Dark Protector, Page 3

  “It’s secure,” he said, dropping his hands. When his cell phone buzzed in his pocket, he pulled it out, scanned the message. “Jayce and his mate are already there.” Jayce, Kat, a vampire named Niko and some others, Jayce had said, would be eyes and ears at the party as well. Aldric didn’t tell Ursula that, however. She didn’t need to know who else would be there listening and recording just as they would be.

  He’d taken this job at the request of the Brethren, a group of four ancient vampires who more or less governed vampiric kind across the globe. They liked contracting Aldric because he was a shifter and impartial. And Aldric liked the money and purpose, though he’d have taken this case pro bono simply because it was Arthur missing.

  “How on earth did the enforcer get an invite to this party?”

  He noticed she called Jayce ‘the enforcer’ and not his brother. Aldric lifted a shoulder, not bothering to answer. She’d pretty much answered her own question anyway. Jayce was a fucking enforcer for The Council of lupine shifters in North America. He went wherever he wanted. All he’d had to do was reach out to the Kinley Alpha and tell him he wanted to attend with some friends. Not all Alphas would have acquiesced so easily but Jayce was actually friends with this one. It made things easier for everyone.

  “What’s his mate like?” she asked, picking up her clutch from the foyer table as he opened the front door.

  He might like Ursula well enough, but he wouldn’t tolerate anyone asking questions about the only family he had. Family he’d cut out of his life hundreds of years ago because he’d been a hurting, foolish wolf. He hated all the time they’d lost together. Had no one to blame but himself. Things were still awkward between him and Jayce occasionally. It was one of those things he knew would change only with the passage of time. Or he hoped it would.

  A sleek black luxury car was waiting for them, the driver standing alert next to the open back door. Ursula slid in first, Aldric following behind.

  “She’s tall, beautiful,” he finally answered. Words that would give away nothing about what his brother’s mate was truly like. She was fierce, incredibly loyal to his brother and loved him to the point she’d die to protect him. Those were the traits that really mattered. Thinking of his brother and his mate just reminded him that he’d been away from the Armstrong-Cordona ranch for too long, though he’d seen his brother in town under the guise of ‘meetings.’ A few times he’d simply asked Jayce to meet him at a bar for drinks, something that seemed so benign and normal. He savored the times it was just the two of them.

  Ursula snorted. “You tell me nothing with those words.”

  Aldric gave her a sharp look. “It’s all you’ll get. I’m here at the request of the Brethren.” So don’t forget it were the unspoken words.

  He rolled his shoulders once, trying to shove back errant thoughts of a certain female he’d been trying to forget for months. He could return to the ranch, get his fix of her, just see her once, draw in her addictive scent. But he needed distance from the sweet wolf. She was thirty, but that was young by lupine standards. Young by his standard. Natalia Cordona—petite, feisty and a female he wanted with a desperation that disturbed him. He loved her thick, espresso-colored hair with just the faintest tint of caramel. He’d fantasized about running his hands through it as he claimed her mouth or as she rode him.

  He was almost certain she was a virgin. Something else he couldn’t deal with. She was too sweet, too… Just not for him. That was what he told himself anyway. He hadn’t been able to protect his first mate so very long ago. He didn’t deserve another. And with Natalia he wouldn’t settle for anything else. His wolf wouldn’t allow it. He couldn’t bear the thought of losing her either.

  So he’d stayed away for as long as he could. His wolf was getting restless though. Demanding, clawing, making him edgy in a way he’d never felt. His wolf wanted to go after her and didn’t understand why he was staying away.

  “I’m sorry,” Ursula murmured, pulling him back to the present. Her gold-amber eyes flashed with pain as the driver pulled away, heading down the long, winding driveway. “I’m just looking to make mindless small talk. I can’t stop thinking about Arthur, where he is, if he’s hurt. If he’s…” She swallowed hard.

  Going against his instinct, he reached out and patted her hand gently. “I will find him.”

