“Hallo, Crispin,” Charles drawled without looking away from the view in his binoculars. “Fancy meeting you here.”

  “Thanks for doing this, mate,” Bones replied, equally low. He didn’t think they had acoustic sensors this far out, but he wasn’t going to shout to test that theory.

  Charles let out muffled laugh and finally lowered his binoculars. “Please. I’d demolish this entire building to keep you from being so wretched again. Don’t know why we’re not doing that before she enters it, in fact. Seems more practical.”

  Bones took a spot next to him. “She wants to keep working for them, if they allow her.”

  Charles stared at him. When he saw that Bones was serious, he shook his head. “Did you piss off a vengeful deity? That’s the only reason I can think of for life dealing you this cruel hand.”

  Bones grunted. “My sentiments exactly.”

  They couldn’t see the compound from their location. They couldn’t even see the airstrip, but the dark expanse of trees between here and there only aided them. Don had chosen a private location for his own purposes, but it also meant that no one beyond members of the compound would see it if he and Charles took to the skies to stop an aircraft from spiriting Cat away.

  “Status,” Bones said quietly into his Blu-Tooth.

  “In place and standing by,” Rodney replied.

  Everything was set. Now, they waited.

  As the minutes slipped by, it felt like bees had taken up residence beneath Bones’s skin. Cat had reasoned that Don would first berate her in an attempt to make her break ties with Bones. When that failed, Don would try to manipulate her into doing it. When that failed, he’d either fire her or attempt to relocate her to have the “cleaners”-Cat’s term for Don’s team of human brainwashers-work on her.

  Bones was prepared for all the above. What he wasn’t prepared for was if Don was successful in his efforts to convince Cat to leave him. He’d done it once before, after all.

  “Steady, Crispin,” Charles whispered, sensing his unease.

  “I can’t lose her again,” Bones replied, his low voice in stark contrast to the battle raging inside him.

  He should have insisted on going in there with her. What if they had tunnels that Cat was unaware of? What if they shot her with a tranquilizer gun before she could enact her escape plan? What if Don found a way to change Cat’s mind about him? And what if none of that happened and Don simply executed her?

  By the end of the hour, Bones was ready to storm the facility and pull her out, causalities be damned. Then, Rodney’s voice filled Bones’s earpiece.

  “Black Volvo headed my way. Can’t see the driver yet.”

  Bones tensed until a single touch would make all his muscles shatter. “Confirm when you do,” he rasped.

  Nothing but silence for ten seconds. Twenty. Thirty…

  “It’s her,” Rodney said, and Bones’s tension popped like an exploded balloon. “She’s alone,” Rodney added. “No tail yet.”

  Moments later, Bones’s cell vibrated with an incoming text from the burner mobile he’d given Cat. See you at the place.

  Bones vaulted up. “Thanks, Charles! Ring you later.”

  “Go get her,” his mate said.

  Bones didn’t bother retrieving his Ducati. He was too keyed up. So, he flew. Before Cat had left, they’d arranged to meet at an old drive-in theater that was only one additional turn from her usual route home, so with that and the abandoned theater’s privacy, it was perfect.

  Cat left her car running when she exited it near the former outdoor movie screen that was now rippled in so many places you could hardly read the graffiti across it. The old concession stand was thirty meters away from it, and only a metal shell with sparse bits of plaster stubbornly clinging to it.

  Bones stepped out in front of it.

  Cat smiled when she saw him, and then gasped when he was suddenly crushing her to him.

  “Sometimes, I forget how fast you are,” she said with a choked laugh.

  Bones forced himself to let her go. It was that, or hold her even tighter because right now, he couldn’t touch her and not clutch her to him. Fretting about what Don would do to her had brought back too many memories of being helpless while she was in constant danger these past years.

  “I missed you,” he said simply.

