Page 10 of Even Vampires Bleed (Even Ever After #2)

Cassiopé

L uc is at my door when I open it. If I look disheveled, he looks downright frantic.

“They’re on their way back from attacking Versailles. Something went wrong. Come with me.”

There is no hello or anything, but he stops after his little speech.

“You might want to take a shower, though. You reek of sex,” he says as his nose makes a small little move that I would find cute if it wasn’t screaming wordlessly how awful I smell.

I close the door in his face and rush to the shower.

I take the quickest shower of my life, and then I’m on my way.

I stop at the door to talk to Léandre. “You probably should take a shower. The team is about to come back.”

“Why would I bother? Today is the day I die, anyway,” he tells me flippantly.

He sounds like he doesn’t care, but I can see right through the bullshit. I know it’s just a facade.

“Do as you want,” I tell him before closing the door after me.

A minute later, I’m down the stairs and have already called the healer and heading for the parvis of Notre Dame.

If something went wrong, there are bound to be wounded people. Maybe it all will be solvable with a bit of shifting, but I don’t want to take chances.

“The healer is on his way,” I say as I cross the threshold of Notre Dame and walk toward the enormous dragon descending before us. And when I see all the blood and the state of Gaspard, I know it was the right call.

“When Luc came back in panic, I called, because I thought maybe someone would need him, and that I was like ‘better safe than sorry’ because time could be of the essence. I’m glad I did, because oh my hell, there’s so much blood,” I stammer.

Elhyor finally shifts, so I don’t have to address him in his dragon form.

“You did good,” he tells me. His voice sounds raw, as if there is something he isn’t telling me.

I look around and search for my dad amongst the men dropping from the sky, completely naked.

“Where is my dad?” I ask Elhyor, and I feel panic start to slip inside my voice—and inside me, if I’m being totally honest.

The blissful contentment I felt this morning in Léandre’s arms has all but disappeared in smoke.

There is a subtle shake of Elhyor’s head and dread takes over my body. I know what that little move of his head means, even if I don’t want to recognize it.

“Where is his body, then?” I ask. I know I sound mad, or maybe petty. Dad is his best friend, so there is no reason Elhyor would abandon him.

“We don’t know what happened to him and his team,” Elhyor starts saying as he wraps an arm around my shoulder.

I drop my head to his chest as my emotions take over and tears start streaming down my cheeks, completely out of my control.

“He might still be alive, but we don’t know what Michael has planned for any of them,” he adds while I keep my head buried against his chest.

”Where is Léandre?” Angie asks.

I thought he would be here by now, but he obviously decided to stay in bed instead of joining us.

I immediately start being mad at him about that, because it’s very selfish of him, especially since a full team—including my own dad—didn’t come back from the mission that was supposed to be sent to save his butt.

“He wasn’t feeling well,” I still answer without thinking.

Why am I covering up for him?

“What happened?” Elhyor asks when I don’t add anything.

“He said it was a migraine, but it came in an instant so I made him rest,” I answer again, and I want to beat myself for covering for him.

“And where is he?” Angie asks.

“In my room,” I answer, and this time at least it’s the truth.

Elhyor moves toward his office, so I follow him, but Angie seems to have decided something else. She pulls on Elhyor’s hand and gets him to follow her up the stairs. I know where she wants to go, and I immediately scream internally.

“Maybe I should go first,” I say before we reach my bedroom door.

This is going to be bad. This is going to be freaking bad.

Angie doesn’t wait for me though and opens my door wide in front of everyone.

Léandre is still in bed, tangled in the sheet with his bare chest glistening with the light filtering through the door.

This doesn’t look like he went to rest after a migraine. Not at all.

I cringe at how this must look from an external point of view.

Angie takes a step back and closes the door as she turns in my and Elhyor’s direction.

“I’ll be in your office,” she says to Elhyor. “Get him to wake and dress and join us,” she adds to me, and I don’t miss the harshness in her tone.

I slip inside my room as I hear her grumble on her way down with Elhyor.

