“Mason didn’t have much choice. I threatened to stake him if he didn’t turn the kid over,” Gideon informed her.

  “Yeah, I’m seeing that happening.” Jacob snorted.

  “Forget Mason. Jessica would have cut your heart out with a butter knife.”

  “True enough,” Gideon agreed. “For such a pretty little thing, she can be kind of scary. It’s cute.”

  “Council cal ed a special session, and Mason felt he should attend, since he expected you were going to be one of the subjects,” Jacob explained to Lyssa.

  “He, of course, wouldn’t leave Kane. When I used Keldwyn to contact Ingram, I suggested that instead of getting the baby to Lady Danny, that Daegan come and pick him up, and they could bring him here.”

  Mr. Ingram cleared his throat. “Vincent, Lord Belizar’s servant, cal ed the house two days ago, Lady Wentworth. They indicated they expect you to come before the Council within the week, with the child. Since I wasn’t sure of your return, and even if I was I wouldn’t have guaranteed that pack of vermin anything, I told them I would pass on the message.” Lyssa gave him a quick show of fang. “Mr. Ingram, I’m very glad you took the job here, despite your initial concerns.”

  Gideon snorted. “Let me guess. He didn’t like your longterm healthcare plan?”

  She turned her attention to Jacob’s brother. He hadn’t moved from the shelter of the garage, and she knew it wasn’t disrespect or rudeness. Most vampire children weren’t brought out from under shelter in the first couple hours after dusk, because it was not yet dark enough for them, as it was for an adult vampire. It touched her, though, that Gideon had known how it would feel to have their son present at their homecoming.

  “I see being a servant hasn’t given you the slightest pretense at manners,” she said, moving toward him.

  He lifted a shoulder. “If ass kissing becomes a required skil for a servant, I guess Anywn and Daegan’l have to drive a metal stake through my heart and get themselves a new one.”

  “Since this one is so much trouble, why would we want to start from scratch?” Anwyn stepped out of the garage and gave Lyssa a courteous though wary nod. She was stil very new to their world, but wariness of other vampires was not a bad trait to have. Lyssa herself had a natural caution around them, but the fact Gideon was servant to these two helped al eviate the natural mistrust. Plus, she knew Daegan Rei personal y, an assassin who’d served the Vampire Council for a number of decades. An honorable male, there was likely not a more dangerous vampire in the world, and that included herself or Mason. Knowing Mason had chosen him to protect Kane in his absence was the best possible choice, and said a great deal about Mason’s confidence in the male as wel .

  She also appreciated the fact Anwyn hadn’t hesitated to move into the conversation. Wary, but confident. Not tongue-tied. Of course, they’d spent an evening with Anwyn, Daegan and Gideon on the beach some time ago, and that had helped Gideon’s new Mistress feel easier with Lyssa.

  She didn’t see Daegan right away, and didn’t detect him by scent, but Daegan had that unusual trait. Jacob touched her arm, guiding her attention upward. Daegan was squatting comfortably on a thick branch of one of her live oaks. Though her property was wel secured, while Kane was outside, he was obviously staying in a position to study al approaches. She nodded to him. “Lord Daegan.” The tal , dark-haired and dark-eyed vampire offered a half bow. The graceful execution emphasized the deadly power of his lean form.

  “Always a deep pleasure, Lady Lyssa.” She gave him a quick smile, but with the courtesies out of the way, she turned her attention to the one person she most wanted to see, to touch.

  Laying her hand on the smal back, she felt Kane’s heat and breath. Hard and thick emotions swam up to choke her, unexpected. Gideon shifted, intending to put Kane in her arms, but her head began to spin.

  Drawing her arms back quickly before he could lay the infant into them, she swayed alarmingly. Damn it.

  Jacob had his arm around her, steadying her. She saw his intent to feed her, then and there, but he’d given her more than he should after what they’d dealt with in the desert world. She hadn’t let him feed her since, because he wasn’t at ful strength, either. She wasn’t going to weaken him to replenish her, not in a situation that wasn’t life threatening.

