“Since the day I was born,” Bones agreed.

  Shockingly, a tear formed at the corner of her eye.

  Bones stared at it in disbelief. “You’re not grieving over that wanker, are you?”

  “Not him,” she said in a thicker voice. “I lost a good friend trying to save Danny because I thought it was my job. Joke’s on me, right? I didn’t even realize you were the one who’d kidnapped Danny until weeks later, when I was finally shown the evidence from the scene. My boss sent someone else to the hospital since I was on forced grief leave at the time.”

  Bones closed his eyes. She hadn’t reached out to him in Chicago because she hadn’t known about the watch. All his pain, the way he’d ripped himself apart, the colossal mistake he’d made with Annette…all of it had been for nothing.

  He opened his eyes. Cat wasn’t looking at him, and she also didn’t speak. Neither did he. Oh, he had many things to tell her, starting with why her concern over him insisting that she change into a vampire was groundless, but right now, he’d shelve that and let the feel of her soothe everything else away.

  Yes, she was stubborn, reckless, and clinically in denial over what she was and what she felt, but the pain seething beneath her prickly surface was one he well knew. She might have done it to herself, but that didn’t lessen the sting. Sometimes, it made it far worse.

  Either his silence or the music soothed her because she gradually lost her stiffness and began moving with her usual grace. That plus her beauty earned her several admiring glances from the other dancers. Bones didn’t blame them, but it did bring up another sore subject.

  “So, how long have you been dating the pet vet?”

  All at once, her stiffness was back with a vengeance. “None of your business.”

  The blatant hypocrisy made him laugh. “You looked like you were about to ram your knife through Felicity’s heart earlier, and yet you begrudge me this simple question?”

  She muttered a curse before saying, “I wanted to kill Felicity because she’s a shallow bitch who pisses me off. It had nothing to do with you.”

  Now his laughter was low, deeper, and filled with everything she was trying to deny between them. “Liar.”

  He pulled her closer. Her warmth teased him in ever increasing waves, and with every brush of his body, her hands started to tighten on his shoulders. When his hips rubbed hers with a light, sensual graze, she gasped, and her scent bloomed with desire. He let her see him inhale the proof of her arousal while his hands slid down her back in a slow caress.

  “Lie all you want,” he murmured. “You did miss me.”

  She huffed even as pinpricks of emerald lit her gray gaze. “No, you’re just a good dancer. Felicity seemed to agree, too.”

  Back to her again, were they? Well, if she wanted to compare wedding reception partners… “Seeing me kiss Felicity was the least you deserved after I had to watch that human teddy bear fawn all over you. Really, Kitten, what were you thinking, dating him? Your mum has bigger balls than Noah.”

  “His balls are fine!” she shot back, and then color filled her cheeks.

  Normally, her blushes amused him. This time, it had the opposite effect. Was she embarrassed because she’d revealed more than she intended? Bones hadn’t asked Noah how serious things were between him and Cat. He’d only implemented the “leave ten minutes after you hear this word” instruction. His reason was simple: he didn’t trust himself not to kill Noah if he admitted to shagging Cat, and technically, Noah had done nothing wrong.

  “Right,” was all Bones said. “No wonder you’re so hot around me, then. With how you keep pretending to be human, I reckon the best shag you’ve had all these years has been yourself. All that holding back must be frustrating.”

  A low blow brought about by his rabid, vampire-infused jealousy. Cat didn’t hesitate to return it.

  Her leg swung up, hooking around Bones’s hip. Then, she pressed against him as if they were in bed instead of at a club. She even twisted her hips to increase the agonizingly sensual friction. Feeling her soft heat grind against his cock made his mind go blank. There was no loud music, no dancers, no other vampires to kill… nothing but the fire ripping through him.

  “Looks like I’m not the only one who’s been frustrated,” he barely heard her say. “Might want to tone down your eyes, Mr. Optical Hard-on. People might notice.”

  Bones snapped his eyes shut, but people would notice the hell out of something else, if she kept toying with him this way.

