raised her fingertips to her lips as if remembering their kiss. Good.
An odd sensation bubbled in his chest. He wanted to rest his arm over her shoulders. Publicly claim her in front of her pompous father. First he needed the human, then he could resume his pursuit of Kele. He had many things to teach the young shifter and not all of it carnal in nature. “Have you found your human pet?” He kept the question quiet.
“Not yet.” Kele cringed and set her cup aside.
He followed the line of her gaze. Wonderful. Chaska had lumbered in, the light of Inali’s life and Benic’s personal bane. Someday the opportunity would arise to rid himself of that beast. Time was on his side, after all.
He ran his fingers over Kele’s hand.
She snapped her head toward him and met his eyes with a frantic gaze.
He winked. Taking her to his bed would satisfy him on so many levels.
“Vampire.” The bitch plopped onto the cushion between him and the alpha. She pressed against her mate. “Sweetie.” And she allowed Inali to nuzzle her neck.
“I’m going to be sick.” Kele rose.
Chaska’s attention latched onto her daughter. “Where are you going? I haven’t seen you much these last few days.”
Before the two could start another hair-pulling contest, Benic stood next to Kele. “I’ve challenged her to a game of Mancala. Care to place a wager?”
Chaska’s grin faded. “Not with you, weasel.”
Inali choked on his wine. “Forgive my mate, Benic. We’ll let you go to your games.”
Games indeed. The alpha should make the crazed female apologize. It reflected poorly on Inali’s control.
Kele laid a hand on his arm and led him to a dark, private table—one reserved for lovers.
“You’ll give everyone something to gossip about, bringing me here.” He eased onto the cushions and lay on his side, patting the one next to him. “Your father has already expressed concern.”
She sat across the table from him.
Disappointed, he hid a wince.
“Let them worry.” She set the game board on the table, tossing the stones in the proper slots. “They insult you on purpose.”
“I know.”
“My father lets her speak her mind to keep you off balance.”
“I’m not dizzy.”
She paused in setting the game and grinned at him. “Good.”
Laughing, he checked his side of the board, counting the stones. Sweet that she cared, but it wasn’t necessary. He’d dealt with more cunning creatures than the Payami alphas. One of those creatures sat across the table from him. “What news do you have on Susan?” He adjusted the stones where Kele accidentally misplaced them. Little cheat.
“Nothing.”
He pressed his lips together and swallowed a hiss. Before leaning across the table, he set his cup carefully on the surface so as not to slosh any wine. “You’re lying.”
“How can you possibly tell?” She batted her eyelashes at him in mockery. “Is there some vampire trait I don’t know about?”
Lowering his gaze, he traced the line of her long neck down along the small curvatures of her breasts. “There are many. Care to learn a few tonight?”
She made a move on the board game but he had noted the hitch in her breath as he spoke. “We’re meeting at the Temple in two days.”
“How did you arrange all this?” He rubbed his chin and watched her concentrate on the game she played. Not the Mancala stone pieces, but the one containing people.
“He sent a messenger.” She blushed.
“Hmm…” Someone who flustered her. “Your guards let him live?” He doubted a female would have the ability to stir Kele.
“We were on Temple lands. Every shifter has the right to be on it.” She crossed her arms and gave him a piercing stare.
He met it, clenching his teeth. She hadn’t denied it was a male. “It’s dangerous to feel that way. Look what happened to your religion.” He should never have left the den. “I’ll return with you to the Temple when it’s time to meet Sorin.” She opened her mouth but Benic halted her words with a gesture. “I’ve brought my own guards this time—that way I’ll be safer traveling those lands without your father’s generous protection.”
“How thoughtful of you, Lord Benic.”
The title smarted. Why the anger? She acted as if he’d broken her toy.
She let her game pieces drop and stood. “Good night and pleasant dreams.”
“I had hoped we could share some of those dreams.” He must have misjudged her reaction earlier.
Pausing, Kele glanced from the exit then back at him. “No, I don’t think that would be practical.”
He rose, took her hand and placed a kiss on her knuckles.
Her gaze slid from his.
“Sleep well.” He watched her leave the room as he finished the wine at their table. Something was amiss. He rolled the empty cup between his hands. If he followed and she went to her room, maybe he could seduce his way in. Otherwise, he’d find out what caused her sudden change of heart.
Out in the pack garden, under the starlit sky, he searched for Kele’s presence inside the large den with his mind. Not an easy feat with so many shifters living here but he’d known Kele since birth. Like a light, she drew him in.
He couldn’t read or influence thoughts; however he could sense the living. Each creature had a unique pattern, and with time he could distinguish it from the rest.
Kele was not in her room.
Sighing heavily, he struck out in the direction of her presence. Guess there wouldn’t be a seduction tonight. If he found her with Ahote, there would be blood. Anyone but him.
The trail led him farther from the populated areas toward the abandoned parts of the den. Quiet, he stuck to the shadows. Melding with the dark was second nature. Shifters hunted as packs, vampires by stealth.
Ahote stood guard by a door in an abandoned section of the den. He leaned against the wall, cracking his jaw with a wide yawn.
Perfect. Sleepy shifters were easier to ping than alert ones. He didn’t do this often. The ping was a mental blast that caused confusion, which could be used in hunting and stunning prey. He didn’t need to hunt much anymore. His meals came to him willingly.
He pursed his lips. The assault could be taken badly by the alphas yet his latest toy was being sneaky. He had to know why. Approaching Ahote, he sent the ping as their gazes met.
The shifter grasped his head and crumpled.
Benic stepped past him, opened the door and entered. Curiosity betrayed him. He should have stayed in the gathering room drinking wine.
Kele sat on the edge of a bed.
A very pretty, naked shifter male sat next to her, his blanket barely covering his lap.
They were flipping through a book written for pups.
Betrayal seemed the theme of his evening. Benic barked out a sharp laugh. “Is there room for one more?” He leaned on the doorframe, glaring at the couple.
“Benic!” Kele blushed to the tips of her ears, the reaction not as endearing as before.
The young male bowed low, gaze pointed to the ground. An omega? She cast him aside for a submissive? A golden-haired, pretty male, probably with the intelligence of a rock.
“I don’t recognize you.” He tilted his head to get a better look.
“He’s Apisi.” She sighed and almost deflated. “I took him hostage and plan to trade him for Susan.”
A high energy shock hit him. “Your parents don’t know about him?” Oh, how Kele rose in his esteem. He couldn’t have come up with a better plan.
She straightened and opened her mouth only to shake her head.
He clapped and grinned. Deceived by his curiosity and his love interest, but not by fate.
“What do you want, Benic?” Kele’s voice hardened as he laughed more.
“Many, many things but let’s start with my going to the Temple for the exchange. Do you have any wine in here?”