Brunes’ derisive chuckle skated along Brayden’s nerves like a serrated knife. He moved his tall body around the desk and folded himself into a chair. His smile was cold, but pleased. “My wife and I took a vacation. Left Sarina here with the butler, some guards, a nanny, that sort of thing. Clara and I had a steak meal that she cooked below deck on our yacht. We have a vacation home in Seattle. That’s where we keep our yacht, you know. That night we had dinner. I remember Bach or some such music playing over the system. I went below deck for another bottle of wine, came back and she was gone. That’s all there is to it, Brayden.”

Brayden stared at Brunes with hard, unrelenting eyes. “Do you know what I think?”

Brunes smiled. “Enlighten me, of course, but make it fast. This has been a very rude interruption and know that I am only flattering you with this conversation to be polite.”

Yeah, right. “I think that you learned that your wife had been sneaking out while you were gone on your business trips with council. I think you found out that she’d been spreading her legs open for an eager vampire, one who was more than happy to give her the pleasure you couldn’t.” Brayden paused to let his words sink in. He’d struck a chord. Brunes stiffed in his chair, his lips pulling into a nasty frown, his face deepening with color. “I think she was fucking him all the time. Maybe even sharing her dreams of being free of the great King Brunes. Does that sound about right? Though I do wonder, what makes you angrier? That she was fucking a lousy vampire behind your back, or that she took her daughter to meet him. After all, she was a protective woman, never left her child alone, even in your care. Your own wife didn’t trust you around your daughter. That says something to me, Brunes.”

Brayden took in Brunes’ facial expressions, his tics. He’d finally found a way to apply pressure to the bastard. Most of what he’d just said was pure speculation, part bullshit. There was never any sign that Clara had had an affair, but she might have. And judging from the reddening of Brunes’ face, Brayden had hit the mark spot-on.

“So, let me keep guessing. She finally told you that she wanted to leave you. You threw in the fact that she’d never get custody of Sarina...but then what? How did you get her to agree to the vacation? I doubt she trusted you further than she could throw you if she was smart enough to try to leave you. So, explain to me, just how did you get her to go with you? Did you drug her and fly her out to Seattle on your own private plane? I checked your assets; you do own one. Was your excuse that night all bullshit? No dinner, no wine. You took her out on your yacht with a story you concocted, then beat her ’till she was unconscious and tossed her over the side. Lykaens aren’t impervious to drowning and you damn well knew that. You killed her.”

Brunes’ face paled back to its normal color. He looked down as if thinking...or remembering. “You think you got it all figured out, don’t you, Mr. Erickson?” Brunes stood, his arms crossed, then slowly stepped around the desk until he faced Brayden once more. “Well, you’re wrong about a few things, I’m afraid.”

Brunes uncrossed his arms then leveled a silver pistol on him. Brayden’s only response to the change in the game was a soft breath he let out. Brunes waved the gun around like a witch with a wand.

“Don’t worry, they’re silver infused bullets, just like the Justicars use. They’ll kill you before you can get to me.”

Brayden kept his gaze on the door to his right. “What was I wrong about?”

Brunes’ face morphed into a mask of vicious, seething hatred. “That bitch wasn’t fucking a vampire! She was fucking my guard! My guard! Riding his damn cock like a fucking whore. She was a whore. I am the last king of the lykaen community. The last thing I need is a whore to rule at my side. She did it right here. Right in this house. Under my nose when I went to bed at night. In our bed when I left the house.”

Brayden kept his focus on the gun and the door. Brunes wasn’t one to act alone, that he knew. Some stealthy bastard might be creeping up behind him as they spoke. “How did you not smell him?”

“He was defective. I chose him to be my personal...guard because of a birth defect. Something was wrong with his hormones and he never left a trace. Made him quite useful for certain jobs.”

Yeah, he knew just what kind of jobs a man with an untraceable scent could do.

“How did you find out?”

Brunes narrowed his wild eyes then cocked the hammer of the gun. The hard metal snap made every muscle in Brayden’s body tense, ready. What Brunes didn’t know, was that he was in love and had a woman to find. He wouldn’t be dying here tonight.

Brunes bent over to his knees with laughter. When he stood back up, he was sucking in deep, unsteady breaths. Tears of laughter rimmed his eyes and he wiped them away with his gun hand. “The last person you’d suspect. My own precious daughter.”

Brayden stilled. “Sarina?”

“I’ll tell you...the innocence of a child. She came to me crying one day that she’d seen mommy hugging a man without clothes. It frightened her.”

“Why didn’t you just kill your wife then?”

Brunes’ smile was cold; his eyes dead and vacant. “Killing impatiently leads to mistakes. I’m not an impatient man.”

While Brayden contemplated his escape he asked, “How did you get her to the yacht?”

Brunes smiled wider. “You were wrong about that one, too. I didn’t drug her. She came willingly and compliantly, if a bit sad. I had Sarina taken away. I told her I’d kill her if she didn’t take a little trip with me. Of course, she knew what I meant, but hey, at least I kept my end of the bargain. I never killed Sarina.”

“So you beat her until she was unconscious, then tossed her off the side. Did you pay Daniel to help cover it up?”

Brunes shrugged. “I’ve done many things to see to protection.”

“And you killed Daniel, because...?”

“He was getting soft.” Brunes sighed, then put his finger over the trigger. “You know, you should have left it alone. The case has been closed for a long time. I’m afraid you brought this upon yourself. Just like my bodyguard did by fucking my wife.”

Brunes might have the advantage with the gun, but Brayden had something he didn’t—speed. Brayden dove across the room in a blur of motion. A shot fired. Brayden ducked, then lunged into Brunes. They both slammed into the heavy wooden desk, shoving it across the carpet and into the wall. Wood splintered and cracked. Brayden grabbed hold of Brunes’ arm then slammed it into the corner of the desk. Brunes screamed as the gun fell to the floor. An uppercut slammed Brayden’s teeth together. He tasted blood, but he had anger and determination on his side. He slammed his head forward and caught Brunes’ nose. Bones crunch and blood flowed and some of the anger bunched up inside of him released at the sight.

Brayden stepped back, then hammered two jabs across Brunes. But he didn’t fall. In fact, he laughed a hoarse, wheezing sound as he collapsed back against the desk.

“If only you knew...” he said.

Brayden wrapped his fingers around Brunes’ throat and squeezed applying pressure. Brunes fought him, latched onto his wrist to tug him away, but his strength felt like that of a baby’s next to his own.

Still, Brunes laughed, his eyes wet with pain-filled tears. “I have your woman.”

Brayden’s grip tightened. Flesh, tendons and muscles gave way under his grip. It felt so good he didn’t want to stop. Wanted to keep squeezing until it crushed, collapsed under his fingertips.

“You’re lying.”

The corner of Brunes’ mouth tilted up then his eyes darted behind Brayden. That was all the warning he had before powerful electric jolts shot through his body. His grip fell from Brunes’ throat, his knees went out, then he fell to the floor in convulsions so hard his teeth clanked together and his muscles clenched to the point of pain.