Steal the Day (26 page)

Dev leaned against the wall, one foot propped up behind him. He’d been patiently allowing himself to be experimented on for the last couple of days. The Revelation recognized him, though I suspected the effect would be stronger when I went looking for Felix Day. Dev and I had been playing hide and seek all night.

“That was fast,” he said over the noise as I joined him. “You’re getting better with that thing.”

I placed the amulet back around my neck, a sense of satisfaction flowing through me. “I think I’m ready.”

His face went grim. He wasn’t exactly on board with my new plan to call up Stewart and ask him to the prom. Dev was already upset that I was in debt to the demon for his sake. He didn’t want me in any further, but there was no other way around it since Daniel wouldn’t take me. I also suspected Dev wasn’t happy about my request for new living arrangements after the job. I was serious about leaving the city. I couldn’t move on when Daniel was everywhere I looked. I asked Dev to consider coming with me to Miami. He owned a club there. Albert told me he had a condo right on the beach.

I was waiting for his answer. The idea that I could lose both Daniel and Dev was a heavy weight on my heart.

Dev looked up, his eyes on the dance floor. He frowned. I turned to see what had caught his attention. My husband stood across the illuminated dance floor, looking incongruous among the throng of party people. No happy dance time for Daniel Donovan. No, he was like a big-ass bird of prey looking for a mouse to swallow. His eyes latched on to me and he headed my direction. I had to bump my way through the dancing crowd, but they moved for Daniel. He was like Moses parting the Red Sea. People just got out of his way.

“I told you to call him back,” Dev said with a shake of his head.

He had. He’d told me to call Daniel several times, but I was stubborn. I hadn’t even gone home because I wanted to avoid this confrontation. We said all we needed to say in Arkansas. He’d left me high and dry, and I needed to concentrate on the job at hand. Daniel had been the one to accuse me of paying too much attention to my personal life. He’d been the one to point out that I was letting the job suffer. Well, I’d paid my love life almost zero attention in the last couple of days. I ignored Daniel’s every attempt to contact me. As far as I was concerned, I would see him at the ball.

Dev put an arm around me and leaned down to whisper in my ear. “Please try to remember everyone is watching. Keep it civil.”

“Zoey,” Daniel shouted. So much for civil. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? You ignore my calls. You don’t even bother to go home. Did you think I wouldn’t come looking for you?”

Dev smiled broadly and held out his hand. Daniel just looked at it like it was diseased. “Shake my hand, Daniel, or I’ll have you thrown out of this club.”

Daniel huffed out an amused laugh. “I’d like to see you try.”

“Every wolf in town is here tonight.” Dev spoke slowly as if he was talking to a child. “You know, the same wolves you’re trying to negotiate with. They’re all here, and they’re all watching you right now. You can take my hand and act like we’re friends, or you can throwdown with your wayward wife and her lover in front of the world. Trust me. You don’t want those wolves thinking you can’t handle your bitch.”

“Hey,” I protested.

“It’s a technical term only, sweetheart,” Dev said, his lips quirking up with humor.

Daniel looked around and confirmed that he was, in fact, the center of attention. They were far enough away that they probably couldn’t hear over the loud music, but they were definitely interested in us. Daniel took Dev’s outstretched hand and shook it.

“Now, kiss your wife,” Dev commanded quietly. “Like you mean it.” I shot Dev a surprised look, but his face was bland, like this was an ordinary situation. “Don’t get stubborn on me, Zoey. It’s only a kiss, and it will spare us all so much trouble later.”

Daniel looked apprehensive, but I walked into his arms and let his lips find mine. It wasn’t our most passionate kiss, but I still felt his warmth. Then it was over, and Dev looked down at me. He smiled a slow, seductive smile. He kissed me, snaking his hand through my hair, leaving no one confused about his intentions.

“I had to watch that, why?” Daniel nearly growled the question.

“Because we’re creating an illusion, Daniel. Now we all go upstairs.” Dev gestured toward his second floor office.

“Why are we going upstairs?” Daniel asked, very confused since this scenario wasn’t playing out as he’d obviously planned.

Dev’s green eyes rolled, his frustration evident. “Keep your voice down. We’re going upstairs because I don’t want to do this in front of everyone, you imbecile.”

