Lure of Forever (13 page)

Jerry's eyes
widened at the use of
Coralie's
full name and
Coralie
could almost see the wheels turning in her head.
Damn the man, though strangely enough, hearing Lucas say her full name in his
to-die-for voice had long since stopped annoying her. Quite the opposite, it
was way too sexy, and the blasted man clearly knew that.

"Um,
yes.
I met Lucas…"

"Whilst
she was serving me the most delicious espresso," Lucas interrupted
Coralie
and whilst she hated him lying to her friend,
Coralie
took heed of the warning squeeze from his hand and
nodded.

Jerry's
frown changed to a delighted grin.

"Wow.
Well, good for you. I've been telling Coral for years that boring place she
works in ought to be at least good for picking up some hunk. Seems that jerk on
the boat did you a world of good after all."

"Jerk
on a boat?" Lucas echoed her words, his chest shaking in silent laughter
behind
Coralie
.

"Yeah,
well, that's girl talk. Just want to know what got into you, Coral."

"Clearly
I'm doing a Jerry,"
Coralie
replied, pointedly
looking towards Jenkins, who had a hard time keeping a straight face, his amber
eyes sparkling with dry amusement.

"Oh,
touché, Coral.
Lucas, you're definitely good for
her." Jerry laughed and slapped
Coralie
on the
arm playfully. "You know me, Coral. Never could resist a knight in shining
armor, or shiny tool belt even. My car broke down and Jenkins here is ever so
handy with his…
errr
… tools."

"So it
seems," replied
Coralie
, amusement getting the
better of her too.
 
Clearly she had now
landed in a carry on film.

"Glad
to meet you." Jenkins's deep voice boomed through Jerry's tiny hallway.

"
Shh
, you'll wake her up." Jerry admonished the small
mountain of a man, and Jenkins looked as abashed as a six-foot, muscled
shifter, wearing nothing but low-riding jeans, could look.

"Sorry,
though to be fair if that insistent doorbell didn't wake her up, then I'm sure
my voice won't."

"She's
used to the doorbell, you big lout. She's not used to your big mouth."

"Well,
excuse me, but you liked my big mouth just fine ten minutes ago."

Coralie
blushed, observing the play between her friend and her newest hunk. If only she
could
do a Jerry and be that carefree. Jerry had absolutely no problem
keeping sex separate from her emotions, something
Coralie
had never been able to do. And if the silly little lurches her heart kept
inflicting on her were anything to go by, she still couldn't do it. Of all the
stupid things she'd done in her life, falling in love with the undead would be
the stupidest of all. Not that she was falling in love with him. Not her, not
ever.

Her heart
gave a little bump when Lucas pulled her back for a second, as she went to
follow Jerry and Jenkins into the living room. He searched her face with a
whispered, "Are you OK,
Chere
?"
She told herself it didn’t matter. It
meant absolutely nothing.

****

Lucas leaned against the doorframe
and watched
Coralie
and Jerry whispering
together,
like schoolgirls. Completely engrossed in their
discussion, they paid no attention to the ringing phone. Jenkins casually
checked the caller display, before just as casually disconnecting the phone.
The sleight of hand was so well masked, even Lucas almost missed it.
 
He nodded his approval at Ion's second in
command and breathed a sigh of relief. With Jenkins firmly installed in Jerry's
life,
Coralie's
friend was safe, at least until she
decided to ditch the shifter. It would be more difficult to monitor her as
securely without Jenkins here in her flat.

Lucas had no doubt that Jerry would
move on soon. The blonde Barbie lookalike with a figure to match exuded sexual
confidence in a way that completely overshadowed
Coralie's
quiet passion.
 
In fact, the two of them
seemed as far from related as chalk and cheese, yet the deep friendship they
shared was obvious. Lucas could read Jerry like an open book. Behind the bubbly
personality and sexual aggressiveness lurked a deeply unhappy woman, who had
been worrying over
Coralie
almost as much as his
little human had worried over her, albeit for different reasons. Seemed both
women had been badly hurt by the men in their lives. Lucas unclenched his fists
at the thought of any other men touching
Coralie
. She
was his, at least for the moment, and if the possessive look in Jenkins's eyes
when he looked at Jerry was anything to go by, the shifter felt the same way about
Coralie's
friend. His wolf's low growl, only audible
to Lucas's sensitive hearing, staked his intention as clearly as though the man
had put a ring on the woman's finger.

Poor sod. He would have his work cut
out trying to tame that one. And he wouldn't give up. If Jenkins's wolf had
chosen Jerry, and she refused to mate with him, Jenkins would be left pining
after her forever more, with no chance of even enjoying casual sex with anyone
else. Not for the first time, Lucas was glad he wasn't a shifter. The whole
idea of mating for life was all well and good, but he didn't do forever—at
least not where women were concerned.
 

Besides, the whole having to drink
their blood to survive thing tended to be a huge stumbling block and even if
that wasn't the issue, the fact that he didn't age and the woman did—
merde
, he didn't need those particular memories now.
He smiled grimly seeing Jenkins saunter over to the kitchen table and nuzzle
into Jerry's neck. She shrieked in mock surprise and melted into him, her hand
running up his leg, until it cupped his cock. She smiled up at Jenkins saucily
and
Coralie
rolled her eyes and shook her head.

Amusement bubbled up in Lucas,
seeing
Coralie's
predictable reaction: a slight flush
had crept up her neck, and she averted her gaze as Jerry and Jenkins kissed. As
passionate as she was with him, her natural shyness was very much in evidence
right now, and unwanted affection made his chest tight. If only he had more
time to indulge himself and to coax the passionate and confident woman hiding
inside her out into the open. He couldn't offer her forever, but he could
certainly do that much for her.

