She frowned but picked up her fork and began to eat.

  “If you needed to step in with him, you would. It’s who you are. You consistently put others ahead of yourself and yes, we are in a position where we need to do that regularly. But in this particular instance, you don’t have to call him or text him or any of that. The situation is being addressed by Nadir. At this particular moment in time nothing is on fire so let’s luxuriate in it while we can.”

  Rowan frowned a moment. “I don’t like this Vampire lord thing. I’m at the information-gathering stage and who knows? Theo might kill them all true before I get a chance to ask them what they’re doing in person. Not an entirely terrible result. It would free up some time I need to spend on Elmer, don’t think I’ve forgotten about that creep. Can’t do any of that until after the Joint Tribunal. More Vampire time-wasting bullshit. Oh, my Goddess, the fucking years of my life I’ve wasted on your manipulations.”

  Clive withheld the smile threatening to make an appearance. “Darling, you’re getting yourself worked up only moments after letting go of the last problem. The Joint Tribunal is very useful. We’ll be able to resolve several problems with the face-to-face time we get there. Without the enforced regular meetings, you know we’d be at one another’s throats far more often.”

  “If you all just refrained from killing humans—oh shit I forgot to tell you about that.”

  Her plate was finally empty so he took it and the rest of the dishes into the kitchen before returning to the table, leaning a hip against the chair he’d been sitting in.

  “Tell me,” he ordered. Then they could get past whatever it was and then he could get her naked. Nothing relaxed her quicker than sex. Thank goddess.

  * * *

  “Don’t cross your arms and look all haughty at me, Scion. I won’t be having any of that.”

  “Liar,” he purred. She loved it when he looked haughty at her.

  “Hmpfh.” And then she told him about the missing humans and the connection to cities with both Vampires and witches.

  He made a note to himself and then hauled his dangerous wife to her feet and against his body in an easy movement. “We’ve dealt with all our business to-do list items and now I have something else entirely for us to take a meeting over.”

  He gave her a hard and fast kiss and she spun out of his reach, heading toward their rooms.

  “You think you’re going to have sex with me?” she asked when he kept following her into her closet.

  “Rowan.” He smirked and backed her up against the built-in drawers. “I know it. It’s all I can think about.” Though she could have moved easily, she remained, the belligerence of her tone belied by the naked desire on her face.

  A quick movement and he’d pulled her shirt up and over her head. Her skin called to him, begged to be touched and kissed, so he gave in, lowering his lips to the hollow of her throat in a kiss that pulled her taste into his system.

  So beautiful and dangerous. Tame only for him, and wasn’t that a gift beyond compare?

  “I’m not entirely sure we’ve had sex in here yet,” he said as he kissed and licked across the line of her collarbone from shoulder to shoulder.

  “We had sex in here over the weekend,” she said, amused.

  “Clearly I need to endeavor to make this time more memorable.” Her bra wasn’t hard to slip away from her body and he stood back a moment, just looking at her. “You are my finest thing.”

  Rowan went hot all over at the words and the way he looked at her, mesmerized. That she had power of an altogether different sort over this being still amazed her. This was how he saw her. Rowan. His mate. Beautiful and strong and his.

  He more than any other creature on the planet had the key to the most vulnerable heart of her and while she wanted to punch his smug, gorgeous face regularly, that was a passing thing. What always remained was a sense of wonder that what she’d found with this unlikeliest of partners was its own sort of magic.

  Her earlier upset washed away with each brush of his lips. The way his fingers dug into her hips to haul her close as his cologne and the spice of his power combined to tickle her senses, winding through her, leaving her drunk.

  Only with him could it be like this. So raw and essential, bared to her soul with him. Her heart pounded so hard she heard it in her breath, knew, too, that he most certainly could. He feasted on her flush, the heat of her from the blood rushing to near the surface of her skin was a siren song.

  Exultation rocketed through her when she was the one to wrench that moan of longing from him as she writhed in his arms. He flicked his tongue over her nipple and followed with the scrape of his incisors. Hard enough to sting but he didn’t break the skin.

  He sucked it into his mouth, drawing the blood closer still and she arched into him, sending through their bond that he could take that final step. Break the skin and take her blood.

  He paused, the tension in his muscles a fine hum around his frame.

  “Yes,” she answered his unspoken question, loving him more that he never took blood from her without her permission. There’d never been permission before him. It had only been a taking.

  Clive managed to flip the experience into something else. He groaned as he licked over her aching nipple and then the edge of his incisor, so very sharp, broke the skin.

  Instead of pain, she was flooded with pleasure. Through the bond that seemed to strengthen every day, that brilliant ribbon that connected their...souls...hearts, was a rush of his emotions. He prized her taste. Tenderness at the way she trusted him. Pride. Greed. Loyalty and so very much desire.

  Added to the general Vampire chemistry that teased toe-curling desire through her cells, and he was a walking talking sex bomb.

  Each pull of her nipple seemed to correspond with a throb of her clit. Her very skilled spouse had nearly five hundred years to hone his technique and he hadn’t wasted a moment.

