Dangerous Influence (The Harcourte Vampyre Society Book 5) Read online

  ‘I should put you over my knee and spank you for the stunt you pulled today,’ he said.

  Her laughter filled his head. ‘Are you really angry at me, Flynn?’

  When her hand wound into his tie, and the other slipped beneath his shirt, he was speechless.

  Somehow, he figured that was her plan.

  Jolie had a way of melting his brain.

  Thank God!

  Slowly, she pulled away, his lower lip still trapped between her teeth.

  “Welcome home, Flynn,” Jacques said, grabbing the bottle of wine from his mate. “How was your day?” he asked.

  “Well, it sucked, and then I got a nasty little surprise from my bosses. It seems the sexiest vampyre in the world took it upon herself to fall headlong into my case—again.”

  She smiled sweetly at him.

  “Why, Jolie?” he asked, setting her free.

  Jacques poured them a glass of wine, and handed one to Jolie.

  “Tell him,” he demanded, “or I will.”

  She laughed. “I love when you two gang up on me. It turns me on,” she teased. “Maybe when we get back to our room, you can take turns interrogating me.”

  “Jolie.”

  “Okay!” she said, facing the detective. “I got the call, and I accepted because I miss you. I wish we worked together. I hate not seeing you all day long. Okay?”

  His face softened. “I miss you too. I miss Jacques as well. I just wish you would have warned me.”

  He told her what happened.

  “Oh, Flynn, I’m sorry! I didn't think they’d call you down there. I asked if they wanted me to show up, and they said no. I figured they’d drop my name, and it wouldn’t be a big deal.”

  Flynn kicked off his dress shoes and shrugged out of his suit jacket. When he dropped it over the back of the couch, all he wanted was to cuddle with his family. There was that deep, bone-crushing wariness from being away from them all day.

  “I forgive you, but now you have to pay.”

  She giggled. “Come here. I’ll rub your shoulders. You look stressed out.”

  “God! That’s what I wanted to hear.”

  Dropping down onto the couch, he leaned against the back so she could give him a massage. Jacques lifted Flynn’s legs to rest in his lap as Jolie rubbed his shoulders.

  Flynn moaned. “This is why I love you both. It’s not the money, the eternal life, or the fancy car. This is it. I’m a simple man.”

  They both laughed.

  “You have the most stressful job,” Jacques admitted. “You get to be pampered.”

  Honestly, Jacques enjoyed the way they reconnected like this. For the longest time, he didn't think the detective would let him get close. Not only were they in a good place with their relationship, there was trust.

  That mattered to both of them.

  Jolie began rubbing the knots out of his shoulders. “You’re really tense.”

  “We have three bodies and no freaking clue as to what the hell is going on. All I know is a vampyre is involved.”

  “Tell me about the crime scenes, Flynn. Let me help you find these women’s killer. You talk, and I’ll tell you what I think. It’s the least I can do after the mess I caused.”

  He sipped his wine, and as Jolie rubbed his shoulders, Jacques’s hand pumped soothing energy into his leg.

  This was why he loved coming home.

  These two made it amazing each and every time. His mates were all he really wanted in life.

  “They’re not all women. It’s both. The killer doesn’t seem to care about the gender. We have one male and two females. They were all found at abandoned plantations with wide cuff-like ligature marks.”

  Jolie made mental notes as her mate continued talking. The entire time, Jacques was watching them work as he sipped his wine.

  “It’s not violent, but more like a constant rubbing to the skin. The harshest part is their backs. There are lashes from the shoulders to the back of the knees with no other sign of injury.”

  As he was about to continue, Mathew wandered into the room and then came to a stop.

  “I’m sorry. I was coming in to talk to Jolie about a French lesson. I can come back later when you aren’t busy.”

  Flynn motioned to him, offering him a seat. “It’s okay, Mathew. I was just talking about my day at work.”

  He looked from person to person, trying to decide if his master was being genuine.

  He didn't look angry.

