Area of Influence (Immortal Ops Book 8) Read online

  Emi moved to the sidewalk and stood under a balcony, continuing to watch the man who had caught her attention. His gaze was still skimming the crowded street. Whatever he was looking for, he hadn’t found it yet, but he’d certainly drawn an audience of the dearly departed. He seemed totally unaware of their presence.

  Chapter Ten

  Thor continued to look around Bourbon Street, sensing the alluring power nearby. It was far more intense than it had been, as if it was much closer. All he knew for sure was, it tugged at his gut, demanding his full attention. He needed to locate the source, which he was fast beginning to suspect was female, yet he couldn’t shake the feeling the energy had similar undertones to the power he’d felt coming from Gérard and Chilton in the past. Whatever was near was powerful, yet it wasn’t a threat to him.

  He stared up at the rooftops, knowing a large number of supernaturals could make easy work of traveling through the Quarter by way of them. There was nothing out of the ordinary there. Yet he still felt the presence of something supernatural close to him. It was close enough to have eyes on him, he was sure of that.

  He turned in a slow circle, his gaze narrowing on a group of men walking in his direction. His alpha side flared to the surface, daring them to come closer. Wisely, they veered off, heading wide and into the street more to avoid walking too close.

  Smart boys.

  And they were boys compared to him. While he didn’t look much older than his mid-twenties, he knew deep down that he was far older than that. He just didn’t know how much. For all he knew, he could be a thousand. He knew Pierre was several hundred years old, but didn’t look any older than thirty. It was possible that Thor was as old or older than that even.

  Though he highly doubted Pierre would have sired him, had that been the case. The older a supernatural was, the stronger they tended to be. There were always exceptions to the rule, but that was generally the case. And Pierre wasn’t a fan of being the lesser of the species.

  You could take him, he thought, wondering if he really could. Thor was something Pierre wasn’t—a hybrid. And that meant he was strong.

  Very fucking strong.

  There was also the fact that he wasn’t limited to moving around only at night, like Pierre. He knew where Pierre slept during the daylight hours, and how to get around the security in place around the man—security Thor helped to implement.

  Yes, you could take him.

  He stopped daydreaming about ending his maker’s existence and started looking around again for the source of the disturbance that he’d felt. He needed to know who the source of the power was. He couldn’t explain why. The longer he stood there, trying to zero in on the source, the more he realized that he wasn’t just aroused by the power, it was now carrying its own telltale signs of desire as well. And it most certainly was female.

  His entire body lit with need.

  He focused in on the women near him, trying to figure out which, if any of them, were the source of the power. A group of young women stood in the center of the street and flashed their breasts at men above. The men all yelled in appreciation and began throwing plastic beaded necklaces down to the women, who already had quite a collection. Each woman looked more intoxicated than the next, and all seemed to take great joy in their antics as they encouraged one another to flash the men again.

  A buxom brunette held her shirt up and shook her upper body, making her breasts bounce wildly. The sight did nothing for him. The women in the group weren’t tied to the alluring power.

  He certainly wouldn’t be thinking of them when he jerked off next. He knew he could bed any or all of the women in the group if he wanted to. They’d come with him willingly and enjoy every second of pleasure he provided. He didn’t need his memories to be sure of that much. It was simply ingrained in him.

  And while they were all more than passable by any man’s standards, they didn’t make his cock stir. They didn’t make his body burn with desire. Not like the woman he’d imagined when he’d been in the shower, stroking himself.

  Stop waiting for a fantasy. Find a hot chick and bang her. It could help jog your memory.

  His nostrils flared at the idea of taking any of the loose-moraled women to bed. He’d seek out another female and use her to sate his manly needs. But first, he’d track the source of the pull he felt. The keeper of the power that danced over the night air like a light-footed nymph sent forth to tempt the untemptable.

