Part 13 (1/2)

The werewolf did need to roam at least once a month, and he wouldn't deny it.

That meant endangering Bella. Because Severo sensed that should the werewolf be anywhere within a sixty-mile radius of Bella, it would recognize her scent and seek her out-and then attempt to claim her as its mate.

And wouldn't that be grand? Finding a mate for the werewolf was all he could hope for. The culmination to a quest most males never achieved. Females of the breed were rare, and mortal females, well, they were too fragile. And to be approached by a werewolf for s.e.x? Mortal women would run screaming.

Would Bella?

She'd wanted to quickly change the conversation about that. She might not think it, but much as she liked to believe she could accept him in his werewolf form, she never could.

He'd leave her this month. He must if he wanted to keep her.

Parking, because he preferred to walk outside and scent the surroundings, Severo got out and locked the car. Walking along Was.h.i.+ngton Avenue, he perused the bar offerings. A couple of strip joints flashed s.e.xy pink neon. He could only feel pity for the women who danced inside.

Vampires were about this evening, both male and female, indulging in blood and l.u.s.t. Their scent was nasty, like regurgitated blood.

Spying the black limo, he congratulated himself on an easy job. He wondered if Seth was inside the nearest bar, spinning discs.

Probably. Which meant a confrontation was now or never.

An erratic techno beat filtered outside and must have disguised Severo's near-silent approach, because the two thug vamps in dark sungla.s.ses standing outside the limo didn't turn until he was upon them.

The click of a semiautomatic alerted him, and Severo raised his hands in compliance but didn't stand down. ”I promise I can break your wrist before you can pull the trigger,” he offered slyly.

The thug glanced toward the back pa.s.senger window, blacked out with dark film.

”I want to talk to your mistress.” Severo held up his hands in placation. ”No funny stuff, promise.”

The vamp snarled, revealing a yellow fang.

The back window rolled down and the scent of cheap perfume a.s.saulted Severo's olfactories. ”What does he want?” snapped the female.

”To chat,” Severo said. He put down his arms and leaned over the window. ”Mind if I join you?”

Her pale b.r.e.a.s.t.s, stuffed with silicone and barely concealed by the tight black sheath dress, rose and fell with a huffy sigh. Long black fingernails waved him around to the other side. The door unlocked and Severo gave the other thug a sneer before sliding inside.

Christ, but he wouldn't last long in this boudoir of perfume and vampire reek. Rolling down his window, Severo kept his distance from the vampiress, not because he suspected she'd slash him with those nails, but because he required the fresh air to keep his senses clear.

”Severo,” she drawled with a cla.s.sic night-mistress burr. ”Long time. Thought I'd seen the last of you after that b.l.o.o.d.y debacle in the seventies.”

He'd thought the same, but the woman was far from subtle. He caught wind of her whenever she blew into town, though he had to give her credit for keeping her messes to a minimum and being quick to clean up those that were not.

”Guess why I'm here?” he prompted.

”I saw you groping the mortal female the other night. Since when does one of the most powerful werewolves in the country stoop so low?”

He'd relinquished that ”most powerful” t.i.tle years ago to Amandus Masterson, after he'd left the Northern pack. No longer did he get off on conflict and pack politics. Nor could he conceive of indulging in the blood sport the wolves partic.i.p.ated in. He was a lone wolf, and happy for it.

”She's mine, not the boy's-Seth, your plaything. The mortal woman poses no threat to you.”

”They have a certain relations.h.i.+p that disturbs me.”

”Leave her alone. Or next time I smell vamps around her, I'm coming after you.”

She pursed her glossy black lips. ”You're such a bully, Severo. s.e.xual frustration tends to do that to a man. Makes him rigid and aggressive.” Fanning a black-nailed finger down her cleavage, she cooed, ”You sure you don't want to try some luscious vampire flesh?”

He eyed the white b.r.e.a.s.t.s, which seemed to glow in the darkness. ”Not if my life depended on it. Your kind is vile, Elvira.”

”Don't call me that. It's Evie.”

He sighed. ”So will you comply? The woman is his friend. That is all.”

”Make them stop being friends, and I'll consider it.”

What a pouty, insolent vamp. ”Just get over it, longtooth. You don't want the hurt I can promise you, so be smart and suffer your new toy his mortal friends. You know he won't last much longer. The thing is so drained, you can read by his flesh.”

”I'm turning him.”

h.e.l.l. Not good news for Bella or for the guy. ”Haven't you enough sycophants?” he asked.

”I like this one. He's humorous. You know our sort can be so dreadfully dreary.”

Like the chick next to him, clad in black and looking the queen of the Goths?

”I've said what I have to say. Whether or not you choose to take my words to heart will determine your fate. Nice talking to you, Elvira.”

He swung out of the car and gasped in the night air to clear his senses. Striding away, Severo fisted his hands and growled. This was not over. It was just beginning. And much as he savored the fight, he did not favor waging war with one to whom he owed a debt.

Evie leaned over and plucked a long hair from the leather seat. She studied it, sniffed it. ”So nasty.”

And yet...There could be a use for this remnant from the werewolf.

She curled the hair about a forefinger until the pale flesh grew deep purple. ”I will never bow before a dog.”

Chapter 10.

S evero had left the mansion last evening. He wouldn't tell her where he intended to stay for two nights. While Bella appreciated that he was only trying to protect her, after only twenty-four hours she missed him desperately.

Was this how it would be if their relations.h.i.+p continued? Him disappearing for three days every month? Certainly she could manage the distance. It was only three days. And what relations.h.i.+p wouldn't grow deeper with that time apart?

But her love for him was so new. Bella felt raw and uneasy as she lay alone in the king-size bed, her fingers gliding across the sheets on his side. Where was he? And in what form?

Tonight the full moon would s.h.i.+ne brightly in the August sky. A harvest moon, which the weatherman had been encouraging everyone to go out and look at.