  It was always hard to tell when it came to the man. He was human, but he wasn’t. Flynn was some scary hybrid that could kick his ass. All the vampyres were curious and wary at the same time.

  “Are you sure, Master?”

  “Flynn,” he corrected.

  “Are you sure, Master Flynn?”

  Jolie laughed.

  Jacques snickered in amusement.

  Flynn simply sighed. He really hated being called master by anyone but Jolie when they were fooling around in bed. “Yes, I am.”

  Mathew took in the scene.

  Flynn was getting a back rub from Jolie, and Jacques was lovingly running his hand up and down the man’s leg. It amazed him how the human had tamed them.

  When Flynn was around, the two vampyres were doting, warm, and deeply in love.

  It was crystal clear that they were a unit.

  “I don’t want to interrupt if it’s police business,” he offered.

  Jolie smiled. “It’s okay, Mathew. We don’t mind. We’re sure you’ll keep it to yourself.” She knew the two men were trying to make an effort to include Mathew in their life.

  It wasn’t easy for anyone, since the males she loved were on different sides of the spectrum. Jacques and Flynn were alphas and her mates, but Mathew was like her child. He needed that reassurance and love to survive.

  Maybe it was her mothering instinct kicking in, but she wanted to keep him safe.

  It wasn’t easy.

  Mathew rubbed her mates the wrong way by just being.

  Flynn pointed to a chair. “Sit.”

  The man listened.

  Jolie heard no animosity in Flynn’s voice. It was more a fatherly directness that Mathew needed. He was trying to train the man to find his backbone.

  She loved him for it.

  While she was primus, they were her mates. They came first, and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

  Mathew did as he was instructed.

  “Flynn, continue,” Jolie offered.

  “They look like they got the shit kicked out of them,” he admitted. “There are bruises that had to happen days before they were killed. They were healing, and since they were human, we’re talking at least a week.”

  Jolie rubbed the back of Flynn’s neck, and he moaned in response.

  “Baby, that makes me want to forget about work,” he admitted.

  She kissed him on the cheek and then whispered in his ear. “Later, my sexy detective.”

  Jacques cleared his throat. “Excuse me?”

  She laughed. “Oh, you were definitely included in that plan, my love.”

  “I should hope so,” he stated, rubbing his mate’s foot. Flynn moaned again and closed his eyes.

  “I may never leave this couch.”

  His mates laughed.

  Mathew tried to ignore the fact that the three had something he’d never have. They had love, and he could see it in the way they interacted. Jolie was running her hands across the large detective’s shoulders, and Jacques was gently massaging the stress from his mate’s feet.

  It was as if they truly belonged.

  He was jealous.

  “I don’t know, baby, but this case is a mess.”

  She thought about it. “Could it be sexual abuse? Were there signs of rape?” she asked.

  Flynn drained his glass of wine, and Jacques reached for the bottle to refill it. “Well, they had sex. It was with a vamp like I suspected, so that could put bruises on their bodies. The sex is always rougher.”

&
nbsp; Jacques topped off his glass before clinking his own against it.

  “And we know for sure that it’s a vampyre?” she asked, getting that sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. Jolie really hated when these cases crossed their path. As of late, her mates had been super wary of her dealing with any of the council’s requests for assistance. They knew she was the Harbinger, and that meant she was the most powerful vampyre in the city.

  That had benefits and bad points. Mostly, the other vampyres left her alone. Unfortunately, the law breaking ones kept finding their way to Flynn at work.

  He laughed. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure it is. The ME found semen without the swimmers and no DNA. That pretty much confirmed it for me.”

  Crap.

  Jolie didn't like this at all.

  As if reading her mind, Flynn patted her hand on his shoulder.

  “It looks like you’ve got a vampyre involved.”

  “Yeah, and it looks like borderline torture. Their backs were ripped up, Jolie. One victim had a chipped tooth from something in their mouth, and the other had ligature marks around her throat. It’s more than vigorous sex. Hell! We have rough sex.”

