Chapter 3 #2
“You think they’re being informed when it’s reported,” I finished.
“Yes,” Daniel replied grimly. “They targeted my brother Beau and his mate within days of my mother reporting he’d found her. Outside of our family, no one else knew.”
I barely held back the noise of despair that worked up the back of my throat.
Vampire mates were sacred. They couldn’t just go out and meet someone at a bar and fall in love and live happily ever after.
Sure, they could fall in love with someone, and I was sure it had happened, but without the mating bond, that partner would age and eventually die.
Not to mention the fact that Vampires knew from birth that their soulmate was out there somewhere in the world, so even committing to someone else was abhorrent to most of them.
Finding their human mate was nearly impossible, and Vampires had gone centuries without finding their other half.
I’d always known that my cousins would outlive me.
I’d never had the chance to feel sad or worried about it, because it was just a fact, like gravity or the change of seasons.
But as I’d gotten older, I had mourned the knowledge that I’d probably never meet my cousins’ mates.
I’d never get to tease them about how ridiculous they became when they found their other halves.
We’d never be able to raise our children together the way we were raised, running through the sprinkler in the summer, curling up on the floor late at night to watch movies while our parents hung out in the kitchen, trying to outdo each other on dirt bikes, going sledding down the big hill out back.
“Where is your head at?” Daniel asked, searching my face for a clue.
“Those motherfuckers.”
“That about sums it up,” he agreed.
“I’m going to live forever,” I said, the gravity of that sinking into my bones.
I’d witness Ian stumble over his words and generally act like an idiot when he found his mate. I’d get to see Grant smooth-talk his mate into accepting the bond and watch as cocky little Seamus fell head over heels. My throat tightened. Holy shit.
Aunt Halle was going to freak.
“There she goes again,” Daniel whispered in amusement.
I snapped back to the present.
“Hopefully, we like each other,” I said pragmatically, staring into his warm brown eyes. “Because if not, this is going to suck.”
His laugh was beautiful. It started slowly, like he couldn’t quite believe it was happening. Just like his voice, it was deep and slightly rough, and I felt it everywhere.
“Sweetheart, I already like you,” he said, his lips still curved up in a smile.
“What’s not to like?” I replied. “I’m more worried about you.”
He chuckled again, like he was fucking delighted.
It was goddamn magic.
I’d been admired before. That wasn’t anything new.
I’d had partners when I wanted them. But generally, I found that they couldn’t take all of me for long.
When I was younger, I’d put on a face, trying to trick them into liking me.
I’d kept my mouth shut when I’d wanted to shoot something clever back.
I’d downplayed how strong I was, how capable I was, how assured I was.
When I’d stopped doing that, my relationships usually fizzled pretty fast. Men were unsurprisingly emasculated by capable women.
If I had to guess? Daniel liked it.
Which was good, because trying to act more demure or delicate or softer-tongued than I actually was would backfire sooner rather than later, and it wasn’t as if either of us could walk away.
Daniel’s head turned toward the house, his head cocking to the side just a tiny bit, and I knew he must’ve heard something inside. Someone would come out to check on us soon.
“Do you have any more questions?” I asked, setting my hands on his belly. The muscles there were rock hard. My mouth watered.
“Who’s Dalton taking orders from?” he asked, looking back at me.
“What do you mean?”
“He was contracted. Who hired him?”
I looked at him in confusion. My dad and Uncle Dalton had just explained everything to him. Why did he think we’d been hired by someone?
His head snapped to the side again as Uncle Dalton stepped onto the porch.
“Arthur Carruthers,” Uncle Dalton said, crossing his arms over his chest.
“The frigging commandant of Vampire Command?” I yelped, my eyes widening.
Daniel’s hands were gentle but firm as they slid down the sides of my body and landed on my hips. He lifted me off him like it was nothing, so he could rise to his feet.
“Arthur,” he replied, his face expressionless.
