Night Light (Blood Bound Book 2)

Chapter 2

Chad sighed, “Look, I know you liked my sister but she’s moved on. I think you should do the same thing. I’m not just telling you as a co-worker or even a friend, I’m telling you as someone that’s been through it. Leave her alone and let her make her own decisions. Despite your best intentions, I think she’s going out with Devon now.”

Trevor lifted his eyes to Chad’s face. “What?” he asked dangerously.

“She’s dating Devon as far as I know,” Chad repeated point blank.

Trevor felt a chill race down his spine, turned around and stalked away from the door without another word. Chad frowned when he noticed a cat through the front window of Trevor’s car leaning up on the dashboard. The other man hurriedly got in his car, revved up the engine, and peeled out of the driveway.

“Jason,” Chad announced to the air, “You had best not be right about him being a stalker.”

Chad knew Envy had left town with Devon to join Kriss and Tabatha for a short getaway. He wasn’t about to tell Trevor that news as Envy had sworn him to secrecy. It didn’t matter anyway, because it wasn’t any of Trevor’s business what Envy did now.

Chad shook his head and started to go back inside when he saw something blue out of the corner of his eye. His expression lit up when he saw his jeans laying on the ground and rushed over to pick them up, grimacing at the ants crawling all over them.

His happiness faded when he saw all the rips and tears in them and his eyes widened comically when he saw the crotch had been ripped out completely.

Chad lowered the jeans and glared out at the street, “Dog, your ass is grass.”

Chapter 2

Kat had moved over to stand beside the window. She wanted to be as far away from Quinn as possible. She nearly rolled her eyes realizing her move had only brought him into her direct line of vision. She wished that Envy were here. She really needed to talk to the other woman… or just another woman in general. It would have been nice to have a little back up with this testosterone-induced conversation.

Looking around the room, she realized that not all the main members of the cougar family were present.

“Where are Micah and Alicia?” Kat asked knowing they should be part of this… whatever it was.

Quinn looked at Warren with an expression that he hoped the jaguar would read between the lines of and back him up on what he was getting ready to say. “Alicia hasn’t been home from boarding school but a month and we are not bringing her into this fight. It’s too dangerous for girls.”

Kat’s expression darkened further and she looked ready to rip the head of the cougar family apart.

“And Micah?” Warren asked before Kat had time to start a war over that last remark.

“Unreachable,” The anger in Quinn’s tone had everyone looking at him curiously. “We’ve tried repeatedly but he refuses to answer his cell phone.”

Steven sighed at Quinn’s stubbornness and interrupted, “Micah has been missing for over two weeks.”

“What?” Warren asked suddenly angry. “Why didn’t you come to us for help?”

“Because of the stupid journal,” Kat mocked. “Obviously, he was afraid we couldn’t handle what it said because of our touchy sensibilities.”

Michael shook his head knowing that until the two families worked out their differences, he would likely have to play referee. “Okay, while we’re working on the vampire problem, we’ll also keep an eye out for clues of Micah's disappearance.”

“Logic indicates that Micah will eventually come back on his own, he always does,” Quinn shrugged.

Kat glared out the window still steaming. How dare Quinn hint that girls shouldn’t be involved? They could keep Alicia out of it if they wanted, and they probably should with her being younger than any of them. But if they dared to try and stop her, then they were in for a huge surprise. The problem was, now she was also worried about Micah.

Quinn should have just pushed everything to the wayside and called them. He knew they would’ve helped despite their differences. So what if their fathers had killed each other… the sins of the fathers should not fall to their children.

Though she didn’t know it, Warren silently agreed with Kat. Quinn should have contacted them the moment Micah came up missing. He was well aware of the explosive arguments the brothers could have with each other. The disagreements would usually end with Micah storming out and disappearing for days at a time… but not weeks.

Steven and Nick had stayed in touch over the years and Nick kept him up to date on the cougar family. When Micah and Quinn fought, Micah would always tell Steven where he was going if he was going to stay gone more then a day. This time Micah hadn’t left a message with anyone, meaning he wasn’t going to be gone that long.

“After the dangerous vampire nest Steven and I found at the church, no one needs to go out alone tonight. We need to pair up,” Quinn said changing the subject.

Steven felt odd when the image of the girl he’d found and lost that night flashed through his mind. “I think I’ll head back over there tonight and make sure the church is still clean. We could have missed something.”

“I’ll go with Steven,” Nick offered wanting to spend time with his old mischief-making partner.

Kat felt a moment of panic as she silently did the math. Michael would no doubt go with Kane, and she really didn’t want to team up with Kane anyway because he was far from stable. That left Warren and Quinn.

“I’ll go with Warren,” Kat offered.

“No,” Warren corrected her. “We need someone to watch the club.”

“Just because I’m a girl doesn’t mean I can’t hold my own,” Kat warned them, then calmly walked out of the room.

All the men in the room cringed when she softly closed the door behind her.

“Damn,” Nick whispered. “I almost wish she’d slammed the door.”

Steven and Quinn hadn’t seen Kat in a few years but they could remember her temper extremely well. A softly closing door behind an angry Kat was ten times worse than storming out. She was angry… no, she was well beyond the angry point. She was pissed.