  She nodded tightly, looked out the window.

  Many members of the Clifton coven lived in the biggest mansion in this sprawling vampire-only neighborhood in upstate New York, but Ursula and her mate lived in their own place with a small staff. Close enough to their leader, but far enough away that they weren’t inundated with their coven members’ lives. Some vampires craved solitude while others wanted what wolves and other shifters did, a pack. Though they’d never admit it.

  With a few minutes to kill, he pulled out his cell phone to indulge in something he shouldn’t. Tilting his phone away from prying eyes, he pulled up a picture of Natalia he’d snapped when she hadn’t known he was watching.

  Sitting on top of one of the fences surrounding a horse pen, her dark hair was pulled up in a ponytail showing off the smooth, tanned skin of her cheeks. A blue and white scarf that one of her sisters had made was wrapped around her neck and wisps of errant hair were flying with the wind.

  Her smile was brilliant and heart-stopping, her dark eyes filled with joy. She’d been laughing at something one of the cubs had done, her enjoyment pure and infectious. He’d been unable to stop watching, staring. Soon, just being around the female had become an addiction. He’d wanted her too much, would have done anything to have her.

  So he’d done what he seemed to be best at. He’d run.

  * * *

  Ursula had a relaxed smile on her face as she linked an arm through Aldric’s. He didn’t want anyone touching him. Anyone other than Natalia.

  But they would stay together during this party.

  “You’re doing perfect,” he murmured at a subvocal level only she would hear.

  Her smile remained in place, perfectly pleasant even though this had to be difficult for her. To be at a party while her mate could be suffering or worse. But she needed to be here. And at her age, she’d clearly perfected the ability to fake it, to appear calm when she was anything but. He could practically hear the screams inside her, the rage at not knowing where her mate was, if he was being harmed.

  “This will be a big help,” he continued, wanting to do anything he could to keep her calm. Only she would understand what he meant, but he needed to drive the point home.

  Ursula was here while her mate was missing. Almost no one was aware that Arthur had been taken except Elian Clifton, the leader of the Clifton coven, and of course the Kinley Alpha and a few other trusted high-ranking members of the coven and pack. Aldric would be reviewing tonight’s recordings not only for audio but for visuals.

  If someone appeared startled to see Ursula at a party, he would make it his business to find out who they were and why they were fucking surprised to see her. Because only the person who’d taken Arthur should be shocked at Ursula’s presence.

  Of course, he could come away with nothing for all his trouble, but that was simply how investigations went. He had to chase down every lead.

  “I hope so.” Her voice was brittle, in contrast with her almost serene expression.

  As they passed a scantily clad server with pink champagne, he took two flutes, handed one to her. They needed to appear to be at ease, to blend in. He wasn’t a member of either the coven or pack, but he knew enough people here that it was common knowledge he was friendly with Arthur and Ursula.

  “Ursula, who is your delicious friend?” A blonde female in a skintight crimson dress looked him up and down, her gaze calculating and hungry as she spoke to the woman on his arm.

  Aldric had turned away, pretending to already be bored by the female’s presence, when he heard a whisper of conversation.

  “Masking scents is becoming easier and easier,” a male voi
ce murmured.

  Aldric casually scanned the clusters of people, half-listening to Ursula asking the blonde benign questions. There were so many conversations going on, so many people, it was difficult to filter what he wanted to focus on.

  “It’s not the masking that’s interesting… If…duplicate…scent.” He heard bits and pieces as raucous laughter filled the air.

  “Excuse me,” he murmured to Ursula. Without waiting for a response, he stepped around a group of four vampire males seriously debating the merits of fantasy football. It was the strangest thing he’d ever heard vampires talk about.

  After moving around them, he narrowed in on two males, both vampires, crouched together talking intently. Both males had touches of gray in their hair, telling him they’d been turned later in life. The one on the left had rich brown skin and laugh lines around his eyes and mouth. The other had fewer lines and an olive coloring, his features hinting at Mediterranean heritage. Aldric memorized their faces even as the tiny recorder on his jacket captured their images.

