Chapter Fourteen
Viktor almost choked on his bacon. He wasn’t sure what shocked him more – the way Ant immediately knew he was hiding something, or that the psychic threw his aching balls into the same sentence along with his concerns.
It had been a long night. Viktor could go for a week without sleep and not suffer unduly because of it. But watching Ant sleep, his body primed for claiming and his mind plagued by thoughts of how his association with Tony could threaten their bond before it had truly been formed… The hours crawled by with no resolution on either front by the time the sun started to rise. Able wanting to go outside had provided a perfect distraction for an hour or so, but it still hadn’t resolved either of Viktor’s problems.
“If it’s a choice you’re offering, I’d prefer the orgasm first,” Viktor said bluntly. “But I’m failing to see how we could have a mutually pleasurable experience if the moment you grab my dick you pick up the issues we have to talk about. It might be best to talk about them first.”
Ant wrinkled his nose and frowned as he popped some egg into his mouth. After he’d swallowed he said, “I’m not in the habit of grabbing someone’s genitals, so I can’t tell you if that might happen or not. I get impressions from people any time I touch them anywhere on their body, so hypothetically it could happen if I touch you in an intimate way. It’s one of the reasons I am not comfortable in crowds – touching someone casually and that causing a vision, I mean. Is the news you don’t want to share likely to upset me?”
Viktor considered his mate for a moment. Ant was serious. “Possibly. Probably. Most likely.” When he saw Ant’s frown deepen, he added, “Most people would be upset by the thought of a mob boss after them, but you and I don’t know each other yet, so you could surprise me. Someone shot at you less than forty-eight hours ago. For all I know you could be used to being a target.”
“I don’t think anyone gets used to being shot at. I hope not, as that’s not fun.” Ant’s smile was a quick one. “Was your boss responsible for that bullet you caught for me?”
“I didn’t know the people who shot at you, so I’m guessing not.” Clearing his throat Viktor added, “He might be responsible for the next one though. You’ve been seen with me now and it won’t be long before my boss realizes who you are.”
“Are you referring to the people in the park who were watching us? The ones you disappeared with?”
Viktor scowled. “I didn’t disappear with them. They started running away from me the moment they saw me coming for them. The scratch you noticed on my face came from me trying to stop the car they were using as their getaway. Damn bastard hit me with the door as he was closing it.”
Ant frowned, his lips pressed together and tilted on one side. “I got the impression from Bridget that you were the right-hand man of a mob boss. I’m assuming those people work for the same organization. Why would they be after you or run away from you? That sounds shady to me.”
“The whole organization is shady and there are people in Tony’s family who want my job. It comes as part of the job description.” Viktor swallowed hard. “When you touch me, what do you see? I know you mentioned the shadows,” he added quickly when Ant’s frown deepened, his beautifully shaped eyebrows almost meeting in the middle. “But do you see actual faces, as if you were looking at a picture, or is it just impressions of people I associate with?”
“I only touched you the once. No, sorry, twice. Although that second time you were touching me, and I was just hanging on. I was distracted that second time, so if I was reading anything from you then I didn’t notice. I was working out vampire/donor feeding positions. I’m not adding the time you picked me up at the Mage Academy parking lot.” Ant looked as though he wanted to argue with himself, but then shook his head. “No, that time doesn’t count. I was barely coherent and totally exhausted. If anything came through to me then, I would’ve been just as likely to dismiss it all as a dream as I’m never sure of the moment when I fall asleep.”
That’s not helpful. Viktor tried another tact. “Let’s say, hypothetically, that sometime in the future I decided to buy you a surprise anniversary present. I bought the gift two days early and have hidden it in the house somewhere I don’t think you’ll find it.
“Later, that same night, we’re cuddled up on the couch. Are you going to pick up I’m excited because I think the gift will make you happy, and that’s it? Or would you actually see what I’d bought you as a gift? Or would you also know, just from being with me, where I’d hidden the gift?”
