Chapter Seventeen
“And how do you know where they’re going to be?” Chalen asked his former mistress over their video connection.
“I pay one of the maids to keep tabs on him,” Ashley replied.
He had to give it to her. The girl was smart. “Did you get a time on when he would be there?”
“I know he and the shanimal left about a half an hour ago. They didn’t take the limo, and they left from one of the lower levels. The maid was surprised the beast was with Dante. They had been fighting earlier in the evening. They had been arguing over the press.”
Chalen felt a satisfied grin split his face. “I’m not surprised that he would try to evade the press. I’m sure the Dellacourts are perfectly horrified that their son is involved with an animal. Although I am a bit curious about this Kaja. Get dressed. I’ll pick you up in twenty minutes. I think it’s time for you to have a little talk with Kaja. I think I’ve found another use for that tape you made of Dante. I prefer the press’s version that he couldn’t find another consort. But I wonder what his new wife will think about his plan. I belong to that club. I’ll get us in.”
Ashley’s eyes widened in confusion. “Why would I talk to her? Everything is going along exactly as you planned. The press is tearing the Dellacourts apart. I just watched a news editorial on how we will all be copulating with animals if we don’t recognize Torin’s right to rule.”
Oh, the net was tightening, but Chalen had plans for Dante that didn’t include simply hurting his feelings. And if he could make a profit while he was at it, that was all the better. The shanimal would be very interesting to his medical division.
“I don’t pay you to tell me what to do,” Chalen said. “I’ll pick you up in twenty minutes.”
He closed the link between them and let the head of medical research know that he would have a new subject to test very soon.
* * * *
Dante held Kaja’s hand. He barely restrained himself from wrapping an arm around her and keeping her close to his body. He wanted contact with her. He craved it. He’d been fighting his instincts for weeks in a vain attempt to look normal.
Normal wasn’t going to work for Kaja. Normal was going to stifle her. It was going to kill that sweet soul of hers in a way violence and neglect hadn’t.
“Good evening, Mr. Dellacourt,” the desk clerk said.
Dante nodded at the man who probably was well armed and trained. The doors to The Club opened, and Dante led Kaja through.
One day he would bring her here as a sub, not just a guest. The BDSM club was known for its exclusivity. Royals only, and royals with money. Everyone else was well-vetted staff.
He didn’t miss the way Kaja’s eyes took in the grandeur of the space. Julian Lodge didn’t do anything halfway. His entryway was a monument to decadence.
“Dante.” Julian walked out of his office and into the grand entry. “Welcome back. It’s been a long time since you came in.”
“Well, seeing my sister bound to a Saint Andrew’s Cross while her consort whipped her made me swear off sex for a very long time.”
Kaja stared up at him.
“Three days is very long for me,” Dante conceded.
Julian laughed. “Really, it is. This is your consort.” Julian bowed in the formal fashion. “Greetings, consort.”
He nodded at Kaja, and she smiled at Julian. That smile. Gods, it got to him. Especially since he knew she’d never smiled before she met him.
“Hello,” Kaja said.
Dante gave in and pulled her close. Another royal was staring at his consort. Despite the fact that he knew Julian had a consort of his own—if rumors had it right, he had two—Dante felt his fangs grow. His hold on Kaja tightened. Julian wasn’t exactly ugly.
Kaja snorted. “He is not my type.”
It would take a while to get used to this whole telepathic thing. “I better be your type.”
“Yes. You are my type, Dante, my love.”
She looked gorgeous, her brown-and-gold hair forming a halo around her head. Her blue eyes were wide and dominated her pretty face. She was everything to him. How had that happened? She’d become the sun in his sky. He’d fought it, but now he couldn’t remember why.
He was going to leave his home to save her.
“Dante, if you’ll join me.” Julian gestured toward his office door.
He pulled Kaja along.
Julian stared at him. “Your consort is welcome to have a drink at the bar.”
“Or she could come with me.” He didn’t really want her running around an infamous BDSM club alone.
Kaja patted his hand. “I would love a drink. Don’t worry. I won’t allow myself to be carried off. I will show them my beast.”
His beast. He loved it. And it was the reason he would leave his home. Kaja needed something she couldn’t get on this plane. And she also needed trust.
