Kenneth sat there watching them as they left. Cassandra rubbed her tits up against the doctor as the door closed behind them. He shook his head. He finished his wine and stood up.
There was so much to do and yet he had no real idea of where to start. Alessandro would keep for the moment. He had been ready for this discovery and his secondary ledger was already prepared. Yet even with that small comfort he could not shake the feeling of unease that weighed down upon his shoulders like the Globe upon Atlas. Where to begin?
“The wolves trouble you, but why?”
Kenneth turned toward the deeply feminine voice. His mate was beautiful; at least the mate he had chosen to be with for this long. He may choose another or this one may die, but for now she was his, and all the beauty that she possessed. Her long black hair was a well kept weave of pure night waves that flowed over her left shoulder. Her pure blue eyes were as radiant as any blue sky that he remembered. They looked into his now without fear or hesitation.
“Why are you troubled?”
Kenneth torn his gaze away from hers and instead chose to look out the front door where his students left only moments ago. “I have many things on my mind, Natalia.”
“Of those things none of which are me, I take it.” She replied coyly.
Kenneth scoffed a little too hard. He turned back to her, “Tell me, what do you see? What troubles me?”
Natalia’s eyes unfocused and refocused in rapid succession. Watching them was disorienting even for him. Her eyes flicked into and out of clarity and suddenly bore into him and he felt the need to retreat a step or two as if punched. His mind was strong but he let her have glimpses into it. It wouldn’t do to let her know too much.
She spoke with an even but exasperated tone. “What troubles you is the same thing that you have been brooding about for these past several months. You are irritated and troubled that the one you had gone through such lengths to find, eluded you, seemingly without help.”
He stopped himself before his rage could take hold of him. Of all the things that she could have said this was the one that cut the most. He walked swiftly over to the bar and slammed his glass on the counter top. He felt the crystal cry out under his fist. If he had pressed any harder the glass would have shattered. He let go and took a step backwards from the bar, exhaling slowly as he did so.
“You’re wrong, Natalia.”
Her laugh rang out through the room and out through the foyer. Kenneth endured the swift but well placed dagger to his mood and ego. Natalia was wise enough to not overstep her advantage and quickly dulled her mirth. “You and I both know that my readings are seldom wrong, especially with you.” She softened her tone and stepped up to him and gently placed her delicate hand over his arm. “I could help you with this little problem.”
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She gently took his chin in her hands and lifted his eyes to meet hers. “You know you can forget your troubles with me.” Her eyes shone in the light of the room and he was reminded of just how pleasant being with her could be.
Suddenly he realized what she was doing and jerked his eyes away from hers. “Good try, Natalia.” He cupped her chin in a vise grip and met her eyes with his. “Don’t ever try that on me again. Otherwise, you won’t be coming back to the land of the living in the morning.” He forced her face to turn from his as he pushed her away from him.
The deep red full skirt dress she wore shimmered in the light with violent movements. She retained her balance, of course, but the dress belied her being forcefully unsettled. The shimmering faded as her dress smoothed itself against her petite, lithe form.
“It doesn’t erase the fact that something that happened months ago still bothers you.” She looked around the room, her eyes roving nonchalantly over the effects in the room. She had been with Kenneth long enough to know that she had overstepped and she took her minor chastisement in stride. Her neck tensed ever so slightly, just enough to cause a shiver in her muscles there. Her long slender neck was gorgeous and he noticed the change in her stance.
“What is it?” He asked with just a touch of concern.
Natalia smiled thinly not facing him. “You’ve done something or something has happened that you didn’t tell me about.” She looked right at him and he knew that he was caught. It was a rare thing that Natalia did not find in your head what she was looking for, especially if she knew that it was there to be found.
“I knew it.” She said softly, “You met the boy you had hunted for all those months, and you never told me. Why?”
Kenneth knew that this was not a time to blatantly lie, but unlike with Alessandro he knew full well what her limitations were and where her loyalties lie. He turned his face, giving her a profile of his features. “It wasn’t important.”
“But important enough to brood over?” She heaved a full sigh, her chest pressing up and out against the delicate fabric of her dress. “Kenneth, do we really need to play these games? Either I’m here or not. If not, I’ll go elsewhere.” She turned back towards the foyer, “There are many, some in higher Houses even than Dukart, that would love to have me.” She walked around the corner disappearing from sight.
He growled softly to himself. She was only half right. The boy did trouble him but only in the fact that he had escaped. What she didn’t know and what he was truly interested in was why those two had been with him, Alexiares and Ansuya. These two were known to him and his House. What were the chances that they could have been in the exact same strip club, of all places, at the same time he was?
He hadn’t been recruiting in person for a while and it had been nice to judge the fare as he once had done. But the wolves had never been known to do any such thing. And there was that girl that they left with. He had seen her before, a year or two ago. She was polite and appropriately bubbly for a stripper, the job hadn’t beaten her down yet. She had been the perfect age for recruitment but she showed him nothing and she had shown Natalia nothing. Why had the wolves taken her and for what purpose?
“So, it was the wolves but not the boy. Why didn’t you ever tell me about your meeting with them? You could have died had they chosen to fight.”
He half smiled to himself. Natalia was a lot of things, seductress, interrogator, seer, but she had never been a quitter. He looked over at his mate, who had reappeared from around the corner, languidly leaning against the wall that opened into the room. “The wolves would not fight one of us in public if they could help it. The confrontation was not what they were there for. She wanted something else.” He said, losing himself momentarily in the memories of that night.