  “I’d try my best to change your mind about that, but it’s one of the reasons I asked Ingram to bring Gideon here,” he said.

  She was being eased down into a chair.

  Someone had brought it to her in a blink, which meant Daegan. She wanted to be gracious, but she was angry. She wanted to hold her son.

  “In just a moment, my lady. Let Gideon feed you.” Four words she never would have expected to hear. He’s all right with this?

  The message I asked Keldwyn to convey to Ingram was that you would need more blood upon arrival. When he was arranging for Kane’s arrival, he mentioned it to Gideon, and he volunteered.

  Other than his Master and Mistress, I think you’re the only one to whom he’d ever willingly give his blood.

  Gideon had handed Kane to Daegan, who cradled

  him

  with

  surprising

  expertise

  and

  gentleness. From the vampire’s relaxed attitude, she knew he had no problem with her feeding from Gideon, but she wasn’t expecting any issues to come from him.

  As a much older and far more powerful vampire than a fledgling like Anwyn, she had every right to drink from Gideon, even if Gideon or Anwyn opposed it, though Daegan was a different matter.

  While Anwyn was aware that this might happen, accepting it in concept was a little different from facing the reality of another female vampire taking her servant’s blood, an intimate exchange.

  Before she’d been forcibly turned to a vampire, Anwyn had been owner and Mistress of a BDSM

  club, one she stil managed. A Dominant’s possessiveness had already been strong in her veins before she’d ever grown fangs. While Lyssa wouldn’t ask permission, there was a fine line between exercising the rights of a more powerful vampire and courtesy. She met the other woman’s gaze. “Thank you for the use of your servant.” In the corner of her eye, she noted Ingram shepherding John discreetly back into the house.

  Ingram had been around them enough to know when things might become an adults-only situation.

  With no self-consciousness, Gideon dropped to one knee, leaning forward to press a kiss high on his Mistress’s thigh. He waited for the touch of her hand on his head before he looked up at her. When he turned his face into her wrist, put another kiss there, her expression eased somewhat. Lyssa suspected it had as much to do with whatever he’d said in her mind as wel as the gesture.

  In a more formal setting, soliciting permission from his lower-ranking vampire Mistress to obey a higher ranking vampire, even silently, would have been an offense. However, Gideon was not the most polished of servants. He acted on his feelings, and they were al driven by his bond with his two vampires.

  More than that, Anwyn was a more unstable fledgling than most because of her brutal siring. She contended with seizures during volatile moments. As such, Lyssa knew Gideon was not deliberately perpetuating an act of insolence, but offering needed reassurance. It was the same reason Daegan had shifted to stand at Anwyn’s back now, so close he brushed her shoulder as he held Kane. While it obviously discomfited Anwyn to need such support in front of another strong female vampire, she apparently accepted it as a necessity.

  Gideon rose then. Moving to Lyssa, he again dropped to a knee. Like Jacob, he was a tal man, so the position put them eye to eye. Stress and violence had hardened his expression over time, but there was a sensual softness to his mouth, a different quality in his blue gaze. Smal but significant indications of the changes Daegan and Anwyn’s presence had made in his life.

  “I seem to remember a time when you were very opposed to being bitten.”

  “Things change,” Gideon grunted. “Some people change every damn minute. Vamp one minute, a fairy the next. Flip flopping like a trout. And that doesn’t even cover him.” He glanced toward Jacob.

  “Human to vamp, then back to human again.

  ’Course, that means I can beat on his pretty face without him cheating with that super-fanged strength.”

  “You can try,” Jacob replied.

  Despite the banter, Lyssa felt the same intense yearning from him she was feeling toward their son.

  Go hold him, Jacob.

  He gets to see his mother first. That’s what I promised. I told him I’d bring you back to him. And like his mother, he’s terrifying to face when he’s not given what he wants.

  “Where do you want it?” Gideon asked. “Wrist or neck? I know there are other places, but if you want it from my thigh, you’re going to have to wrestle me on that one. I don’t think you’re up to that.” He shot Daegan a cocky look, apparently in response to something his vampire master had said in his mind. “Blow me.”

