Heart of Vengeance (Alice Worth #6) - Lisa Edmonds Page 0,22

meant, and what had caused my near-violent reaction to his news. His frown deepened, but he gave me a slight nod.

Bryan set a glass of Scotch on the desk pad. He waited behind and to the right of Charles’s chair, his eyes on me.

I stared at the glass on the desk. Charles and I had shared many glasses of whisky over the years—in his office at Hawthorne’s, on my back porch, here in his house. Was there any truth in any of the things he’d said over those Scotches, or had it all been lies?

From the moment I’d met Charles during my first case working for the Court, I knew he couldn’t be trusted. Later that same night, he’d told me he would see my secrets laid bare, and his meaning was clear. He wanted me in his collection and in his bed.

I’d told him it would never happen—“Not in this lifetime” were my exact words. He’d simply smiled as if to say, We’ll see. I knew then he was planning something, and made up my mind he wouldn’t win.

And yet, somewhere along the way, he’d gotten under my skin and into my head.

Maybe Sean wasn’t the only person in our relationship whose heart had gotten softer than it should.

Sean glanced at me, then over his shoulder in warning. Charles was approaching. I strengthened my shields and waited.

Familiar footsteps shuffled on the carpet behind us. Charles’s gait was slower than usual, his steps uneven. He’d nearly died when a vampire object of power that once belonged to legendary vampire Vlad Tepes poisoned him with dark magic. Nearly two months had passed, but he still hadn’t fully recovered.

Charles came around our chairs and stood beside his desk. He wore a gray suit with a purple tie and pocket square. I caught a glimpse of matching checkered socks, like those he’d worn the night he’d traded the cuff I needed to save Sean’s life for a drink of my blood. I had no doubt he’d chosen his attire deliberately to remind me of that night. It was such a transparent ploy that I almost laughed.

Though I never would have admitted it to anyone, I’d once thought Sean’s anger and distrust of Charles was excessive, a result of his protectiveness or even a touch of jealousy of a romantic rival. Now, with the benefit of a clear head—or at least, a less-clouded one—it occurred to me that he’d just seen Charles for who he was. How frustrating it must have been for Sean to not be able to get me to see what he saw.

Charles’s eyes glowed softly. “You seem angry this evening, Alice.”

I opened my mouth, but Sean spoke first. “We’re here on official pack business, Vaughan. Our appointment was for ten o’clock. It’s nearly ten fifteen.”

Charles studied Sean as he seated himself behind the desk. “My apologies for my late arrival, then,” he said, his eyes moving from Sean’s face to mine. “Mr. Smith offered you refreshments, I assume?”

“This isn’t a social visit.” Sean’s voice was cold.

Charles’s eyebrows raised slightly, his eyes still on me. “Can Alice not speak for herself?”

“She can, and will, once you and I have discussed the matter that’s brought us here tonight.” Sean’s eyes turned bright gold. “That matter is your attacks on Alice, which are attacks on me and our pack.”

Bryan’s eyes narrowed. Charles’s expression was thunderous. “I have never attacked you, Alice,” the vampire stated. “What is the basis of this allegation?”

Charles persisted in trying to address me, despite how clearly Sean had stated he was taking the lead in this confrontation. I gritted my teeth. “This is a conversation between you and Sean, as the alpha of our pack. Talk to him.”

Disbelief flashed in Charles’s dark eyes. “Why does he speak for you? When did you abdicate your authority to speak for yourself?”

I knew he said it to bait me and drive a wedge between Sean and me, but the accusation still stung like a whip.

Unwilling to be distracted from the reason he’d asked for this meeting, Sean ignored both Charles’s words and my reaction. “By your own admission, you bit Alice without her knowledge or consent while she lay in a coma. That was not only an attack by any definition of the word, but also against both human and vampire law. She may not have pursued prosecution for your crime, but that doesn’t make it any less of a crime.”

“Is that why you are here tonight?” Charles asked me. “To demand