I looked up at the ceiling, hoping it would give me a clue or an idea of how to get out of the mess we were in.
Roman followed my line of sight, and the corners of his mouth curled upward. “Vera won’t hurt her yet, but sheislooking forward to getting revenge.”
“For what!” Sure, we’d knocked out a few vampires, but we didn’t harm them, and I hadn’t been aware of any shifters at the club.
“Jordyn killed her sister.”
I reared back. “Come again?”
He gulped down coffee as though we were having a friendly convo. Quite the opposite. The air dripped with tension, although I was the only one with my muscles locked tight and my hands twined together in my lap.
“Apparently, the sedative plus whatever other drug was in those darts killed my girlfriend, who happened to be Vera’s sister.”
My voice rose as I exclaimed, “A vampire dating a shifter?” Usually, supernaturals stuck to their own kind, as far as I knew.
“I was.” He emphasized the last word. “That’s not the point. I’ve made a deal with Vera. She’ll leave Jordyn alone until I get something from you.”
“What could I possibly have that you want?” Other than my blood, which was the only thing that came to mind.
“You’re going to do something for me.”
I laughed loud and free, and it felt fucking good to relieve an ounce of tension. Still, this vampire had to be smoking dope.
“You find that funny?” His tone was unpleasant.
I crossed my arms, holding myself tightly as if that would protect me. “What could I possibly do to help you? And please don’t say you want my blood.”
“I want you to get in bed with Sam Mason.”
I choked out a laugh that time. “Literally?”
He shrugged his broad shoulders. “That’s up to you. But I want you to get me information. I need to know if the vampire military is protecting a human girl, age ten, with black hair and blue eyes. My source tells me her name is Abbey.”
I knitted my eyebrows. “What do you want with her?” Nothing good, I suspected.
“That’s none of your business. The job is simple. Get close to Mason. Find out if my intel is correct.”
“You just want me to get you information?” Somehow, I didn’t think he would make it that simple. “And if I do, no harm will come to my sisters or me. Right?”
He glanced past me and into the living room. “Tell me why you were there for Mason. And why make such a big production of it? Seems to me there were easier and better ways to snag him.”
In a perfect world, we could’ve hidden in the shadows and completed our job, but getting close to Sam was impossible. He’d never gone out alone. He was always with his team, and we had to be careful since he was powerful. We also knew a surefire way to get him out in the open was to dangle someone he cared about over his head. SEALs stuck together like glue, and they would never let one of their own die. What we didn’t know or expect was Roman, and now a shifter was dead. More shit to pile in our laps.
“He’s a hard vamp to get close to,” I said. “And if you must know, someone hired us to kidnap him.”
Roman belted out a laugh. “He is worth a million or more for his DNA alone.”
My jaw hit my lap. No one in my family had mentioned that critical piece of info. Powerful, yes. Worth millions, no. Maybe I needed to renegotiate with our benefactor. “He does have some strong powers,” I mumbled.
“His blood also has some kick to it.”
“Why aren’t you hunting him, then?” I asked. “Oh, wait. Abbey is worth more?” Dowell had informed us that Roman was head of a blood cartel. Therefore, he was in the business to make money—lots of it.
“You’re as smart as I thought,” he said as though he was proud of me.
“A ten-year-old human doesn’t have vampire powers, not even a natural-born one.” From my knowledge of the undead population, they lost their humanity around their teenage years or older.
A smug grin played across his lips. “My source says otherwise.”
