Despite the gravity of his mission, Clive enjoyed the challenge each step presented. Such things kept his mind sharp, and his body engaged. He backtracked to the prisoner’s door where the guard stood staring off into a corner at the opposite end of the corridor as if nothing else existed. Viola had left the door unlocked and he made sure to use the key he’d been given to relock up, giving himself a few more seconds to escape should he need to do so.

  The room was not quite darkened, though the curtains on the window had been pulled to shut out the electric lights from the parking lot outside. There was noise from outside. The hum of the HVAC system for the building, electric lights, traffic even at three in the morning grumbled along on a nearby street.

  The man on the bed pretended to be asleep but his heart rate kicked up because he’d just scented a Vampire. Hopefully he’d simply assume it was Viola.

  Clive pulled the curtain around them both and then sat right next to the bed. “They don’t know wolf shifters exist,” he said softly, threading his words with compulsion so subtle they were the merest whisper. “But I know.”

  In one smooth move, Clive tore his thumb open and shoved it into the shifter’s mouth, willing compulsion into the blood. Next, he bent close, his eyes just inches from the shifter’s as he pushed compliance with his gaze at the same time. Binding him to Clive’s will before he could evade the attempt.

  Clive poured his magic into the man on the bed until his eyes glazed and his mouth slackened. He’d created a bond between them. Not like the one he shared with Rowan, but a master vampire to a servant.

  “What’s your real name?” he asked the shifter.

  A softball question. Easy to answer so he wouldn’t fight it. He’d want to please Clive by telling him. Each time he gave in and obeyed it would be easier to get compliance in the future.

  “Oliver Shank.”

  “Where do you live, Oliver?”

  “Seattle.”

  “Is your pack there?”

  “Some of them.”

  Clive continued in that pace. Asking easy, general questions that enabled him to figure out more of who this Oliver was and who he worked for.

  Soon enough Oliver had tipped under Clive’s total control. This shifter might be able to resist a human police officer, but someone with Clive’s skill could roll him right over. Which he’d done.

  Clive bet Oliver was supposed to self-terminate rather than get arrested. He was a gold mine of secrets, this wolf shifter handcuffed and chained to the bed. At first glance his biology would look human and maybe the authorities would never figure it out. But there was also a chance someone would look more closely and figure out Oliver wasn’t anything close to human. There were shifter gangs within the human prison system so chances were he’d have some sort of protection if he made it through a trial and sentencing. But Oliver wasn’t the smart one. Eventually he’d crack. Either to brag or to trade for personal gain. Whoever hired him had thrown him at Rowan, fully expecting him to die or escape with the others.

  And whoever hired them had underestimated Rowan greatly. Had Clive’s wife taken Oliver, she’d have tortured the truth out of him and then tracked her way back to whoever hired him. No bad guy wanted Rowan in his television room breaking his glassware and exposing all his secrets, so Oliver’s bosses were stupid, or ego had led them to make incorrect assumptions about the Hunter they’d paid money to kill.

  “Tell me the story of how today’s attack on the Hunter came to be,” Clive said at last.

  “Shank’s family business is muscle. Patrick got a contact four days ago. A request for a hit on some human chick in Las Vegas. Chick is wicked hard to pin down and is guarded half the time so we gotta be smart in the how. So we showed up in town to plan. But then day before yesterday Patrick gets contacted again and this time, they want the chick dead right then. Pat told them given the way the woman traveled and her weird hours, to get at her so fast was risky and potentially public. Originally the contact says he wants it kept quiet, you know, when he first called Patrick. But he’s big mad at the woman for something or other and wants it done within twenty-four. Wants it done extra hard. Wants her to suffer. Contact says it can look like an assassination but just not by werewolves. Patrick hates it when anyone says werewolf instead of Were or shifter but he didn’t argue. Patrick likes money.

  “We got a call from our spotter that she was alone in her vehicle and in less than ten minutes we were heading to her. There was another car that should have rear-ended her but they got caught up in traffic and bugged out. The three teams left hit her pretty much at the same time. Patrick was impressed.”

  Clive shoved the rage far, far away, keeping his face impassive as this man described the attack on Rowan. He’d let that rage free when it was time.

  “I said we should go. There was no way this human could have survived being crushed by three of us at once. But Patrick said for me and Eustace to go forward with the rest of the plan. So we grabbed weapons, jumped out the back, and started shooting into her SUV. That’s when we saw it was armored. Patrick and Angus told us to keep shooting and then to get on up out of there before the cops arrived and they booked it to where Angel was waiting with a car.

  “The other teams shot at the car for a while, and they ran too when sirens got closer. Me and Eustace were about to do the same when that bitch ambushed us from behind. She looked like that chick in the movie with the prom where they dump blood on her? Anyway, she was fucked-up but had that look, you know, the battle face where everything that makes them a person is gone, leaving only the need to kill. I’ve never seen a scarier face in my whole life. She hit Eustace so hard he didn’t get back up. I managed to shoot her two more times but she just kept coming. Beat my face to a pulp. Then she finally knocked me out and I woke up here.”

