Kraven Read online

  “How short?”

  Kraven glanced around, spotting the other parking structure across the street. “Let’s say his lair was invaded and he needed to flee. He could run at full speed from this building to that one and survive. He probably wouldn’t make it much more than a city block. He’d collapse and turn to ash.” He watched her response.

  She peered out the windshield. “Okay. That’s comforting.”

  “It is?”

  “Yeah. It’s not far.”

  She amused him. He couldn’t follow her logic but it obviously made sense to her.

  “So how is Dr. Brent moving around? He’s thirty-six in dead years.”

  “Vamps aren’t really dead.”

  “Whatever. Why isn’t he snoozing? It’s a bright, sunny day. His ass is awake.”

  “He said his master was from the fourteenth century. Feedings from his master would have strengthened him. He’d have kept that strength, even after his master’s death.”

  “Like a blood transfusion? Get enough blood from an old one and their abilities are transferred?”

  “To a certain point, yes.”

  “So Dr. Brent is as strong as his master was?”

  Kraven shook his head. “No. A master would never allow that to happen. Their strength over others is part of what makes them a master to begin with. He’d have fed Brent enough blood to make it possible for him to work during daylight hours but nothing beyond that.”

  “Afraid the ones he made would kill his evil ass if they could take him in a fight?”

  “Yeah.” He chuckled. “Something like that.”

  “Okay. So why do you smell old?”

  “Vampires can’t have children…or at least, they couldn’t until a nest made an alliance with Lycans.”

  “Yeah. You told me this. They were both being hunted by humans and thought it would be safer to band together. Get to the point.”

  “The master who discovered shifters could breed with Vamps invited some of his friends from Europe when the Lycans began to conceive.”

  “Why?”

  “Who the fuck knows? Maybe he thought he could trade the knowledge to get his fangs invited into the vein of someone even older. Vampires can be pretty damn greedy that way, wanting to suck on someone stronger to increase their strength. It’s possible he just wanted to rub it in their noses that he’d accomplished something they hadn’t. It could have been to make alliances with stronger nests if he planned to go to Europe. I’ve heard they’re pretty territorial over there and will kill Vampires who aren’t part of their nests. Could be any reason. I’d ask him myself but nobody knows what happened to that betraying asshole. The fact is, he let some very old masters attack Lycan women. He offered them up to be raped and impregnated against their wills. My grandmother was one of them.”

  Bat cringed and squeezed his hand. “I’m so sorry.”

  “He ripped into her mind as easy as if she were human. Lycans aren’t normally easy to mind control. And they’re aware of the intrusion unless that Vamp is really powerful. A Lycan will fight or flee to protect themselves against becoming a suckhead’s puppet. But she didn’t stand a chance. He was too strong physically, and with his abilities…” He took a deep breath. “The bastard knocked her out and killed her mate. Then the son of a bitch convinced her that he was her mate. That’s how they got past the Lycan birth control. Just took over her mind, told her it was safe to get pregnant and urged her to ovulate to breed him a pup. She was kept under his control until her body complied. That’s how my father came to be. Her mind was released from his will after she was pregnant. She woke to the horror of what he’d done.”

  “I hope he’s dead.”

  “It’s uncertain. I told you the strongest males and the older Lycans fought the nest to give the women and younger ones time to escape. It wasn’t like they were willing or able to go back to see who survived and who didn’t. The survivors ended up in Alaska. It still belonged to Russia at the time. They figured it would be remote enough to hide from the Vampires if they were hunting them to retrieve the unborn babies. My father was born with very strong Vampire and Lycan traits. The power and strength were inherited.”

  “So you smell like some old master?”

  “I carry the scent of a powerful Vamp and an alpha Lycan. My grandmother was the daughter of an alpha. It’s probably why that suckhead chose her to be his breeder. She was one of the strongest Lycan females in her pack.”

  “It boils down to you getting the best genetics from both races, and that makes you one tough son of a bitch who scares others.”

  He grinned. She was so damn cute. “Yeah, Hellion. That sums it up.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Kraven wanted to kick his own ass. Bat had him wrapped around her little finger. Otherwise she couldn’t have talked him into returning to her condo.

  He slammed the door and locked it. Bat turned and grinned.

  “Don’t gloat,” he warned.

  “I told you no decent hotel was going to accept cash for a room. And I didn’t say anything until the fifth clerk demanded a credit card, did I?”

  “You didn’t have to. The smirk said it all.”

  “I’m impressed by how reasonable you’re being, and the security here is far better than at a five-star hotel.”

  “Let’s drop it.”

  “Thank you.”

  He sighed.

  “Really. I know you’d prefer we stay on the move but I have to meet with a client later. It could cost me my job otherwise.”

  “That’s what you said. I don’t want to have another argument. You gave me a headache.”

  “My job is important and I want to keep it. I’m going to call Marla.” She turned around, heading toward the phone.

  He dropped her bag and shrugged his off his shoulder, stalking after her. “No phone calls.”

  She swung to face him. “Marla works for me. I need her to go grocery shopping so we have some food in the fridge and I have to replace some of the things I lost. She can do that for me.”

  “It can wait until Decker is no longer a threat.”

  “I don’t have a license, Kraven. Marla can get me another one. I need her to call my credit card companies to have them send me replacements. She handles all my personal affairs. I trust her.”

  “It can wait.” He wasn’t backing down. “Your grandfather could be looking for any activity on your accounts.”

  She bit her lip and looked guilty.

  “What?”

  “I ordered food on my card. I didn’t physically need it. They have it on record.” She glanced at the door. “Nobody has come here. I think we’re good. Let me have Marla start getting me replacements.”

  He had assumed she had some kind of tab at the restaurant. “Damn it! Pay in cash from now on.”

  “Fine.”

  “We’re leaving after your meeting. That’s final. Don’t get too comfortable, Bat. It’s harder for someone to find us if we stay on the move.”

  “Fine!” She shook her head and spun, walking into the kitchen. “I have an idea.”

  “What?”

  She kicked off her shoes behind the counter and opened the fridge, taking out a soda. “Want one?”

  “No.”

  She closed the fridge, opened the can, and took a sip. “We’ll switch condos with someone on another floor. Some are rented out to tenants if they have family come in. I’ll just tell them I need one. How about that? I’ll get my secure building but we won’t be easy to find.”

  “I thought you didn’t want me messing with someone’s mind? I’d have to make them forget they know where we are if we do that.”

  She grimaced. “You’re too paranoid.”

  Kraven arched his eyebrows.

  “It just sounds like a big pain in the ass for my grandfather to send men down here and personally mind-bend every person inside the building, if he even bothers to look here. He’ll figure this is the last place you’d take me.”