Shaking, I folded my hands behind my back and lowered my chin to the Alpha.
"Very nice indeed," said a man"s voice, smooth as gla.s.s.
I whipped a dagger out of the back of my pants as a vampire emerged from the shadows behind me.
Panic shot through me. Why hadn"t I smelled him? Why hadn"t I seen him? My blood ran hot.
Finnegan must have blocked him from me. I didn"t understand.
He was taller than I would have liked. Leaner. His shoulders were wide, his stance confident. This one was going to be a b.i.t.c.h to take down.
Finnegan raised his hand. "Hold back, McPhee."
"He"s a vampire." I might be able to get hold of him by the hair. It was clipped short and blond.
"McPhee-" Finnegan"s tone was a direct order. "This is Lucien Mead. My guest." He put an emphasis on that last word.
The vampire bowed at my pack leader"s introduction. A hint of a grin gave him an almost boyish charm. A swirl of desire wound through me. Leftover adrenaline, no doubt.
Get it together. Hot or not, he was still a vampire. A f.u.c.king bloodsucker! I wasn"t going to be seduced and bitten.
Even mosquitoes had more integrity than that.
The Alpha was not amused. "Lose the knife and say h.e.l.lo."
I gritted my teeth. If Finnegan was okay with the vampire, he must be working with the pack.
"h.e.l.lo, Lucien."
I couldn"t quite bring myself to put away the knife. Not yet. He was easy on the eyes. In fact, he reminded me of Iceman from Top Gun. He had that look, and that cool confidence.
"How did you do it?" he asked, his eyes raking over me.
"McPhee"s power is a pack secret," Finnegan said, as if he knew how I did what I did. h.e.l.l, I didn"t even know. Finnegan stood his ground in front of the vampire, who was a full foot taller than the Alpha. "Do you want us or not?"
Lucien gave a long, slow grin. "All right. I"ll take her."
My head hurt for a whole new reason. "Take me?" He couldn"t take me. I had a pack. I had a home.
Sensing my urge to bolt, Finnegan laid a hand on my shoulder. "It"s only temporary. We need someone to go undercover."
I"d never been undercover.
Lucien drew too close for comfort. "I need a were to pose as my wife."
"h.e.l.l, no."
Finnegan continued as if I hadn"t said a word. "You two will be the newest couple to move into Eternal Life Estates."
"I"d rather eat gla.s.s."
Finnegan"s hand tightened on my shoulder. "You"ll be going to Malibu, McPhee. Haven"t you always wanted to see Malibu?"
"No." I had everything I needed right here in the canyon.
"Nevertheless, your skills are required," Lucien said. "We have a window of opportunity. A new couple was set to move into Eternal Life Estates. We"ve commandeered the house for the investigation. However, it will be tight. Mr. and Mrs. Duke are scheduled to arrive tomorrow evening."
"You and Detective Mead will pose as the Dukes," Finnegan said.
"Detective?" I stared at the vampire. "What are you, some sort of undead Columbo?"
Lucien grinned. "You could say that. I report to the Vampire Council."
Lovely. Even if the man was some kind of an eternal cop, he couldn"t just drag me into this. "Aren"t there protocols? Rules?"
"Yes," Finnegan growled. "Obey your pack master."
Had he lost his mind? "In case you two haven"t noticed, I"m not the trophy wife type."
"Lower the dagger," Finnegan snapped.
Oh yeah. I hadn"t noticed I"d been waving my knife. I pulled it back and used it to clean a wedge of dirt out from under my ring fingernail.
This was ridiculous. How was I supposed to be a Sunny clone? He"d better not make me wear a girdle.
"You"re going to help Detective Mead sniff out Sunny"s murderer," Finnegan said, by way of a rah-rah speech.
f.u.c.k a duck.
"You"ll get the truth out of the were wives of Vampire County."
As if I wanted to know.
"You"ll blend," he insisted.
I snarfed out loud. Had he taken a look at me lately?
"We"ll get to the truth," Finnegan continued, nodding to Lucien, "or else the pack has no choice... ."
"Wait," I didn"t like the sound of that. "No choice in what?"
"We need closure by the full moon," Finnegan said.
"Or?" There had to be an alternative. That was only three nights away.
"Or," Lucien said, as if it were obvious, "your pack will avenge the death."
Of course. We"d declare war on a county full of vampires. And if the rest of them were like this solid blond wall, we didn"t have a chance. It"d be suicide for pack pride. And I really didn"t want to die. Not for Sunny anyway.
"Okay." I threw up my hands, remembered I was holding the knife, and sheathed it before Finnegan yelled at me again.