  Clive had been at Rowan’s side in more than one fight. He’d seen her give over to the warrior within, let that aspect of her Goddess rise. But the look Oliver described was one he’d only seen a single time and that had been when she was desperately trying to kill the other being before she got killed. Clive had seen it and like every other aspect of his wife, he loved it, but Oliver was totally correct to have been frightened. That Rowan would do whatever it took to win. He’d yet to see anyone who could stand in the full force of it and remain standing.

  “Where are they now? The rest of your teams?”

  “They’d have blown town by now.”

  “Back to Seattle?”

  “Not for a while. It’s too hot and they can’t risk bringing the law back to the den. Probably headed to the ranch we been using. Near Goldfield. On the way back up to Seattle. Pretty desolate out there so we can see anyone approaching for miles in every direction.”

  Clive thought about that and bet he could find a way to approach unseen.

  “Will they try to free you? Or will you take all the blame, do your prison time, and then return home?” Clive asked.

  Oliver’s sigh was sad. “They’ll kill me if they can. Too big a risk I’ll tell on them. Like I am now. But that’s just you. You’re a Vampire. You won’t tell. I’ll take my blame and I’ll prepare to do my time. Cops wouldn’t say if she died or not, but I heard the one outside the door here saying she had gone into hiding. So not even a murder case. I can do the time. We got family inside. But I don’t know if Patrick will trust me. I think he won’t take that risk and I’ll be dead before the trial is over.”

  He would most assuredly be dead before the trial, Clive thought.

  Clive chatted with Oliver for a few minutes more and then Viola returned, checked vitals, made notes, and then went back out giving him three fingers, indicating he wait three minutes before leaving.

  Once she’d gone, instead of giving blood, Clive took it. He bashed his way through Oliver’s brain, taking every memory he could and destroyed anything that would cause harm to the supernatural community or Rowan.

  Oliver was beyond pain by that point. Clive hadn’t avoided killing him out of mercy. There was a nonlethal way to eliminate the danger he posed. Killing him would raise alarms and create more risks. Oliver already had a serious head injury. When they checked on him next they’d assume the damage was due to that and there’d be no connection to Rowan at all.

  Time up, Clive slid past the guard and headed the opposite way.

  This time he headed to Eustace’s room. No guard outside because the shifter was in a coma, but he was still shackled to the bed by his ankle.

  This one would never regain consciousness again. Despite Clive’s rage at what this pitiful creature had done to Rowan, she’d most assuredly gotten her own back. A shifter’s skull was hard as hell, and she’d done so much damage he’d never recover, and wasn’t that fitting? Clive dipped his mouth to Eustace’s neck and struck quickly. He didn’t much care for shifter blood, but this creature didn’t have any of the normal defenses against being read so completely by a Vampire. There was nothing there but a pool of memories Clive would have to piece together. He took them all, drawing his tongue over the wounds to close them totally and erase any evidence he’d been there.

  Twenty minutes later he’d landed in the backyard of his home. With some answers and several more questions.

  * * *

  David looked up as Clive entered the sitting room.

  “She’s sleeping still. Betchamp checked her vitals and they’re improving. He was quite pleased about that. He wrote up a report of sorts for you. I sent him to bed. Elisabeth will take over for me in two hours.”

  He wanted to discuss what he’d learned with Rowan, but Clive had no plans to disturb her rest. She rarely slept enough as it was. Her body needed the rest.

  “I’ll take over here. You should sleep. You’ll have her work on your shoulders until she’s more recovered. Sunrise isn’t for two and a half more hours. When Elisabeth arrives, I’ll head to daytime rest.” He’d never really examined what he lost by not being awake during the sunlight. He was born a Vampire. The only thing he couldn’t hold were those hours of the day and when he’d weighed that against the things his birthright had given him instead, he didn’t mourn.

  But once Rowan had streaked into his world, he’d resented those hours he couldn’t reach her. Worried about her inability to reach him while he was unconscious. He knew what could happen to her during the daylight. Knew he might wake up one evening to find she’d been in a tussle and maybe the news wouldn’t be hopeful.

  He resented the sunshine because it kept him from her when she might need him the most.

  “I won’t mess up,” David said as he stood to stretch his muscles.

  “That never crossed my mind.”

  David’s confusion tugged at Clive’s conscience.

  “Well, she’s a tough act to follow.”

  Clive said, “You don’t need to be Rowan. She already does that just fine. And Rowan believes in your ability, David. If she didn’t, you would not be running things while she was down. She’d have called in someone else. She relies on you now more than ever before. Because she trusts you. I’m sure you understand trust is something Rowan gives very rarely and not without a great deal of struggle. All you can do is your best. I’ve yet to see you give anything but.”

  David blushed a little. “I just want to be worthy of that trust.”

  “So say we all. All of us who love her and see her for who she is just want to be worthy of her.”

  “I used to think you were a haughty asshole,” David said.

  That made Clive laugh. “And now?”

  David gave one of those either/or movements of his hand, but he grinned a moment as he did it. “I think you’re still a haughty asshole, but I know there’s more to you. Especially when it comes to Rowan. So. I like that. And thanks, for the pep talk. I needed it, I guess. She’s just so strong and in charge that seeing her helpless has been messing with my head. If she can’t solve a problem, how can any of us hope to?”