“He noticed a pattern about a year ago,” Dalton confirmed.
“Came to the same conclusions you did. Someone’s using the reports to target new mates.
It took him a while to put it together because it’s only one in a hundred or so mates reported.
Since we were already looking into it, we brought him in. ”
“He told us they believed Zeke’s murder was an isolated event.”
“That’s the official stance, yes.”
“But he knew it wasn’t.”
Uncle Dalton shook his head. “He believed that was true, initially. Zeke hadn’t reported his mate, so as far as Command was aware, he didn’t have one yet.”
“We’ve given Command the evidence of more Vampires being held at the compound where my brother died,” Daniel snapped. “The prisoners had hidden things in the fucking wall. And someone knew Zeke had a mate, considering they came after Charles more than once.”
“We’ve been a step behind,” Uncle Dalton replied apologetically.
Daniel stood silently next to me, practically thrumming with anger.
They were having a staring contest. On Uncle Dalton’s side, he seemed to be observing how my mate would react, his body tight in preparation.
From Daniel, all I could see was frustrated rage in his eyes.
The longer the silence dragged on, the tighter I was wound, until I felt my body preparing to spring into action.
Something was going to happen, and I had a very strong feeling that it wouldn’t be good.
“I’m cold,” I announced abruptly, adding a dramatic shiver for good measure.
Daniel turned toward me and immediately put his arm around my shoulders, like I’d known he would.
These mates were so predictable.
“Let’s get you back inside,” he said as Uncle Dalton shot me a give-me-a-break look.
He disappeared inside the house as Daniel led me toward the front door.
“We’ve been doing what we can to get to the bottom of it,” I told him softly.
“You shouldn’t be connected to this at all.”
“But I am,” I reminded him, making his arm tighten. “So we just need to figure out where we go from here.”
“You’re going nowhere. I’ll take care of it.”
I froze, my feet digging into the boards of the porch as he tried to urge me inside.
“Try again,” I ordered flatly.
“You have no idea what these—”
“You’re joking, right?” I asked, glaring. “Was it someone else who followed you through the woods tonight? Because I’m pretty sure it was me.”
“That couldn’t be helped.”
“You could’ve told me to stay in the car with Charles.”
“I did,” he barked. “You didn’t fucking listen.”
“But you expect me to now?”
“We can discuss this later.”
“Right, you don’t want the rest of them to hear me tell you to shove it,” I said with a huff.
“No,” he argued, his voice rising. “I’d like to fucking enjoy the fact that I found my mate—which is a godsdamned miracle—for half a second before I have to obsess over the fact that she has no sense of self-preservation.”
My dad’s bark of laughter filtered through the open doorway.
I rolled my eyes but kept my mouth shut and sailed back into the house.
Everyone was back in the same places we’d left them. I dropped onto the couch and leaned against the arm, and let my dad’s slippers fall off my feet so I could tuck them in beside me. When Daniel sat down, he was so close that my feet were wedged between his back and the couch.
I wiggled my toes, just to be annoying. He ignored it.
“If Arthur wouldn’t have lied, we could’ve been working together for months,” he announced flatly.
“This is off-book,” Uncle Dalton replied, leaning back in his seat. “He came to me personally. If there’s someone in Command that’s leaking secrets, he can’t use anyone connected.”
“All of us have been separated from Command since Zeke died,” Daniel countered. “Except Ambrose, because he’s been following leads with a team.”
“And did he find anything useful?”
“You show me yours and I’ll show you mine.”
Uncle Dalton hesitated, and surprise made me straighten.
Daniel let out a huff of humorless laughter.
“It’s a delicate situation,” Uncle Dalton hedged.
“Maybe in the beginning,” Daniel argued. “At this point, it’s got the finesse of a godsdamn machine gun. They attacked the property tonight. Used Billy Finau to lure us out so they could target our mates.”
“Fuck,” Uncle Dalton breathed.
I waited for Uncle Dalton to say something, anything.