As if I was the one causing the problem.
"I"ll do it. I"ll be the good wife." Ick. It even hurt to say the word. "We"ll start with Sunny"s old crowd. The Predators. We"ll learn the truth."
"Good," Finnegan said, a victorious glint in his beady little eyes.
"But I"m not wearing heels," I added.
Lucien leaned in from behind, his breath tickling my ear. "You"ll have to do a lot more than that."
CHAPTER 2.
I stared out the tinted gla.s.s of the Lincoln Town Car at the even darker night outside and wondered how on earth I was going to pull this off.
No. Don"t think that way.
My newly manicured fingers fiddled with the obnoxiously large diamond on my left ring finger. G.o.d. I didn"t even recognize my own hands. "I can do this," I murmured to myself.
I didn"t have a choice.
A green road sign announced we were Entering Malibu. I smoothed the yellow baby doll dress over my knees. I had everything I needed to play the part.
Six coats of mascara? Check.
Bright red lipstick and matching strappy sandals? Check.
Model-worthy hair? I swear I used an entire bottle of Aqua Net.
We"d had only last night and today to prepare, but I"d been on tougher missions than this. I"d wrangled the truth from a bullheaded minotaur, I"d warned the pack about the Berserker Charge of 2010, and I"d scared the feathers off a flock of angry harpies.
Surely I could face a pack of trophy wives with names like Francine and Tia.
Lucien lounged comfortably opposite me, one arm stretched out over the seat back between us. He wore an Armani suit and seemed like a natural for this job and this neighborhood.
I didn"t know if that made me feel better or worse.
We had less than seventy-two hours to pull this off.
Just breathe.
Yeah, well maybe I could breathe if I didn"t have a girdle mashing my rib cage into my liver. I scrunched my shoulders and leaned forward, hoping for a measure of relief, but that only made me notice the reinforced toe of my panty hose peeking out from my red shoe. I"d tried to stuff the dark brown part under my toes, but it kept inching back.
Oh well, what kind of woman notices another woman"s shoes?
Lucien regarded me with a mixture of interest and distrust. From his piercing blue eyes to the blunt tips of his fingers, a cool power seemed to radiate from him. More than that, he was unapologetically male. A lick of desire slipped down my spine.
"Do you want to go over the plan again?" he asked.
"No." We"d been over it a half dozen times. I knew my role. And I was willing to do anything, even wear panty hose, to do the job right. It was a matter of pride-for me and for the pack.
His smile was pure sin. "Then stop fidgeting."
I shot him a dirty look. Oh please. "Let"s wrap you in a sausage casing and see how you fidget."
The car bounced over a series of speed b.u.mps at the entrance to Eternal Life Estates. We wound through streets lined with palm trees, past the kind of houses you saw on the cover of magazines at the grocery checkout. The landscaping was impeccable, the faades ornate, and the front lawns trimmed down to the last blade of gra.s.s.
At least the place looked deserted, except for, "What is that?" I thrust my head between the two front seats. A ma.s.s of shape shifters and vampires gathered in the road. As we neared, I could see that they had completely taken over a circle drive lit by torches in the ground.
Like an old-fashioned werewolf hunt.
I double-checked the twin knife holders I"d strapped to my thighs.
Lucien hissed. "I told them we did not want a welcome party on the first night."
No kidding. "They might have figured out the truth about us." I twisted around to face him. "Someone probably knows the Dukes."
Lucien was oddly focused on my thighs.
"We"ll keep our cover." His steely gaze met mine. "As long as you don"t blow it."
"Thanks a lot. Nothing like a supportive partner to get the job done right." This was why I liked working alone. "And stop staring at me like you want to bite me."
Sure he looked like s.e.x on wheels, but that didn"t mean I was going to serve myself up with a sprig of parsley between my teeth.
His lips parted. "I do want to bite you."
"Do it and I stake you."
Why hadn"t I brought a stake?
"Don"t worry, little werewolf," he said, sending a shiver down my spine. "I"m always in control." He held my gaze a second longer than he needed. "As for tonight, follow my lead. Remember, the less contact you have, the better."
Maybe I could find a nice tree branch.
I nudged the hem of my dress to make sure I wasn"t giving any more free shows. "Anything else, your brood-i-ness?"
He c.o.c.ked a grin. "You said you knew the plan."
Oh sure. The plan: Keep quiet. Look pretty. I need you until I don"t need you.
I leveled a perfectly glossed fingernail at him. "Keep in mind that you picked me. I"m the best interrogator you have."