Panic washed over me in wave. He was out of his goddamn mind. “Don’t run. I thought you’d appreciate the irony of the situation.”
“What irony?” Zane and Cherry had to come upstairs sometime. Now would be good. Did I dare scream and bring them running?
“You’re too good to fraternize with the humans. The only way to get close to you is to be as inhuman as possible.” He spread his hands. “I figure being a wereleopard would do the job nicely. What’s one more furball in your bed?”
I could not believe what I was hearing. “You want to sleep with me?”
“You’re missing the point, Anita.” Edward took a step toward me and I pressed my back to the wall like I’d go through it. “Remember when I told Olaf that you and I were soulmates? I meant it. I just want to be with you, and this is the only way it would ever work out between us.”
“You call this working? I’m scared shitless right now, Edward. If this is your idea of seducing me you need to get a clue.” Drawing in a breath, I silently counted to ten and tried to formulate a plan. The only thing I could think of was screaming my head off and letting the leopards tear him to pieces.
Now Edward frowned at me. “Why are you scared? I’m not going to hurt you. I love you.”
Shit, shit, shit. I wished it was night so I could try and call up the marks with Jean-Claude. Richard was probably still too preoccupied to help me but I decided to give it a shot. He had his shields up tight. I’d have to talk my way out of this. “If you got rid of the gun I’d feel a lot safer,” I said.
“Alright.” Making slow movements so as not to spook me further, Edward laid the Beretta on the kitchen counter. “Better?” I gave him a nod. He took that as a cue to keep talking. “Can’t you picture it?” he asked. “Without any of the other men in your life you’d be so much safer. They’re cannon fodder, you know that. Have I ever let you get hurt?”
While he almost had a point, I couldn’t help but argue. “People get hurt. Shit happens. That’s life. What good would adding you to my list of lovers do, Edward? Am I supposed to dump them all for you? I don’t think some of them would like that very much.”
He was close enough now to touch. “If you’d give me a chance to prove myself to you…”
“Prove what? That you’re the better monster?”
“No.” Before I could blink he stepped forward, pressing our bodies together. He was happy to see me. Too bad I couldn’t say the same. “To prove that I’m the better man.” His breath was warm against my face. Lips hovering over mine, he whispered, “A better lover.” I jumped when I felt his hands under my shirt at the waist.
“Edward, stop, please.”
“You heard the lady.” Edward’s head whipped around at Cherry’s words. She stood hands on hips, Zane at her back. Judging by their expressions they must have been listening for a while. The cavalry had come to my rescue; the only trick was keeping them from killing Edward.
“Don’t move, anybody. Edward, explain yourself now or I won’t be responsible for what happens later.” I felt a tiny bit braver with the wereleopards in the room. He flickered his gaze between the two of them and me. He chose me as the lesser of two evils.
“Anita, I just want to be with you. Is that so hard to accept? I’ve listened while you complained about the vampire and the werewolf, even this leopard fellow. Am I the only one who sees that the choices you’ve made are wrong? We are soulmates, Anita. You can’t deny it any longer. Make the right choice this time.” He was so earnest, so sincere it almost made me feel sorry for him. But if he thought I was going to ignore this little display of affection, he was mistaken. I caught Cherry’s eye and shook my head minutely. Zane stayed where he was.
“So that’s the plan, huh, Edward? I choose you and then what? Kill off the other men in my life? Is that your solution? If you can’t fix it, kill it?” I was getting very angry but I couldn’t help it at this point. “Who died and left you in charge of my life?”
His answer was so soft I wasn’t sure I heard him right. “You almost did.”
I threw up my hands in frustration. “You tell me about your fantasy of hunting me, and you get upset when my life is in danger. What the fuck? You can’t have me and kill me too, Edward. It just doesn’t work that way.” I looked into his eyes. Surprisingly they were calm and cool. He seemed to ponder my words, then nodded.
“You’re absolutely right. I can’t do both. There’s no way. It’s your choice then: either you take me into your heart and your bed…or I’ll kill you.” He said it nonchalantly. A chill like ice ran up my spine. He was serious, and I was in deep shit.
“Edward, you’re not going to kill me.” Even I wasn’t convinced. Time to break out the big guns. ”If you try to kill me, what do you think is going to happen to you? My leopards, not to mention Jean-Claude and Richard, will torture you until the next century. The whole if-I-can’t-have-you-no-one-will crap is so overly macho. Think about it. If you care so much about me, could you really live with yourself if you were responsible for my death?” Hopefully that would appeal to his logic, if he had any left.
“I….” He never had a chance to finish. There was a whoosh of air, then his eyes went wide and his jaw dropped. Zane stood with what looked like a dartgun in hand. Edward rocked and fell forward, unconscious. I took a deep breath.
“This was supposed to be a surprise present for you,” Zane explained. He handed me the weapon. “It’s a tranquilizer gun loaded with drugs that’ll knock a shifter out for a few minutes.”
I frowned. “What’ll it do to a human?”
Cherry almost seem disappointed when she answered. “He’ll be out for the rest of the day, maybe longer. Anita, what the hell is going on? We could smell your fear from downstairs.”
“I honestly don’t know. You guys left and he got all weird on me. He kissed me, told me he loved me. He wants to be my one and only.” I looked at the knocked-out assassin. “I think he’s under a spell or something. That is so un-Edward.” I remembered something he’d said. “He told me he let a wereleopard attack him on purpose. Could he have set it up for one to claw him bad enough to contaminate but not kill?”
Zane shrugged. “Anything’s possible, but why would he do that willingly? Most people go out of their way to avoid getting lycanthropy, if they can help it. He must really want in your pants bad.” Cherry smacked him on the arm. “Ow.” Dropping to his knees, he took my hand in his and bowed his head. “Forgive me, Nimir-Ra. I meant no disrespect.”
“Get up, Zane.” He did. “Does anyone know how to get hold of Micah?”
They shook their heads. Great. “Okay, I’m going into the bedroom to try and call Richard. Find something to tie him up with.” I gestured to Edward. “Lock him in the basement when you’re done.” The two moved to do take care of things. I had a major bone to pick with a certain Ulfric.