He leaned over and brushed his lips to her forehead. She understood. He’d felt her love. She loved him. He was her world as she was his. Even when she shielded, she couldn’t hide that fact from him. It made him feel ten fucking feet tall. “Go on, love. Have a nice drink and meet the other subs. I won’t be long.”
Kaja went up on her tiptoes and planted the sweetest kiss on his lips. She was his. “I will wait for you, my love.”
She’d started using the endearment, and it went straight to his cock. She’d only ever called him “First” or “Dante” before. “My love” was new. “I love you, Kaj.”
That was new, too. He wouldn’t stop. He loved her. He was better for loving her. His heart was different—fuller. Everything was different. He’d gone into this relationship with bad intentions, and now he couldn’t imagine his life without Kaja. How quickly that had changed.
She merely smiled as though she knew. He didn’t have to tell her. He merely had to open himself, and she could feel how much a part of him she was. He was not going to cry. He was not going to give in.
“I love you, too, Dante. I will not stare at strange vampires. I will tell everyone that I am taken and require nothing more than my lover.” She wrapped her arms around him, squeezed, and walked away. Her glorious ass swayed as she walked. “I still feel your hand and your cock there, love.”
Oh, she was his fucking mate.
“You seem to have chosen well,” Julian said with a self-assured smile.
“I was infinitely lucky.” Dante watched her until the moment the door closed and she was no longer visible. He turned back to Julian. “Now, tell me why you pulled me from my bonding time.”
A shadow moved from the corner. A very familiar British voice spoke up. “I’m afraid that’s my doing, Mr. Dellacourt.”
And just like that his mood went from sunny to kill.
Without a thought, he moved, his legs crossing the distance between them. Instinct led him. Dante had his claws around Roan’s throat before the fucker could think to move. He slammed Roan against the wall and could smell the other man’s fear.
“You’re faster than I suspected,” Julian Lodge said. If he was angry about the violence in his establishment, it didn’t show.
Roan held himself perfectly still. “He’s much faster than the last time we tussled.”
“Tussled? Is that what you call nearly getting my consort killed?”
Roan’s eyes held his. “It wasn’t your consort who nearly died. It was you. She was the one who brought you back. And I was the one who told you how. Now, you can take off my head because I can’t seem to stop you, or you can listen to me.”
Julian crossed his arms over his chest and leaned negligently against the wall beside them. “He didn’t come here to fight. He came here to talk to you. He has information.”
“I don’t care about his information. This motherfucker has tried to kill me twice. I don’t think I trust him to tell me the truth.” A nasty thought ran through his head. Kaja. He’d sent Kaja in alone. “If you took my consort, I swear they will be picking up pieces of you for weeks.”
Now Julian didn’t look so unconcerned. “Back down, Dellacourt. I don’t give a shit if you don’t trust him, but don’t you dare accuse me of allowing a consort to be abused in my club.”
The club owner and, if rumors were true, mobster, was frowning ferociously, his fangs out. Julian Lodge could be a friend or a foe. Dante’s choice.
And he had a very easy way to check on his consort. Hopefully the whole telepathic thing worked when he didn’t have his mouth on her pussy. Kaja?
He felt her surprise, and her deep satisfaction, at the connection. Yes?
How did he put this without scaring her? You don’t happen to be surrounded by mercenaries? He’d never been good with subtlety.
And she was smiling. He couldn’t see her, but he felt that smile. No. I am surrounded by liquor, however. I like margaritas, Dante. They taste good.
Behave, love. He wanted to be there with her as she tried tequila, but he shut down their connection. She was safe. He let the fucker-asshat-cocksucker fall to the ground and turned to Julian.
“So, you’re willing to vouch for him?”
Julian’s fangs receded. “Yes. He’s done some very good work for me over the years, including retrieving my promised consort from the Seelie plane a few years back. Though he brought along an extra bit of baggage.”
Roan’s hand was on his throat. “Well, I couldn’t kill the young man. He wouldn’t allow your consort to go without him. He was very lucky you’re a vampire with an open mind.”
Julian smiled, a genuine, affectionate smile. “I’ve forgiven you for that bit of business, Roan. It all worked out in the end.”
“He can get on the Seelie plane?” Dante stepped back, possibilities swirling in his brain.
“See, you can learn,” Julian said. “Roan and his men can get on and off the Seelie plane.”
