She runs her tongue along her bottom lip, trying to be seductive but not quite hitting the mark. “Yeah, well when the year is up with your little playmate don’t come running back to me.”
Now she’s just pissing me off. “Look, when the year is up with Embry, you’ll be the last person I come looking for. Leave the club, Chelise, before I have you removed.”
She laughs. “Wouldn’t want the little plaything to get the wrong idea about your little bet, think your dark-souled heart actually cares about her, would you?” She turns slightly and laughs. “Oh, wait, maybe she already did…” On that, she spins on a heel and wobbles toward the exit, and straight out the door.
The fire in Embry’s eyes draws me to them as though the strongest magnet in the world. But the minute our eyes meet, hers spark with electricity, and after everything we said to each other tonight, she fucking snaps her fingers and disappears right before my very eyes.
I intend to go after her, tell her exactly what happened. I don’t know what the fuck she heard or how the fuck Chelise knew about our bet, but I vow to find out and make it right. The barkeep still stands watching us and pours my drink once she’s gone. “Looks like you could really use it.”
“Got that fucking right.” I down it in one fluid toss down the back of my throat, letting the smoothness float over my throat muscles and the alcohol calm my ire with the entire situation. I slide a large bill across the bar. “I’ll see you next week.”
Right now, I have a very furious mate to deal with who knows exactly how to flip my switch. I fully intend to follow and teach her a thing or two about this disappearing act of hers but Overmaster Descallia and Lucianna walk up the stairs from the lower level. “We need to talk,” he growls.
Chapter 23
Embry
Iperch on the rooftop of Club Descallia watching the haughty little skank stumble to a flashy red sports car parked right outside the entrance. There’s no fucking way that Corvinus told that bitch about our bet. No one fucking knows except me and I haven’t said a fucking word.
Her skirt rides up to her ass as she slides into the car, door being held open for her as though the driver was waiting for her to come right out. My mind races with possibilities. Maybe Corvinus told someone initially. He could have done that. He is arrogant, probably at first thought he had me right where he wanted me and had bragging rights. But he wouldn’t do that now. I fucking know it right where it matters, right in the heart. And he sure as hell wouldn’t tell her, but yet she knows. There’s something about a woman’s intuition that can smell a lying bitch a mile away.
The Maserati’s engine revs loud and races through the parking lot as it makes its way to the main road. I give them plenty of distance, staying up high and flitting from one sky rise to another but you better believe I’m not letting them out of my sight. Corvinus can be pissed all he wants, but those weren’t theactions of a woman who was trying to get a lover back. No, that was the action of someone trying to piss me off, and that, she did.
But I want to know why…
There is no way anyone could fault Corvinus for the solid job transfer he provided to her and the three other women who used to work in this club. Just because I asked him to remove them from the club. That’s not a man who would hurt me or wants to hurt me and I know it. And a woman intent on only money and power grabs like Corvinus believes her to be would not care that she got transferred to another club where tons of wealthy masters and lords who don’t already know her hang out. She would welcome that opportunity.
Nope, that skank is up to something and I intend to find out what. The car turns down a side street and I grimace, taking a solid minute of a break as it rounds the corner far below. I walk to the other side of the building, looking over its edge at the street below, following the red car until all of a sudden, I know exactly where they are going to go.
Son of a bitch…
The tall building that Descallia used to use when he was in Chicago, the one he used while he was working with Lucas and the others to set up the casino, resort, and Club Descallia in Vegas. The one that Isala used to love and made her office in.
I inhale a deep breath, needing to get closer, to prove myself right or wrong. At this point, I don’t even know what I want except to see for myself what the hell is going on in that building. The minute they pull into the underground parking lot, a vision of the worst kind clouds my thoughts, taking every ounce of energy I have to pull away from it and focus on what’s real, what’s tangible, because the Isala in my vision, she’s not real. She can’t fucking be real…
I heave in a gulp of air, looking to the moon to recharge, to fill my spirit with what it needs, but destiny is not all I’m going to need for this fight. I slide a hand down my side, ensuring my long- sword is in place. My nose wiggles and my mind focuses and instantly a stake is right beside it and the sheath is undone. I do a quick check on my daggers nestled into the front of my dual-chested vest, and just to make sure I have all the weapons I need my hand nestles around the very new but powerful wand.
Corvinus is going to do more than turn my ass red if I go it alone without letting him know. I’m half tempted to do it just to get laid across that bench again, but the serious side of my brain pushes that aside right away. This could be a trap, a trap for me, or anyone who was stupid enough to follow her or it could be that my impulsiveness caused me to stumble on something they weren’t ready for us to know.
I text out a message on my cell to Corvinus: On the building kitty-corner from Descallia’s old high rise. Your skank just went in, and I had a vision of Isala waiting… You coming vampire?
I’ve barely had time to slide the cell back in my pocket before a cold breeze lets me know he’s here and his hands go around my waist, drawing me into his hardness. “I thought you disappeared again.”
“I wanted to see where the skank was going. Call it women’s intuition. I don’t trust the bitch. She’s all about money and power and giving you shit because you put her in the lap of luxury. I call bullshit.”
His eyes focus on mine intently. “Your vision. You think she and Isala are connected somehow?”
“I’m not sure why except for the fact that Chelise is here and this is the office Isala used to love, and I get the stinking vision of Isala at the same time. It’s either they’re connected and Isala is back, or someone is playing mind games with me again, Corvinus, and either way, it ends today.”
He slides a hand beneath my hair, gathering me close as his fingers enclose my nape. “I’ll call for backup. You did the right thing, Embry. Even in the heat of the moment you can always be depended on to do the right thing. You’re already a great warrior, but this is why you’re going to make such a great leader.”
My eyebrow arches. “Well, let’s not pretend that my ass isn’t still on fire from your last lesson, vampire. That probably had just a little bit to do with it.”
He laughs out loud and kisses me on the lips. “Good. Don’t forget it.” He draws his cell out and starts sending a message.
I can’t resist. “You may have to remind me from time to time. You know, I tend to forget things so easily,” I tell him in my most dramatic voice.
He looks over the edge of the building, then across to the building we’re watching and then at the moon. “Destiny has a way of keeping everything aligned, that’s for damn sure.”