  He would be talking to them soon. Their conversation could be nothing, but hearing two vampires discussing duplicating scents was something he would follow up on, regardless of this case or not.

  Moving casually, he turned back to see Ursula striding toward him. She looked annoyed at him, but it didn’t matter. He’d come here to do a job.

  As she reached him, he scented a familiar combination of cherry blossom and vanilla somewhere just out of reach. Somewhere close, but not close enough.

  Natalia was here.

  * * *

  “This place is amazing,” Natalia murmured to Niko, the vampire whose arm she was holding on to, as she stared out the car window at the sprawling estate. Her own pack had money and property, but they didn’t show off their wealth to this degree. Not even close. She wondered if it was a vampire thing to be so ostentatious.

  It had taken five full minutes simply to make it down the long, curved driveway. Now they were waiting in line for the valet.

  “They’re one of the wealthiest covens I know of.” His voice was gravelly, raspy. Jayce had told her that before Niko had been turned into a vamp, someone had slit his throat. He hadn’t died but after he’d been turned, that voice hadn’t changed. Apparently he was as old as Jayce, something she believed. There was too much knowledge in his dark eyes. “They invested well and likely hid much of their money, and were ready when it was time to come out to humans.”

  Niko was shockingly sweet for a vampire. Of course she hadn’t met many, other than one of her packmates’ mates, who she liked. The other vampires she’d come in contact with, however, had tried to kill her. On multiple occasions.

  “As soon as we’re out of this vehicle—and even once we’ve left the party—we’re in character.” His voice was quiet.

  “I know.” He was a lot older than her—by like five hundred years—and he simply wanted to make sure she was ready for tonight.

  She was his date for the party. After they left later, he said he couldn’t be certain that his vehicle wouldn’t have been bugged so they were to simply act normal. And Niko was operating independently from Jayce. He’d purposefully garnered his own invitation to this event.

  Her stomach tightened as they waited in the valet line. The Italian Renaissance-style estate had over two hundred and fifty rooms, and two gardens, one with a maze she wanted to see. The eight golden domes spaced out evenly along the top of the home seemed to glitter under the moonlight. Anticipation hummed through her at what the interior would be like.

  Next to her, Niko chuckled. “I can smell your excitement.”

  “Is that bad?” She’d probably be one of the youngest here, if the report on both the shifter pack and vampire coven attending was any indication. Maybe the people here were used to this kind of lavishness. She was definitely not.

  “No, it’s good. I guarantee you will get propositioned. You have a sweetness about you. And you’re young. Many of the older shifters will…want you. The vamps too.”

  “But I’m a shifter. And I thought the coven hated shifters.”

  He shot her a sideways glance as they crept along. “No, they’re just at war—sort of—with the Kinley pack. Doesn’t mean they don’t intermingle with shifters.”

  “So how did you get an invite to this?” Jayce hadn’t said and she was curious.

  Niko lifted a shoulder. “I’m old and know many, many vampires. I just contacted a former lover and mentioned I’d be in the area. After that, getting an invite was simple.”

  She blinked. “Won’t she care that you’re bringing a date?”

  “No. We were together centuries ago. Though she did ask if you’d be up for a threesome.” Amusement laced his words.

  Natalia would have been surprised by the statement if not for Jayce’s rundown of what this party would be like earlier. “What did you say?”

  His laugh was full-bodied. “She knows I don’t share. I think she was testing to see if I’d changed in my old age.”

  He appeared as if he was in his thirties, but that meant nothing to supernaturals. “I thought vampires were all sort of hedonistic.”

  “Many, many are,” he murmured as they reached their destination.

  “Should I bring my coat?” She’d worn a simple but elegant ruby-colored dress that fit her like a second skin. She’d never have bought anything like it for herself but Jayce had given it to her, said this was her ‘armor’ for the evening. She was pretty candy on Niko’s arm. She had a covert recorder placed in one of the jewels on her three-layered necklace. She wasn’t sure if it was costume jewelry or not.