  Daegan gave him a look of predatory amusement, suggesting such repartee was a form of male bonding. Or provocative foreplay. Returning his attention to Lyssa, Gideon explained, “He said if he was close enough, he’d slap my head for being insolent.”

  She accommodated, a halfhearted thwack behind his ear that earned a grin. “You hit like a girl,” he noted.

  “After I take your blood, I’l put you through the garage wal .”

  “That’s a hel of an incentive for a good Samaritan.” Then he sobered and his voice softened, showing he could be as intuitive as his brother. “Let’s get this done so the little man can see his mom. What wil work best?”

  “The throat.”

  Nodding, he shifted closer. As he did, he lifted her hand to his shoulder, near that juncture with the throat so she could direct him as she wished. It was so different from the first night she’d met Gideon. Angry, defensive, determined to convince his brother she was a monster. This side of him, the vampire servant and yet stil so much the lethal vampire hunter, was quite appealing. As he moved his touch to her wrist to hold her steady, she leaned in and touched her mouth to the strong, corded throat. Daegan moved even closer to Anwyn, his hand on her shoulder as wel , though it was a different form of guidance.

  She expected Daegan had told Anwyn to go in the house, for she seemed to be visibly taking a firmer stance, her jaw tight, refusing to leave or look away from another vampire female taking blood from her servant. Lyssa didn’t blame her. Under similar circumstances, she wouldn’t let Jacob out of her sight, either.

  While Daegan didn’t seem perturbed, she expected it would have been quite different if it was a male vampire drinking from Gideon. Vampires were curious in their jealousies. She didn’t expect to see that situation ever happen, regardless. No vampire she knew, male or female, would dare to take something that belonged to Daegan Rei. Not without his ful , unequivocal consent. In writing.

  It was important not to coddle Anwyn too much, though, because the woman was a Mistress, and had her pride. Being a third-marked servant with that nearly limitless wel of sexual response, Gideon could be aroused by Lyssa putting her mouth on his throat, even without enhancement. However, she slipped in a smal dose of pheromones. The sensation of her pul ing at his throat went straight to his cock.

  Anwyn had trained her alpha hunter very wel , so he maximized the pain and pleasure response.

  Though he made a strangled noise of protest, he remained where he was. Lowering her other hand, Lyssa grazed his chest with her fingertips and cruised down to the waistband of his jeans, teasing over his hip bone.

  “You’re trying to get me in trouble,” he muttered.

  Lyssa gave Anwyn a gleaming look that didn’t convey chal enge, but conspiracy. A true Mistress, Anwyn picked up on it. Her tension eased, the beautiful lips curving.

  “She wants me to get you in trouble, Gideon.” Lyssa licked the flow of blood. It carried an appealing taste, the familial bond with her servant.

  “It’s more pleasurable to punish you.”

  “Damn vampires.” He caught a breath as she closed her hand over him beneath the straining jeans. He was hard and thick, eliciting a little purr in her throat.

  “Just as nice as I remember it.”

  Jacob was a weighted, silent force in her mind.

  He’d tamped down his reaction with effort because he’d been her servant long enough to understand certain things. He’d expected nothing different from her when he’d cal ed in his brother.

  At least I got to choose the donor, my lady.

  She gave the chal enging thought the narrow look it deserved. Stil , he’d been kind enough to arrange for his brother to be here for her, and she wouldn’t goad him past bearing. Done with her teasing, she returned to drinking, pul ing strong and deep. It felt good to have al those expected compulsions . . . to assert her dominance over other vampires present, to ease that sting with some playful eroticism, to feel the blood strengthening her so quickly she had to relax the grip on Gideon’s biceps so she didn’t cause him the wrong kind of pain.

  She also had to force herself not to rush it, because Kane was waking up. Moving to Daegan at last, Jacob took the baby from him. As Kane recognized his father, his cries became the textbook baby response to an unexpected surprise. He started wailing his lungs out.

