Scarlet Heat Read online

  At last he came on the phone.

  “Corbin,” I said, skipping the small talk. “I’m worried about Taylor. Do you know where she is? Is she with Addison? Is she all right?”

  “You mean she is not with you?” He sounded worried, which put my hackles up at once.

  “No, she’s not fucking with me or I wouldn’t be calling you,” I snapped. “She left last night after we had a…a disagreement.” I couldn’t bring myself to tell him what had actually happened. “I was coming after her but I totaled my truck. I need someone to come get me so I can find out where the hell she went to—I’m afraid something’s wrong.”

  I heard a click as someone else picked up on another line.

  “I’ll come,” Addison said. “Where are you, Victor?”

  “You are not going by yourself,” Corbin said sternly.

  “Why not?” Addison asked. “You stay and run the club—I can pick up Victor.”

  “Not by yourself,” Corbin said.

  She blew out a breath, sounding irritated. “Corbin, if this is some kind of weird jealousy thing—”

  “It has nothing to do with jealousy, darling—I trust you as God above,” he murmured. “It has to do with the fact that Victor is a werewolf and tonight is the full moon. Therefore you will not go and get him—I will.”

  “One of you come get me right fucking now,” I growled, losing patience. “Corbin’s right—the moon’s full but I’m not changing until I find out Taylor’s okay.”

  “I will be right there,” Corbin said smoothly. “Tell me your location…”

  When his sleek Mercedes pulled up, they were both in it so I guessed Addison had won at least half the battle. Actually, I was glad to see her. She was Taylor’s best friend—if there was anything to know, she would know it.

  I slid into the backseat and nodded at both of them.

  “Thanks for the ride. What do you know about Taylor?”

  Addison gave me a stony look in the mirror.

  “I know she was really upset. She said that the two of you, um, had sex. But she was afraid—”

  I felt sick. “Afraid of what?” Afraid that I’d raped her probably. And the way I felt about what had happened between us, she wasn’t far off the mark. That was why Addison’s next words caught me off guard.

  She took a deep breath. “Taylor was afraid she’d, uh, forced you, Victor.”

  “What?” I shook my head. “She was afraid she what? But that’s crazy—it doesn’t make any sense. Why would she think that?”

  Addison frowned. “She said she couldn’t actually remember much of the, um, encounter—only that when she woke up she was on top of you and you were pretty…” She cleared her throat. “Pretty upset.”

  “Hell yes, I was fucking upset,” I growled. “But not because of that. I never thought she forced me.”

  “I knew it!” She slapped the back of the seat between us triumphantly. “I knew it had to be all some kind of stupid misunderstanding. I tried to tell her that but she wouldn’t listen.”

  “Shit.” I put a hand over my eyes. “I had no idea.” How could things have gotten so mixed up between Taylor and me? She thought she had hurt and forced me instead of the other way around? Then…was she really not mad at me? Don’t get too excited, I told myself grimly. She probably will be angry when she knows how things really happened. Which I fully intended to tell her—as soon as I found her and made sure she was all right. If only we had talked last night—if only I hadn’t sent her away… “I’m such an idiot,” I groaned, aloud.

  “Such idiocy can be remedied,” Corbin said, meeting my eyes in the rearview mirror. “As soon as we find Taylor.”

  “But where did she go?” I demanded, looking again at Addison. “Where did you take her?”

  “To my place,” she said. “She was really tired after eating so much fast food and—”

  “Wait a minute.” I held up a hand. “You said she ate something?”

  “That’s right—you don’t know.” Addison frowned. “Yes, she was so upset but then she got a sudden craving for food—real food, not blood. So we went through the Checker’s drive-thru and she ate like…well, like she hadn’t tasted real food in years.” She shrugged. “Which she hadn’t so I guess I thought it was okay. Only Corbin says not.”

  “A vampire shouldn’t be able to ingest anything besides blood and a few other liquids like wine or tea,” he said. “The fact that Taylor is now able to eat solid foods troubles me greatly.”

  “Yeah, almost as troubling as the fact that she can go out in the noonday sun without burning to ash,” I muttered.

  His eyes widened in the rearview mirror. “She what?” He looked at Addison. “Why didn’t you tell me that?”

  “I told you everything else,” she protested. “About the heat and everything—I guess I just forgot about that.”

  Corbin shook his head. “All of these strange things happening to Taylor at once…it is almost like a convergence of some kind. It troubles me deeply.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” I said. “The main thing is to find her and make sure she’s okay. When did you last see her?” I asked Addison.

  “Last night, about an hour after I picked her up from your place. She said she was tired and just wanted to go to bed. I tried to call her a few hours later to check on her but she didn’t answer. I figured she was just sleeping—you know how soundly vamps sleep.” She nudged Corbin who gave her an affectionate smirk.

  “At least we do not snore like some humans I could mention.”

  Addison poked him again and then looked back at me.

  “Anyway, I went home around noon to see her and she wasn’t there—neither was my car. Her cell phone was, though, with a missed call from you. It looked like she went somewhere and just forgot it. So then I figured she was holed up for the day, somewhere. But when it got dark and she still didn’t come home…”

  “And you weren’t answering your phone either,” Corbin put in. “We had hoped she went back to you and you weren’t picking up because the two of you were…ahem, reconciling.”

  “I wasn’t picking up my phone because I was passed out cold in a field all day,” I said roughly. “So where does that leave Taylor?”

  Addison looked upset. “We don’t know. I have no idea where else she would go. She doesn’t talk to her parents anymore.”

  “Yeah, she told me about the ‘bride of Satan’ stuff,” I said. “So where—”

  Just then my cell rang and I felt a great surge of relief. Surely that was Taylor, finally returning my calls! I fumbled my cell out of my pocket and answered without even looking at the screen.

  “Hello? Baby?” I said anxiously.

  “Um, I don’t think I’m who you think I am,” said a voice on the other end. “This is Gwendolyn LeRoux—you know, the witch you hired? You wanted me to find the identity of the person who bought the cursed trap that was planted on your land.”

  “Oh, Gwendolyn, right.” I could feel myself deflating. “Look, now really isn’t the best time, so—”

  “Now, I know Taylor said you’ve already pretty much figured it out,” she went on. “But there’s something beneath the obvious—something big I think you should know about.”

  “Wait a minute—back up,” I said. “When did Taylor say that? When did you talk to her?”

  “Last night.” She suddenly sounded guarded. “Look, I’m sorry it didn’t work out between the two of you. I hope you know the role I played was strictly professional—I have no interest in taking sides.”

  “What role did you play?” I growled, tightening my grip on the phone case until it creaked in my hand. “What did you do to her, Gwendolyn? What did you fucking do?”

  “I only did what she asked me to do,” she said levelly. “Like I said, it’s not personal and it’s not what I’m calling you about. I need to tell you something about the person who put the trap on your land.”

  “I’ll be right there,” I snapped. In the front seat I