  “Only if you want,” he said as two vampires opened their doors for them.

  She decided to leave it behind. Upstate New York was chilly this time of year but she was a lupine.

  Niko rounded the vehicle to meet her and she immediately slid her hand through his arm and loosely held onto him.

  For the briefest moment a familiar scent carried on the breeze, but she must have imagined it. If Aldric was going to be here tonight, Kat would have told her.

  Still… That aroma that reminded her of a dark, wintery forest lingered until they stepped inside. Great, she chided herself. Now she was imagining things.

  “What is it?” Niko murmured as they ascended the stairs to the main doors where two women wearing matching sparkly pink slip-style dresses that were reminiscent of the nineteen twenties stood.

  They each held a tray with champagne flutes, some with actual champagne, some with a dark liquid that was definitely blood. Niko passed but Natalia plucked a glass of bubbly pink champagne from a tray, smiling her thanks to the woman. “Nothing,” she said as they entered the grand foyer. Classical, calming music filtered out from somewhere. “Just nerves.”

  He slid an arm around her waist and even though she wished she was with another male, Niko’s presence was a comfort as they turned into what was a very huge ballroom. Ivory, gold and marble swathed the lavish space. Half a dozen marble caryatid statues were visible and she wondered how old they were, given the clear wealth of this place. The bit of the marquetry inlay she saw on the floor as they walked was breathtaking.

  The room was filled with shifters, vampires, and even some humans, all elegantly dressed, most of the women wearing glittering jewelry and the men in various style of dress. Some in tuxedos, some in…cargo pants and T-shirts with weapons strapped to their thighs or across their backs. She shouldn’t be surprised, not since this was a supernatural party. Shifters sometimes just didn’t give a fuck about a dress code.

  The crowd was too thick to see if Kat and Jayce were here and she wasn’t supposed to look for them anyway. She and Niko were just supposed to blend into the crowd and record. Right now the coven throwing this party and the shifter pack in attendance were on the cusp of finally signing a peace treaty and putting centuries of animosity behind them.

  Unfortunately one of Elian Clifton’s most trusted, senior vampires was missing. Not everyone
knew it, but if he was gone much longer there would be trouble.

  And no treaty.

  While it didn’t technically affect Natalia’s own pack, if the Kinley pack and Clifton coven went to an all-out war, it would eventually draw the attention of humans and be very, very bad for other shifter packs and vampire covens. They were no longer able to live as insularly as they once had. Now that they were ‘out’ to humans, the actions of one pack or coven could affect the way humans viewed all of them. It was a delicate balance of survival they played.

  Niko leaned closer to her, pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. That was one of their signs, that she needed to be ready for something.

  Almost as if on cue, an attractive vampire couple approached them. “Niko, you naughty boy,” the female murmured, kissing him on the cheek before turning to Natalia, her smile welcoming and…a little flirty. “He hasn’t been to a party with us in ages,” she continued, her accent delicately French.

  Her skin was a pale cream where her partner’s was dark, almost ebony. He gave her a more polite smile, but there was still clear interest in his gaze as it swept over her, as if he was imagining her naked.

  “Natalia, this is Arlette and Henri.” Niko’s voice was low but she heard it well enough over the din of voices and music.

  “We have a room here if you two are interested,” Arlette said, her smile pleasant.

  Wow, they really didn’t waste any time. Both Jayce and Niko had warned her to be ready to be propositioned but she’d assumed it would happen after some conversation. Or something. Natalia could tell that Arlette was the alpha in this relationship. The male seemed almost passive, but her wolf sense, more than anything, told her that this female was in charge.

  Before she could respond, Niko let out a low growl that didn’t exactly make her hackles rise, but she felt the power thrumming from him. “You two know better.” His tone was almost admonishing. He tightened his grip around Natalia, sliding his hand around her waist and cupping her ribs right under her breast.