I could because he was my brother-in-law, though I didn’t get away with too much.
Webb gave me one of his deadpan expressions. He was the master at hiding his emotions, something I needed to learn, particularly when I was in a challenging situation. “And you look like you’re ready to tear off some heads,” he volleyed back. “What happened tonight? Tripp gave me the short version. I want to hear everything, but we’ll wait for your father, who should be here shortly.”
Ben stood at parade rest, hands behind his back, feet shoulder-width apart. “Sir.” He bobbed his head at Webb then at Tripp, who stood next to Webb.
“Are you doing okay?” Webb asked Ben.
“I’m good, sir.” Ben focused on the movie screen behind Webb and Tripp. “Nothing I can’t handle.”
Tripp raised one eyebrow, knowing full well Ben had been whining like a baby up in the infirmary.
The side door from the control room squeaked open. My old man stalked in, ready to take on an army or two. The man didn’t sleep. His green eyes were bright. His black hair was perfectly combed, and he was sporting a close-shaven beard. Unlike Webb’s casual attire, Steven Mason was dressed to impress—a sharp black suit, crisp white shirt, no tie, and black patent leather shoes that were shinier than the big-ass diamond my sister wore on her finger.
He unbuttoned his suit jacket. “Son, this better be good.” His jaw was stiff.
“Love you too, Pops. And no disrespect, but you smell like you just dumped a bottle of cologne over your head. Hot date?”
Ben let out a quiet snort, but to vampire ears, it sounded like an explosion.
My dad’s eyes flashed vampire—green to silver. “What’s your problem, soldier?”
Ben snapped to attention, his eyes hollow as he looked past my father. “Nothing, sir.”
My old man had been a hard-ass as a former military commander. Nothing had changed in his new role as a high-ranking official within the vampire government. Steven Mason didn’t tolerate anything, even from his children. He was a military man who had been serving the vampire nation and protecting humans for eons. He expected his underlings to follow the chain of command, respect one another, and live by the moral code that said quitting wasn’t an option.
I started in, trying to cut the tension. It was late, and all of us needed to take a breather. “Three human females interrupted our mission tonight.”
Dad jerked his head at me. “Humans?”
Webb crossed his arms over his chest. “Start from the top.”
Ben and I took them through the events. I gave them my side first.
Then Ben launched into what had happened before I’d gotten into the club. “The redhead, who seemed to be the one in charge, came up to me like she knew me. Before I could get a word out of my mouth, she put a syringe in my throat. Then her sisters used the remaining vamps in the room as target practice. One by one, they went down, except Roman Brown. Whatever was in the drug that shut down the ability to move was the only thing that had any effect on him. He was lucid the entire time.”
“He had to have taken something to protect him from such a drug,” I said. “Like the antidote we had to counteract the drug Edmund had used on us at one time.”
“Do you think Roman and the humans have teamed up?” Dad asked.
I shrugged. “I don’t think so. When he called me a few minutes ago, he was dead set on finding the humans.”
Webb reared back. “He called you. Why?”
“Not sure. But if I had to guess, he wanted to find the humans. We need to get to them before Roman. Not only are their lives in danger now, but we’ll never find out why they lured me out into the open or why they want me.”
“You?” Dad removed his suit jacket and tossed it on one of the seats in the front row. “You think this was a setup to lure you out to get your DNA?”
I nodded. It was becoming the norm for us to fight those who wanted the Masons’ DNA or to sell our blood on the open market.
Tripp inhaled deeply. “If that’s true, then we have another fucking mole. No one but our team knew you would be at the club.”
We’d had two moles in the past. Webb’s sister had been one, but she was now dead. The other mole had been a human doctor who had been employed by Dr. Vieira. Dr. Case had given top-secret info to the CIA. He was behind bars at a prison we had for those humans who had broken their silence about us. It was doubtful Case had anything to do with trying to abduct me.
Ben relaxed his stance. “Or someone has hacked into our computers.”
“I’ll get Sawyer on the case,” Tripp announced. “He’s our top computer analyst.”
“We’re right back where we were five years ago with Edmund and my brother,” Dad muttered. “For fuck’s sake.”
