Wrath pulled on the Brooks Brothers jacket. It was tight in the shoulders, but he was hard to fit, and he'd given Fritz no notice.
Then again, the thing could have been custom-tailored and he would still have felt shackled. He was much more comfortable in leather and weapons than this worsted-wool crap.
He walked into the bathroom and squinted at himself. The suit was black. So was the shirt. That was all he could really see.
Good God, he probably looked like a lawyer.
He stripped off the jacket and put it on the marble counter. Pulling his hair back with impatient hands, he tied the length with a strap of leather.
Where was Fritz? The doggen had left to get Beth nearly an hour ago. The two of them should be back by now, but the house above still felt empty.
Ah, hell. Even if the butler had been gone for only a minute and a half, Wrath would have been restless. He was pumped to see Beth, itchy and distracted. All he could think about was burying his face in her hair as he drove the hardest part of himself deep inside her body.
God, those sounds she made when she came for him.
He glanced at his reflection. Put the jacket back on.
But sex wasn't everything. He wanted to treat her with respect, not just throw her on her back. He wanted to slow down. Eat with her. Talk with her. Hell, he wanted to give her what females liked: a little TLC.
He tried out a smile. Widened it. His cheeks felt like they were going to crack.
Yeah, okay, so he wasn't exactly Hallmark-card material. But he could pull off some romance. Couldn't he?
He rubbed his jaw. What the hell did he know about romance?
Abruptly, he felt like a fool.
No, it was worse than that. The fancy new suit exposed him, and the truth he saw was a nasty surprise.
He was changing himself for a female. For no other reason than to try to please her.
This was bonding at work, he thought. This was precisely why he never should have marked her, why he never, ever should have let himself get that close.
He reminded himself yet again that when she was through her transition, he was finished with her. He would go back to his life. And she would...
God, why did he feel like he'd been shot through the chest?
"Wrath, man?" Tohrment's voice boomed through the chamber.
The sound of his brother's baritone was a relief, bringing Wrath back to center.
He stepped out into the bedroom and scowled when he heard his brother's low whistle.
"Look at you," Tohr said, moving around him.
"Bite me."
"No, thanks. I prefer the females." The brother laughed. "Although I have to say you clean up nice."
Wrath crossed his arms over his chest, but the jacket pulled so tightly he worried he was going to split the seam in the back. He dropped his hands.
"You're here why?"
"I called your cell and you didn't answer. You said you wanted us all to meet here tonight. When?"
"I'm busy until one."
"One?" Tohr drawled.
Wrath planted his hands on his hips. A feeling of deep uneasiness, like someone had broken into his home, sneaked up on him.
This was so wrong, he thought. The date. With Beth.
But it was too damn late to cancel.
"Make that midnight," he said.
"I'll tell the brothers to be ready then."
He had a feeling Tohr was sporting a little grin, but the vampire's voice was steady. There was a pause.
"Yo, Wrath?"
"What."
"She's as beautiful as you think she is. Just thought you'd want to know."
If any other male had said that, Wrath would have given the idiot a nose job. And even though it was Tohr, his temperature still rose. He didn't like being reminded how irresistible she was. It made him think about the male she'd end up with for life.
"You got a point or are you just shooting your lip off?"
It wasn't an invitation to elaborate, but Tohr marched right through the opening anyway. "You're way into her."
He should have stuck with "Fuck you" as a response, Wrath thought.
"And I think she feels the same way," Tohr tacked on.
Oh, great. That made him feel better. Like he might end up breaking her heart or something.
Man, this date thing was a really bad idea. Just where did he think he was taking them with all the hearts-and-flowers shit?
Wrath bared his fangs. "I'm only hanging in until she goes through the change. That's it."
"Yeah, sure." When Wrath growled deep in his throat, the other vampire shrugged. "I've never seen you dress for a female before."
"She's Darius's daughter. You want me to be like Zsadist with one of his whores?"
"Dear God, no. And damn, I wish he'd stop that. But I like what I'm seeing with you and Beth. You've been alone for too long."
"That's your opinion."
"And others'."
Sweat broke out across Wrath's forehead.
Tohr's honesty made him feel trapped. As did the fact that he was only supposed to be protecting Beth, but instead was busy trying to make her feel as if she were more special to him than she really was.
"Don't you have somewhere you need to be?" he demanded.
"Nope."
"Just my luck."
Desperate to move around, he walked over to the couch and picked up his biker jacket. He needed to restock it with weapons, and since Tohr didn't seem in a big hurry to get his ass in gear, the distraction was better than screaming.
"The night Darius died," Tohr said, "he told me you'd turned him down when he asked you to take care of her."
Wrath opened the closet and reached into a storage bin full of throwing stars, daggers, and chains. He made his selections with rough hands. "So?"