  Mathew blushed.

  They all glanced over at him as he squirmed uncomfortably in his chair.

  Still, Flynn refused to censor his conversation in front of the young vampyre. He was a guardian-in-training, and nothing more. His job was to protect the primus and her mates. Unfortunately, it wasn’t going well.

  At all.

  So, Flynn and Jacques had taken it upon themselves to show the young man what the job really entailed. Sex with the mistress was off the table.

  Now that Jolie was pregnant, and even if she wasn’t, it was never happening. He wasn’t dipping his vampyre stick in their private well.

  Flynn wanted the man to face the cold, hard reality of it. If he was going to be in their inner circle, he had to hear the conversations they had. That included them talking about sex, love, and their relationship.

  It was Mathew’s cross to bear.

  It was also the only thing keeping the males at bay. If he didn't go along with their arrangement, it would make the alphas insane.

  They could only be asked to accept so much.

  Besides, he wasn’t buying the whole, ‘no sex with Jolie is fine’ thing. He didn't trust Mathew, and he was waiting for the man to screw up.

  So was Jacques.

  They were biding their time until they could fire him from his position of guardian in training.

  “You’ve got a point,” Jacques said. He wasn’t a cop, or expert, but he knew sex. Jolie and her mates had plenty, and they bordered on brutal a few times.

  She healed and was fine.

  A human wouldn’t.

  Their kind didn't do gentle, and Flynn was proof of that. As he morphed more into their world, he was losing that gentle touch of humanity. He was more animalistic, primal, and just like them.

  “I love rough sex as much as the next vampyre, but there was cruelty with this,” Flynn admitted.

  He should know. As a cop, he saw plenty.

  Both mates glanced over at him. Whenever Flynn opted to include himself as a vampyre, it made their hearts skip. Two months had gone by since he made his choice to be more like them than a human, and he was living up to his promise.

  Not once had he ever looked back.

  He was taking his vow seriously.

  The man was trying to remain fully in their world. He’d given up food, he sustained himself on only their blood, and he was more and more their equal each and every day.

  Even the family noticed it.

  He wasn’t the ‘human’ anymore. He was Jolie’s mate. He was garnering respect and that mattered in their home. Flynn was seen as someone who could lead them if the primus and Jacques ever went down. For the longest time, that didn't seem like a possibility.

  Now it was fact.

  “I just don’t get it,” Flynn stated. “What does a vampyre want with the three human victims?”

  “Is there any blood loss?” Jolie asked.

  Flynn glanced over his shoulder at her when she stopped rubbing his back. She was setting her hair free and slipping out of her blazer. Immediately, his blood began pumping. She looked amazing as she stripped down.

  He actually licked his lips as if she was prey.

  “Flynn?” she asked, snapping her fingers.

  Jacques laughed. “Someone is checking out your ass in that skirt. I know because I already did.”

  Flynn winked at her. “Why don’t you come around here and sit with us?” he asked, holding out his hand for her.

  That was the best idea she’d heard all day.

  Jolie walked around the couch, holding Flynn’s hand. He dropped his legs to make room for her. The minute she sat down, he leaned into her body. Flynn and Jolie were against Jacques, perched between his legs.

  This was a common and favored position after a long day at work. The three of them were pressed together. Jacques held Jolie against his chest, and Flynn was against hers. She was running her lips down the side of his neck, and all three felt the goose bumps tickle their flesh.

  “That’s distracting,” Jacques said, tugging her collar away from her throat to leave kisses against her jugular. What he really wanted was to sink his fangs into her neck and taste her after hours of being apart.

  “Hell, yes, it is,” Flynn muttered gruffly as their auras mingled and the darkness in Jolie licked at their bodies. She had gotten better at controlling it, but it was still there, and Death wanted to be fed.

  Her laughter filled the room.

  Mathew wished he was curled up beside them, but he didn’t dare move. To come between them would be a deadly mistake, and he knew it.

  Still...