  Thor was about to move on down the street more, hoping to catch a scent or feeling that would help him track what he’d felt, when the smell of lavender and sage wafted over him, riding the power. Instantly, his mind went back to the fantasy woman he’d thought of while pleasuring himself. For a moment, images of her flashed through his mind so rapidly that he could focus on little else.

  Oh God, he thought, panic rising. I’m finally snapping. This is it. This is my breaking point.

  He lifted his hands and touched his temples in a pathetic attempt to stave off the snapping of his mind. He’d hunted far too many broken hybrids to think for a moment he had a snowball’s chance in hell of holding back the tides of insanity. Yet still, he tried. Desperate times called for desperate measures.

  He looked past the group of women who were still showing their chests for beads—and froze, his hands still up, his fingers still pressed to his temples.

  There, through the throngs of bodies, was the very woman who had flashed through his mind when he was jerking off. The fantasy woman. The woman he’d envisioned while in the shower.

  Was she really there or merely a figment of his imagination? A final glimpse of something beautiful before his mind broke completely, leaving him a raving madman who hunted and killed everything around him for the sheer pleasure of the sport?

  No!

  Again, the scent of lavender mixed with sage came to him, surfing the wave of power he’d been tracking, calming him to a degree. Was this his body’s way of accepting the inevitable?

  He exhaled and lowered his hands from his head, his gaze still locked on the woman that he wasn’t even sure was truly there.

  It wasn’t until he saw a man step around the dark-haired beauty that he realized she might not be a symptom of a psychotic break. She just might be real. People didn’t step around things that weren’t there.

  Did they?

  For a split second, Thor’s vision tunneled in on her, as if she were the only other person on Bourbon Street with him. The vampire side of him took instant note of the sound of her blood beating through her veins, another sign she was real. His fangs nearly broke free from his gums as if they could already taste her. And the shifter side of him fought to push forward from within, wanting free to explore her, bury its head in her sex and memorize her scent before licking every fucking inch of her. The very thought of it all nearly had him losing his shit and coming in his jeans in the middle of the street.

  Mine, he nearly snarled out loud.

  Gone was the stench of the city, replaced only by the woman’s scent—sage and lavender. The same scent he’d smelled when thinking of her as he’d stroked himself in the shower. As he drew in a deeper breath, his cock responded, hardening at once, making his jeans uncomfortable. The urge to adjust himself was great, but he resisted, too frozen in rapture with the woman to do anything but stare in her direction. It was her. The very woman he’d envisioned while pleasuring himself in the shower. The same women he’d pictured each time he’d touched himself for the last several months.

  She was real.

  How could that be? And what were the odds that he’d not only discover the woman he fantasized about was real, but in New Orleans the same time he was?

  He tensed, remembering Belial, and how Pierre had sent the broken shell of a man after who a woman later turned out to be his own sister. The goal all along had been to have Belial try to kill his sister. It was a game to Pierre. He’d been more than willing to sacrifice one of his pets as a pawn, all to get the girl. And if the girl could
n’t be captured and couldn’t best Belial, Pierre had wanted her killed.

  This had shades of the master’s past trickery. It would explain why Pierre had been sketchy on the details surrounding the mission in NOLA, and why he’d sent Thor on what seemed like a wild-goose chase.

  Was he playing with Thor? Was this a twisted form of torture to punish him for refusing to conform fully to the dark gift given to him and for helping the Ops so much recently?

  Did Pierre know something from Thor’s past that he was using against him now? Did Pierre want to toy with him by putting a woman Thor knew from his past life—before being sired—within reach, only to have her killed?

  No! his demon and his shifter sides roared in unison.

  She would not be harmed. He would unleash a hell the likes of which the world had never seen if she was hurt in any way.

  A sickening thought hit him hard, making him step back, his gaze still on the woman. What if the master had orchestrated events in such a way that Thor, himself, would be the woman’s end? What if he was the ultimate threat to the female before him?

  No!

