Lure of Forever (6 page)

"
Coral,
honey, I love you dearly, but where men are concerned you're so
naïve."
 
Jerry's green eyes narrowed
in concern and she pulled
Coralie
in for quick hug.
"If there was a killer roaming the streets, we would know about it. It
would be all over the papers. And besides, the agency rang this morning. The
client from last night left an extra-large tip and he has made several more
bookings with them. Does that sound like you've got the wrong boat?"

He couldn't have.
Coralie
stopped listening. Bile rose in her throat when she
remembered something else about last night. Shit, how could she have been so
stupid?

"Coral, are you okay?
Coral?"
A chair hit the back of her legs and she sat
down with a thump. "Here, drink this and no arguments. You've gone as
white as a sheet."

Coralie
lifted the glass to her lips. Jerry's firm grip on her hand gave her no choice.
She wrinkled her nose at the strong smell of alcohol and coughed when the navy
rum hit the back of her throat. Fire burned through her as she swallowed the
liquid and her eyes watered.

"There, that's better. You've
got some color back in your cheeks. Now, spill. What else did the bastard do to
you? I swear I'll give him a song and dance he won't forget in a hurry, if he
books me."

Jerry's emerald eyes glittering in
fury reminded her of Lucas and
Coralie
forced a smile
on her lips to placate her friend.
All this came about to
save Jerry's job.
It wouldn't do for her to lose it now, over some
misguided act of revenge.

"He didn't do anything I didn't
want him to, Jerry. Calm down."
 
She
had to smile at her friend's raised eyebrows in response.

"He's clearly done something.
So spit it out. He can't have been lousy, 'cause you've got the whole 'having
had a good seeing to' look about you."

Coralie
rolled her eyes. Trust Jerry to not mince her words.

"He was far from lousy, Jerry.
He was fucking spectacular, but that's not the issue."

Jerry burst into laughter and
Coralie's
own lips twitched in response.

"Hallelujah, finally someone
has shown you a good time. I can almost forgive him for the tale he's spun.
Look,
hun
, I've been telling you for ages there's
nothing wrong with a bit, or a lot of safe sex." She winked at her.
"You've been living like a nun for far too long. Your mum wouldn't have
wanted that."

Oh heck, why did she have to bring
Mummy into this?
Coralie
bit the inside of her cheek
to stop herself from crying,
again.
Bloody hell, did awesome sex turn
you into a walking watering can?

"Mum wouldn't have wanted me to
get so swept away that we never used a condom either."

There, she said it.

"Oh,
hun
,
that wasn't the cleverest of moves. At least you don't have to worry about
falling pregnant." Jerry gave
Coralie's
hand a
reassuring squeeze and
Coralie
smiled grimly. No,
there was no chance of that, ever. "I'll make you an appointment at the
clinic, just to be safe."

"Thanks, Jerry. I could swing
for him. And I could kick myself for being so stupid."

"Ah,
hun
,
it happens. At least you got some great sex out of it. I want to know all the
details, you hear me?
Every little one.
Oh. He wasn't
tiny, was he?"

Coralie
couldn't help it. She laughed, seeing Lucas in her mind's eye, standing at the
bottom of her bed.
Definitely not tiny at all.
Not
that she had seen that many cocks. When she said as much to Jerry, she too
burst into laughter. The ensuing conservation had both women gigging until
their sides hurt, but little
Suz's
sleepy-eyed
emergence from her bedroom ensured they changed the subject.

Coralie
forgot about her worries during the intervening hours in the company of Jerry's
little girl. She was the daughter she'd never had. Her own baby girl had been
born far too soon, almost killing a sixteen-year-old
Coralie
in the process. She had buried her baby along with any hope of ever having any
children of her own on that chilly November day so many years ago.

She pushed the gloomy thoughts away,
as she tucked a now-sleepy
Suz
into bed with a kiss.
Jerry was a lucky woman indeed. Hearing her talking on the phone to take another
booking for the end of the week brought a shiver of foreboding with it.

What if Lucas had not been lying?
What if the killer was just covering his tracks? Damn it, she was so confused.
Jerry knew more about men than she did, that's for sure.
 
She said goodbye to her friend and walked the
short distance back to her house, pulling her coat a bit tighter around
herself. The air was chillier tonight and she shivered, increasing her steps,
suddenly in a hurry to get home.

The shadows looked menacing, and could
she hear a growl in those bushes? Her heart leapt in her throat when she
spotted the glowing eyes in the foliage next to her. Her scream died on her
tongue when a huge grey wolf jumped in front of her. He was followed by several
more of the beautiful creatures. Each one stopped to look at her, before
bounding across the road until only the original wolf was left. He cocked his
head to one side, his eyes boring into hers. He growled at her and she finally
found the strength to run, the howling ringing in her ears.

She didn't stop running until she
reached the safety of her house. She slammed the door behind her, willing her
beating heart to slow down, her labored breathing far too loud in the quiet
house.

What the hell had she just
witnessed, and why couldn't she shake the ridiculous notion that she had seen
that wolf before? Those eyes had looked so familiar.

It was much later, after she had
changed the sheets on her bed and slammed the door on her washing machine with
much more force than necessary, and she was stirring her hot chocolate, she
remembered why the wolf's eyes had looked so familiar. They were the exact same
shade as Lucas's friend Ion. Fuck it, the wolf had even winked at her.

