Let Them Eat Cake by Ravyn Wilde Page A

his acceptance and together, he and Luke moved back to the room with the conference table and chairs. Justin sat while Luke stood over him and pressed his fingers to the sides of Justin’s forehead, delving into the recesses of his mind. As promised, the process took only a few minutes. He didn’t feel anything, no invasive presence and no pain. Nothing.
    When Luke pulled back, Justin knew it hadn’t been the same for him. Luke sat down with a heavy sigh.
    “Well,” Luke said. “I think I owe you an apology. I thought you were nothing but a pretty face, soldier boy. I believe, if you would like sometime, I might be able to clarify a few things you dealt with in the mid-east. The entities were most definitely not human. And since the freshest memories dealt with a conversation about Maria’s past, it also appears I owe her an apology. I hate being wrong, and now that’s twice in one day,” he grumbled, as he offered Justin his hand.
    Justin shook his head. Great. Looked like Luke wanted to play nice before Justin got the chance to beat his face in. But he accepted the handshake.
    Justin watched Luke as he walked back to his chair on the stage. He guessed Luke had already figured out what they would be dealing with but wanted to hear Justin’s report from last night. At the microphone, he looked out at the crowd and marveled at the change in direction his life had taken over the last twenty-four hours. He now stood onstage, about ready to share crime scene details with a group of vampires, werewolves and God knows what else, in the hope the information would help stop a killer.
    “So I guess that’s a yes for approval to join the Council?” he questioned.
    Maria smiled and nodded, the look on her face letting him know that she knew he was upset. He sighed. Not really. Just…maybe a little inundated.
    “As has already been reported, the crime scene last night was amazingly clean for the amount of damage inflicted to the woman’s body.”
    Justin let his mind drift as he gave his information by rote. He didn’t need to think to relate his findings. They seemed to be repetition of things already deduced. What he needed to concentrate on was Maria. And Luke. Would the man make a move on Maria now that he’d learned that centuries ago he’d made a mistake in thinking she was selfish and unproductive? If Luke did try to get close to Maria again, would Justin step aside?
    Hell no. He’d fight tooth and nail—and claw, for that matter—to keep her. The thought shocked him, moving him to realize that the connection between them had turned fast and furious from sex to something more. What, he wasn’t sure.
    He turned his attention back to the crowd and the words describing the nightmare of last night.
    “We don’t think the woman struggled. Now this could mean she knew her attacker, but we don’t think so. I believe whoever did this somehow managed to immobilize her. She couldn’t run, probably couldn’t make a sound, as there were individuals in the building next door close enough to hear if she called out or struggled. They’d been sleeping with the windows open and they slept without aid of drugs or alcohol or excessive fatigue.”
    He stopped for a moment, thought about where the woman was killed and how they had precious little information. “The alley is paved, and there are no prints or impressions on the ground. It’s not much. But it does tell us we are dealing with an entity who most likely eats blood, bone and tissue, can somehow immobilize its victims, and does all of this with a speed and silence not indicative of a human being. I guess that’s it for my findings. I’ll let Luke take it from here.” Justin left the stage.
    As he passed Luke, the two of them shared a look. Male acceptance.
     
    Maria frowned. Somehow the memory search created a male bonding thing between Justin and Luke. She wasn’t sure she wanted them to bond. Actually, she was sure she didn’t want them to bond. And Luke