“You’re talking about a hypothetical situation,” Ant said slowly. “It would depend on what you were thinking and feeling at the time, when we were touching. I can’t read your specific thoughts. I’m not a mind reader. I read your energies and get impressions from the things you might be thinking. So if you were excited about the actual gift and thinking about it, I would probably get an idea of what it was and where.”
“So you can read specifics just by touching a person?” I’m in deep shit. Suddenly that orgasm didn’t seem like a good idea no matter how badly Viktor’s balls was hoping for one.
“On some things, yes. If you were buying a gift for a fictitious anniversary, then I’m assuming we’d been together a while. We would know each other quite well by that point, so I would expect to be able to read you more easily.”
Ant’s mouth drooped. “I can’t help the way I am, anymore than you can stop wanting my blood. That’s normal for you, and reading people is normal for me. If you think about it, we – that is our bodies – we all carry with us scenes from previous events we’ve been through. It’s not like we think about everything all the time – that would be impossible – but if someone is thinking, dwelling, worrying…”
Viktor realized Ant was getting agitated.
“It’s not like I enjoy any of this. I’d be quite happy if I never read anyone or anywhere again. I rarely go out in crowds because I run the risk of picking up thoughts, feelings, or even specific scenes just by someone brushing past me and nudging my shoulder. Do you know how disconcerting that is?
“One minute I’m window shopping for a new watch and the next minute, I’m thrown into a vision of someone’s argument with their significant other they’d probably had a week before. All because they bumped into me. Being a mage isn’t an exact science – sometimes things just happen, and that’s what I have to live with. That’s why Able comes with me everywhere.”
“I have no idea what that would be like.” Viktor tapped the table. “When you said about me being in the shadows, back when you gave me your blood... What did you mean? What did you see?”
“Shadows!” Ant threw up his hands. “You were surrounded by dark shadows that were reaching for your neck. Shadows indicate negativity around you. Those shadows reaching for you indicates someone wants something from you that you don’t want to give them. Bridget told me of your association with your mob boss the next morning and I made the leap from there. What I don’t understand is what you’re so desperately trying to hide now? That is obvious in your energies. You’re projecting that worry so hard I can’t ignore it. Mates don’t lie to each other. What don’t you want me to know?”
Able came running in from outside, sitting by Ant’s chair and pressing against his leg. Ant’s hand dropped into Able’s fur. “It’s all right, boy. I’m fine.” But the dog did not move and turned his head, so his chin rested on Ant’s knee.
What the hell am I meant to say now? “There are some things,” Viktor started slowly. “Some things from my association with Tony that are not…they’re not very savory. I’m trying to work out how much of those times you might see. If you could just give me some idea of how specific, or how detailed those visions of yours are or...”
Pressing his lips firmly together, Ant shook his head, his eyes darkening.
“You’re not going to answer me?” Viktor had a sudden image of himself standing naked on the side of a snowy mountain and the ground was starting to rumble under his feet. His only issue was he had no idea if the impending avalanche was going to hit him on the head or sweep him off his feet.
Ant shook his head again.
“Do you remember when we first saw each other?” Viktor was clutching at straws, trying to stop the inevitable.
“The Fallows murder trial.” The deadpan delivery was back.
“Did you ever wonder what I was doing there in the first place?”
“No. I know you weren’t responsible for the murder in any way.” Ant looked down at Able and then added, “The prosecution office thinks the crime family you work for is implicated somehow.”
“My presence alerted them to that possibility?” Double, double, double shit. If Tony learns about that…
“That and the fact the man who confessed had clearly been paid to do so. Perhaps you were there to make sure Duncan stuck to his story.”
“Fuck no!” Slamming his fists on the table, Viktor jumped out of his chair, pacing between the kitchen and the living area. “I did not do it,” he said, twirling around and thumping his chest.
“I already said you didn’t.” That lack of tone was disconcerting. “But you know who did.”
It wasn’t a question. It was Ant stating a fact. All Viktor could do was nod.
“Why didn’t you tell the police who did it?”
“Because, my little blond cutie who sees more than he should, there are some things a person in a criminal organization does not do, and one of them is going to the police with wild stories that can’t be proven.”
