“I’m not sure,” Elle replies. “Like I said, rumours. Just something to be aware of.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose. Elle raises her eyebrow as she takes a sip of her blood, and I fight a wince before I reach for my own glass. Blood is blood—I am a vampire and will always craveit, alwaysrequireit, but there is something terribly dissatisfying about this flat, chilled liquid that slides limply down my throat.
“There’s one other thing,” Briar says. “Everything’s fine now, but I had a vampire come and tell me that her friend had a strange reaction after a feeding.”
“Her friend?”
Briar sits up a little straighter. “I don’t think they were drinking from a clan-sanctioned donor.” She holds up her hands when Elle and Kayode sit forward in surprise. “I know, I know, and it’s been dealt with. I’m more concerned aboutwhatshe drank from.”
Past her, I notice that Maurice’s posture has straightened a little, too. His expression is still bored, eyes anywhere but the five of us, but he’s leaning in as though he’s desperate to find out more.
“What do you think it was?” I ask.
“I’m not sure,” she says. “But she said she felt drunk. She wasn’t herself. Her friend found her, but neither of them is sure what might have happened if he didn’t.”
Some feeling twists low in my stomach. Something like fear.
“A mage?” I ask. Adam, Lucien’s turn—and now also part of Kieran’s pack after finding his mates in both Kieran’s secondandKieran’s younger brother—fed from Sam, once. It saved his life, but I remember him after, delirious and so, so vulnerable.
He was safe, of course. We were with him, and Sam was careful, but an unknown mage…
“I don’t think so,” Briar says. She narrows her eyes, then shrugs. “Could have been, I suppose.”
“Do you have a full statement?”
“I can email it to you. Apologies for not bringing it up before, crai. I only compiled all the information last night.”
“That’s fine,” I say, though it’s not, really. Briar should have let me know as soon as she did, but I do appreciate herthoroughness in investigating. “Let me look at it, and I’ll decide whether I need to speak with her.”
“Yes, crai.”
I fight the urge to sigh and take another sip of blood instead. “Anything else?”
“No, crai.” The others all shake their heads, too.
“Thank you for your time, then.”
Elle, Kayode, and Briar leave, but Afsaneh lingers, wandering over to the drinks cabinet. There are few personal touches in my office, aside from the new seating arrangement, but her fingers dance over the tops of the bottles Vasile left behind.
“Briar should have told you as soon as she found out,” she says, once a few seconds have passed and we can be sure the chieftains have left. She’s not chastising me, I know that, but I bristle all the same.
“I know.”
“Does she?”
I glance over my shoulder and meet Afsaneh’s steady gaze. I’m all too aware of Maurice standing in the corner; as honest as I want to be with her, I don’t want to expose myself to him. He’s a stranger.
“She will,” I say. “I’ll read the report when she sends it. I’ll ask for Sam’s help, too.”
I’ve been hesitant to trust him in the past, but after the final fight against Tamesis… He’s a mage who knows what he’s doing. Perhaps the only one left.
“It may not have been a mage,” Maurice says, and even Afsaneh is startled at the sound of his voice.
He approaches slowly, planting his hands on the back of the sofa as he looks at me.
“What might it have been, then?” Afsaneh asks.
Maurice glances at her, then at me, then presses his lips firmly together.
