16. Embry
Chapter 16
Embry
C orvinus smirks, and his eyes have reddened. My eyes widen as his thoughts register.
My hand goes to my hip. “I saw that, vampire. Not funny.” But, just thinking about his hand on my ass in the lower level of Club Descallia has me wet and ready for him again. But we have work to do today, so I play it off coy.
His eyes narrow, and I need to remind myself that he knows what I’m thinking. No getting past that, unless I learn to close my mind off to this connection of ours and destiny seems to have put the kibosh on that. “No, not funny but thinking about you in the lower level of Club Descallia and spanking your ass while I have you lying over one of my personal room benches sounds more than appealing. I’ll take you there when we return to Chicago.”
My fangs descend with desire that I have to breathe through to quiet. “You do these things on purpose. Just to get a response, vampire.”
His eyebrow raises. “And what a lovely response it is, love.”
“We have work to do, if you haven’t forgotten.”
“I haven’t forgotten. But part of finding out the future is connecting it to the past, and learning about your integration to the vampires I believe may be key.”
I shrug. “Well, Overmaster Descallia was so intimidating back then. I guess he still is to people who don’t know him. He’s different with me though, since Lucianna and I are so close.” I sigh deeply, not wanting to think about her that hard, because every minute spent in that lower level while they thought I was a traitor slices my heart with pain. “Were so close.”
“Nothing has changed in that regard, Embry. You have to know that. She was the one that asked for Overmaster Descallia to send someone to look for you. He sent me because he knew I wouldn’t return empty handed and I don’t plan to fail.”
Maybe, but that’s not how it felt while I was barred from helping the vampires because they weren’t sure. “You know when Lucianna and I met, we kinda bonded deeply after being the target of a cruel and unusual attack. We wouldn’t have made it if the guys hadn’t transitioned us. It bonded us like nothing ever could, to Overmaster Descallia and Lucas, but to each other, too. We’ve been the closest of friends since then.”
Corvinus turns to me, his dark eyes gentle. “I remember hearing about the transitions. There was much speculation about how transitions occurred whether they were sanctioned by the committee, whether the way we did things was old and outdated and should be revisited. It’s still being revised. The masters have it on an agenda in the future, but after the warriors are put in place.”
I sigh. “Is Descallia going to get rid of his special ops team now that you’re putting the warriors back together again?”
He takes our plates while I clear our cups and take them to the sink before washing them all up while he dries. “I don’t know the answer to that question right now. The traitors on the warriors who betrayed us made it difficult to trust anyone in those positions. We have a ton of applicants, good solid soldiers who will all make great combat vampires, but the real test is going to be their loyalty and ability to adapt to changing times.”
I grab a clean cloth to wipe down the kitchen. “It’s still hard to believe the rogues were able to get their devious claws into so many of our sacred groups.”
“The warriors who betrayed us didn’t believe in where we were going. That can’t happen again. Until we get the right ones in place, I for one believe we need to keep the special ops team. Probably after that too.”
I swallow through the lump in my throat. So very much has changed. “Silver and I won’t be on it. That takes two psychics out. Lucianna thought she could depend on him and me for so much. Now she’s probably second guessing everything that she’s ever done for us.”
He hovers to close the distance between us, removing any personal space that existed, which wasn’t much to begin with. “You don’t know the answer to these things because you didn’t stay and talk with her. I heard you helped make the night of her ceremony special, wrote her a goodbye note and then just disappeared. Did you not expect those actions to perpetuate the rumors that were already floating around? Guilty people don’t run, Embry. And no matter the reason, that’s exactly what you’ve done.”
Fuck you!