“I’m going to call Devon and fill him in on what’s happening,” Warren stated and pulled the cell phone from his front pants pocket. He hated to do this to his brother but if he didn’t get his ass home he might not have much of one to come back to. Pressing a number on the speed dial, he walked toward a different door leading to the adjoining bedroom.

Warren waited while the phone on the other end of the call continued to ring. Finally he heard someone pick it up and a muttered curse followed immediately after.

“What the hell do you want?” Devon asked sounding groggy but happy.

Warren quickly conveyed what had happened since Devon and Envy’s departure not more than twenty-four hours prior.

Devon sighed, “Damn, I leave town and everything goes to shit.”

“I’ll give you a few days then you need to be home.” Warren said. “I also need you to do something for me during those few days.”

“What’s that?” Devon asked sounding much more awake.

“I need you to ask Kriss if he will assist us. Tell him Dean has already signed on but we’re probably going to need him, too. If you have to, get Envy to convince Tabatha that we need Kriss here because from what I hear, if she comes back then the fallen will follow.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Devon said. “Kriss is a strange one. He walks to his own beat, you know.”

Warren nodded, “Reminds me of someone else I know.”

Devon chuckled, “Okay big bro, I’m not making any promises though.”

“I’ll see you in a few days.” Warren said and hung up the phone.

*****

Quinn noticed Kat in one of the surveillance monitors on the wall. Since everyone was waiting on Warren to finish his phone call, he stepped closer to the monitors like he was bored. Boredom was not what he felt when looking at Kat.

He’d thought she was beautiful years ago, but he’d underestimated what she would become. Over the years, he had kept watch over Kat from a distance. He’d even hired spies to work here at Moon Dance and report back to him… though the last one he’d sent wound up as one of the latest murder victims.

He tensed when a guy walked straight up to where Kat was standing behind the bar and reached for her arm. With the camera angled perfectly, Quinn could tell the guy wasn’t in a friendly mood.

*****

Trevor strode into Moon Dance not knowing if he wanted to tear the place apart or drown his anger in a couple gallons of alcohol. He’d tried to contact Envy but she was obviously hiding from him. Tabatha and Kriss were probably screening their calls right along with her. When he’d asked the all-knowing brother where the hell Envy was, he’d wanted to rip Chad’s head off for being so vague about her location.

Trevor spotted Kat serving drinks behind the same bar where she always worked. He reached out and gripped her arm to get her attention but the look she swung toward him had him backing off and taking a seat.

“The special on tasers has ended. Can I get you something else? Like a life time membership to one of the other bars?” Kat batted her eyelashes at him innocently. Finally looking him in the eyes and seeing the misery swimming around there she shrugged, “Sorry, my true target is out of reach. What can I get you?”

Trevor rubbed his temples with his fingertips. He’d be damned if he ever figured out the opposite s*x. It wasn’t like they made it easy. “Some answers would be nice.”

“Like?” Kat prompted.

“Like where my girlfriend is hiding.” There was a slight raise of an eyebrow as he waited.

“Your girlfriend? Did you replace Envy that fast?” Kat smirked when his gaze turned into a silent glare. “Oh, you’re referring to Envy.”

“You think?” Trevor retorted sarcastically.

“All I know is that your ex-girlfriend and my brother took off on a type of honeymoon.” Kat shrugged knowing it was closer to the truth than Envy would think.

“I thought she was with Tabatha and Kriss?” Trevor felt his blood pressure rise dangerously as he wondered if Chad had lied about that.

Kat quickly poured him a shot of Heat hoping it would tame the anger that was flaring within his eyes. “She is. Tabby and Kriss are with them.” She slid the drink in front of him adding, “It’s on the house.”

Watching him down the shot, her lips parted when she noticed the light above them reveal the unshed tears that were trying to gather in his eyes.

Damn, that sucks. She instantly regretted being such an ass to him. She wished Quinn had felt that way about her. It would be nice if he could show some emotion regarding her or what she’d felt for him. Hell, she’d even be able to live with Quinn blowing her off, if he only had the guts to tell her to her face.

Reaching over, she placed a gentle hand on Trevor’s shoulder then thought of a way to distract him and get her a hunting partner at the same time.

Kat smiled as an idea started to form in her head. He’d all but flat out called her a jaguar the other night, so he obviously hadn’t been lying about being a paranormal investigator. If it was an army the boys wanted, then the least she could do was help recruit… right?

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go make myself a good target for the vampires that have been leaving bodies on our doorstep.” She went to walk around the bar but Trevor grabbed her wrist so fast she hadn’t even seen him move. She simply c****d an eyebrow at the restraining hand. “Unless you’re going to help me, you might want to let go.”

“You’re serious?” Trevor asked.

He’d also been leaning toward thinking it was vampires for the mere fact that there seemed to be a baby boom of them right now… oh, and the little fact of half-destroyed fang marks. The downside to this was he hadn’t dealt with vampires before… only during training. He needed a reason to stick around until Envy resurfaced, so why not hang around with the competition's sister?

When Kat nodded and slowly pulled her hand away, Trevor shook his head knowing he would regret this, “Are your brothers going with you?”

“Oh, they’re going all right, but in different directions.” She made a pouty face. “It seems no one wanted to team up with the girl.”