“Look man, if we go upstairs now people are going to think…” Daniel started.

“Yes, that’s what they’re going to think, and in one swift move, you go from cuckolded husband to a man of some exotic tastes. One is pathetic. The other is infinitely more interesting. It’s your choice, Daniel. Now, Zoey, take your husband’s hand and try to look like you’re leading him to the Promised Land.” Dev took my hand and started toward the stairs that led to his office. Daniel slipped his hand into my free one, and the three of us made our way through the very interested crowd.

“Boss.” The bouncer at the stairs acknowledged Dev. He smiled at me, but his eyebrows rose at the sight of Daniel.

“Mike,” Dev replied as the bouncer let us up the stairs. “I think we’re going to require a few hours of privacy. Wouldn’t you say, Dan?”

“At least,” Daniel stammered.

Dev led us the rest of the way and used his card to open the door. I took one last glance at the crowd. Sure enough, there were very few people who weren’t watching us disappear into the office. Dev dropped my hand as he shut the door behind us. He took a deep breath and proceeded to take a seat behind his desk. He held out his hand, indicating the two seats in front of him. Daniel and I sat down because I don’t think either of us was sure of what else to do. I personally felt like I’d been called to the principal’s office.

“What the hell was that?” Daniel asked.

“That was me saving your ass because you were about to make a huge mistake,” Dev explained flatly. “I’ve watched you screw up long enough. I’m done. If you don’t start playing this thing smart, you’re going to get us all killed. I personally couldn’t care less if you choose to commit suicide, but it affects Zoey, and that is my business.”

Daniel’s face flushed. I knew he didn’t like me being Dev’s business. “I didn’t come here to talk to you, Quinn. I came here to talk to my wife.”

Dev slapped a hand on his desk. “You came here to have a knockdown, dragout with your wife in a public forum. Rule number one in a royal court is this: Keep your problems behind closed doors.”

Daniel looked at me like I knew what the hell Dev was talking about, but I was in the dark, too. He’d been very pensive since we returned from our trip. He hadn’t been distant. To the contrary, he lathered affection on me at every given opportunity. He seemed happy I was staying at his place. He took time from his business to have dinner with me each night and to sit and watch whatever I wanted on television. He was trying to keep that boyfriend promise he made to me. It was nice, but the whole time I could see he was thinking. I had a suspicion I was about to find out where his mind had been.

“I am going to make you an offer, Daniel.” Dev sat back, and I wondered if this was the way he dealt with vendors and business contacts and employees. There was nothing teasing or reckless about him now. He was all business. “I’m only going to make the offer once. If you refuse, I’ll take Zoey where she wants to go and you can do this on your own.”

Daniel waved his hand, a gesture for Dev to continue. Condescension was plain in his every move. “Please, let me hear this plan of yours.”

Dev’s long fingers made a thoughtful steeple as he spoke. “It’s not a plan. You already have a plan. It’s just obvious to me you don’t have the training to carry it to a successful conclusion. What I’m offering are my services as an advisor.”

Daniel threw his head back and laughed. “What the hell am I supposed to learn from you, Dev? I’m not going into the nightclub business. I suppose you could teach me how to dress like a metro douchebag.”

“You have no idea who I am, do you, Daniel?” Dev asked, and I was surprised because there was no small amount of sympathy in his voice. “God, this is worse than I thought. Everyone keeps assuring me you’re a highly intelligent man, but if you don’t even have a file on me, I’ll have to disagree.”

“Why would I have a file on you?”

Dev got up and took out a key. He walked to a large filing cabinet. Dev pulled out a fat file folder and tossed it to Daniel. I heard his shocked intake as he realized what it was.

“Know your enemies, Dan,” Dev said, settling back into his chair.

I’d seen that file before. It was just about anything anyone ever wanted to know about Daniel Donovan. I was sure there were things in that file that Daniel had forgotten about himself. He flipped through the folder quickly. I saw the minute Daniel decided this was a serious discussion. His face lost the arrogance, and he settled down, staring at the folder. “And just who are you, Dev?”