The mug crashed to the floor,
chocolate splashing against her legs and up the side of the kitchen cabinet.
She ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time. Her stomach churned as she
lifted her hair out of the way to study those marks on her neck again. If Ion
was a wolf, then Lucas was… The room swayed as the truth hit her and her hands
groped for the basin to support
herself
. She missed.
Her arms flailed like a windmill, and she pitched backwards. The back of her
head connected with the bath with a sickening thud and pain exploded, radiating
down her spine. She collapsed on the floor. The coppery smell of blood made her
gag, before everything went black.

Chapter
Seven

Putain
tout a
l'enfer
et
au dos.
The
demon had been here. His acrid stench burned into Lucas's nostrils. His eyes
narrowed, watching the little group of inebriated girls stumbling across the
path.
Humans.
Did they never learn?

Granted, they weren't aware of half
the things that went bump in the night, but even if they were, they would still
put themselves in danger needlessly. Had he not done the same, when he was
human? Lured by Carmen's beauty, he'd paid the ultimate price, losing his
humanity.

The girls showing their wares for
all to see didn't know a demon was lurking in the shadows. Not that the human
race needed demons to wreak havoc. Humans were quite capable of destroying each
other without any help from the supernatural community.

Every time Lucas banned
Jacomo
back to the hell he sprang from, another stupid
human summoned him back to earth.
 
They
had played this game for centuries, and Lucas was growing weary of it.
Jacomo
was getting more and more desperate. That much was
clear from his attack patterns and he was narrowing the field. His
summoner
was here in London, and it was only a matter of
time before
Jacomo
struck gold and Lucas's chance of
killing the demon went down the drain again.

Lucas sensed the wolf before he saw
him and with one last careful scan of the perimeter he too sunk back into the
shadows.
 
He found Ion waiting for him in
the park. The little cluster of trees shielded them from view of any
passers-by.
 
The shifter was back in his
human form, the scowl on his face matching Lucas's own.

"I'm getting mightily fed up
with chasing shadows. The bastard moves all over the place. Tonight alone we
thwarted three attacks.
Three, for fuck's sake.
He's
getting bolder."

"And
more careless.
We'll find him, Ion. We have to,
and soon. He's making too many mistakes."

Ion shook his head in disgust.
"He's not the only one. The brunette that showed up on your boat last
night, she…"

"She
what?"
Lucas whirled around and pinned the shifter to
the nearest tree in the blink of an eye. "Her name is
Coralie
,
and you've no business sniffing around her."

Ion growled in response and
pointedly stared at Lucas's hand on his throat.
Merde
,
what had gotten into him? He released Ion with a muttered apology and forced
himself to unclench his fists. Ion's amused laughter made his blood boil anew.

"Well, well, well. It's been a
while since I've had that response from you. What's so special about this
one?"

"Nothing
at all."
 
Lucas
ground the words out through clenched teeth, an image of
Coralie's
doe-like eyes darkened in the throes of passion in his mind. No way in hell was
he going to tell Ion about her abilities. Ion may be his friend, but he also
now sat on the council. And Carmen had shown too much interest in
Coralie
already. If she knew he'd been unable to erase her
memory, his maker would order her execution without a moment's hesitation and
he would have no choice but to obey. The branch in his hand cracked and Ion's
mocking laughter echoed around the park.

"Sure, Lucas, that's why you're
abusing innocent trees.
Marnie
will be delighted.
She's been worrying over you."

"There's no need. I'm fine. Or
at least I will be, once we have sent
Jacomo
back
where he belongs." He forced a smile on his lips at Ion's doubtful look.
"Just because you and
Marnie
are all loved up,
doesn't mean I want to be."

"Of
course not.
I wouldn't dream of suggesting such a
thing." Ion's voice shook with barely suppressed amusement. "But I
know you spent the night with the little human, and when all this settles down,
perhaps you should bring her over for dinner." He ducked the punch Lucas
aimed at him and continued, "That's if she doesn't get herself killed,
walking the streets by herself at night. Don't worry––she got home safely. I
followed at a distance."

****

Lucas rolled his shoulders, watching
Coralie's
house. He'd left his watch soon after that
conversation with Ion in the park, giving curt instructions to the young vamp
come to replace him. Anxiety clawed a hole in his gut, leading him here. Having
to leave her in the morning hadn't sat well with him after the night they'd
shared.
 
Even though he'd left her a
note, he could imagine her reaction when she'd woken up alone. Guilt gnawed
away at him, an unfamiliar emotion. He never had a problem leaving before, but
every fiber of his body had wanted to stay holding the woman curled up so
trustingly by his side.

He didn't deserve that trust, and if
she knew what he really was, she would no doubt run away screaming. They always
did and he usually enjoyed the thrill of the chase, knowing that taking their
memories away would keep his secret safe, and
him
well
fed. So why did the fact that he'd tasted her sit so heavily on his
conscience?
 
He hadn't meant to bite her
last night, but blown away by her responsiveness, his ironclad control had
slipped and he'd sunk his fangs into her soft flesh. His cock hardened,
recalling her passionate response. She'd passed out, bringing him to his senses,
and he'd spent the rest of the night making it up to her.

He hadn't taken enough blood to
establish a strong connection, but still, he could sense her. She was upstairs,
her heart beating slowly, as though in a deep sleep. Yet the lights were on.
The unease he'd felt all night increased tenfold and he made his way across the
street, the locks no deterrent to his strength. His fangs came out the minute
he stepped into the house, his nostrils flared, and his vision clouded over as
bloodlust grabbed him by the throat. An inhuman growl rumbled from his throat
and he covered the distance to the bathroom in a blur.