“Allthe vampires.Allthe werewolves, and not a scent of him in the wind. We will not find him before he’s dead.”
“And putting Delaney in danger would make anything better? Do you need more deaths on your hands, Rossi?”
“Wait,” I said, holding up a hand, tired of the argument even though it had just gotten started. “Just. Wait. Both of you. Let me think.”
They both shut up, though there was some glaring going on. The discussion had drawn Jean into the room, and like an angel from caffeine heaven, she handed me a mug of coffee.
“Hey,” she said. She dropped a quick kiss on the top of my head, then sat down on the bed next to me, facing my angry sister and my angry vampire.
The coffee was warm between my palms and the fragrance made my shoulders drop and my pulse settle. It was just so...normal. With everything else going sideways, the scent of coffee felt normal, average, safe. I took a sip.
All right. I could do this.
“How would you use the mark to find him?” I finally asked.
“He left within you a trace of his life force.”
Great. Now I wanted to vomit.
“You can track that?”
“Yes.”
“Is he the one who bit Jame?”
“Yes.”
Myra’s voice was almost a yell. “Then why didn’t we use that bite to track him before he found Delaney?”
“Werewolf.” Rossi didn’t look like he was going to add anything to that.
“And?” I asked.
“It is...harder to trace. A werewolf physiology fights such intrusion, such claim. But humans are more...pliable. Our natural prey. The link between you and him shines like silver.”
Okay, I was starting to vote for team Myra. Just the idea of carrying anything that connected me to that creep was making my skin crawl.
Jean spoke up. “Didn’t Ben bite Jame? They’re living together, mated, right? Chose each other? I thought Ben would claim him like that. Couldn’t we follow that link?”
“Lavius broke that link when he bit Jame.”
“Is that the asshole’s name?” Jean asked. “Creepy. How can he break a mated link?”
“He is very old, and very strong.”
Well, hell. No wonder Jame was out of his mind in pain for Ben. Another question occurred to me. “Is...is one bite enough? Strong enough to track him? Will it fade?”
“Jesus, Delaney,” Myra said. “You are not suggesting you put yourself out there to get bitten again.”
Jean reached over and took my hand, squeezing it. “You aren’t doing that,” she said with absolute confidence.
“One bite is strong enough,” Rossi said. “Becauseheis strong enough. And so are you, Delaney Reed.”
“All right,” I said. “Okay. Yes.”
“Delaney,” Myra turned to me. “Don’t do this.”
“I can’t just let Ben die. And Jame...I can’t do this to him. Not if we have a chance. Not if I have a chance to save them.”