  She gave a lopsided smile. “Me, too, but it went pretty well. Don was thrown when I didn’t deny or apologize for dating a vampire. Then, he accused you of using me to infiltrate his operation. I told him I’d met you before I joined the team since Tate didn’t recognize you, but Don still went on about how ‘fraternizing’ was a serious security breach. I had to point out that no one else on the team had ever gotten interrogated over who they dated. Hell, Juan admitted to sleeping with over two hundred women these past four years, and any one of them could’ve been a vampire or a vamp operative.”

  “True,” Bones said. Very. The last woman Juan had been with had cloned Juan’s mobile on Bones’s instructions, not that he shared that with Cat.

  “After I said that, Don got all sputtery about how the team was worth more than my sex life, so I told him if he didn’t think I cared about my team, too, then he could fire me. Oh, and I told them you were only a hundred years old and weaker than me, so if you were scamming me for information, I’d kill you.”

  “That was enough for them, then?” Bones asked while tampering down his regret that Don hadn’t merely fired her.

  “No.” She slanted a look at him. “Don insisted that I get tested to prove I hadn’t been drinking vampire blood.”

  Bones snorted. “They do know what runs through your veins, don’t they?”

  Cat waved that away. “Don’s extra paranoid about me or anyone else amping up their abilities with vampire blood. Someone Don knew way back when did that and then went all dark afterward, apparently. Don wouldn’t say who, though.”

  Bones had a very good idea, but he held his tongue. Not until it’s confirmed.

  “Yes, well, Don doesn’t trust easily,” was what Bones said. “Children who come from abusive homes usually don’t.”

  Her eyes widened. “I didn’t know Don was abused as a child. How’d you find that out?”

  Bones shrugged. “He covered his tracks very well, but not everything Don tried to erase about himself stayed erased.”

  Especially from someone sending out dozens of vampires to do in-person interviews as well as comb through old photos on non-computerized library microfiche. People were so reliant on the internet nowadays that they forgot there were other ways to keep records.

  “And the rest of your team?” Bones said to distract Cat from asking more about Don.

  She grunted. “Juan was worried about me, but he took it okay. Tate called me a necrophiliac, which is very hypocritical considering he tried to sleep with me once before.”

  Bones didn’t let his jealousy show. Of course he had. Cat’s picture by Tate’s bedside had already told him that.

  “Don’s going to start surveilling me again,” Cat said with a sigh. “Hidden bugs in the house, phone tapping, car tapping, shadowing, the works. If he wasn’t so committed to avenging people who’ve been victimized by the undead, I wouldn’t put up with it, but maybe Don needs to see for himself that I’m not going to betray the mission regardless of who I date.”

  Sadly not, Bones thought. Don didn’t deserve her loyalty. He certainly hadn’t shown her the same.

  “But,” Cat said in a brighter tone. “I still have vacation days left, so I’m going to try forgetting about that. I know our dinner plans were ruined, but…want to try something else?”

  Yes. Just not now. Bones had to prep to implement his other, far less favorable option of keeping her safe: manipulating Don versus killing him.

  “Tomorrow,” Bones said, pretending not to notice the disappointment on her face.

  Oh, he’d rather not wait, either, but Cat was right. Don probably had a surveillance team setting up devices in her house right now, which meant her home was compromised for all but the most banal interactions, and Bones intended their next encounter to be anything but banal.

  “Let Don cast his web,” Bones said. “It’ll lull him into thinking he’s back in control. I’ll pick you up for dinner at seven tomorrow, and you’re not going home until the next day.”

  “Oh?” she said with a breathy catch to her voice.

  His voice deepened. “That’s a promise, Kitten.”

  She moistened her lips. He tried not to stare at how the moonlight made them appear fuller. Softer. Begging to be kissed…

  “Guess I should go, then,” she said. “Before this place ends up surrounded with Black Hawk helicopters from the tracker Don doubtless put into my car while I was inside the compound.”

  He probably had done that, but what Don wouldn’t have done was find the tracker that Bones had previously put on it. He’d removed that before Cat had left tonight.

  “Ring me if anything happens between now and tomorrow night,” Bones said, backing away from her. If he kissed her goodbye…well, then it wouldn’t be goodbye.

