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“I was thrown. Catapulted. I didn’t see who did it.”
The attorney let them question her for probably five minutes before he told them Lauren would be available to answer more questions the following day, and then Panda carried her to the private elevator that would take them to the penthouse level. She heard Gavin’s security chief offering to get the officer the video feeds as they walked away, and she put it out of her mind. Most of Gavin’s security people used to work for the police, and they knew how to deal with them. It was going to be okay.
Chapter 45
Nick took Lauren from Panda as soon as the elevator doors closed, and he accepted energy from his king so he could properly warm her.
“Fuck, that feels good,” Lauren said. “Thank you. Both of you.”
Lauren’s mom stepped in front of him and brushed a strand of wet hair off her daughter’s cheek. “Gavin tells me they’re going to get you into a warm bath, and that we can all have a talk once you’re warm and dry.”
“Kirsten and I are going to go back to the party to assure everyone you’re fine,” Nathan said.
“Only a handful of guests left once you were pulled out of the water,” Gavin said. “I assume those who left have an allergy to the police, and we’ll be checking them out to see the specifics. Before we headed down to you, I encouraged everyone to stay and enjoy their evening, and aimed them towards Queenie or Dax should they need anything.”
“I don’t think the silk dress can be salvaged, and that pisses me off all over again. I should probably shower, blow my hair out, put another fancy dress on, and go back out long enough to assure everyone I’m fine.”
“We’ll discuss the pros and cons of doing so while you’re in the tub.”
“A shower will be quicker.”
“Nick’s right,” Gavin said. “You need to chill out in a warm bath, maybe with some wine.”
“I need to make a showing at the party, without taking a fucking hour to pull myself together. A shower.”
Nathan chuckled. “The perils of falling in love with a strong-willed woman.”
“Something’s bugging me,” Lauren said, “I should remember being carried outside the twinkle lights, or being thrown through them, if that’s what he did, right? I turned my back on him, thinking it was a power play, showing him I didn’t think he posed enough of a risk to keep him in my sight. The next thing I remember, I was airborne. Did someone mess with my head to take those few seconds away? Or did I go into sensory overload, so I truly don’t remember?”
“We had no cameras inside the twinkle-light curtains specifically to be certain we didn’t accidentally catch a supernatural doing things that shouldn’t be caught on camera,” Gavin said. “However, I went into the minds of those who witnessed it, and Jason lifted you and tossed you above the twinkle lights. There’s a section between the arch of the courtyard roof and the top of the bar holding the twinkle lights, and he aimed you through it. Once upon a time, there were dwarf-tossing competitions, and he tossed you in much the same manner.”
“Okay, that’s why I remember coming down to the level of the roof. He threw me higher into the air, and not just off the side. My memories make sense, now.” She nestled against Nick’s chest, no longer shaking in his arms. “I’m going to want to see what the video cameras caught after I left the roof. Mordecai said we have it from multiple angles.”
“I had mixed feelings about following my predecessor’s precedent of making the rooftop terrace a safe place for vampires to feed,” Gavin said.
It was set up as an outside space for whoever owned the penthouse, and Gavin had fixed it so they could relax without worry of being spied on by drones or satellites, which meant it was safe to allow the vampires some fun up there during the party.
“It would’ve been fine if Jason hadn’t decided to let his wolf’s temper overrule common sense,” Nick said.
“Jason is going to go missing, right?” Lauren asked. “If the party is the last place he went, questions are going to be asked.”
“I’ll take a day to be certain of my control over him, and then I’ll have him walk around and be seen,” Gavin said. “He’ll stink of pain and terror, so the supernaturals will know he’s been through hell, but the humans won’t notice anything off.”
“Easy enough to make it look like he drove himself out of town,” Nathan agreed. “The car can end up in California somewhere, so any investigation happens in another state.”
“In case I haven’t mentioned it lately, ya’ll are scary, sometimes,” Nick said. He appreciated that they were scary, but still.
“When we get him back, after he’s been seen so it’s okay for him to be marked to hell and back, I want to hang him by his ankles with his arms bound to the floor and then use him as a heavy bag,” Lauren told them. “Also, I think I’d like to learn how to levitate people and then slam them against a wall, or the floor, or the ceiling. I’m going to need someone to practice on.”
She sighed. “Okay, maybe not the first, once I’m not pissed anymore, but I really do want to play around with the second, and he’ll be a handy practice dummy.”
Nick looked to Gavin. “If you make him disappear, it will complicate bringing him out once or twice a year to show what happens to those who get on our bad side. We’re going to need to keep him in-house.”
Gavin shrugged. “Not a problem. I’ll train him as a sex slave and order him to service the most powerful supernaturals. Word will get out about the horrible tortures regularly visited upon him to the right people without reaching the wrong ones.”
“What tortures?” Kirsten asked.
“As of now, I’m thinking we’ll sever his Achilles tendons with silver, so they won’t grow back. He’ll never run as a wolf or human again. We’ll also remove his thumbs and vocal cords. An animal even in human form, yes?”