  The vampire and the panther in him came to an understanding. He would not hurt her. No one would harm her. She was to be protected at all costs. If Pierre was scheming with the hopes of something happening to the woman, Thor would tear the fucker’s head off himself. The master wouldn’t have to wait for an enemy to strike. Thor would be his end, because deep down Thor knew without a shadow of a doubt, that this woman would be his salvation.

  The beautiful woman at the center of his fixation stood there, her arms folded under her chest, her long dark brown hair pulled back from her face with a red scarf that wrapped around her head. She wore a flowing yellow and red peasant skirt that stopped at mid-calf, and wooden beaded necklaces and bracelets. Her tank top was a pale yellow, drawing attention to her covered chest and offsetting her tanned skin.

  She was even more breathtaking in person. He wasn’t sure how that was possible. Yet there she was, in the flesh, making his body burn with need. She was stunning, her brown gaze soaking in the sights before her while she remained removed from it all—untouched by the raunchiness and rowdiness surrounding her. She was like an angel in brightly colored clothing.

  Two men, each in a competition to look more unkempt than the next, approached the beauty at a rapid speed. From the looks on their faces, they not only knew her, they were none too pleased with her.

  They intend her harm.

  The panther and the vampire sides of Thor rose from within, wanting him to shift into a hybrid form that was neither fully beast, nor fully vampire. It was lethal and without mercy. Neither side gave a rat’s ass that he was in the center of a crowded street, with tourists and cell phones that recorded video everywhere.

  The darkness in him wanted to rip the men’s heads from their shoulders and then celebrate over their rotting corpses. The closer the vagabonds got to the woman, the harder Thor found it was to control his darkness. It beat at him from within like a drum from hell, wanting to be heard no matter the cost.

  Red haze began to filter into the edges of his vision. He zeroed in on the males, hyper-focusing on them. Their scent was rank, and it smelled as if neither had bathed in weeks. The heavy smell of drugs came from them, in addition to alcohol and simple body odor. The male in the front, with matted medium-brown hair, narrowed his gaze more on the woman, the muscles in his jaw tightening, a sign he was going to attack.

  As he whispered “bitch,” Thor shut off.

  Thor broke through the bodies on the street before him and was nearly to the men, when suddenly they came to a grinding halt. The man in the lead looked as if he’d slammed into something that wasn’t there—an invisible force. Jerking, the man righted himself and attempted to go for the woman again.

  Thor gave in to his rage, unable to deny his darkness what it wanted. He charged the men and passed through something that could only be described as a wall of power. It had the slightest of burns to it that faded quickly, allowing him to pass without further incident. In an instant, he was face to face with the disgusting-smelling men. He glared down at the one who had intended to harm the female.

  The man actually looked as if he wanted to try to take on Thor. Suddenly, Thor wasn’t sure who was the crazy one—him, or the guy who thought he might stand a chance against him. The idea of the man-child being able to hold a candle to him nearly made Thor laugh. He would have found amusement in it if the man hadn’t been threatening his woman.

  My woman?

  “Austin?” asked the other guy. Fear was evident in the man’s voice.

  Austin narrowed his gaze on Thor. “We’ve got no beef with you, man. Step aside. The bitch has got some shit to answer for.”

  The bitch?

  Oh, it was clear the man wanted his tongue ripped from his head. Thor was just the guy to do it. Unable to form words, Thor bared his teeth, knowing they were partially shifted, leaving him with dangerous-looking fangs.

  Austin’s face paled, and he backed up, nearly falling. The man behind him caught him, keeping him upright.

  Thor wanted to shed their blood. To bathe in it as a warning to anyone thinking of harming the woman. Come near her and perish. The concept was simple. She was not to be harmed.

  Period.

  Death awaited any who tried.

  Chapter Eleven

  A small hand touched Thor’s upper back lightly, drawing him slightly from the fierce need to kill. Heat flared through him. It caught him so off guard that he nearly did a full shift then and there in the middle of Bourbon Street. It didn’t matter that people were all around him. All that mattered was the tender touch, the heat, the desire.

