“Where’s Dani?” I asked. “I thought she’d be coming with you.”
“She’s not feeling well,” Gabriel responded. “We left her with Abigail.”
Rebecca’s blood red eyes drew a path of goosebumps over my body as they raked over me. I resisted the urge to squirm under her attention—barely.
“Ryder,” she chirped, a little too happily. She stepped forward, hand outstretched. “It’s wonderful to officially meet you.”
“Likewise.” Hesitantly, I slipped my hand into hers—and sucked in a breath. She was fuckingfreezing.
“Becky,” Gabriel warned. “Human.”
“How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that anymore?” she snapped. With a sigh, she said, “I forgot how fragile these creatures are.” Instead of warming her skin like her brother had when he touched my neck, she snatched her hand away, leaving mine to thaw on its own.
“You’ll have to excuseRebecca. It seems my sister woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.”
I massaged my hand, crossing the room to lean on the edge of the desk next to where James sat.
I wondered if there’d ever be a time when those siblings didn’t make me nervous.
I didn’t like being nervous. Not one bit.
Although I had to admit, James’s hand on my back made things better. I let out a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding, then regarded the two people in front of us.
“Where did you find it?” Gabriel finally asked. Rebecca was eerily silent. What was it about her that made me so uneasy?
The silent way their eyes all fell on me pulled me back to the matter at hand. