“You’ll get used to it, honey,” Annmarie assured her, flipping her long hair behind her with the sweep of her hand. “After awhile you won’t think twice about having sex or watching it. Sometimes things get crazy here and you could see sex on the stairwells or in the kitchen. When we want it, we go after it no matter where it is.”

  “Speak for yourself, cousin,” Adrian said, glaring at her. “Not all of us fuck like rabbits in public. Some of us are more discreet.”

  Annmarie snorted.

  “Oh I beg to differ, Adrian. I think I know as well as anyone that your statement isn’t true.”

  Harlee’s gaze shot to the doorway. Sara entered, her eyes focused only on Adrian. Dressed elegantly in cream slacks and a sapphire blue blouse that highlighted her ample breasts, her golden hair piled high on top of her head, she looked like a regal princess. As she passed behind his chair, she lightly trailed her fingers over his shoulders before slipping into the seat next to his.

  Okay, so Adrian had a past with Sara. Or maybe he had a present with Sara. Why did that thought make her heart hurt? So vampires were sluts. Harlee certainly didn’t have a claim on Adrian, despite what happened between them last night.

  “Drop it, Sara,” Adrian warned, picking up his fork and resuming his meal.

  “Just trying to make sure Harlee gets accurate information. Just because your cousin is a whore doesn’t mean Harlee needs to think she’s going to end up the same way.” Sara turned to her and offered a kind, warm smile. “We’re not all as nonconforming as Annmarie, darling. While it’s true there are certain times the bloodlust gets the best of us and we have to have sex while the moment is hot, most of the time we’re quite discreet.”

  “Blow it out your ass, bitch,” Annmarie stated as matter-of-factly as if she’d just bid Sara a good morning. “You and Adrian, up against the wall at the top of the stairs? Please. Spare me your holier-than-thou sermon and just admit you like a good fuck as well as I do.”

  Sara’s eyes widened then narrowed as she shot Annmarie a vicious glare. But then the lines on her forehead relaxed and she shrugged. “I don’t know why I bother trying to have a civil conversation with someone like you.”

  “I don’t know why you bother trying to have any kind of conversation with me,” Annmarie quipped.

  “Knock it off, both of you,” Adrian said, then looked past Sara toward Harlee. “Look. We all like to fuck. It’s inherent. You’ll want it more often and you’ll want it harder, like an animal. You’ll get used to it soon enough. It’s part of your nature.”

  Not part of her nature. She was human, but they didn’t know it. They just assumed she was in the throes of some beastly transformation, and she had to make sure they continued to think that way. Which meant she had to start acting like she really was transforming.

  “Well, it’s all damned uncomfortable and I’m just not used to it. Sorry.”

  Sara patted her hand. “It’s okay, honey. I can’t even imagine how difficult this must be for you. First the big revelation that you’re not who and what you thought you were, and then all the physiological changes going on inside you. It’s no wonder you’re a little stressed. We all understand.”

  She offered Sara a weak smile. “Thanks. I appreciate that.”

  Duncan’s phone rang, and thankfully she stopped being the center of everyone’s attention as he began to argue with someone on the other end of the line. After a few curt responses, he flipped the phone off and looked to Adrian. “Lester wants to meet Harlee.”

  “Then tell him to get over here,” Adrian said.

  “Can’t. You know since Stefan’s death he’s been in seclusion. Until we figure out who killed Stefan, Lester could possibly be the next target for assassination. I’ve got security tight around him and I want him to stay put.”

  “Who’s Lester?” Harlee asked.

  “Stefan’s younger brother. Your uncle,” Duncan replied. “He wants us to bring you to the family home this afternoon. It’s about time you were introduced to the lycan side of your family.”

  Her uncle. Or rather, they thought he was her uncle. “And he wants to meet me?”

  “Of course, darlin’,” Duncan said with a smile. “It’s important you meet both sides of your family.”

  An idea she didn’t relish. Being here was bad enough. Then again, it meant travel, and travel meant the possibility of escape. “When do we go?”

