You might have mentioned your suspicions to me, you know. I’m a big girl, Kristoff. I can take a little adversity.
I had no proof either way.
“I’m sorry, but a vaguely could-be-possible threat still isn’t enough,” I said after thinking about the matter, as well as making a mental note to have a long talk with Kristoff about my relationship expectations. Incredibly handsome and mouthwateringly sexy he might be, but he had a lot to learn about relationships. “I realize I can’t stop you guys, but you won’t get any help from me. My job now is to find Ulfur. The trail for the Ilargi may have run into a dead end, but I’m not giving up.”
“Excellent,” Alec said, striding into the center of the room, his eyes twinkling with enjoyment. “Then we can count on your assistance after all.”
“Huh? I just said-”
“You said you were going to find the Ilargi. Well, my fair little Zorya, that trail ends with the director.” His smile grew wider as I stared at him in incomprehension. “Oh, didn’t I tell you? Frederic Robert knows who the Ilargi is.”
CHAPTER 14
“So he just dropped that bombshell on you, and then went to bed?”
Magda and Raymond were seated in the chairs around a small round table in one corner of the hotel room, rapt expressions on both their faces.
“Well, it wasn’t quite that quick, but yes, basically, he said he believed that Frederic knew who the Ilargi was, and was tolerating him because he eliminated the need for Zoryas.”
“I’m not sure I understand your explanation of why this director fellow is doing what you say he’s doing,” Raymond said, his brows pulled together as he tried to puzzle out everything.
“You would not be alone in that,” Kristoff said as he passed me. He was pacing the room, his face abstracted with thought, obviously thinking about the plan for the following day.
I sat on the bed, leaning against the headboard. I badly wanted to get Kristoff next to me, but knew full well that I wouldn’t be able to stop touching him should I do so. I closed my eyes for a moment, the faint scent of him teasing my nose, stirring the craving I had to taste him, to feel his tongue sliding along mine, to run my fingers along the smooth, silky lines of his back and chest, to caress the muscles that lay so heavily under his skin, begging for touches and kisses and long, loving strokes of my tongue.
If you truly want me to bed you right here and now, continue with those thoughts. Particularly the one involving your tongue.
I sat upright, blinking. Sorry. Got a little carried away there. I didn’t mean for you to overhear that. Just ignore it.
Ignore it? Ignore it? Woman, just being near you leaves me hard. I’m getting used to having a perpetual erection, but you don’t have to make things worse by indulging in fantasies that almost drive me insane with need.
I said I was sorry, I answered with a little smile to myself.
“Pia?”
“Hmm?” With an effort, I dragged my mind from the contemplation of Kristoff’s erection to the subject at hand.
The day my penis ceases to be the subject at hand is the day I give up living.
“Oh, sorry. Um. Oh, Frederic.”
I giggled into Kristoff’s mind and tried to look thoughtful, and not in the least bit like someone who was remembering that she owed the man she loved a blow job that would knock his socks off.
That’s it! Kristoff marched into the bathroom and slammed shut the door.
Magda looked in surprise at the door. “What’s wrong with him?”
“Er . . . nothing. He’s just a bit distracted.”
For which I have you to thank!
Hush. Go dip Sparky into some cold water so we can talk about what to do.
“Why doesn’t he want Zoryas to be around?” Raymond asked. “The director, that is.”
“He does, but only doing his bidding, not messing with something useful, like doing their original job.”
“Oh.” He thought about that for a moment. “I suppose that makes sense. Kind of.”
“It does to me,” Magda said, stretching as she smothered a yawn. “I’m just glad you guys got out of that all right. I was about to call in the police when the vampires showed up. I tell you, Pia, those reapers are just downright nasty. Ray and I ran off to get help the second we spotted the first one, but we got separated, and the reapers who grabbed me were saying all sorts of things about me having been dirtied by you and that I needed cleansing. Who knows what they might have done if your vampires hadn’t shown up?”
“Only one of them is mine, and I had no idea about the others, because someone didn’t tell me his super- secret plan, but that’s a lecture for another day.”
“Mm-hmm.” Magda yawned again.
Raymond stood up. “We should get to bed, sweet-heart. Sounds like tomorrow is going to be a very big day.”
I slid off the bed and accompanied them to the door. “I know you said you wouldn’t miss it, but this plan the vampires have is likely to be dangerous. It probably would be best-”
Magda snorted loudly, giving me a quick hug to take the sting out of the gesture. “Don’t be silly. We’re in this for the long haul, aren’t we, punkin?”
“Oh, definitely. Only . . . well, don’t you think that we need some equipment?” Raymond asked, frowning.
“What kind of equipment?” Magda asked.
“Oh, I don’t know,” he said, waving his hands in a vague gesture. “High-tech stuff. You know, the sort people use to break into places. Detectors and scanners and things like that. The sort of stuff Tom Cruise would have if he were going to do the job.”
Another one who watches too much television and movies. Kristoff sighed into my mind. Is that all you mortals do? Do none of you read anymore?
Stop eavesdropping. I’m not a radio receiver. And for the record, I have more overdue library books than anyone in my town.
“Come on, sugar pants. Let’s go back to our room. I’ll hum the Mission: Impossible theme for you while you stealth your way into bed.”
The sound of Raymond’s laughter trailed after them as they left.
I closed the door, leaning against it to look at Kristoff as he emerged from the bathroom. “Alone at last, I guess.”
He didn’t waste any time. One moment he was standing across the room; the next he was smooshing me up against the door.
“You will take off that ridiculous outfit now,” he demanded, his eyes the color of lapis lazuli.
I wriggled against him, breathing in the wonderful scent that coiled around me. I tried once again to pinpoint what it was, but decided it was just Kristoff, and nothing more. “I don’t know whether to be flattered that you think other men are going to ogle the amplitude that is me, or amused that you’re jealous. I think I’ll go with both. But before I take off my clothes and let you feed-and don’t deny you need blood, because even if I couldn’t feel the hunger gnawing inside you, the state of Alec’s floor made it quite clear you lost a lot of blood-before I do that, I have something I want to say to you.”
His lips thinned slightly. “You wish to berate me for not telling you about the pact.”
“No. Well, yes, but I’ve moved past that,” I said as I kissed the cleft in his chin before leaning into his mouth, whispering on his lips, “I love you, Kristoff. I love you passionately, happily, wholly, wonderfully. I love you despite the fact that you didn’t tell me about the pact or share your concerns about Frederic. I love you even though you