I don’t know what came over me to lie, but now I have to explain that to Léandre.

I almost feel like laughing.

If only I didn’t want to both throttle him and cry in his arms at the same time.

I cross the room to get the key pass for the rooms from my desk and on my way back to the door, I sit on the side of the bed and shake Léandre’s shoulder.

“Wake up, sleepy head. Your best friend is in a mood because you slept here. So, you better get up and take a shower. I’d stay, but we need to hurry and you need clean clothes. I’m going to pick them up in your room.”

He looks at me with sleepy eyes before he possessively snakes his arm behind my back and drags me against him.

“We don’t have time for that,” I snap at him.

“What’s wrong, Little Luciole?” he asks softly, and I don’t have the mental strength to fight him to get free of his embrace.

“Two teams were sent to destroy the servers linked to your microchip, and it went wrong. My dad and his team didn’t come back.

And when Angie asked me where you were, I lied.

I said you had a migraine, and that I let you rest in my room.

She wanted to talk to you immediately, and she found you naked in my bed, so obviously she knows I lied—especially since I probably need to open the window.

The whole room smells like sex, and no one could miss it, not even a human.

And I’m mad at you. You weren’t here on the parvis, when all of this was for you.

But I’m even madder at myself because I can’t seem to be really mad. ”

By the time I’m done with my speech, I’m crying, and Léandre is cradling my head against him.

“I’m sorry Little Luciole. I’m not right in my head right now. But I’ll do better,” he whispers against my forehead before dropping a small kiss there.

It feels so good, but I still need to get us going. I hate it, but I still do.

“Take a shower. I’ll be back in a minute,” I tell him when I finally manage to untangle myself from his arms.

I swipe my fingers under my eyes to dry my tears, and then I’m out of the room without a second look at Léandre.

He’d better hurry his butt and be under the shower when I’m back in the room.

I easily find his bag in his room, which makes me think I’ll have to send someone for his keyset because I’m not making another set for him to lose it again.

I grab his bag—which is quite heavy for its size—against the wall near the bathroom and leave the room. I wonder the whole way back if I should have just picked things inside his bag myself and left the rest of it in his room.

The message I’m sending to him with me bringing back the whole bag isn’t necessarily what I was going for.

Now he’s going to believe he can stay in my room as long as he wants.

Just as I cross the threshold of my room, I’m greeted with fresh air and a gorgeous man, wearing only a towel thrown around his narrow hips.

It occurs to me that this is my towel.

Unabashedly, I take my time looking at the drops of water gliding down the valley of his pecs and abs.

Slowly, I drop Léandre’s bag next to the door as I close it—I don’t want anyone else to see him like that—and wait for him to reach me.

He doesn’t go to his bag, though. No, instead, he softly grabs me by the back of my neck and slowly slides his lips against mine. The kiss is barely there, but I feel it down to my toes.

All too soon, it’s over, and Léandre grabs a neatly folded shirt, boxer briefs, and jeans from his bag and then he drops the towel.

I’ve seen it already—gods, it’s been inside of me—and yet I can’t stop myself from blushing at the sight of his half hard cock.

I realize I’ve been staring all along when he winks at me before tucking it in his briefs and then his pants.

Get a grip, Cassiopé.

I get my mind straight and cough to hide whatever is still showing on my face.

“We should go,” I tell Léandre, and he has the good taste not to add anything and just follows after me—without even putting on shoes.

All I can think about when I get down the stairs is that I find the lack of shoes oddly sexy.

When we reach Elhyor’s office, the door is closed, so I knock heavily—that room is soundproof, so I need all of that strength.

“Enter.”

The strong voice is obviously Elhyor.

We enter, and the first thing I see is that Angie looks like she’s about to get very mad.

There is a blood vessel at her temple that threatens to burst, and it’s all the more evident because of her lack of hair.

Her mouth is also drawn into a flat line, and I can’t help myself and turn in Léandre’s direction to see if he finds it as alarming as I do, but he’s all calm and collected.

