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I nodded. "Yes." Slowly, I brought my hand to my neck where my skin stil tingled from the touch of his tongue.
Menol y leaned closer to me and gave me a long look. "That was some message, by the look of your neck."
I glanced back in the mirror and saw the massive hickey spreading across where he'd kissed me. "Uh, yeah . . . I guess it was." I smiled then, blushing.
And then it al fel away, and I dropped to the floor, done in by the night, stil smel ing of skunk, with punked hair, and awaiting the arrival of . . . wel , wherever it was the Autumn Lord was planning.
"Things are such a mess. Chase has changed so much since he took the Nectar of Life--"
"You and Camil e saved his life. He would have died without it." Iris bustled around, cleaning up the scattered strands of hair.
"Wel , he's not thanking me now. I think the reality of what it means is starting to hit him. And the lack of preparation--let me tel you, that ain't helping matters any. I feel like something's looming over me. The Autumn Lord has plans . . ." I couldn't speak Hi'ran's name aloud to anyone but him--it was a secret forged between us and kept solely for my use.>Luke gave her a thin smile. "Thanks, boss. I don't want to seem like an overprotective brother, but the fact is that Amber's never been in a big city before, and I can't help but be worried."
Menol y leaned forward, the ivory beads in her cornrows clicking. Her hair was the color of burnished copper, and she was as petite as I was tal .
"Luke, can I ask you something?"
"Sure, what?"
"Why didn't the Pack do something about her husband, if he was abusing her?" Menol y frowned, tapping her nails on the arm of the chair.
He sighed. "That was one of the reasons I left. Wel , actual y, I was excommunicated. I don't talk about it much. The males of the Zone Red Pack are extreme alphas--in a bad way. I couldn't take it."
"What happened?" I asked, suddenly thinking that there was a whole lot more depth to Luke than I'd assumed.
"I was in love with a girl--Marla. We wanted to get married, but the Packmaster gave her to someone who beat the crap out of her and passed her around to his buddies. I tried to sneak out, take her with me, and they caught us. There was a big fight . . . it was a bad scene. She's dead now, and I'm a pariah. I can never go back. I defied the law of the Packmaster."
Neither Menol y nor I said a word, just waited. His eyes echoed the pain in his voice, and I felt like I'd overstepped my boundaries.
He pushed himself to his feet. "I gave Delilah al the information about Amber that I could think of. Tomorrow I'l bring the skunk scent remover to the bar.
Delilah, you can pick it up there."
He nodded, again tapping his hat, and I flushed, looking at him. It had been over a month since I'd had sex, and he was lean, lanky, and al male. But he didn't even blink an eye my way, and truthful y, I was relieved. I was so confused over Chase. And Zach, the werepuma I'd slept with twice and who had saved Chase's life, was taking far longer to heal up from his injuries than anybody had first thought. Last time I'd gone to visit him at the rehabilitation center where he was staying, he'd refused to see me, and we hadn't spoken in over a month, even though I'd tried cal ing every week.
Menol y saw Luke out while I sorted through the notes. When she came back, I looked up, and she smiled softly at me. Her eyes had once been a gorgeous blue, but the further she sank into her new life as a vampire, the grayer they became and now--now they were almost silver.
"You're horny, aren't you?" She let out a sigh. "That's the trouble with getting involved with somebody. You begin to need them . . . and then . . ." With a glance over at Nerissa, she shrugged. "And then you can't imagine them not being in your life."
It was then I noticed a gold band on her right index finger. I pointed to it. "That's new. Just when and where did you get it?" I held her gaze, and she narrowed her eyes and gave a little huff. If she was voluntarily breathing, I knew I'd gotten under her skin. Go, me!
"Oh, al right. Nerissa gave it to me. It's . . . a promise ring. It symbolizes that we're off the market, at least as far as other women go. Guys--eh, they come and go, but . . . with women? We're exclusive. I bought her one to match." She gently reached over and lifted the werepuma's hand, and I saw a duplicate band. Both were engraved with Celtic knot work. I caught my breath and looked into my sister's eyes.
Menol y had come so far from the torture and rape she'd undergone before being kil ed and thrust into life as a vampire. She was happy now, for the most part, and she'd actual y opened herself up to love--of whatever sort she could handle at this point.
I reached out and took her other hand and brought it to my cheek, and for the first time I didn't flinch at the coldness. As I pressed my lips to her fingers, I glanced up and saw bloody tears sliding down Menol y's cheeks. She silently opened her arms, and I slid inside them as she enfolded me to her chest.
"I'm sorry--I'm so sorry. I tried for so long to just accept you like Camil e did without reservations, but I was afraid . . . And now . . ."
"And now you're not," she whispered.
"And now . . . I'm not," I said, realizing it was true. The fear of her death and rebirth had fal en away like a shroud, leaving only Menol y standing in front of me. My sister, unveiled in her new life, happy and radiant and no longer the monster Dredge had turned her into--the monster I stil remembered when she was sent home to kil us, when Camil e chased me out the window to protect me.
As she slowly released me and I sat back, Menol y grimaced. "I'm so happy. But Kitten, you have to promise to do something for me."
"What?" I asked, breathless, wondering if she wanted a better apology for my hesitance al those years.
"Do something about that mop." She pointed to my hair.
