1. Chance #2
Rena looked back at me, her eyebrows pulling together in the center. “Am I in the hospital? Why is he naked?”
Reese let out a seriously inappropriate snort.
“No, you’re at the Bouchers’ house,” Reese said dryly. “Their aunt is a doctor, and she fixed you up. I have no idea why Chance is naked.”
“I’m not naked,” I argued, gesturing to my boxers as Beau quietly left the room.
“Could you at least put some pants on?” Reese asked.
I hurried to pull my clothes on while Rena watched, trying awkwardly to explain. “My clothes were dirty, so I took them off and washed up.”
I let out a breath when Rena turned away from me again. “What’s wrong with me?”
“A concussion,” Reese said. “You have stitches along your hairline and a cut on your right side. Alice said it looked like glass from a wine bottle.”
“I knew I should’ve put the champagne in the trunk,” Rena rasped.
“You bled a lot,” Reese said, sniffling. “When Chance carried you into the house, I thought you were dead.”
“Shouldn’t I be in a hospital?” Rena asked, glancing back at me.
“Funny you should ask that,” Reese grumbled.
I’d finally gotten my sweats and shirt on, but my feet were still bare as I moved a little closer to the bed.
“You’re safer here,” I told Rena, resisting the urge to lace my fingers with hers again.
“That makes no sense,” she replied tiredly. “Why would you bring me here?” The words trailed off at the end as her gaze sharpened. I held perfectly still as she looked me over.
“Can you think of a reason I’d bring you to my home?” I asked carefully. Her grandfather was a Vampire. It wasn’t a stretch to think that she might recognize the mating bond that was invisibly tugging us toward one another.
Rena’s face lost all expression. “No.”
It wasn’t an answer to my question. It was a declaration. A line in the sand.
“Rena,” Reese chided. “Don’t?—”
“Get out,” Rena ordered, never looking away from me. “Go.”
I could’ve argued. I wanted to argue. It was my fucking house, and she was my mate.
Instead, I dipped my chin and grabbed my socks off the chair beside her bed. She was hurt, in an unfamiliar place, and groggy. She deserved a moment to get her bearings.
“I won’t be far,” I told her, grabbing the dirty clothes from the floor.
Walking away felt like being stabbed with a million needles over every inch of my skin, and once I was outside her line of sight, I paused to catch my breath.
“That was seriously fucked up,” Reese scolded quietly inside the room. “Why did you do that?”
“He thinks I’m his mate, doesn’t he?” Rena asked, her voice low. “That’s why I’m here.”
“He knows it,” Reese replied. “There’s no thinking involved, Re. He knows it like he knows himself.”
“I should be in a hospital,” Rena said, inhaling sharply.
It took every ounce of willpower I had not to race back into the room to see if she’d hurt herself.
“You can’t,” Reese replied after a moment. “There’s some big shit happening, okay? Just trust me.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Vampires and their mates are being hunted,” Reese said. “I don’t know all the details. I just know that we’re in danger. All of us.”
“What the fuck, Reese?” Rena snapped. “What are you talking about? You never said anything—Fuck, my head hurts.”
“Well, if you’d stop moving around,” Reese replied in exasperation. “You’re not going anywhere. Lay back.”
“Shut up. I’m pissed at you.”
“Be pissed at me lying down.”
“What do you mean, Vampires are being hunted?” Rena asked after a few moments. “They’re the top of the fucking food chain.”
Reese had just started explaining the last few months and all the corruption we’d uncovered when Ambrose stepped around the corner and motioned me toward the kitchen. Reluctantly, I followed him and found everyone scattered around the room. My skin felt like it was on fire.
“How’s she doing?” my mom asked from her seat at the table. Her hands were wrapped around a mug of something steaming, and she looked like she’d been put through the wringer.
My poor mother. All she’d ever wanted was for her boys to find their mates and settle into happy lives. Instead, one of her sons had been murdered before he could ever start a life with the mate he’d found, and the rest of us seemed to be struggling to keep our mates in one piece.
“She’s awake,” I replied, setting everything on the floor so I could pull on my socks. “And arguing with Reese.”
“That’s pretty typical,” Beau informed me. “They’re always bickering.”
“She’s pissed Reese didn’t tell her about everything that’s been going on,” I said, straightening. “And that we didn’t take her to the hospital.”
“Did Reese throw you under the bus?” Aunt Alice asked.
“Not yet.”
“You were right to insist she stay here,” my dad said firmly. “Too hard to protect her at a human hospital.”
“Might as well paint a target on her back,” my sister-in-law, Rosemary, added.
“Hopefully, Reese can make that clear,” I said, stretching my neck from side to side.
Now that Rena was awake and I’d actually spoken to her, the mating heat was hitting full force.
The hair on the back of my neck prickled, my skin was on fire, and there felt like there was an invisible thread pulling at the center of my chest.
“I’ve contacted the boys,” Mordecai said, standing behind Helen with his arm wrapped around her. “They’re preparing and will be ready whenever we give the go-ahead.”
“We can’t go at this half-assed,” Danny added. “We need a solid plan in place before anyone goes anywhere. Dalton’s waiting for a call too. He said that he has two teams available.”
“My old team?” Rosemary asked him quietly.
“Not sure, baby,” Danny said. He paused. “But you’ll be with me no matter who’s going.”
She nodded, her shoulders relaxing. Rosemary had fought beside Vampires for years with her godfather’s paramilitary company, which Danny had put a stop to when they mated.
It looked like he was ready to loosen the leash a little.
I wondered distractedly how that would turn out, but it was pretty hard to focus on anything except the woman in the room down the hall.
“We need to hit both properties at the same time,” Ambrose said, leaning back in his chair. “If we don’t, we take the chance of someone sending a warning.”
“By the time we hit the second, they could clear out entirely,” Beau agreed. Ambrose nodded.
“Hermann is a priority, but we’re all in agreement that this won’t be the end of it, right?” I asked, glancing around the table. “Baudelaire needs to be taken care of.”
The French billionaire had been financing it all.
“One thing at a time,” my father said solemnly.
Yes, one thing at a time. First, we needed to take down Hermann.
We’d already dealt with the Vampire generals who had sold out their own community.
Hermann was the head of the human faction of the organization, and we knew little about him.
We weren’t even sure how many human operators he had under his command.
“We need to do some surveillance,” I said, cracking my knuckles. Fuck, I was having a hard time concentrating. “We can’t go in blind.”
“Danny and I can do it,” Rosemary said. My brother looked at her like she’d lost her mind. “We can check one of the properties. Uncle Dalton can send someone to the other.”
“We trust Dalton’s guys?” Beau asked.
“I trust Dalton,” my father said calmly. “I think we can extend that to who he trusts.”
“He trusted Adamson,” I pointed out. Dalton hadn’t believed us when we’d told him the Vampire General was dirty. To be fair, he’d been willing to change his mind when presented with the information we’d uncovered.
“They’re loyal,” Rosemary said, glancing around the room. “I’ve worked with most of them. I can vouch for whoever he sends.”
I really wanted to be there while they ironed out our plans, but I was kidding myself if I thought I’d be able to contribute.
It chafed, but my attention was split, and most of it was still in the medical room with my mate.
I’d given her enough time with Reese. Surely, the heat was starting to make her uncomfortable too.
Without a word, I spun on my heel and walked out of the kitchen. Reese and Rena were quiet as I made my way to the medical room, and when I walked in the door, both of their heads turned toward me.
“Don’t kick me out again,” I ordered.