He almost looks proud of himself.

That can’t be right. Is everything some kind of joke to him or is he acting this way just to get a rise out of Angie?

“I guess it all went to shit,” Léandre says. “Well, not completely,” he adds as he turns his holo so he can look at the time. “It’s eight minutes past twelve, and Michael didn’t detonate it. I’m still me.”

That is why he looked so proud. He checked the time before I arrived in the room, and he knew already his memory hadn’t blown up.

That makes a bit more sense now.

It also means my dad didn’t disappear for nothing. I’m still mad that he didn’t return, but I know it. He isn’t dead, and we’re going to find him.

At least, he saved Léandre in the process.

I’m so lost in my thoughts that I don’t realize Angie has moved from where she was sitting on the desk until she’s in Léandre’s arms.

She’s half-naked in Léandre’s arms.

I shouldn’t notice. They’re best friends, after all. I shouldn’t even be mad, but all I can see is that she’s only wearing a sweater, with her long and super fit legs on display.

If I wasn’t wearing jeans right now, I probably would try hiding my legs.

Shifters are usually in great shape, but I don’t workout, and seeing Angie like this makes me feel a bit self conscious.

No. Stop Cassiopé.

You don’t workout, not because you don’t want to be in great shape. You don’t workout because there is so much better to do than hit dummies for hours—hours that could be spent reading and living in magical words.

This is why you look like that. You’ve got the body of a bookworm. Or a bookdragon. I like the sound of a bookdragon better. I’m in a dragon’s den, after all.

I’m the way I am because I do what I like. Period.

Now that my mind is straight again, I pay attention to what is going on around me.

“I’m glad you’re still yourself,” Angie tells Léandre, “but yes, we need to plan an extraction, and first we need to find where Michael has the team held. Luc is working on it.”

“I can’t see where your dad…” Léandre starts to say but stops himself and modifies his wording.

“Michael. I can’t see where he would be holding them.

Les écuries would be the most logical, but everyone inside of Versailles knows the official dungeons are down there.

So, even if they are well guarded, I doubt he would pick somewhere so obvious to hold them.

I know that’s not where he put my dad. I bribed a guard to know that. ”

”Where does that leave us?” Elhyor asks.

“Knowing him? He built a dungeon somewhere without telling any of the other archangels because he plans on having them there before he’s forced to step down.” Angie chimes in.

“You really think he wants to take over the whole organization?” Elhyor asks.

“With what happened today, the fact he’s still holding Gabriel, and the fact he wants you dead… Do you really believe it’s not a possibility?” Angie retorts.

They’re all basing that conversation on the fact my dad and his team have been taken prisoner. That’s all nice, and I feel it in my bones. Maybe it’s just wishful thinking, but I’d like to know what makes them think it’s true.

“Are you even sure that my dad is alive?” I ask before anyone else can talk.

“None of you seemed to be certain when you came back. Do you have any proof that he is not dead? Because the way I see it—and I hope to hell that I’m wrong—he might very well be dead and we’re going to go on a wild goose hunt all for nothing.

I love my dad; I really love him, and I’ll search the earth for any trace of him.

I will. Even if it’s just to recover his body.

But he’s my dad and nothing forces you to do that, too. ”

I’m breathless when I finish talking, but I don’t care because I feel lighter for finally saying this. It’s been eating at me since he didn’t drop from the sky on the parvis.

Léandre grabs my hand, and it’s so comforting that I let him do it.

“I won’t let you search alone. We’re in this together,” he says before kissing my knuckles.

“Cassiopé, you know how I feel about Brice. Do you really believe I would let you on your own in this mission?” Elhyor asks me after my eyes leave Léandre’s lips on my hand.

A second weight seems to light at Léandre’s and Elhyor’s words.

I was fully prepared to go after my dad on my own, but it feels good to know I have people around me who are supporting me in this.

I steel myself and look Elhyor right in the eyes.

“What can I do to help, then?