“It isn’t hard, if you know where to go,” Roan said, his voice still raspy. “And who to kill.”
Julian stepped back. “I thought he might prove useful to you, Dellacourt. You see, I know something the rest of the world doesn’t know yet. I know that the Council is meeting secretly tonight. I know that they’re voting on a resolution concerning Torin and his place on the Seelie throne.”
Dante’s stomach took a nosedive. “We’re going to lose.”
Julian nodded, his mouth a grim line. “Yes, I believe so. I think that by morning, the Vampire plane will officially open negotiations with King Torin, and your cousins will become the most hunted men on all the planes.”
It was happening too fast. Gods, it had been thirteen years, and it was still happening too fast.
“I have more bad news,” Julian said. “According to my sources, your cousins are on their way here, to the Vampire plane.”
They would be walking into a trap. “They haven’t called. I don’t know how to stop them.”
“Calm down,” Roan said. “They’re smart and apparently can call the trees to their aid.”
But there weren’t any trees on this plane for Cian to work with. He might find the occasional houseplant, but he would have to be on the surface to find trees. This fight wasn’t going to happen on the surface. This was all about the royals and the lack of available consorts.
Torin was going to win.
“I have to find them.” He would get on a bike and head for the south door. He knew the route they would take.
“I already have men on it,” Julian said. “Look, I picked my side of this fight long ago. I’m related to the Unseelie king. He doesn’t want the true Seelie kings dead. Torin killed his daughter, my cousin. We’ve been looking for revenge ever since. Now, come into my office. Roan here has some things to go over with you. Your night is going to be rough, I’m afraid.”
Roan straightened his clothes. He looked odd out of camos, as though street clothes didn’t quite suit him. “I took a job I shouldn’t have taken. I made a mistake, but I’m here to make it right. What do you know about Chalen Palgrave?”
“I know he’s a douche bag who can’t run a company.” Why were they worried about someone like Chalen Palgrave? They had much bigger problems.
“He’s a douche bag who’s trying to kill you, your wife, and your cousins. He’s the man who hired me.”
Then he would be the man Dante killed. “Tell me everything.”
He followed Roan and Julian into Julian’s private office.
* * * *
The lovely blonde woman passed Kaja another drink.
“I don’t know if I should.” Kaja giggled just a bit. The drink was doing strange things to her head. She knew she really shouldn’t drink more. She was becoming intoxicated. Yes. That was the word she was becoming. Drunk. Funny feeling. Still, when her new friend pushed the glass in front of her, Kaja leaned forward and took another sip.
“Oh, live a little,” her new friend said. “Come on, it’s only two. Julian doesn’t allow anyone more than two drinks here. Although, we might be able to get the very nice bartender to sneak us one more.”
Kaja focused on the bartender. He was an attractive young vampire with dark hair and a slender body. Jeremy. He’d introduced himself as Jeremy. Well, Jeremy might be attractive, but he had nothing on her Dante. Her Dante was the most beautiful man in the world. He was kind and gave a very good spanking. He had all the best sex toys.
She giggled again. She was losing it. “I don’t think I can handle another one, Ashton.”
“It’s Ashley, sweetie,” her new friend said. “And I’m really surprised you’ve made it this long. You have some kind of crazy metabolism.”
Kaja wasn’t sure what the pretty blonde was talking about, but she seemed so nice. Everyone was being nice to her. “I will have to tell the machine at home that I like these drinks. And when it is rude to me from now on, I will make it pay.”
Ashley regarded her. “You should. Those machines can really get you. Today, my mirror told me my hair didn’t look good. Bastard. Bad programming. It’s supposed to be supportive. It’s supposed to tell me I look good.”
“You do look nice,” Kaja offered. In the few weeks she had been on this plane, she had noticed that women liked to be told they looked pretty. She liked it herself. “My mate tells me I look nice.”
Ashley smiled, but it seemed a bland thing. “Does he? He never really noticed with me.”
“He tells me often, though mostly when I am naked. He likes me to be naked. A lot. He gave me the option of coming to this place naked. I did not think it was a good idea. You vampires seem very attached to clothing. Alana is always trying to buy me more clothing. And shoes. I only have two feet.”
Something Ashley had said skittered at the back of her brain. What had she said?
Oh, her mind was foggy. It had felt good just a minute before, but now there was a queasy feeling in her stomach.