  “We’ll check with Robert and get his okay for you to travel to the lycan mansion. Once that’s done, we’ll go as soon as you’re ready,” Duncan said.

  She was ready in less than an hour. Showered, her hair dried and makeup applied. Of course she had to choose another one of the so-not-her-style outfits that Annmarie had given her, this time a short red stretchy skirt and black halter. Way too revealing to meet anyone, much less a relative. Then again, these vampires and lycans did things differently.

  As she, Duncan and Adrian drove to Lester’s home, Harlee actually started to feel nervous, as if she were about to meet someone she really was related to. Bizarre how her feelings had become all jumbled these past couple days.

  She supposed that blindfolding her was out of the question now that she knew who and what she allegedly was. They drove outside the city, climbing uphill toward the mountains. Her breath caught when they pulled into a gated community, Duncan nodding at the fierce-looking guard who controlled the tall gates. The house was tall and imposing, a dark brown stone and brick mansion with towers at either end and no doubt enough room for an entire city of people to live in.

  “I hope he’s not the only one who lives here,” Harlee said.

  “Hardly,” Duncan replied. “This is where most of the lycans live who are part of the clan in this area.”

  “How many is that?”

  “Roughly a hundred.”

  Now it was clear why they needed such a huge place. “How do you keep the government from finding you?”

  Duncan grinned and stopped the car in front of the mansion. “Rich people have big houses. The Leveaux holdings are sizeable.”

  “Leveaux?” she asked.

  “Family name. Your family name, lass.”

  “As is the Baine family name,” Adrian added.

  Now it made sense. Funny how she’d never thought to ask about the surnames. “So Adrian is a Baine?”

  He nodded.

  “And Duncan is a…”

  “Pain in the ass,” Adrian teased.

  “Funny,” Duncan replied. “No, my family lives in Scotland. My last name is Kennard.”

  “What are you doing over here?” she asked.

  “Been over here for quite some time, lass,” he said. “So long about all I have left of my roots is a little of my brogue. Though occasionally a few Gaelic words slip out.”

  “So what would make more of them slip out?” she teased, wondering if she’d be able to hear him speak Gaelic to her. Such a romantic language.

  “Sex,” he replied.

  Adrian coughed. Duncan laughed. Harlee shook her head.

  “Okay. I’d probably pick more up if surrounded by my kinfolk. I always do when I visit home.”

  “Do you miss your family?”

  “Sometimes. But you’ll find among the lycans, and the vampires too, that we’re all kin of some form or another.”

  So if she really was a part of both clans, she would be a mix of Leveaux and Baine. Interesting. “So you all didn’t originate here?”

  “Most of us are nomads,” Duncan said, slipping the keys from the ignition and exiting the car. As they walked up the front stairs onto the enormous porch, he added, “Both lycans and vampires have moved out of necessity.”

  “True,” Adrian said. “Between our bloody history and the human governments determined to exterminate us, we’ve constantly had to put down new roots. That means we’re all over the world now.”

  She had so many questions, so much information and history she wanted to ask about both clans, but at that moment the front door opened and another stern, gigantic bodyguard blocked the doorway. He nodded when he saw Duncan and stepped away from the door.

  Very similar to the Dark Moon holdings, the lycan home was enormous. Old world and gothic with incredibly expensive artwork decorating the walls and ancient tapestries hung throughout the downstairs. Duncan took her on a quick tour and Harlee was confused, passing by more hallways and staircases than she could ever remember. If she had to wander around this place alone, she’d be lost for sure.

  They stopped in one room that had two sofas next to a fireplace. Very cozy and intimate, a few end tables and comfortable chairs were scattered about. She could see herself tucked in here on a snowy night, curled up next to a roaring fire while she read a book and drank a cup of tea.

  Whoa. Where had that come from? She wasn’t staying here, this wasn’t her home and despite its warmth and comfort, she was so far out of her element it wasn’t even funny. Instead of admiring the décor, she should be looking for a way out. What kind of an agent was she?