  “I will,” she said, her gaze lingering on his face.

  He had to leave. Now. Had to, had to, had to…

  Before lust made him forget why, Bones walked away, her disappointed sigh chasing after him.

  21

  Bones felt eyes on him the moment he turned onto Cat’s street. When he pulled into her driveway, the sensation increased until it was as if ants were crawling across his skin. Cat wasn’t only being surveilled by electronic devices. Don had stationed human watchers in her neighborhood, too.

  Bones didn’t care. Don didn’t know it, but Bones had him over a barrel. The package he’d been waiting for had arrived, and it contained exactly what Bones thought it would. But that was a conversation for tomorrow. Tonight was about Cat. Not Don.

  Bones parked his Ducati and strode up to her doorway. Cat opened it before he could knock. She was dressed in a sleeveless, V-necked black sheath that hugged her torso before ending right above her knees. The simplicity of the garment highlighted her skin, making the creamy expanse of neck, arms, cleavage, and legs hard to look away from.

  Cat gave her own admiring gaze to his fitted navy shirt and tailored black trousers before she moved onto his long, black leather coat…and gasped.

  “Holy shit, is that what I think it is?”

  Bones turned in a circle for effect. “Hope you like how your former Christmas present looks on me.”

  Cat had never seen him wear it before. She’d had intended to give it to him on their first Christmas together. Then, Don stole her away, but before he did, Cat had told him about the coat. The last thing Bones did before leaving Ohio to chase after her was dig it out from its hiding place in her kitchen.

  “Only seemed fair to retrieve my present, especially after you kept yours,” he teased with a nod toward the Volvo.

  She still didn’t speak. Just stared at him while her expression changed from surprise to shame. When tears glittered in her eyes, Bones caught her to him, running his hands along her back in a soothing caress.

  “Sorry, luv. Thought you’d be pleased. Never imagined that seeing this would make you sad.”

  “I’m fine,” she said, sniffing before she pulled away and gave the leather coat a quick, light rub. “It just…caught me off guard, that’s all. You look great in it, though. Just the way I pictured you would, except for the hair, of course.”

  Bones tugged on one of the brown curls that hung long enough to frame his face. “This is my natural color. Didn’t care about dyeing it lately, and the platinum stood out more, don’t you agree? Why, do you prefer that?”

  She shrugged, recovered from her initial reaction to the coat. “I met you as a blond, so that’s stuck in my mind, but don’t worry. I won’t break out the peroxide later.”

  He only laughed. “Whatever switches you on.”

  Her heartbeat kicked up a notch. Bones enjoyed the sound as he leaned in closer. “Ready to go?”

  She offered her hand. Bones took it and led her to the Ducati. She might despise motorcycles, but if they were going to escape Don’s surveillance after dinner, this was the best way. Well, the second best way, but she’d refused to let him dole out concussions to everyone shadowing her.

  Bones heard multiple twigs snapping and at least two car doors slamming as Cat put on her helmet and climbed onto the back of his bike.

  “They’re scurrying like rats now,” he noted. “Let’s see how well they can keep up. I’ll take it easy on them to start.”

  Cat didn’t believe that. Her arms locked around his waist, and she tucked her head tight to his back. She needn’t have worried. Bones barely broke eighty as he drove to Skylines, a restaurant located at the top of a building. Cat looked around with delight when they were inside the large, hexagon shaped-room, where windows replaced walls to show the glittering cityscape below. Bones had reserved a table next to one of those windows, and Cat stared out of it with such raptness that Bones waved away the waiter who approached.

  “From up here, all the different-colored lights make the city look like a huge Christmas tree,” she said with a smile.

  Twenty stories wasn’t even very high. He’d take her to New York so she could see the view from a real skyscraper. Yes, she’d been there when Don had sent her after Ian, but he doubted she’d had a chance to go sightseeing. God, he’d forgotten how sheltered her life had been. If it didn’t involve killing vampires and ghouls, she’d probably never done it.

  “Did you pick a table by the window so the guy’s following us could see that we haven’t tried to escape?” she asked after finally tearing her gaze away.

  “I did it for you,” he said with a smile. “Though it does help not to have them barreling in here and spoiling our dinner, doesn’t it? Speaking of, here’s the menu.”

  She took it from him. The waiter saw that and bustled back over. Bones ordered wine for them both, and then bade the waiter to come back while Cat considered her choices. He’d have a plate of something to blend in, but he didn’t care what it was. All regular food tasted bland to vampires.

  She kept flicking her gaze to him over the top of the menu, her gaze lingering longer each time. He’d picked the navy shirt to draw her eye. It was elegant but it skimmed his torso in a tighter cut, as did the sleeves that ended at his wrists. He’d left the top button at his collar undone, showing his neck as well as the faint hollow where his throat met his collarbone. Cat used to love to kiss that spot on her journey down his chest, and if she hadn’t noticed it before, she did when Bones let his fingers brush it as he pretended to study the menu.

  Her breath hitched. Oh, yes, she’d noticed.

  Bones shifted until his shirt drew tighter against his arm, showing a hint of the corded muscles hewn from brutal labor back in the New South Wales penal colonies when he was human. She noticed that, too, and her pulse increased to a trot.

  He owed her this after she’d worn a dress that made her skin gleam like liquid pearls against obsidian. He could barely look away, and if she moistened her lips one more time, he was flying across the table to kiss her until she begged to breathe.

  As if she heard the thought, she traced her tongue along her inner lip while her scent richened with desire.

  “Stop it, luv,” Bones said in a low growl. “You’re making it very difficult for me to behave.”

  A grin teased her mouth before she slowly rubbed her legs together, maddening him with the sound of friction caused by her silky skin. He couldn’t wait to hear that sound when her thighs were cradling his hips, his mouth, and his waist.

  “I don’t know what you mean,” she said in nearly a coo.

  The waiter brought their wine. Bones almost shooed him away, too caught up in the way Cat let her fingers graze her cleavage as she took a sip. Then, she made a low “mmm” of approval that had him gripping the edge of the table until he nearly broke off a chunk. He leaned closer, letting his gaze rake over her.

  “Do you know how beautiful you are? Absolutely ravishing, and I’m going to spend hours reacquainting myself with every inch of your body. I can hardly wait to see if you taste as good as I remember, but I’m not going to stop until I find out.”

  She held her wine a moment before she spoke. “Why wait? We don’t have to stay. We can get the meal to go.”

  Bones was about to summon the waiter for exactly that when a distinct crack! had him surging at Cat with all his speed. He knew that sound. Someone had just fired a high-powered rifle.

  Pain exploded in his skull, leaving him briefly blind and deaf. Then, he heard screams above the roaring in his head, and the darkness in his vision lightened to red, allowing him to see Cat beneath him. Blood streaked her face from a new furrow in her temple and she had glass, wood shards, and a fork in her hair, but her hammering heartbeat meant she was alive. That was all he cared about.

  “What…happened?” she began before opening her tightly closed eyes. Then, she stared at him in shock. “Oh my God, you’re shot! Someone tried to kill you!”

  No, but shoving her out of the way meant he’d taken part of the bullet meant for her. Thankfully, the bullet wasn’t silver, or he wouldn’t have healed already. Bones blinked the remaining blood out of his eyes and glanced around. He’d tackled her onto the floor beneath another diner’s upturned table, with that couple sprawled around them, too. More people screamed as they jumped from their tables, panicked by the gunfire. Good. The chaos plus their being on the ground would make another clear shot at Cat impossible, although the shooter was obviously skilled. Three holes cratered the glass at head height next to Cat’s former seat. If Bones had been a millisecond slower, he’d be cradling her dead body right now.

  Cat followed his gaze and then stared at the glass holes where her head had been. Bones took another moment to make sure that he felt fully healed, and then he clutched her to him and rose while his back was between her and the windows behind them.