“I thought she had four.” Jeremy, the bartender was staring at her. He didn’t look so nice now. “I saw the press coverage of the freak.”
“Shanimal,” Ashley said with a frown. “She’s a shanimal, not a freak.”
Kaja hated that word. The room was starting to spin a little. “I am not a shanimal. I am Kaja. I am Dante’s.”
He’d said it. She was his. She wasn’t going to let these vampires make fun of her. She was the consort of Dante Dellacourt, and more than that, she was a good person. She was worth respect with or without her fur.
“Yeah, I know that’s what he told you.” Ashley sat forward. “You’re different than I thought you would be. I’m actually really sorry this is happening to you, but you should know that I’m Dante’s mistress.”
Kaja felt a growl deep in her throat, but she couldn’t force it out. “You are not.”
She pulled out one of the tablets that vampires seemed to always have on their persons. “I’m really sorry, but this is who your husband really is.”
A video started. There was her Dante and this woman. He lay back and allowed her to service him. His cock gradually became long and thick. He finally ordered her to climb on top of him.
“He never lets me do that,” Kaja grumbled. “I told him it would be fun.”
Ashley’s mouth dropped open in apparent surprise.
“This was before we were married. I can see the date stamp. I know when we were married.” And beyond that, it was so obvious to her that Dante wasn’t engaged in the sex. Oh, Ashley was very attractive, but he didn’t even tie her up. He couldn’t be too involved. This was how Dante had sex when he wasn’t in love.
Dante loved her. Some silly video wasn’t going to make her question that. She’d felt it in her bones.
“Fine. How about our afterglow? Maybe that will convince you he isn’t what you think he is.” Ashley turned the volume up.
They were talking. It penetrated her brain. They were talking about Dante finding a consort. His father had demanded it. Ashley told him to find someone unsuitable.
Kaja turned and smiled at Ashley. “Oh, I know this about my husband.” She groped for the proper words. What had Susan called him? It seemed like the right word for him now. “He is a dumb-ass.”
He was. He’d gotten caught in his own trap. He’d sought out a consort who would horrify his family. And she’d managed that. He’d sought a consort so unsuitable no one would question him when he set her aside. He’d found the perfect one. No one would say a word against Dante if he found her someplace far away to live.
He could never let her go. She was half of him.
Kaja bet he’d never expected that.
Kaja tried to get to her feet. It was time to find her gorgeous, sexy, dumb-ass husband and explain a few facts of life to him. She wanted to be on top from time to time. It looked like a nice position, and she refused to accept less than his ex-mistress. “I do not know why you seek to hurt me, but this will not work. I know he makes foolish plans from time to time. I was the odd plan of his that worked out. And I will fit in here. I will make sure of it. And if you come near my husband again, you will find out how quick I am on four feet. I am not allowed to eat anything that speaks no matter how stupidly it speaks, but Dante never said anything about maiming. I will maim you.”
Of course, she would have to be able to walk first. She grabbed onto the bar, trying to hold herself up. Where had Dante gone? She couldn’t feel him anymore. She couldn’t focus long enough to even make the attempt.
“How much did you give her?” Ashley asked. Her voice sounded far away to Kaja. “Gods, Jeremy, if you’ve killed her, Chalen will have both our heads.”
Ashley’s arms went under her shoulders. Kaja struggled to move. She was beginning to understand that she was in trouble. “I do not want to be killed.”
She felt so weak. What was happening? Did they talk to the demon? Had they given her his elixir? It had made her weak before, but now it made everything fuzzy, and her limbs were limp and useless.
“I’ll take her. I’m stronger than I look.” Jeremy picked her up. “And I’ve carted more than one druggie out the door. Security won’t think anything of it. I want my payout in cash. I’m going to have to leave Dallas. If my boss ever finds out what I did, he’ll pull my fangs out of my head, and that will be the nice part of my day.”
Her world had upended. Her mind sought Dante’s but found only fog. She started to drift in and out of consciousness.
When she opened her eyes again, she was being placed in a large hovercar. A man with cold, dead eyes looked down at her.
“Hello, Mrs. Dellacourt. My name is Chalen Palgrave. I think you’re going to like your new accommodations. Well, until the vivisection begins. Then you might not think it’s so nice.”
The car took off, but Kaja was out once more.