Chapter Thirty-Nine
As Denne closed up Sal’s for the night and stepped out into the empty parking lot, she rechecked her phone.
But like the text might have changed? In reality, she knew she was just trying to give herself a chance to rethink the plans she’d made with Al.
Talking in the dark to him was one thing.
Meeting up in person? Whole different ball game.
Ah, hell, maybe what she didn’t like about the situation was less seeing him again and more how much she was looking forward to it.
He’d been a preoccupation all night long. The sounds he’d made as he came. The heavy breathing in her ear through the phone. What her own body had done.
And if she saw him, she sure as hell wasn’t going to only hold hands with him.
Whatever, she needed to quit the headspin and go. And as she walked around to her usual spot to dematerialize from, she told herself this was just until the mating. That was it. She was going to stop cold turkey as soon as she went through the ceremony with t’On.
Like Al was the vampire equivalent of smoking.
Or heroin.
Now, there was a compliment every male wanted to hear.
When she was in the shadows, she closed her eyes, but it was a good minute and a half before she could ghost over to the address he’d given her.
And although she was confused why he wanted her to go out there, she wasn’t unfamiliar with the area: Her disappointment when he’d suggested Latham Plaza as the place to meet up had offered insight into exactly how far from reality her romantic fantasies had taken her.
What did she expect, though? A nice dinner at almost eleven p.m.? He was on vampire time even if she wasn’t.
“At least a snack at a diner, maybe,” she murmured as she re-formed where she knew it would be dark. “Or maybe his apartment.”
Actually, no, that was a bad idea because she didn’t know if he had roommates.
Or again, what if he had a female? The one in the glass house might have been his sister, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t someone else—and Denne wanted him, but she was not interested in fucking up some other female’s or woman’s situation.
So that was a question she did need to ask before this went any further.
Walking out of the darkness thrown by a walkway between stores, Denne glanced around the empty lot, and saw nothing but snowbanks and lampposts breaking up the football field’s worth of space.
“Where you at, Al.”
She snagged her phone and texted him. Then checked out the storefronts: Restaurants, a tattoo parlor, little shops that sold clothes and shoes and household stuff.
For a brief moment, she imagined coming here with him some Sunday afternoon, the pair of them wandering along the sidewalk with the human couples, imagining their mated future with excitement because they were about to move into their first house.
It would be in the spring, by the way. And she and Al would both be able to be out in the sunshine, even though now that he was through his transition that was a no-go for him.
Shadows had no problem with the daylight, but his kind couldn’t handle it.
Not without twelfth-degree burns.
But see, this was why fantasies were the best. You could pull any whim out of your ass and make it reality—
A growling noise off in the distance got her attention, and she pivoted to it. Whatever it was… was loud and deep, and out of habit, she put her hand inside her parka, and slid her fingers around the butt of her revolver.
Tilting her head like a German shepherd, she frowned. Something about the sound registered in her mind, and she was trying to tease whatever it was out when a set of headlights rounded the far corner of the mall.
Jesus, that engine was just like her own.
Like… exactly as her truck had sounded.
An electric awareness set in, and even though there was a possibility it wasn’t Al having done the kind of solid that defied belief, she stayed where she was and tried to calm down.
The approach of the vehicle seemed like it took forever, and that was not a perception thing.
The truck was coming at her at just over an idle, and honestly, the slow speed gave her time to look it over.
Same year, make, and model. Same dark tinted glass.
Same black rims. But the body color was a gorgeous matte silver.
Finally, it stopped just in front of her.
That huge engine was put into park and left on. And then the driver’s-side door opened, and a whiff of cleaner rode the cold breeze to her nose.
As Al got out, he was looking kind of sheepish. “Hi.”
“Is that my…”
He glanced at the Ford as if inspecting it for the first time.
“Yes, it is. The VIN has been swapped out, and he has new insurance and registration—and we had to wrap it. I know you liked the black, but it’s probably for the best that you lie low.
This silver matte will last for up to five years if you hand-wash it?
By summer, though, I think you could have it removed, if you really want to. ”
Al put his hand in the pocket of his black hoodie and held out a card. “You can call them to do it. I’ve already paid for the take-off. Mac will get you in whenever you want. He’s the owner.”
Denne’s eyes went blurry, and the next thing she knew, she was running her hand over the warm hood, across the front grille, down the far side. As she came around the back, all she could do was shake her head.
“How did you…”
When she was standing with him again, he shrugged.
“I told you, I can get into any computer system. I poked around the CPD evidence registry, found where it was, changed the paperwork internally to authorize the release, and made the overnight guy give it to me.” He pointed to the corner he’d come around.
“Mac’s place is back there. I got his name from Rhamp.
He’s really nice for a human, and knows…
about us. How that all worked out, I don’t know, but Rhamp definitely trusts him—”
Denne tackled him with her whole body, giving him a hard squeeze before she lifted up onto her tiptoes, and put her lips on his.
And she meant the kiss to just be a thank-you, an expression of all the gratitude she was feeling, a brief contact that lasted only long enough for him to understand exactly how much she appreciated this thoughtful, generous gesture.
Not what happened.