  “Thank Goddess for all that rutting you got up to before I came along,” she gasped out as he shoved her pants down, one-handed. She managed to get one leg loose, and he was back, his trousers kicked away, cock free and delightfully hard.

  He was suave as fuck, which is why it still surprised her in the best way when he had the easy strength to band an arm around her waist and lift her. Rowan managed to get one of her legs up higher around his waist and wrapped it to hold herself in place.

  Those bare seconds before the head of his cock nudged into her felt like honey, the anticipation slow and sticky and delicious. Then he was pressing up into her pussy and pulling her body toward him at the same time.

  Some of her shoes toppled from their slots at his first few strokes. He spun them to the bench in the center of the space and sat, all while continuing to fuck into her body. It wasn’t fast. It was relentless.

  Rowan got her knees against the cushion of the bench so she could shift slightly, taking him even deeper.

  “Yes,” he snarled before pulling her down to kiss. The copper of Rowan’s blood altered slightly when he’d taken it, she realized as she tasted herself.

  * * *

  That need to have her drove him as the heat of her body drove him on. She rose above him, hair half unbound. Like a phoenix. She’d remade herself from blood and ashes and it was magnificent to be in her orbit.

  Her blood, just a small sip, zapped through him still, little jolts of her power meeting his. Sparking and changing into something...more. The bite of her nails into his shoulders demanded pleasure, and good, sweet fuck, how could anyone merit a creature such as his Rowan?

  He found her clit easily and slid a fingertip around it, already so slick and swollen, keeping time with his thrusts.

  Each swirl brought her closer, pulled her inner walls tighter around his cock, the hot and wet of her drove him. He wanted to come but she would go first. “A gentleman doesn’t come until his partner does,” he managed to say.

  She laughed, letting her head fall back. She arched with that movement, grinding herself against him. Over and over as a haze of need misted his vision, telescoped on her. Her orgasm came in a hot rush he was helpless to do anything but respond to.

  Their bond created a feedback loop of pleasure, his and hers, flowing easily back and forth, so effortlessly it was difficult to tell where he ended and she began.

  She climbed off him carefully, laughing when she wobbled. “My knees are rubbery,” she told him as he held her by her waist until she was balanced again.

  “One does try to earn one’s keep,” he told her before pulling her to him for a kiss.

  “You do okay,” she teased.

  He helped her change into at-home wear. Soft lounge pants and a thin, long-sleeved shirt. By help, he reached out to kiss or caress whatever part of her body he could and then she pulled him out to their sitting room.

  “Back to business,” she warned, and they moved to the sitting room couch. Not the actual bedchamber, but still part of their intimate space. It felt right to talk there instead of his office or even the dining room. Things were tense and the reminder that they were both on the same side was important. The place was another talisman, a protection of their marriage and inner life.

  “I’m going to give you an update on my hiring plans.” She didn’t want it to be a secret really, and telling him was different than having to inform the Nation even though it wasn’t their fucking business. Clive nodded and turned slightly to face her better. She got up quickly, grabbed the carafe of blood wine and a glass, placing them at his elbow.

  “Is this your way of saying I need to be intoxicated to hear whatever it is?” he teased—mostly—as he poured himself a glass.

  “You already know most of it. I’ve given you plenty of clues. I made an offer of employment to another Vampire. The Affiliated one, Katya Mabery. She officially accepted and she’ll start after we return from Prague. Would you read her for me?”

  Satisfaction warmed him. He got to nose around in her business and help her at the same time. She knew how much it would please him and though she did need a Vampire to do a read on her new employee, she didn’t need him in particular.

  “Yes, of course. Before or after Prague?”

  Rowan smiled at him and leaned close enough to kiss him. “Before if you can fit it in. Otherwise, it can wait until we return. Thanks.”

  “I could pretend that it’s all altruism, but we both know different.” He sent her a cheeky grin, delighting in her laugh and quick kiss. “I’ll make myself available to you tomorrow after sunset. Does that work?”

  “Yes. Aron has already started some of the training. I wanted him read immediately so I could bring him into the investigation into Elmer. But then Vampires went and fucked up my schedule with all this shitlord business.”

  “Will you also announce this hire to Nadir as you did with Aron?”

  “No. I’m done with that. I went the extra mile and got a death threat for my effort.”

  He winced. She wasn’t wrong. But. “You know that wasn’t from Nadir.”

  “What I know is that she told you all or your offices or whatever and the information made it to these lords. If she’d been thinking about protection, she would have handled this differently. But here we are.”

  “She had to inform us somehow. I... I don’t think it’s correct that it was her being unsafe. I simply don’t think she expected this whole thing. And who could have? She threatened us all about that. Demanded Tahar and Takahiro admit it if they were involved. Reminded them Andros would certainly be able to find out in unpleasant ways if they chose to play these games.”

  “Do you think they are?” Rowan asked.

  Clive had thought about that on and off since this entire mess started. “Tahar has been Scion for two thousand years. That’s...a long time to pretend to be loyal and then turn on the First.”

  Rowan waved a hand. “It wouldn’t be the first time a follower of an important leader changed their mind or allegiance. There’ve been Scion uprisings before. During Tahar’s time more than once.”