  “There was no blood loss,” Flynn offered, trying to get them back on track. If they didn't focus, Mathew was going to be booted out, and they were getting naked.

  It happened a lot when they lounged like this. Flynn loved that vampyres liked big piles of bodies.

  It was comforting.

  Jolie’s fingers were playing in his hair and Jacques’s pale hand was draped over his shoulder and resting on Flynn’s chest.

  “So no blood was missing?” Jolie asked.

  “None.”

  “That’s odd,” Jacques admitted. “Vamps like blood from humans. They can get sex anywhere. The ligature marks but no puncture wounds aren’t normal. Add in the whipping, and I don’t have a clue.”

  “Yeah, I know. I’m trying to figure out why the humans, if not for food. That’s what has me stumped. I’ve been on both sides of this, and vampyres like a quick, easy meal. Humans are fast food, but this vampyre didn’t take a taste. There were no bite marks anywhere, and I looked. I checked out their thighs.”

  The visual in all of their heads tightened their bodies. Mates loved drinking from the femoral artery. It was intimate, personal, and incredibly sexy to their kind.

  Finally, Mathew couldn’t keep it to himself any more. He longed to have what they had, so he tried to be part of their conversation.

  “Maybe it wasn’t forced sex,” said Mathew from his position across from them. “It sounds more like bondage to me. What you’ve described sounds like someone being played with over the course of time.”

  All three looked over at him when he spoke.

  “I’m sorry, Mistress, I should have remained silent,” he said lowering his head.

  Flynn watched him from his position. “Mathew, don’t look down. We’ve discussed this. You can’t hide. You face life head on.”

  Jolie was about to interject when the younger vampyre actually looked up.

  ‘Fear not, Jolie. Flynn has been working with Mathew to help him,’ Jacques whispered into his mate’s mind.

  ‘I hate seeing him afraid.’

  ‘If you keep babying him, he will have to resign his post as guardian. You promised no more taking it easy on him. Flynn is doing what he is supposed to do, an
d Mathew will benefit from it.’

  She knew Jacques was right.

  Flynn was trying to get the man to come out of his shell. A guardian didn't hide. He faced it all down.

  “I’m sorry, Master. I keep forgetting.”

  Flynn let the title go, since he figured it was a losing battle. The women in the house called him master because it flustered him. Mathew did it out of one hundred years of having it beat into him.

  That was going to be hard to break—if he ever could. That was debatable at this point.

  “Mathew, if you have an idea, please spit it out, I’m lost at this point,” said Flynn from his position on the couch. Jolie’s skirt had hiked up, and he was running his fingers over her bare legs.

  “Go on,” he urged.

  Mathew reached deep inside to find that well of courage. If he wanted to be part of them, he had to find that strength. The masters were demanding it of him.

  “Is it possible, Master, that the victims were not victims but participants?” he asked. “Some people like bondage during sex,” he said.

  Both Flynn and Jacques had a sneaking suspicion that the man spoke from experience, but they weren’t going there. In fact, Flynn knew that Jolie liked to be dominated. When they were alone, she begged Flynn to have his wicked way with her.

  Come to think of it, he liked it too.

  “How did they die, Flynn?”

  “No idea. It’s all inconclusive. We have no cause of death because the ME can’t find anything.”

  “You did feel the vampyre watching you from the clearing. It could very well be that vampyre who’s involved,” said Jolie as she squirmed between the two men. This topic made her uncomfortable. As of late, she found herself enjoying some bondage too.

  Flynn touched her mind. ‘Your secret is safe,’ he reassured, and it was. What happened when they came together in bed was their business. Sometimes, Jolie needed to let the pressure go and just feel. Flynn was that outlet. It was no different from when he needed her to pretend she was human so he could reconnect to that diminishing glimmer inside him.

  Immediately, Jolie relaxed.

  “Are you well, my love?” asked Jacques, noticing the look on her face. He suspected his two mates were speaking, but he couldn’t prove it.

  Something was going on.

  Jolie simply nodded.