  “She does have that effect on people. But she did solve the problem. Not how she set out to, but this attack and her strength and stubbornness not to pass out until she’d taken down her attackers made a difference.”

  “Can you tell me about what you learned?” David asked. “Normally I would understand if you wanted to inform Rowan before anyone else. She’d be very upset in another circumstance. But I don’t think this would be one of them. This is ongoing and time is of the essence.”

  “She’s trained you well,” Clive said.

  “I’ll never be as good at being pushy as Rowan, but I will never stop trying,” David said with a smirk.

  “Let me change clothes. I’ll be back out shortly and I’ll give you an overview of what I discovered.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Rowan woke to her dog licking her nose and the low sounds of a discussion taking place in the sitting room on the other side of her slightly open bedroom door.

  She poked the bond she shared with Clive. He was unconscious but healthy otherwise. Relieved, she did a quick inventory of her body. Generalized soreness, especially her chest and ribs where she’d taken a hit from the airbag and the crash.

  When she realized she was looking at Star’s adorable face, Rowan figured her wounded eye had healed itself.

  Star yipped and the discussion halted. Seconds later there was a tap on the door before it was pushed open to reveal David, Genevieve, and Betchamp.

  “Right,” Betchamp said, hefting a bag Rowan knew carried medical supplies. “I need to check on Ms. Rowan and that means you two need to wait out there. Except you, Star. You can stay as my assistant.”

  Rowan’s face didn’t hurt when she smiled, so that was something else for the plus column.

  When they were alone, Betchamp gently took her temperature and blood pressure. “How are you feeling?”

  “Better than I did yesterday. My eye doesn’t hurt. Seems to be working fine.”

  Betchamp nodded. “Your vitals are back to your normal range. Scion Stewart told us your Goddess wouldn’t allow infection, and your temperature seems to prove that correct. It never hurts to double-check. Your wounds are healing at an accelerated rate.”

  “Handy, right?” she teased.

  “Just so,” he allowed with a small smile. “I’m going to have a call with Dr. Jenkins. Elisabeth started some bone broth last night. Once I get permission, I’ll bring you some.”

  David and Genevieve rejoined her when Betchamp went to contact Dr. Jenkins.

  “What were you arguing about just before you came in here? Don’t deny it because my ears are working just fine.”

  “It wasn’t a disagreement between young David and me,” Genevieve said. “Your father wants to speak to you. David and I were attempting to find a way to give him what he needs with the least amount of pressure on you.”

  “We’re both annoyed it has to happen,” David told her.

  “If wishes were fishes and all that.” Rowan rolled her eyes.

  “An eye roll means you really are recovering well. You look a far sight better than you did when we brought you home from the hospital last night,” David said, attempting nonchalance it was clear he didn’t feel.

  Rowan said, “First, give me an update on whatever Clive found out. Then what I think I should do is call him directly in his suite. He’ll be surprised, which will keep him from manipulating me too much at the start. It’ll only take him two, maybe three minutes to get himself together though. He’s crafty. So I’ll disconnect after no more than five minutes.” She was too weak to fend him off for more than that.

  David heaved a sigh.

  “You,” she pointed at David, “get to updating.”

  “The surest sign she’s recovering,” Genevieve muttered and settled herself at the foot of Rowan’s bed.

  “Your very enterprising husband was very useful while you were sleeping,” David said. “We’ve got the names of the two you took down at the scene. They’re wolf shifters.”

  “I knew they weren’t human,” Rowan said.

  “They’re from Seattle but I think they’re part of a larger pack that’s located in the northern Cascades. We’re working on that now.” David told her the rest.

  “Okay, so we still don’t know who hired them yet, but we have a way to find someone who does know. I can deal with that for now.”

  “Clive was also able to get the location of their probable safe house so he sent out some surveillance before he went to daytime rest. The car with the partial plates has been found. Total wreck. Burned at a very high heat. Reported stolen yesterday morning,” David said. “The ones they used to crash into you were stolen a month ago from a custom-build shop in Ventura. No fingerprints, hair, or fiber evidence.”

  “These Weres are professionals. Except for the weak links in the hospital. I bet the pack is pretty frantic to eliminate those two dicks.” Rowan was relieved Clive had handled that problem. “I also bet this Patrick Shank guy has a boss, and whoever that is will be even more frantic to stanch the wound. These two Weres will be dead by the end of the week. There’s no way they can leave loose ends with the DNA proof of animals who can shift into humans and vice versa. There are too many opportunities for exposure on multiple levels for these Shanks. They’re going to close ranks, but before that happens entirely, let’s find out all we can about them and wolf shifters in general. I know the basics, but I want to know everything.”

  “Working on a quick guide to Weres for you. Vanessa has been working on trying to track the other group of attackers who fled. We have their names already, but more information is better. It’ll help us find them all eventually,” David added.

  “The doctor is recommending you not travel for at least the next two weeks,” Betchamp said as he came in. “She’s making me tell you so you can’t be mean. That’s what she said. Imagine.”