“Layla.” The voice was male but not Roman’s. “Hello?” The caller sounded panicked.
“Who’s this?” I asked.
“Who are you?” His voice bordered on a growl.
“Depends,” I replied.
“Where’s my niece?”
I said the first thing that came to me. “Indisposed.”
“Let me speak to Steven Mason. I know he’s there,” her uncle stated.
Tripp, Webb, and I exchanged a surprised look.
Then Webb’s voice was in my head.I think your father called him.
“This is his son Sam,” I said. “Who am I speaking to?”
“Jack Aberdeen, and if you so much as hurt any of my nieces, you will burn over a fire pit like the pigs I roast and the many other vampires who have died by my hand. Now put Layla or one of my other nieces on.” I didn’t know what the man looked like, but I imagined his face was as red as a tomato.
“Sir, I’m sorry.” My tone was even. “Layla left her phone in this office and forgot to take it with her. I’ll find her and let her know you called.”
“Bullshit. You vampires are up to something. If she doesn’t call me back within the hour, I’m sending out a hunting party.” The call ended before the screen returned to a picture of Layla and her sisters.
“That went well,” I mumbled.
“What went well?” My father sauntered in, wearing a suit jacket over his black pants and blue shirt. His black hair was combed back and damp, and his jaw clean-shaven.
“Did you call Layla’s uncle Jack?” I braced myself, erecting my shields in preparation that he would read my mind.
He settled on the side of Webb’s desk. “No. We have a scout in Montana on our payroll not far from the Aberdeen ranch. I had him relay a message to Jack Aberdeen. Did he call her?”
Tripp went over to a small fridge along the wall of military pictures. “Jack Aberdeen is pissed.”
My dad unbuttoned his suit jacket. “Not surprised. Jack is a hothead, but I don’t blame him for being mad. I’m curious what Layla is up to without her family. It’s unlike them to hunt solo, which was the main reason why I called him.”
Tripp popped the top off a bottle of blood. “You told them where we are?”
It was unlike my old man to give up our location and to a family of vampire hunters.
“Not yet, but he probably has the means to track her on her phone. Plus, I’m sure Jack will be calling me next. I made sure to pass along my number. I want to head off the Aberdeens before Jack gets a wild hair up his ass to come blazing in with an army. We have too much going on with our own kind to deal with humans. The sooner we take care of the Aberdeens, the sooner we can get back to Roman and whoever the person he’s referring to is who’s worth more than Sam.”
Webb leaned back in his leather desk chair. “Steven, do you honestly think the Aberdeens will walk away once they have their nieces back? Don’t get me wrong—I agree we need to nip this in the bud before we’re in a fight with humans. But the Aberdeens won’t bargain with us. Anyone in our community who knows of them is aware of that.”
My father loosened his royal-blue tie. “We need to try.” There was alarm and unease underneath my old man’s tough exterior. He was hiding something about the Aberdeens.
“Pops, what aren’t you telling us?” I joined Tripp at the fridge and got my own supply of blood.
Creases lined the underside of my father’s eyes as they changed from green to silver. “Nothing to worry about. Is Layla with her sister? Did you remove the compelling spell, son?”
Webb and Tripp stared at me.
I guessed no one had filled him in. I built a mental steel wall around my brain, took a deep breath, and explained what had happened in the elevator between Layla and me, focusing more on my bloodlust and not my sexual lust. After I was finished, deadly silence hung in the room with tension so strong that, if it snapped, it would sever our limbs one by one.
“I’m sorry, Pops. You were right. Her scent, blood—everything about her is hard to resist, but I did. I told her to kick me in the balls, but she bit me instead.”
My father was expressionless. “So, you’re telling me she ingested your blood, and now she’s passed out?”