  Not a very good one, apparently.

  A tall, thin woman brought in a tray filled with coffee and tea, setting it onto the coffee table in front of them, then slipped out without a word. Soon after two of the big burly types walked in, followed by an older gentleman. Broad and muscular, with a full head of white hair and a very wide smile, he hurried over to Harlee and grasped both her hands in his.

  “My niece, daughter of my brother, welcome to the Leveaux clan. I am Lester, brother of Stefan.” Then he leaned in and kissed both her cheeks.

  Harlee liked him immediately. There was a warmth to him that made her feel instantly comfortable. “It’s nice to meet you, Lester.”

  “Sit down. I want to know about you.”

  She sat on the sofa and he sat next to her, still holding onto her hands. “I’m sorry about your brother.” She couldn’t bring herself to call Stefan her father, because he hadn’t been her father. Yet when his eyes clouded over with dark sadness, she couldn’t help but feel his despair.

  “I loved my brother very much,” Lester said. “His death came as a huge shock to all of us. There is much fear and concern here, as I’m certain there is in the vampire clan.”

  Lester looked to Adrian and nodded. “Is Robert faring well?”

  “He’s fine. Still trying to get to the bottom of what happened,” Adrian said.

  “As we all are. Who would want to kill Stefan? And why did Stefan suddenly wish to bring Harlee out in the open when he had hidden her for so many years?”

  Harlee wished she knew the answers to all these questions, or at least knew who the real daughter of Stefan and Amelia was. She felt guilty for perpetrating such a fraud on these people, but what choice did she have? As an agent for the government, she was duty bound to do her job, which meant gathering information on the lycans and vampires. Still, she couldn’t help the discomfort that accompanied her lies.

  “Would this beauty be my cousin?”

  Harlee peered around Adrian and Duncan to see a mirror image of Lester, only much younger.

  “Harlee, this is my son, William. Your cousin.”

  Harlee stood and William came over to embrace her. “Welcome to the clan, Harlee.”

  “Thank you. This is all a bit strange.”

  He grinned and the room lit up. The man was extremely handsome. “I’ll bet it is. I can’t even imagine having your entire world changed in the blink of an eye. Can’t be easy for you.”

  William was as warm and welcoming as Lester, making her feel relaxed and comfortable. “It hasn’t been, but I’m trying to adjust.”

  “We’ll try to make it easier for you,” William said. “I don’t have brothers, sisters or any cousins, so you’re the first for me. I’ll just think of you as a sister,” he said with a grin and a wink, then kissed her hand.

  Harlee caught Adrian’s rolling eyes and Duncan’s glare. Clearly something about William bothered them. Either that or they were both jealous that she was getting attention from another man, even if that man was her “cousin”.

  Something about that thought made her smile.

  “Let me show you your father’s rooms,” Lester suggested, standing and reaching for her hand.

  Harlee stood and walked with him down the hallway and up a staircase that led to a private suite. Within it was a separate apartment that Lester explained belonged to Stefan. Harlee wandered around the expansive rooms, absorbing the quiet of the wood floors, the excellent taste in art work and furnishings that Stefan collected. When she wandered into a study, she was drawn to a framed picture on the uncluttered desk. She picked up the picture of a woman who looked very much like her.

  “That’s your mother,” Lester said.

  The picture was similar to the one Robert had showed her earlier. Again that strange pang of loss, of memory, of seeing a picture of someone who looked so much like her it was uncanny. This whole story couldn’t be true, could it? Wouldn’t she somehow have known it, felt…different? She traced the figure of the young woman in jeans and a long man’s shirt, her hair unbound and flying in the breeze of night. She appeared to be standing on a balcony.

  “It was taken when she and Stefan ran off together. It’s the only memory he had of her, other than a few things he kept in a locked box here.” Lester took a box out of a desk drawer and handed it to her. Inside were bundled letters, now yellowed and tied with a ribbon. She ran her hand over the letters and looked up at Lester.