“I am Devinshea Conlan Quinn, second son of Miria, Queen of Faery. I am second in line to the throne behind my brother, though I doubt I would last long if I took a crown. I come from a royal line that is so long, no one remembers where it began. I was raised in a royal court and acted as my mother’s envoy to almost every type of supernatural creature you can imagine. If you want to know what I can teach you, besides how to dress like a douchebag, I will tell you. I can teach you how to be a king.”

My heart nearly stopped in my chest. What the hell was happening? They couldn’t be in the same room for more than a few minutes without insulting each other. “Dev, why are you doing this?”

Dev leaned toward me. He slipped into the more formal speech pattern he took when he was serious. I guessed it was from his training when he was young. Court was probably a very formal place. When Dev stopped using contractions, I always knew he meant business. “I know one of the reasons you are content with me is the fact that I support your freedom in this relationship. I rarely question your decisions, and I tend to do anything you ask of me. This is not entirely contrary to my nature. I prefer to please you. I am finding it difficult to do that now. You will not be happy if we move to Miami. I doubt that you will ever be happy so far from your home and the people you love. You see my quandary? I can do what you ask of me, but it will not make you happy. I have the additional problem of being able to see that your husband is going to get himself executed by the Council. Has either of you thought about where that leaves Zoey?”

“She would be sold.” Daniel confirmed our worst fears. “You could try to defend her. You could try to hide her, but eventually they would kill you and take her into custody. Marcus would attempt to buy her, but I can’t promise that he would succeed. Companions are very rare, and she’s exquisite.”

“If Marcus is even alive at the end of it,” Dev murmured. “Tell me if I am wrong, but you had to have a powerful ally in the vampire world to be able to get as far as you have without detection. Vorenus seems the most likely as he’s your patron and on the Council. He could provide a certain amount of protection.”

Daniel’s jaw clenched, and I could see him thinking. He didn’t want to see the wisdom in Dev’s offer. He wanted to laugh and call him an idiot and walk out of the office with his full pride intact. He didn’t want to see Dev as someone who could help him. I watched Daniel very carefully. Stewart’s words played through my head. There was a part of me that wanted Daniel to get up and walk out of that room. It would prove that he didn’t care about power. It would prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Stewart was wrong.

“What am I doing wrong with the local wolves?” Daniel asked, and I knew his path was set.

Just like that my lover became my husband’s chief advisor.

“Oh, so many things,” Dev replied. “The first is the fact that you bothered with the local pack at all. Mitchell Roberts is an idiot. You’re never going to get anywhere with him. He owes fealty to the alpha in Colorado. Get that alpha on your side, and Mitchell will fall in line. If he doesn’t and he breaks rank, we can take him out with no repercussions.”

Daniel was nodding, and I suddenly felt invisible. I was no longer needed as the men in my life talked about negotiations and political ramifications and potentially advantageous assassinations. They talked forever as I sat there and wondered when the hell I had lost the upper hand.

I wasn’t mad at Dev per se. He was trying to please me. He believed I would be unhappy if Daniel and I were completely estranged. He knew I would be devastated if Daniel were killed, so he placed himself in a position to stop that from happening. I just didn’t see how having the two men I loved working together would be anything but a disaster.

After a long discussion, Dev turned to me. “Zoey, are you listening?”

I wasn’t, but it was easier to lie. “Of course.”

Dev looked suspicious. “This is about you, too.”

“I don’t want to be queen.” It hadn’t seemed real until now. Daniel’s war had seemed so far off, and I wasn’t really a queen anyway. But now it was right in front of my face. In that moment, I just wanted to go upstairs and go to sleep, and in the morning everything would be back to normal or something close to it. Dev might have been right about my eventual dissatisfaction with Florida, but in that moment I wished he’d just packed up and left with me.

“Zoey,” Dev said, but now he sounded more like my Dev. He was cajoling softly. “You’re his greatest asset, sweetheart. It won’t work without you. The other tribes or packs are going to be suspicious of a vampire. You soften him. Listen, we can all talk about this when we get to Vegas. I’ll take care of the plans.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Daniel frowned, looking anywhere but my way.

“If you leave her behind, she’ll just do it on her own. You can take her with you and let me help, or she and Christine are going to use me as a magical battery to call up old Stewart tonight. I assure you he’ll be happy to be of service.”