  He leaned down until his mouth brushed her ear. “Careful, luv. I might be angry with you, but that doesn’t mean I don’t still want you. So, if you do that again, I’ll shag you right here, right now, and sod anyone who wants to watch.”

  A tremor went through her, and her scent sharpened until desire covered even the coppery tang of blood. Bones drew in that heady aroma and his hands tightened around her.

  “Oh, Kitten,” he rumbled as his mouth slid to her throat. “Now you’re just daring me to, aren’t you?”

  Warm air teased his cheek from her rapid, breathy exhales, and her pulse hammered against his lips. Oh, yes, she wanted him, and he might not make a public show of claiming her as he’d threatened, but there was a private room only a few doors away…

  Hair-raising energy suddenly shot through the room. Mentally, Bones cursed. The other vampires had arrived.

  Bones forced his lust back as he released Cat and opened his eyes.

  “They’re here.”

  14

  The three vampires moved through the crowd like sharks carving through water. The humans probably didn’t realize that they backed away a fraction to let them pass, but some instinct inside them had recognized predators on the hunt.

  The vampires noticed, and the two men and one woman changed their vibe. Suddenly, they were all smiles and slowing their movements to be more casual and less purposeful. Within moments, the crowd stopped parting and began pressing closer instead. It helped that the vampires were beautiful. The woman looked Irish with her coppery-colored hair, light smattering of freckles, and gardenia-pale skin, while the two men were blue-eyed Caucasians with buttery-blond hair and golden bronze skin that spoke of either a human life spent outdoors or an excellent spray tanner.

  Cat groaned when the trio split up, each heading in a different direction. “I’m going to call my team,” she whispered. “They can secure the perimeter so none of them gets away.”

  “Don’t bother,” Bones replied while eying the trio. “Your toy soldiers are over an hour away, and I can practically feel the bloodlust pouring off these sods. They’re going to feed soon. If you wait for your team, someone will die.”

  “But if one of them goes for the members-only area and sounds the alarm, we’ll lose the other two,” she countered. “And I’ve got too much blood on my dress to offer myself up as a test bite, so, got any better ideas?”

  “I do,” Bones said, and pulled the nearest single woman of similar size to Cat next to him. Her instant sputter was cut off when Bones brought his face close and cupped his hands around their eyes so no one else could see his glow.

  “Go to the ladies’ room with this woman,” he said, a jerk of his head indicating Cat, “and switch your dress with hers.”

  “Switch my dress,” the woman repeated, caught in his gaze.

  Bones released her. “All yours, Kitten.”

  Cat’s approving smile suddenly slipped and her gaze narrowed. “Wait, you could have done that before. Then, we wouldn’t have needed to dance together!”

  Bones flashed a wicked grin. “So I could. But I didn’t.”

  Cat’s glare promised revenge, but she led the woman toward the restrooms. Minutes later, Cat came out wearing a backless yellow dress that was much shorter and tighter than her bridesmaid gown. After a glance around the club, she went over to the male vampire who appeared to have settled on a young blonde woman for his next meal.

  Cat elbowed the blonde out of her way and smacked a small piece of fabric onto the vampire’s chest. “As soon as I saw you, I knew I wouldn’t be needing these.”

  When the vampire sniffed the scrap of fabric, Bones realized it was Cat’s knickers. Bloody hell, he thought, admiration mixing with rabid territorialism, that’ll do it.

  It did. The vampire shoved the blonde away with a muttered refusal Bones couldn’t hear.

  Cat’s voice was much clearer as she said, “You’re not the conversationalist type, I hope?”

  After that, who would be?

  The vampire led Cat through the crowd without another word. Bones followed at a distance, but then stopped when the Irish vampire appeared to choose a snack, too. The young man smiled as she flicked her fingers through his black curls before giving a flirty kiss to his neck. Then, she whispered something that had them walking hand-in-hand down the hallway that led to the back room where Cat and her vampire had disappeared into.