Or, at least, not what happened next.
His mouth was as soft as she remembered, and his body was as hard, the muscles of his chest as she leaned into them unyielding in the best possible way. And as his arms came around her and brought her in close, nothing was cold. Anywhere.
Not in Caldwell. Not in Alaska.
Not in the depths of outer space.
Overcome with so much, Denne backed up against the side of the truck and took him with her, running her hands onto his pecs and around his neck.
There was such a soaring freedom to the release of the lust in her blood, a sense of flying even as she stayed on the ground—and she wanted more of this. More of him.
After so long—and not long enough—she lowered herself back down, breaking the melding of their mouths.
God, she liked the way he was staring at her.
No more fresh-out-of-the-transition awkwardness.
He was a fully mature male looking to mate, and she needed that from him.
Wanted it. And the sense that the walls of destiny were closing in on her and that her fate was being sealed made her want to act fast.
Touching the side of his face, she trailed her fingertips to his top lip. “Let me see your fangs.”
He curled things up and revealed his descended canines. But then he shook his head. “I won’t bite you, Denne. And I promise I will never, ever hurt you.”
Except what if that was what she asked for. The biting, that was.
As she let her arm fall to her side, she glanced at her beloved truck. “How’d you like to go for a ride?”
The smile he gave her was slow and sexy. “I thought you’d never ask.”
Holy fuck. Allhan had a girlfriend.
A real, live, honest-to-God female.
And Vishous knew who it was. Denne, a.k.a. Her Sublime Highness the Princess Dennesha. iAm’s daughter.
From the rooftop over the Hot Ink Tattoo & Piercing Shoppe, he watched as the pair of them drove off in a silver Ford truck with a badass engine and blacked-out windows—that had been black when he’d first seen it three and a half hours ago.
In the wake of their departure, he just stared at the empty, brightly lit parking lot like he’d never seen one before.
After a moment, he let out a really loud laugh. A girlfriend.
And not just any female, but the heir to the throne of the Shadows, daughter of a great male and a truly great ruler of worth.
Immediately, questions bubbled all over the place, but the only thing he could really focus on was taking out his phone and hitting send on the first number that popped up in his favorites.
His shellan answered on the second ring. “You okay? What’s wrong—”
“He’s dating someone. It’s just that he’s dating, and wants to keep it private. Fucking hell, I’m so relieved—”
“What are you talking about?”
“Al, he’s dating”—or at least hooking up with?—“Dennesha.”
There was a heartbeat of WTF. Then, in a muffled voice, his mate said, “Hey, Manny, will you handle things for a sec. I gotta take this.”
After the guy made some kind of an affirmative reply, there was a little shuffling.
Two seconds later, Jane was back. “I’m sorry, you’re going to have to give me some background on whatever this is? He has a girlfriend?”
V wedged his phone with his shoulder as he took out a hand-rolled. And while he lit up, he gave only part of the backstory, just the whole location services thing. The rest of his paranoia and cyber stalking made him sound too frickin’ crazy.
“I was so worried about him.” V exhaled and watched the smoke billow into the cold night. Fuck, he felt drunk. “Like, you know how he’s really quiet, and he’s probably totally embarrassed. But he couldn’t have picked a better female.”
“So you talked with him, and they’re dating?”
“Oh, fuck no. I’m not crashing his vibe. Frankly, it’s kind of a miracle he has a female.”
Jane laughed. “Well… good for him. I wonder when he’ll tell us. If he will.”
“I don’t know. But as long as he’s happy that’s all that counts. Especially after the other night.”
There was a pause. “I hope he’s really opening up, and telling her his feelings.”
“Well, they ain’t just talking, true?” V glanced out at the parking lot again and stroked his goatee with his gloved hand. “I had to look away to give them some privacy, if you feel me. So I believe he’s got a lot of things on his mind, at least right now.”
Matter of fact, he’d had to look away, for, like… minutes. Minutes.
Frankly, he was proud of his boy. Denne was beautiful, smart, from that fantastic family.
The throne shit was the only red flag, and not because it was the s’Hisbe.
If V had learned one thing after all these years as one of Wrath’s right-hand males, it was that heavy is the head that wears any crown.
No fucking thank you.
Any throne was bad news.
“Well, I’m really glad you called.”
V smiled slowly, a joy he’d never felt before inflating him from the inside. “When’s your break at the clinic?”
“Oh, anytime. Manny and I are just doing inventory.” There was another pause. “Wait, you’re coming here tonight? Really?”
With a frown, he tried to remember the last time he’d gone and seen his shellan at work. Taken her down to one of the classrooms.
Gotten her out of her scrubs for a little while.
“I’m coming right now,” he growled. “Get ready for me.”
Jane’s laugh was low and knowing. “Say please first. And I’ll think about it.”
As his sex hardened behind the button fly of his leathers, Vishous hissed and bared his fangs. Fuck, he loved her. He totally fucking loved her.
“Please,” he drawled.
“I’ll be waiting for you,” his shellan said. “And you can spank me if you get here in the next five minutes—”
V dematerialized out of the Latham Plaza parking lot so fast, he didn’t even hear the last word she spoke.
True.