I took a half step back, but he didn’t give me the space I was seeking. He prowled closer, backing me up until I was against the stone wall and had nowhere left to go. I didn’t like moving away from him in the first place, but his proximity made me uneasy, and I wanted some distance in between us. Now, he had me cornered.
“Step back,” I commanded.
He placed one hand on either side of my face and leaned in. If it had been anyone else, I might have taken the move as a come-on and assumed he was trying to kiss me. But there was nothing sexual about what Juan Carlos was doing. It was not lust he was projecting—it was pure menace. In spite of my best efforts to appear fearless, a cold sweat trickled down my back.
“Make me.”
The hair on my arms stood on end. “Are you challenging me?”
He stopped moving at those words. His pupils got huge, blotting out his dark brown irises. For a second I thought he might bite me since the inky blackness filling his eyes was a sure sign of hunger and rage. Instead he balled his hand into a fist and punched the wall beside my head so hard his knuckles were buried in the rock.
“I asked you a question, Tribunal Leader.” I kept my voice steady, but there was no hiding the way my pulse was racing. If he decided to challenge me, I would lose. I had no doubt in my mind.
Juan Carlos lowered his head towards my neck, his nose grazing the thin skin, sending a renewed wave of shivers through my body. I waited for his nose to lift and his teeth to take their place, but it never happened. He took a deep breath, absorbing my scent through my pulse point, then finally took a step back.
“I would never dream of challenging you.” The formality of his tone made it hard to believe that mere seconds earlier he’d had me pinned against the wall with his fangs barred.
“I should hope not.”
It was strictly forbidden within the council for members of the Tribunal to challenge each other. Since the only way to become a member of the Tribunal was to kill someone already on it, to have two members attempt to kill each other wouldn’t do anyone any good. The potential for a power vacuum was too great, and as such it was out of the question for one member to challenge another.
Juan Carlos knew the rules better than anyone. Thankfully, so did I.
“But I would.” He wasn’t looking at me now. Instead he focused on straightening the cuffs of his Armani shirt. When my silence spread past the point of comfort, he proceeded. “If I wasn’t who I am, and he hadn’t forbidden it.”
“He?” I didn’t want to continue this conversation. I didn’t want to be alone in the hall with him a moment longer than I needed to be. But still, there was something compelling about what he said. “You mean Sig?”
“Yes. Your benefactor. He is the only reason you’re allowed to keep that precious little pulse of yours.” He looked up, his black eyes bright with contempt.
“Sig… He… I…” I was flustered. I’d always known Sig had a special interest in me, but I’d never understood what it meant. Hearing Juan Carlos tell me that Sig’s attention was the only reason I was still alive was a little jarring. I liked to think there was more to my success in the Tribunal than the threat of its leader.
“Yes.” A cool voice joined us in the hall, though I hadn’t heard the door open. Maybe it hadn’t. “What about Sig?” The man himself was leaning against the wall a few
feet behind Juan Carlos. His pale skin glowed slightly in the dim light, his bare chest almost serving as its own milky-white illumination.
“I’m leaving,” Juan Carlos insisted, turning to go, but Sig took a small step away from the wall and barred the way. If Juan Carlos’s physical presence was enough to unnerve me, then Sig’s was enough to make anyone else uneasy. He was over six and a half feet of lean, taut muscle and liquid predatory grace. Seeing Sig move was like watching a wild jaguar hunt.
“We’re having a little chat,” Sig said. “I think it only fair you stay to finish what you started.”
Juan Carlos turned back to me and snarled. “I’d love nothing more than to finish it.”
“I see you two are being calm and rational about this…” Sig waved a hand between me and Juan Carlos, “…tension.” He smiled, laughing at his own private joke. Neither Juan Carlos nor I were amused. “Let’s have it out. Juan Carlos, you claim I am the only thing keeping Secret out of an early grave, is that what I am to understand?”
Juan Carlos was hesitant to reply. He watched the Scandinavian master vampire warily before he spoke again, and when he did, his voice was low and empty of its former heat. “Yes.”
“I disagree,” Sig said. “I believe Secret has held her own as a member of our Tribunal. Certainly, my…favoritism had its benefits when she was our hunter, but now she is our equal.”
“She will never be our equal.”
“Whether you choose to accept it or not, old friend, she has earned her place here just as you and I have. You must learn to respect her.”
They spoke as if I weren’t there, like parents arguing about how to discipline a naughty child. I wanted to wave my arms and cough loudly to remind them I was still present, but common sense won out. Besides, I was relieved to have Juan Carlos’s attention diverted elsewhere.
“I cannot respect her.”
“You must.”
“You ask too much.”