"What changed your mind?"
Wrath clapped his molars together, biting down hard, a breath away from lashing out.
"He's dead. I owe him."
"You owed him when he was alive, too."
Wrath whirled around. "Do you have any other business with me? If not, get the hell out of here."
Tohr lifted his hands. "Easy, brother."
"Fuck easy. I'm not talking about her with you or anyone else. Got it? And keep your mouth shut with the brothers, too."
"Okay, okay." Tohr backed over to the door. "But do yourself a favor. Cop to what's going on with that female. An unacknowledged weakness is deadly."
Wrath growled and leaned into his attack pose, upper body jutting forward on his hips. "Weakness? This coming from a male who's dumb enough to love his shellan? You gotta be kidding me."
There was a long silence.
And then Tohr said softly, "I'm lucky to have found love. I thank the Scribe Virgin every day that Wellsie is in my life."
Wrath's temper surged, set off by something he couldn't put his finger on. "You're pathetic.'"
Tohr hissed. "And you've been dead for hundreds of years. You're just too mean to find a grave and lie down."
Wrath threw the leather jacket to the floor. "At least I'm not pussy-whipped."
"Nice. Fucking. Suit."
Wrath crossed the distance between them in two strides, and the other vampire met the approach head-on. Tohrment was a big male, with thick shoulders and long, powerful arms. Menace pulsated between them.
Wrath grinned coldly, his fangs lengthening. "If you spent half the amount of time defending our race that you do chasing after that female of yours, we might not have lost Darius. Ever think of that?"
Anguish came out of the brother like blood from a chest wound, and the vampire's white-hot agony thickened the air. Wrath drew in the scent, taking the burn of misery down deep into his lungs, into his very soul. The knowledge that he'd laid out a male of honor and courage with such a low blow filled him with self-loathing. And while he waited for Tohr to attack, he welcomed the inner hatred as an old friend.
"I can't believe you said that." Tohr's voice throbbed. "You need to¡ª"
"I don't want any of your worthless advice."
"Fuck you." Tohr knocked him a good one in the shoulder. "You're gonna get it anyway. You'd better learn who your enemies really are, you arrogant asshole. Before you're standing alone."
Wrath barely heard the door slam shut. The voice screaming in his head that he was a worthless piece of shit overrode just about everything else.
He drew in a great breath and emptied his lungs with a vicious yell. The sound vibrated around the room, rattling the doors, the loose weapons, the mirror in the bathroom. Candles flared wildly in response, their flames licking up the walls, greedy to get free of their wicks and destroy what they could. He roared until his throat felt as if it were going to tear apart, until his chest burned.
When he finally closed his mouth, he felt no relief. Just remorse.
He marched over to the closet and took out a nine-millimeter Beretta. After he loaded it, he tucked the gun into the waistband of his slacks at the small of his back. Then he headed for the door and took the stairs two at time, his thighs eating up the distance to the first floor.
Stepping into the drawing room, he listened. The silence was probably a good thing for everybody. He needed to get ahold of himself.
Prowling around the house, he stopped at the dining room table. It had been set as he'd asked. Two places at one end. Crystal and silver. Candles.
And he'd called his brother pathetic?
If it hadn't been all Darius's priceless crap, he'd have swept the table clean with his arm. His hand shot out, as if it were ready to follow through on the impulse anyway, but the jacket confined him. He gripped the lapels, prepared to rip the thing off his back and burn it, but the front door opened. He wheeled around.
There she was. Coming across the threshold. Walking into the hall.
Wrath's hands dropped to his sides.
She was dressed in black. Her hair was up. She smelled... like night-blooming roses. He breathed in through his nose, his body hardening, his instincts demanding that he get her under him.
But then her emotions hit him. She was wary, nervous. He could sense her mistrust with clarity, and he took perverse satisfaction as she hesitated to look at him.
His temper returned, nice and sharp.
Fritz was busy closing the door, but the doggen's happiness was obvious in the air around him, shimmering like sunshine. "I've put out some wine in the drawing room. I'll serve the first course in about thirty minutes, shall I?"
"No," Wrath commanded. "We'll sit down now."
Fritz seemed confused, but then clearly caught the drift of Wrath's emotions.
"As you wish, master. Right away." The butler disappeared as though something were on fire in the kitchen.
Wrath stared at Beth.
She took a step back. Probably because he was glaring.
"You look... different," she said. "In those clothes."
"If you think they've civilized me, don't be fooled."
"I'm not."
"Good. Now let's get this over with."
Wrath went into the dining room, thinking she'd follow if she wanted. And if she chose not to, hell, it was probably for the better. He wasn't in a big hurry to get trapped at the table anyway.