  Clive inclined his chin a moment, taking her point. “I don’t know that I believe either of them are treasonous. I’m also not saying I’d be shocked necessarily if one or both were, but it’s a dangerous proposition and as you mentioned the previous uprisings, they all end the same. They’re going to risk everything for what? Being angry at Hunter Corp. for hiring a Vampire or two? Both men have been Scions long enough that I’d like to think they’re smarter than that.”

  “There are entirely too many things going on in my world that do not make sense. I don’t like it.”

  “Quite so. I’m in agreement with that. As to your other new hire, the Maberys are who they appear to be. What?” He gave her an exasperated look when she squawked. “You knew I’d look after you told me about her and Aron. So I did.” And, as Rowan had predicted, Clive agreed that the Nation wouldn’t really make an issue out of trying to punish the Maberys to stop Katya from taking the job at Hunter Corp. Or rather, he wouldn’t make an issue of it and, since North America was where their family lived and they were his Vampires, if Clive didn’t make an issue of it, the others most likely wouldn’t.

  Rowan gave him a close look and then went back to speaking. “I know she doesn’t have any complaints lodged against her. She’s never been even suspected of wrongdoing. No one else in the line either. Her family runs a business that makes liners for boats and marine craft stuff. Plenty to keep them all in whatever people who make boat liners wear and where they live. Nothing in our records either.”

  He gave her a look. “How do you know she doesn’t have any complaints lodged against her with the Nation?” Clive realized she employed people far better at hacking into the Nation databases than he’d originally assumed.

  Rowan rolled her eyes at him. “We already went over this. I’m crafty because you leave me no other option. The information is out there. It just takes a way to open the door to wherever it’s been gathered. This petty bullshit doesn’t serve you at all. I’ll still find out and you get nothing because you let your ego blind you whereas if you’d participated you could have influenced the process. You are all so stupid for this. I mean, great for me and all, but whatever.”

  “You still made sure they weren’t facing any disciplinary action from the Nation.” He sent her a raised brow.

  “Sure I did because I’m smart. I don’t need problems. I just need Vampires on my team to deal with Vampire-shaped problems. Like I checked out all our other hires. Well, let me amend that a little. Genevieve and Zara aren’t employees in that sense. But I did a background run on them both. I don’t need problems,” she repeated. “I need solutions. These will be Hunters who are out in the field with the authority to investigate and in some cases apprehend and maybe or execute. I need people with control.”

  * * *

  She’d probably never admit this to him but the back-and-forth they did in these situations really helped her work things out in her head. He had a way of debating, never being cruel, but not holding back. It enabled her to work through ideas, refining some, rejecting others. If she couldn’t argue convincingly, she most likely wouldn’t do whatever it was.

  Rowan stretched and then settled against him, contented after that bout of spectacular closet sex.

  “I hear you’ll be taking a meeting at Fleur tomorrow.” It pleased him immeasurably that she would make use of his resources that way. She knew it because it rushed through their bond.

  “That was next up on my things-to-tell-Clive list. I figured Alice would run it by you though.”

  “She did. I’m happy to know you’ll be in my space where you’ll be safer. I assume you’ll want surveillance.”

  “You can try. I’m not sure your cameras will work against whatever privacy spell they might use. Genevieve has one she just flicks out there with this snazzy little thing.” Rowan tucked all her fingers back but her middle and pointer and imitated that wrist movement. “Anyway. Fleur seemed like a moderately neutral place outwardly but with plenty of opportunity to spy and take the lead over these dumbass witches.”

  “Alice says the chef is staying late and then he’ll come in immediately after sundown so he can send out your favorite appetizers during the meeting.” Clive shook his head with a smile. “The chefs at Die Mitte and Fleur all dance to your tune. My theory is they love to watch you eat as much as I do.”

  She blushed, ducking her head a little so her hair covered her features. “They must really love me these days since it feels like I eat pretty much all day long.” Rowan changed the subject. “These witches, the Procellas? They’re as fucking ridiculous as any Vampire I’ve had to deal with. Though,” she admitted with some chagrin, “I’m not as good at dealing with them as I am with Vampires. I need to learn more. I do know the Procellas and their way of seeing the world is the polar opposite of Genevieve’s. She’s old and powerful and rich and all that, but I’ve never seen her act like a sanctimonious ass. This mansion, Goddess, I didn’t even get inside because, duh, impure. But it was just as ostentatious as you’d imagine. Took three fucking people to answer the door and not a one had a bit of manners. I just know there’s about forty pounds of excess gold on a lot of furniture. The old man probably snaps his fingers to get someone’s attention and tips a dollar after running servers off their feet at a restaurant. Their staff did have great uniforms though. Like Dior-type great. Smart and elegant. I guess if I had enough money to pay three people to answer my door, I’d want them looking good doing it. Anyway. This creepy-ass Hugo guy nearly slobbered all over Genevieve and that was gross. Seriously, the way he put his attention on her made my skin crawl. Darius wasn’t pleased about that part, let me tell you! But that’s another reason I’m glad we can use Fleur. I would have argued against meeting at weirdo mansion for sure. They were so rude and she’d been doing them a favor by going there.”