4. He Wants What? #3
‘With the recent unrest, Jake needs to be free to lead his Pack. Young Weres tend to do stupid things when not controlled,’ I say reasonably, relieved to find my voice steady, even if my hands clasped around my coffee cup aren’t.
‘How much is his bail?’ Micah sets his glass down, his tongue flicking out to catch a drop of blood that’s caught on his lip, his eyes never leaving mine.
I am a detective. I face criminals. I deal with dangerous Paranormal beings on a daily basis. My body is remembering a past attraction, that’s all.
Money is nothing to Micah. He has more than enough of it. Still, I find it hard to ask for what to most people is an insane amount.
‘Five million,’ I finally tell him.
Suddenly, he’s at my chair, leaning over me with his arms braced on either side of my head. He smells the same. Like wind and snow and the velvet night sky. Darkness and shadows and danger.
Gripping my face in one hand, he leans close enough for me to see his dilated pupils. The stars that swirl through his night-swept eyes.
Confusion floods me. I have no idea what game he’s playing, but I don’t like it.
He made it clear seven years ago that he had no feelings for me beyond a sense of responsibility and friendship.
Because we had been friends. He knew me better than anyone else, and I thought I knew him as well. Turns out I was very, very wrong.
‘And what do I get for my five million, Evangeline?’ His voice is steel-encased velvet. I can see his fangs over his lower lip. Everything he does is deliberate, calculated.
‘Justice,’ I say bluntly. I refuse to beg for his help. ‘There’s a real killer to be caught.’
Micah continues watching me steadily. He’s thousands of years old- he would never tell me his exact age- and has seen empires rise and fall.
What’s five mil to him? Or human justice?
But he did say he wanted to help find the real killer, or at least get his Coven involved.
So basically, he just doesn’t care if my boyfriend is in or out of jail.
‘What do you want?’ Such a dangerous question.
Or it would be, looking at his perfectly chiseled face hovering so close to my own, if he had ever wanted me.
There was a time when I would have done anything for him to kiss me.
To feel his teeth scrape against my lips. To have him drink me like a fine wine.
‘Dinner,’ he says smoothly, reaching out with deft fingers to tuck my hair behind my ear. I force myself to stay still, to pretend he’s not affecting me, while my heart clamors to exit my chest.
I almost say that’s all? But what more could he want after so long? After so casually throwing away my heart. I don’t know why he would even want to have dinner with me.
‘Dinner,’ I repeat inanely.
Micah Saint James smiles, and if I hadn’t known he was a Vamp, I would have thought he was a Wolf.
His eyes darken further, sucking the light from around us.
Night ripples off him, shadows gathering.
My heart is a drumbeat I know he can hear.
If my micro wasn’t on silent, I’m sure it would be warning me that my stats are racing out of control.
Then he straightens and steps back smoothly, hands causally in his pockets, waiting.
‘One dinner,’ I say into the silence, now that I can breathe again. ‘In the city.’
Not here. But then, why would he even want me in his private sanctuary? Maybe he’s angry that I left seven years ago without telling him. Maybe it’s all about control, about everything needing to be exactly how he wants it to be.
I came here, and now he’s taking advantage of the situation. Every Vampire in this city bows to him. Even the Lycos won’t cross him. Micah Saint James effectively rules New York, and I may have been able to avoid him until now, but I’m as aware of his hidden power as everyone else.
‘One dinner, Evangeline. Anywhere you want.’ His words brush across my skin like a caress. ‘It’s getting late,’ he abruptly changes tack.
Looking past him to the floor-to-ceiling windows, I see he’s right.
Night is already falling, that twilight state where the world turns from golds and pinks and oranges, to lavender and sapphire.
The beginnings of stars sprinkle the sky, like diamonds strewn across it.
They’re so much more visible this far away from the lights and buildings of New York City.
Without the Skyway, that glittering rainbow of modernity and progress, obscuring them.
It’s always been like this with Micah. As if time had slipped its leash and run away.
I need to check my feed. It’s been off since before I entered the castle.
By now, Ruby will be worried. Tim probably has info for me.
And now it’s too late to post bail. Jake will be trapped in jail for at least one more night.
My stomach growls, reminding me I’ve had far more caffeine than actual food today.
Standing shakily to my feet and straightening my skirt, I find myself far too close to a hard, immortal body.
‘I think you should stay here tonight,’ Micah purrs, his warmth from recently imbibing blood hitting me in a wave that makes me light-headed as the world stops on its axis.