  Bones was about to follow when a burst of energy from that room made the second male vampire’s head whip around. That energy dissipated like a popped balloon, and the vampire’s gaze flashed green. Only ironlike control or sudden death would cause a vampire’s aura to surge and then disappear that quickly, and from the alarm that flashed over the vampire’s face, his companion didn’t have ironlike control.

  Bones was torn. The female vampire was now out of sight, too, and Cat didn’t know that she was coming toward her. Did he let Cat handle her alone? Or did he back her up?

  Crashing sounds came from the hallway, so loud not even the blaring music could drown them out. Then, another burst of energy instantly deflated, solving Bones’s quandary. Cat must have just killed the female vampire, too.

  The remaining male ran out of the club. Bones followed, but not as fast since he didn’t trample the other dancers in his way like the vampire did. When the vampire saw that Bones was chasing him, he began throwing the dancers at Bones, too. Bones caught them and set them down as gently as possible while chasing after him. Still, the slight delay allowed the other vampire to disappear out the door.

  “Kitten, outside!” Bones roared as he chased after him.

  Maybe Cat would hear him, maybe she wouldn’t. Either way, he had to catch this sod.

  The vampire leapt over the fence bordering the club’s parking lot and ran into oncoming traffic on the nearby highway. Brakes screeched as cars tried to avoid hitting the dark blur that streaked across both the north and southbound lanes. Bones followed, cursing the numerous streetlights that made flying too risky. At least the vampire wasn’t a Master. He was fast, but Bones was faster.

  The vampire realized that as he glanced behind him and saw Bones gaining. The vampire ran faster, his feet tearing up the grass in the empty soccer field he darted through next. Up ahead, apartment buildings loomed over a dark construction site. Bones lagged back, letting the distance widen between them now. If the vampire thought he was getting away, he might not run toward those flats filled with all those innocent humans.

  The vampire chose the dark, empty construction site instead of the apartment complex. Triumph surged through Bones.

  Thank you, you witless fool.

  As soon as Bones was clear of the streetlights, he flew, tackling the vampire right after he hurdled over the fence surrounding the construction site. Then, Bones ripped one of Cat’s borrowed silver daggers through the vampire’s heart. Two twists later, and the sod was as dead as Caesar.

  Rapid footfalls announced Cat before Bones saw her. Good; she’d caught up. He glanced up in time to see Cat jump over the fence and charge forward, only to slow when she saw the dead vampire near Bones’s feet. He gave the body a kick out of habit and then turned more fully toward her. At last, they were alone with no friends to appease and no vampires to kill.

  “Time to talk, Kitten.”

  Her gaze widened, and she waved at the body as if trying to elicit a protest from it. “Now?”

  Bones snorted. “He’s not going anywhere, so yeah. Now.”

  Wariness flooded her gaze and she took a step backward. “I, uh, have to go back to the club.”

  Like hell. “No, you don’t, so don’t move another step.”

  She glanced around as if seeking another excuse. “But I called my team, so they’re already on the way-”

  “Do you still love me?” he cut her off.

  She nearly tripped, but caught herself. Her high heels didn’t make that easy. Why she hadn’t taken them off before chasing after him was beyond him, but it was the least of his concerns. Only this mattered, and he thought he saw the answer he wanted before her features closed off and she looked away.

  “No,” she whispered.

  Her scent, body language, and tone all screamed that she was lying. Still, the word ripped into him more brutally than the blade he’d just wielded against the other vampire.

  Bones hid that as he said, “Really? Then why didn’t you kill Ian? Your job is to kill vampires, and all you needed to do was twist the knife in his heart. But when you learned that he was my sire, you let Ian live. You might as well have sent me a bloomin’ valentine, Kitten.”

  “Sentimentality,” she said, still looking away.

  Another lie. She was one of the least sentimental people he’d met. That’s why he’d been so shocked by her keeping the car, let alone her marking herself with his tattoo.

  “Well, luv, as the saying goes, no good deed goes unpunished,” he replied with a cold smile. “You probably should have killed Ian. I might never force you to do anything against your will, but Ian wants to find you to do just that.”