He had names of human militia members. He knew where a few of their safe houses were.
I’d heard him going over things with my pop, but I hadn’t paid much attention.
I wasn’t in charge of strategy like that—it was above my pay grade.
I was a soldier. I went where I was ordered.
The larger picture interested me, of course, because I wanted Vampires and their mates to be safe, but I didn’t know the people my pop and uncle were discussing.
I didn’t recognize the streets they mentioned or the connections they thought they might’ve found.
Uncle Dalton said nothing.
Daniel’s arm moved across my lap, his hand wrapping around the thigh furthest from him. I wondered if he was as shocked as I was that my uncle wasn’t cooperating.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Ian making a face at me. When I moved my eyes in his direction, he wiggled his eyebrows and stuck his tongue in his cheek, moving it from side to side.
I just barely held back a very inappropriate laugh.
He widened his eyes and then rolled them back and dropped his mouth open. Then, quick as a blink, his face lost all expression, and he looked down at Thunder while his ears flushed a deep red.
I turned to find my mate looking at my cousin in amusement. He glanced at me, and his expression turned serious again.
“Rosemary is out,” he announced.
“Fuck off,” I said in exasperation, digging my big toes into his back.
“They know who you are now,” he said, ignoring my toes. “And if they grabbed you again, they’d find the symptoms they were waiting for.”
“She’s out,” Uncle Dalton confirmed.
“That’s bullshit.” I smacked the arm of the couch.
“The only reason we agreed to let you is because you weren’t mated,” Uncle Dalton reminded me. “I knew they’d realize that you weren’t what they were looking for. Now? You’re exactly who they’re looking for.”
“No one can know we’re mated,” Daniel continued. “Not anyone outside of family.”
“Agreed.”
“Not even Arthur.”
Uncle Dalton nodded. “You’ll have to be very circumspect about being seen together.”
“We won’t be seen together,” Daniel replied. “I don’t plan on even bringing her to the house.”
“Wait a minute,” I said, yanking my feet out of their warm cocoon so I could set them on the floor. “You two don’t get to just decide—”
“Erik and Mattie are going to love that,” Uncle Dalton replied sarcastically, completely ignoring me.
“They’ll understand.”
“Stop,” I finally yelled, shooting to my feet. “I’m a fully grown adult. Neither of you gets to tell me what to do.”
Daniel rose beside me. “You think we should advertise that we’ve mated?” he asked calmly. “Report it to Command?”
“Of course not.”
“You don’t think it would raise some flags if I started bringing you around my family?”
“No.” I shook my head. “I mean, yes, it would.”
“All right, so you don’t think, as a newly mated human, you’re exactly who they’re looking for?”
“Not until we’ve completed the bond, I’m not,” I shot back.
I enjoyed his look of surprise. “Did you forget that I’m not some delicate human you can gently help usher into Vampire culture?
I’ve been living there my whole life. If we haven’t completed the bond, my physiology hasn’t changed.
Yes, they could find the symptoms of the heat, but they wouldn’t find anything else. ”
The satisfaction I felt when the room was so silent you could hear a pin drop was unmatched.
“So if we don’t complete the bond, I’m good. I don’t have to wait at home like the little wifey, doing nothing while you guys are out there figuring this out.”
“Rosemary,” my dad called, his voice low with warning.
“Do you think for a second that I’d ever let them get their hands on you?” Daniel asked, his hand wrapping gently around the front of my throat.
The movement wasn’t frightening in the least, but it sure as hell got my attention. Every nerve in my body seemed to come alive at once.
“No, they wouldn’t find anything different in your physiology, but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t look for it.”
“Right,” I rasped.
“We’ll complete the bond,” Daniel told me firmly, his thumb running softly up and down my neck. “Once it snaps into place, you’ll be safer.”
“Immortality won’t make me safe,” I reminded him.
“Safer,” he repeated. “I’ll make you safe.”