~~~An hour later zero more words had been exchanged between them and the boat was leaving the harbour.
They found a quiet place to sit on a bench outside on deck. He put his arm around her and she rested her head on his shoulder, inhaling the layers of Tristan and the sea in the air. It was a heady combination. Him reaching for her and then just sitting together in amicable silence as the boat pulled away from the harbour left her with a peaceful feeling for a moment. She let out a happy little sigh.
He squeezed. She looked up and saw dimples.
Dimples. Her eyes welled up.
He looked at her warily.
“Happy tears,” she whispered.
“Really?”
“Really. You can’t feel it?”
“Sometimes I need to hear it, too.”
Damn, he was beautiful. He kissed a tear with his lips and then licked his lips. He flashed the dimples again. She touched his left dimple with her index finger and he caught her finger between his teeth and winked as her eyes widened.
She snatched her hand back and tsk tsk’d him,
“So very naughty, Mr. James.”
He gave her a smile that melted her insides and said low, “You’re the naughty one and I think you might be in need of another spanking.”
Kyla flushed scarlet, “Hmmm, maybe.”
She soaked in the feel of a gentle breeze, staring out at the water, watching Victoria harbour move away from them. People on deck moved toward the railing.
A few minutes later he interrupted her thoughts by leaning in toward her ear, “Princess?” His voice was low.
“Hmm?” she answered dreamily.
“I know who the Toronto Mangler is.”
It might as well have been the sound of a needle screeching harshly across a vinyl album, the way it made her feel.
“It’s Liam Donavan. He was at our table at the banquet. He knows about you, about your blood. And I haven’t been able to find him.”
Those words smashed her happy thought bubble, rendering it a thousand shards of glass lying right there on deck.
Her hand came up to cover her mouth.
“When I couldn’t feel you all I could think to do track him down to make sure he didn’t have you but I couldn’t find him. I couldn’t find him and I couldn’t feel you. I was….” He took a breath and then continued, “Sam is holding the fort back home. Despite what happened, I’m working with Sam, from a distance.”
She opened her mouth to speak but he continued.
“He says that as long as he doesn’t get within 100 feet of you he’ll be fine, and he’s worked hard to convince me he has no ulterior motives. I believe him. It was just the heat of the moment, the scent of your blood unleashed something instinctual in him. He says Adrian has an experimental drug that can block him from reacting. We can test it to see if he can be around you after having smelled your nectar.”
“I really don’t think you should trust Sam,” she played with her braid.
“Well, that remains to be seen. But that’s another new strength that’s intensified: my ability to read truths and lies in people. There’s something Sam isn’t telling me but I’m reading that he has good intentions. I’m proceeding with caution with him. So, uh, you should also know that Joe’s gone,” he said, then waited a beat before continuing, “After the banquet I saw him and I was able to read him clearer than ever. That first taste of nectar intensified my strength and I had new telepathic abilities, especially with younger vamps. After you left I went back and I got him to admit things; he admitted he’d told Liam about you. I knew my instinct was right. They’d been planning to nab you from the event when it was planned at the house. Joe was a pawn, didn’t know Liam’s full intent. Liam wasn’t a supporter of my promotion so was probably looking for dirt on me. Joe probably told him enough that Liam put two and two together about you but I’m sure he had a backup plan for the hotel. If we hadn’t left early… I did some digging and it all points to the Toronto Mangler.”
She swallowed hard and touched her temples with her fingertips, “So Joe’s gone. Gone where?”
“Gone, gone. Ended.”
She held her breath for a minute. Tristan had killed him? The man she loved was capable of violence, she certainly knew that, but murder was a hard pill to swallow.
“Liam Donovan wants my position and your blood. He won’t get either,” Tristan said, his steely gaze was aimed at the horizon. His eyes didn’t look light blue right now; they were more of a stormy gray. She swallowed hard.
“Now you know why I’m being so cautious.”
She exhaled and nodded, feeling numb.
For the next while, they were both quiet. She watched the water, lost in thoughts, brooding over their circumstances. He still had his arm around her. He shifted, finally, stood up and walked over to the railing. She followed.