  Now she faced him, and confusion knit her brows. “What are you talking about?”

  “He’s enamored,” Bones said bluntly. “Ian’s long been a collector of rare things, and there’s no one rarer than you, my beautiful half vampire. Ian doesn’t know I found you, but with how he’s looking for you, he’ll track you himself soon enough.”

  And with Max as Ian’s ace in the hole, there was nothing Cat wouldn’t agree to in order to finally avenge her mum. That’s why Bones couldn’t tell her he’d found her father, or that Ian had Max. Once she knew that, she wouldn’t be capable of hearing anything else.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Cat said after several moments of silence. “I beat Ian before; I can do it again.”

  So confident, and so very, very wrong.

  “Not the way he’ll play it. Ian won’t try to take you on a fair fight again. He’ll grab everyone you love first and then strike a deal, his terms. Believe me, you won’t like them. Your only advantage is me. Because of your clever deception about our relationship, Ian believes we hate each other. Nice touch about my stiffing you on the money, too,” he added with sudden amusement. “Still want a check?”

  She shot a glare at him. “I’ll write you one if you leave.”

  No amount could make him, and speaking of money…

  “Moreover, you still have a price on your head. I told you I’d been offered contracts on you that I traced to their source before, but I don’t know who’s behind this one. Whoever it is, is being very discreet. So, you have that and Ian hanging over your head, so like it or not, you need my help.”

  Her expression was pure mutiny. “Vampires and ghouls come after me all the time. If I need help, I have my team.”

  Bones let all the derision he felt fill his laughter. “Humans? The only way they’ll protect you is if they incapacitate Ian and the hitter by making them eat too much!”

  “You are so arrogant,” she muttered.

  Bones stalked closer. “No, I’m more powerful than you realize. That is truth, not arrogance. Every member of your team combined couldn’t protect you as well as I can, and you know it. Now isn’t the time for your stubborn insistence on going it alone. Whether you want my help or not, you’re getting it.”

  She gave him a frustrated look. “The biggest way you can help me is to leave! I appreciate the warnings, Bones, but you’re the one who’ll be in danger if you stay. Don’t worry about me. I can take care of myself.”

  He clenched his fists so he didn’t shake her until she remembered that she was the half-human and he was the centuries-old Master vampire.

  “Right back at you, pet! That’s why I’m not the least bit afraid of your boss or your band of merry men. You want to get rid of me? You’ll have to kill me.”

  Panic flashed over her features before they hardened into more stubbornness. “Then I’ll leave. I ran away once. I can do it again-”

  He didn’t plan on biting her. He didn’t even remember making the decision to do it, yet his fangs were suddenly in her neck cutting off those treacherous words. Then, the decadent taste of her blood chased away any second-guessing, as did her moan when his fangs released more venom. She shuddered in bliss and her arms slid up around his neck. Vampire venom wasn’t just a painkiller; it also induced sensations of heat and euphoria, which is exactly what Bones felt as he swallowed. Her blood filled him with the sweetest fire, until he felt warmer than she did, and she was nearly a brand against him as she molded herself to his body. God, how he’d missed her touch, her taste, and her blood! How had he managed to live so long without them?

  He licked the punctures in her neck before sliding his fangs in again. Her shudder coincided with another gasp that he felt as well as heard. Then, her arms tightened around him as he drew on the punctures more strongly, feeling almost drunk from each sumptuous mouthful…until something hard, long, and flat thudded against his back.

  Her silver knife.

  Bones pulled away to see her eyes. They were bright green with desire, but something else lurked in her gaze, too. Desperation, perhaps. Or maybe it was cold determination. He couldn’t tell, and with a professional vampire killer holding a silver knife inches from his heart, he should make it his business to find out. The difference might cost him his life.

  But this wasn’t a normal vampire killer. This was his Kitten, and he loved every part of her, even the duplicitous ones. Besides, she’d given up everything to protect him before, so he doubted that she’d murder him now. If he was wrong about that, if she truly were calling his bluff on him saying that she’d have to kill him to make him leave…then so be it.