“You’re insulting me.” Ant’s face shut down as though he was wearing a mask, but Viktor could feel his mate’s pain as if he’d been punched in the guts. “You use words like little and cutie as a means to give yourself the illusion you’re superior to me, and then when you say that I see more than I should, you are insulting my abilities and the core of who I am. I’m fairly sure you were insulting my intelligence as well, although I likely got that impression because of the tone of your voice.”
Ant stood up, his chest heaving, his nostrils flaring. “I have never understood human emotions the way most people do. I’ve often despaired of understanding why people do the things they do especially when my mind is filled with case after case after case where people have done horrific things. But I know this much.” Ant pointed straight at him. “Mr. Fallows was a good man who had a bright future ahead of him. The only mistake he made on the night of his murder was choosing to walk home instead of calling for a taxi. He’d been to a wedding – he got killed in his brand new suit…”
“Hang on.” Viktor was still wrapping his head around what Ant had said about him feeling insulted. That hadn’t been his intention. “I got told Fallows looked like a homeless person.”
“You were lied to.” The words snapped around Viktor’s ears like a slap. “When Mr. Fallows died he was wearing a custom made suit, that in his own admission cost a fortune. The reason he tripped while running away from a madman with that sword thing was because his shoes had leather soles, and they were still slippery from lack of use. He left behind a family who mourns him every single day.”
Walking out from behind the table, Ant went through to the couch where he’d been sleeping and picked up his bag Viktor had left. Rummaging through his bag, he pulled out his phone and headed for the front door, Able silent by his side.
“Hey. Where are you going?” Viktor’s anxiety grew.
“I have to call a taxi. Don’t worry, I won’t get picked up from right outside your address and I won’t say anything to the police about you when I get to the precinct.”
“Police? Precinct? Why are you going there? I haven’t done anything.”
“Exactly.” Ant’s glare could strip paint off walls. “You haven’t done anything , but I can do something . I won’t involve your name. I am going to spend time with a police sketch artist detailing to them the person who murdered Mr. Fallows. And when that person stands before the judge, and he will, I will point to that person and let anyone know who will listen, who I saw murdering Mr. Fallows that night. I am going to get justice for him and his family, because they deserve it.”
“Ant. Mate. You can’t.” Viktor flew to the front door, blocking the psychic’s way. “This person is a very powerful man with contacts all over the city, including the police department. He’ll hear about what you’ve done before he’s ever arrested. All that will do is drive him underground while he sends people after you.”
Ant shook his head. “You’ve been in the shadows so long you believe the lies told by a madman. I’m going to do the right thing, because I already know that when a person does something so senseless and cruel once, it is only a matter of time before they do it again. Move out of my way.”
“Ant, please.” Viktor’s hands hovered, but he didn’t dare touch his mate’s shoulders, even when every instinct told him he should. “What about our mating? What about us?”
A flash of sadness crossed Ant’s face, but was gone in a blink. “I will clearly have to rethink what I can do about that, especially seeing as your loyalty and sense of duty is so closely entwined with someone else who has very few morals, if any. Ah.” He raised a finger.
“I did remember in Doctor Pike’s paper that he noted that claimed vampires could only ingest the blood of their mate once they’d tasted it for the first time. Anything else will make them sick. I will ensure that I have blood drawn and sent to you in the meantime. Now please move.” He swept his hand to one side and Viktor found himself physically pushed away from the door by something he could not see.
“It’s never to late to do the right thing,” Ant said as he opened the door and stepped out onto the porch. Viktor was sure he could hear genuine sadness in Ant’s tone in that moment, but the impression was drowned out by the finality of the door shutting behind his slender frame.
Viktor willed his feet to move, but it was as though he was glued to the floor. He strained his body, using every ounce of his other side’s strength, even trying to shift just so he could break the mage’s hold. His ears strained to hear beyond the door. It wasn’t until he heard a car door shut and a vehicle driving away that his feet finally responded to the messages his brain was sending them.
Ant is going to the precinct. He’s going to do his bit to send Tony away for life. You know what you have to do. Viktor nodded grimly in response to his other half as he stormed out the door.