  “Stefan and Amelia wrote poems to each other,” he said, smiling. “The box also contains her hairbrush and a few of her other personal things. The box is yours now. You’re Amelia’s daughter and I’m sure he’d have wanted you to have it.”

  Harlee placed the letters back in the box and closed it, feeling the urge to shove it back in Lester’s hands, knowing she had no right to these things. Intimate things between two lovers whose time had been cut all too short.

  “Thank you,” she whispered, feeling guilty again for letting him believe she was Stefan’s daughter. These lies were getting harder and harder every step of the way.

  “These mementos were all he had left of her. Other than knowing you were out there, of course.”

  She stared at the picture of Amelia. The photograph mesmerized her, filling her with questions she wasn’t certain she wanted answers to. She placed the picture back on the desk and wandered around the room, trying to shake off the feeling of melancholy.

  “That’s a picture of my father and your father,” William said, pointing to a painting over the fireplace.

  The painting showed two young men, very similar in appearance, dressed in vintage clothing and standing in front of what looked like a castle. Had to be somewhere in Europe. Harlee stared at the painting, easily differentiating Stefan from Lester. Again, that feeling of familiarity struck her as she looked at some of Stefan’s features.

  They had the same chin. Or was she just imagining the resemblance between her and Stefan and Amelia? Had this whole thing taken on some kind of dream-like fantasy?

  Shaking off her ridiculous thoughts, Harlee moved around the apartment. When she reached for a door handle down the hall, Duncan’s hand covered hers.

  “That’s Stefan’s bedroom.”

  “So?”

  “He was murdered in there.”

  “I want to see.” She didn’t know why, but it had suddenly become important for her to know what had happened to him.

  Duncan paused for a second, then removed his hand and allowed her to open the door. She stepped in and Duncan flipped the light switch, bathing the room in brightness.

  It was easy to spot the bloodstain on the carpet in front of his bed. She shuddered then wrapped her arms around herself to ward off the sudden chill. “How did he die?”

  “He was stabbed with a silver-tipped knife. Silver will kill us,” Lester explained.

  “And you have no idea who did it?” she asked.

  “Not yet,” Duncan said, “but we’ll find out soon enough.”

  “Had to be a lycan,” Adrian said. “No vamps have access to this place.”

  “And you know as well as we do that it could have been anyone, lycan or vampire,” William said, glaring at Adrian. “We’re not assuming it was a lycan. Why would a lycan want Stefan dead? It makes no sense. He was our leader.”

  “There are lots of reasons,” Adrian said. “Maybe your father did it so he could take over.”

  Fury turned William’s face a bright red. He advanced on Adrian, murderous intent on his face. “How dare you accuse my father of this! He loved his brother, as we all did!”

  Harlee stepped back as William’s eyes began to glow a bright yellow, his face distorting as it began to shift. Though she’d seen pictures of transformed lycans, they had never been able to force the transformation of any they had captured. She stood, mesmerized as long claws ripped from William’s fingernails.

  “William, stop,” Lester said quietly, placing his hand on his son’s shoulder. “Tensions are high right now and Adrian is right. We can’t afford to assume a lycan didn’t do this. It could be anyone.”

  As soon as the transformation began, it was over. William’s eyes returned to their normal brown color, though the fierce look he gave Adrian made her distinctly uncomfortable. Adrian didn’t seem the least bit bothered by William’s rage, standing there with his arms crossed and a half smile on his face.

  “You are welcome to stay with us, Harlee,” Lester offered after they left Stefan’s bedroom. “There is much you need to learn about your lycan side.”

  “Perhaps someday I’d like to do that,” she said, “but right now I think I’ll stay in the neutral territory of the corporate headquarters.” She didn’t want to appear to take sides, plus she knew that security was so high in this place she’d never be able to slip away. As it was, a contingent of guards had followed them from room to room. The idea of escape was impossible here.