He smiled as her expressive eyes
connected with his and her blush deepened. As refreshing as it was to not be
able to read her, he dearly would have liked to know what made her so agitated
right now. Her eyes widened at the same time as he felt a small hand creep into
his.

"Who are you and why do you
want Auntie Coral naked?"

Chapter
Fourteen

Lucas looked down into the deep blue
eyes of a little girl, clutching a tatty teddy bear to her chest, and was
momentarily lost for words.
 
Jet-black
hair framed a little pixie face. Clad in pink spotted pajamas, her face was far
too serious for someone so little. In fact, she frowned at him, and Lucas's
scalp prickled as his well-honed instincts kicked in. What the fuck was she? He
forced a smile on his face and carefully removed his hand from her grasp.

"Mummy says that's a bad word.
She'll tell you off for using it…"

"Lucas, don't swear in front of
Suz
."
Coralie's
sharp
retort broke the connection and Lucas shook his head.

"I didn't say anything,
Chere
,
she
…"
But
Coralie
wasn't listening. She seemed to light
up from the inside out as he watched her crouch down in front of the little
girl.

"Did you have a bad dream
again?"

Thankfully,
Suz
stopped staring at him and the little pink creation nodded at
Coralie
.

"
Suz
,
what are you doing out of bed?" Jerry asked from behind them.
 
She pushed Jenkins away and rushed towards
her daughter, scooping her up in a big hug. Jenkins too approached, and pushed
Suz's
fringe out of her eyes.

"Hey,
sleepyhead.
Need
me
to chase away
the monsters again?"

Jerry frowned at him and pushed him
away.

"There are no such things as
monsters. Suzanne does not need her overactive imagination encouraged."

"I wasn't." Jenkins took a
step back, his hands raised in the age-old gesture of surrender. "It just
helps her to go to sleep, and I…"

Jerry all but threw her daughter at
Coralie
, who looked as astonished at her friend's outburst
as Jenkins was.

"She's my daughter and no one
is going to tell me how to deal with her.
No one."
She paused briefly to drop a kiss on the little girl's brow. "Auntie Coral
is
gonna
tuck you back into bed, sweetie. Aren't you,
Coral?"

"Yes, of course,"
Coralie
responded immediately and smiled at
Suz
, who popped her thumb in her mouth and rested her head
on
Coralie's
shoulder.
 
Suz's
wide-eyed
stare stayed on Lucas until she and
Coralie
crossed
the tiny hallway and disappeared into the room opposite. He whistled under his
breath and turned his attention back to the scene unfolding in the kitchen.

Something wasn't right here. Jerry's
body shook in fury, and if looks could kill Jenkins would be dead six times
over. The man himself kept a wary distance from the pacing woman.

"Jerry, what is this all about?
I would never presume to tell you how to raise your daughter. I was only trying
to help."

"I don't need any help. There
is nothing wrong with her, nothing at all." Jerry had stopped pacing and
sat down heavily on the kitchen bench.

Jenkins glanced towards Lucas and
shrugged his shoulders. No clues there, then. It would be up to Lucas to probe
deeper.

"I think we all need to calm
down here." Lucas approached the trembling woman with his most seductive
smile in place. He ignored Jenkins's frown and focused all of his attention on
Jerry. When she raised her head to look at him, he knew he had her. He put one
hand on either side of her face and Jerry blinked once, all her attention
focused on him. Her body went limp. Lucas ignored Jenkins’s curse behind him.

"Listen to me, Jerry, you will
not remember this. Now tell me, who thinks there is something wrong with
Suz
?"

"I…I do. She talks to herself
and she sees…" Jerry's voice broke on a sob and Jenkins swore again.

"For fuck’s sake, Lucas, what
are you doing to her?"

Lucas ignored the agitated shifter
and smiled at Jerry. He let his voice drop further and she calmed visibly,
refocusing on him.

"Ah, that's better," Lucas
murmured his approval. "What does she see?"

"Things,
dead things that scare her."
Jerry's
voice was a mere whisper. "They come in her dreams."

Merde
,
this was not good. Jenkins started pacing behind him and Lucas forced himself
to stay calm. Jerry was clearly terrified for her daughter, for herself and for
Coralie
.
 
He
picked something up, something deeply buried in her subconscious, but his
body's own needs distracted him. Her blood rushed through her veins and Lucas’s
jaw ached in response. He was still recovering from his injuries and the fight
with
Bughar
and the subsequent healing of
Coralie
had drained his resistance to the blood lust. His
fangs ran out and he moved closer. Just a little further and he could—

The heavy object connecting with the
back of his head snapped him back to himself.

"What the hell are you doing,
Lucas?"

Coralie
stood next to him—the heavy
skillet
that had been left
on the table in hand— eyes huge in a face that was pale save for the two high
spots of color on her cheeks. Had she hit him with that? Judging by the dull
ache in his head, she had. He shook his head and tried to step closer, but she
raised the skillet again.

"Don't you dare…You were about
to fucking
bite
her. What the hell got into you, and why the fuck didn't you stop him,
Jenkins?" She glanced towards the shifter and Lucas took the opportunity
to wrestle the skillet off her. The immediate stamp on his instep hurt, but he
didn't release his hold on her.

"Damn it, Lucas, let me go. You
promised you wouldn't do this. I trusted you."