  It was al show, however. He settled after Jacob gave him a gentle bob in his arms, wagged a finger at the tip of his nose. “What’s al this about? A vampire doesn’t cry. Your mother’s told you that.” As she finished drinking, Gideon was so heavily aroused that standing was somewhat awkward.

  Leaving him in that state was her gift to Anwyn and a vol ey

  back

  to

  Daegan,

  as

  effective

  an

  admonishment as the head slap. Daegan’s gaze coursed over Gideon as he turned, heat flickering in his eye. He nodded to Lyssa, tacit appreciation.

  Gideon sent her a wry look, wel aware of the manipulation. “Stil one scary, irresistible bitch.” Though she saw Anwyn’s alarmed glance snap from him to Daegan, Lyssa gave the vampire hunter a feral smile. In Gideon’s way, he’d just paid her a supreme compliment and reassured her at once.

  Her momentary weakness due to a need for blood did not diminish her strength in his eyes in any way.

  And he had very clear-seeing, unsentimental eyes.

  Then that was al past. Kane saw her.

  He went up several decibels, an ear splitting cry that had his uncle wincing good-naturedly. Leaning down, Jacob put the child in her lap. Kane’s little fists immediately closed on her hair, and he leaned back against that hold. His arms spread wide as he swayed, his scream turning to a giggle of delight.

  “I suppose you have been a great deal of trouble?” she asked, suffering the yanking with great delight.

  Mr. Ingram had returned, having left John occupied in the house. “Not as much as you’d expect, ma’am.

  Al you real y need is his uncle. The little man comes to him in a heartbeat and does whatever he tel s him to do.”

  “Big softy,” Jacob told his brother.

  Anwyn shook her head then. “I suspect part of it is Gideon reminds him of you, Jacob. But Gideon is a very good parent. Very no-nonsense.”

  “Zero tolerance for bul shit,” Ingram added with a faint smile. “Begging the ladies’ pardon.” Gideon rol ed his eyes. “These vampires are wishy-washy as hel , bro. They spoil the kid rotten if you don’t watch them every minute.” He jerked his head toward Daegan. “He’s the absolute worst.

  Would probably let the kid get away with actual murder.”

  “It depends on whether or not the target deserves it,” Daegan responded, unruffled.

  Gideon scoffed at that. “Before Mason and Jess left for their Council meeting, I told both Mason and Daegan they shouldn’t reproduce. They’d have the kind of obnoxious, spoiled kids no one wants to be around.”

  Jacob’s smile turned instantly to a frown. “Mason took Jess to Council? She has no business being there. Has he lost his fucking mind?” Gideon held up a quel ing hand. “Don’t jump my ass about it. She made a deal with the devil or something. She gave him those girly doe eyes and said in that sweet-as-a-sugarcoated-knife voice: ‘My lord, who is more qualified than you to protect me?

  And you can’t leave Lady Lyssa undefended at Council.’ He couldn’t argue with either point. The girl has guts and brains.”

  “I would be very upset if championing my cause endangered her—” Lyssa began, but Gideon immediately shook his head.

  “Not like that. She’s right, if you think about it. The Council’s done wanting to harm her, and Mason is the most qualified to protect her, with the possible exception of you and Daegan. The main reason he didn’t want her going was because of her past baggage, her fear of dealing with group vampire situations. But he’s helped her heal, helped her be stronger, and now she wants the chance to meet those fears head on. Since he loves her, he can’t real y disagree with that.”

  “Jesus, my brother has become Dr. Phil,” Jacob snorted.

  Anwyn chuckled. “He’s just repeating what he’s heard me say. Like a trained monkey. No real comprehension, just regurgitation. Of course, monkeys actual y do comprehend . . .” Lyssa let the inevitable banter that fol owed wash over her as she gazed down into Kane’s blue eyes.

  Her heart turned over when he offered a smal smile, laughing at al of them. It seemed to her he’d grown exponential y. He’d been doing a little walking before they left, in fits and spurts. Now his legs looked much stronger, sturdier.

  She resented having to deal with Council. She wanted to tel them al to go to hel ; if they wanted her, they could come find her, and pay the consequences.

  She’d thought a lot about that Council missive.