He walked confidently down the aisle in my direction, his movement too sleek and smooth to be a norm’s. Then his scent hit me. Citrus and sunshine, with something more; a hint of honeysuckle on a warm summer’s day mingled, danced and rolled over my skin, making me think of mojitos, and sex on the beach. Then the familiarity of it sank in.
My eyes narrowed.
Landen’s killer.
He stopped a few feet before me. His eyes closed to slits as he drew a deep breath in, savouring my scent like a fine wine. “You smell of the forest,” he purred.
My mountain lion preened in response. My wolf growled. Interesting.
“I’m Tristan.” His eyes travelled up my body and made my knees wobble. His head tilted to the side. “And you are?”
His scent swirled around me, like distracting pheromones, encouraging me to act—I’ve never had the urge to dry hump more than at this particular moment. More potent than what I’d detected in Landen’s apartment and Ethan’s Vampire lair, this man’s scent called out to me, to my mountain lion. Every nuance licked my skin. Realizing my mouth hung open like a Venus flytrap, I snapped it shut.
“One of my minions,” Lucien interjected. Despite what he said and what it implied, I wanted to thank the vamp for butting in. Still incapable of speech, I sniffed the air, thanking the beast goddess my mountain lion scent hadn’t leaked out. Only my forest pine scent laced with attraction flittered about.
“What a shame.” Tristan’s eyes twinkled. He winked and walked past me.
I don’t think I breathed until I heard the door click behind me.
“Have you got your libido in check yet?” Lucien leaned forward as if to help me.
I waved him off. “I’m not buckling under raging hormones like some twihard teenager.”
“Could’ve fooled me.” He sat back in his chair and steepled his fingers. “What have you learned?”
“The envoy is Ethan’s, isn’t he?”
Lucien’s hands unlocked to grasp the armrests. “Yes.” His eyes flew to my mouth, waiting for me to speak again, to elaborate.
Excitement bubbled up in my chest at the missing piece to the puzzle, causing me to blurt out the truth. “Ethan Monroe issued the attack on Clint.”
“Proof?” Lucien’s eyes narrowed.
“That envoy killed my handler Landen. His scent is all over Landen’s apartment.”
“More.” Apparently, the older the Vampire, the less articulate in stressful situations.
Shrugging, I launched into a factual account of my investigation. Lucien sat back and closed his eyes, as if savoring the truth of my words in his mind. He didn’t have Allan present to validate my honesty. That surprised me. But Lucien was a master. He must have other tricks up his sleeve. Shivering, I barrelled through the last of the details, not wanting to think too much about Lucien’s capabilities.
“…and now I’m here,” I finished.
Lucien observed me while tapping his fingers on the ends of the armrest. Aside from that minute motion, he held the rest of his body still in the eerie way older Vampires could; like the truly dead, body rigid and stiff, eyes unblinking, heart not beating. When he spoke, his words surprised me. “Clint will be disappointed.”
Grunting, I placed my hand on my hip. “Not my problem.”
His eyebrow rose in what I hoped was amusement.
“So we’re good? My debt is paid?”
Lucien’s lips turned up. “No.”
“No?” What the fuck?
“No.”
“But I did what you wanted.” That came out whinier than I planned.
“Yes.” He flipped a hand in the air, as if finding my response inconsequential. “And for that I will not give you to Clint as his new play thing and allow you to live.” He sounded annoyed, which made no sense to me because he was the one going back on our agreement.
“That wasn’t the deal.”
Lucien’s smile was slow and sly and I wanted to punch it off his face. “If you recall our first fateful meeting, my dear Andrea, you will realize that was precisely our deal.”
About to demand what the hell he’d been smoking, I clamped my mouth shut and thought back to our first fateful meeting. Images from the night flittered through my memory—Lucien acting like a douchebag, Lucien threatening life and limb, Lucien revealing Clint’s survival of my attack, Lucien running his cold finger down my face, Lucien saying, And if you don’t provide me with answers in a week, you will be Clint’s new toy. Fuck! I provided answers, so I wouldn’t be Clint’s, but that didn’t mean my debt to Lucien was cleared. My vision clouded with a red haze. A growl escaped my lips when I realized he was right. “Remind me to get our next deal in writing and to go over it with an expert legal team.”