  The woman he’d been captivated by eased around him, her hand skimming his back and then his upper arm. She came to a stop next to him, coming to his chin. He realized in that moment how perfectly their bodies would fit together, and he wanted to be locked together with her, sinking into her silken depths, finding release.

  Her scent washed over him, taking more of his rage and dousing it marginally. Finally able to cage his beast, Thor went perfectly still, afraid she’d stop touching him. Making contact with her made him feel alive. More alive than he’d felt in all the time that he could recall. He didn’t want it to end.

  Ever.

  She kept her hand on his arm and tugged slightly, going to her tiptoes in the process. She radiated peace and calming energy, something he sorely lacked at the moment.

  Thor retracted his fangs and relaxed, craving her touch. He kept his gaze locked on the men, daring them to try to harm the woman again. He didn’t care who was watching. He’d kill them then and there.

  Fuck the consequences.

  The men righted themselves but kept a close eye on Thor. Austin pushed on his friend’s chest. “Did you see his teeth?”

  “Dude, what is your damage?” asked the other man. “We came here to teach Emi a lesson about interfering where she doesn’t belong.”

  Emi.

  The beauty’s name fit her well.

  Thor growled, the sound low and deep. “No one touches her.”

  The men shared a look then backed up more.

  The braver of the two looked to the woman. “Emi, we know you’re the one who talked Taylor into leaving. He owes us money and he took what was ours. This isn’t over.”

  Thor made a move to go at the man but Emi tugged harder. Thor glanced at her. “He threatened you.”

  “He doesn’t scare me,” she said, remaining perfectly calm, though he noticed something else beginning to come from her as well… Was it desire?

  Thor couldn’t look away from her. She was simply that breathtaking. “I could make their deaths quick.”

  Her lips twitched. “Uh, thanks, but let’s not kill anyone, okay?”

  He merely watched her. “If that’s what you want, but the offer stands.”

  “Fuck you, asshole,” said the man with Austin.

  Thor focused on h
im, letting his beast up slightly.

  Austin pulled on the man and continued to back up. He ran into a blockage, cutting off a portion of both the sidewalk and the street for construction. Out of places to retreat, he jerked on his friend and pulled him into the street. “Let’s go.”

  “But we said we were gonna…” The man’s words died off as Austin practically dragged him in the opposite direction.

  Thor remained in place, paralyzed by the woman’s touch. He wanted her hands to skim lower—over his groin, to be exact.

  She eased around him more, standing in front of him fully. Her large brown eyes seemed to look right through him, and he found himself getting lost in them.

  She’s not the mission.

  Still, he couldn’t tear his gaze from hers. He knew her. Knew those eyes, those lips, that body. He could almost taste how sweet her cream would be. Like he already knew.

  She reached up with her other hand to touch his face, and he stiffened. Her fingers moved over his cheek tenderly. She closed her eyes and rocked in place, leaning into him slightly. His hands found her hips as if they had minds of their own. He drew her closer as she continued to touch his face, her eyes remaining closed.

  Thor’s hands could have met around her tiny waist if he tried. He didn’t like how thin she was. The need to sweep her up, take her away and feed her was great. But he didn’t want to move too much, fearing he’d chase her away. The moment was one he didn’t want to end. He could stand there forever, touching her and her touching him, the moment was that perfect.

  He closed his eyes and lowered his head, inhaling her scent. His body responded once again, leaving no room for doubt that he was attracted to her. He wanted her in a way he’d wanted nothing else. Just having her close nearly made him come. It was as if his body was trained to respond to hers.

  Was it?

  When he opened his eyes, he found her staring up at him, a look of wonder on her face. Thor could do nothing more than look at her, noticing the tiny flecks of green sprinkled through her brown eyes. The more he looked at her, the more he felt as if he knew her on some level, that she wasn’t a stranger to him.