Read Online Blood Diamond by R. J. Blain - Free Book Online Page B

could have drunk to avoid the question. I could have evaded without lying. Once again, I cursed myself for my unwillingness to take the easy way out. “Suzanne had green eyes, just like yours. I knew you were alive. I just couldn’t leave a woman to die alone like that. I’m to blame, at least in part, for the death of your pack.” I finished off my glass at the same time there was a knock announcing the arrival of the replacement wine.
    Evelyn fetched the new bottles, murmuring something to the server before closing the door.
    “Did your pack really kill those people in the park?” I asked despite fearing the answer.
    “There were deaths we were responsible for. I can’t say the Inquisition was wrong about us. Why are you involved with them?”
    She opened both bottles, handing me one of them. I poured a new glass and took a swallow because I could only tell her a small part of the truth. “An accident of birth. You don’t have a mate?”
    With a disgusted snort, she sank down on the chair opposite of me. “From that sorry lot? I refused them all.” Evelyn lifted her chin, her eyes cold and hard. “I deserve better than one of those bottom feeders. So did April, the other bitch in the pack, but the Alpha got her drunk enough one night so she accepted him. What do you intend to do once we’re in Canada?”
    “Once you’re under the protection of a pack, I’ll call my brother and confess. He’ll skin me for a rug, I’m sure. If I’m lucky, he won’t have me executed for it—though considering the circumstances, it’s anyone’s guess. We’ll see. How old are you?”
    Evelyn grimaced and didn’t bother pouring into the glass. She took a long swig directly from her bottle. “You?”
    “Thirty-two.” I considered her for a long moment before asking, “What do you have against clothes?”
    She laughed. “I like clothes when necessary. I certainly wasn’t going to let the guy bringing room service get a look. Would you like me to take them off?”
    I wanted her to, but there was no way I was going to admit it. After draining my glass, I set it aside in favor of her method of drinking right from the bottle. I had the feeling it was going to be a very long day.

Chapter Four

    On a scale of one to ten, I was drunk. It happened sometime between finishing off the first bottle of wine and opening the third, that much I managed to piece together despite the pleasant numbness of intoxication. I wasn’t sure which one of us had the idea to watch television, though I had the dim recollection of stealing the remote before Evelyn could claim it.
    I had set the channel to Animal Planet, and from my stretched out position on one side of the bed, I watched the auburn-haired Fenerec wiggle on the bed’s edge, leaning forward to watch rabbits on the big screen. The special made me laugh, detailing the lives of wild bunnies and the species preying on them.
    Evelyn sat on her knees, beating her leg as a wolf lunged for a rabbit, crashing into a tree instead of catching its prey. While she howled her discontent, I choked back my chuckles.
    “Mangy mutt! Disgrace to all of our kin, that’s what you are,” Evelyn wailed, waving her fist at the television. She flopped backwards, her arms slapping against the mattress over her head. “It’s inexcusable, Jackson. Did you see that? Completely inexcusable.”
    It took several deep breaths and a drink of wine to keep from chortling. “It does, indeed, seem as though the rabbit got away.”
    “A beginner’s mistake. He shouldn’t have missed. He shouldn’t have hit the tree. It’s a disgrace, Jackson!” Rolling over, she pouted at me. “Don’t tell me you were cheering for the rabbit.”
    In truth, I had been too busy watching her to care about the rabbit, but I wasn’t going to tell her that. I laughed. “The rabbit won, didn’t it?”
    She wrinkled her freckled nose at me. “Inexcusable.” Sitting up, she crossed her arms over her chest and scowled at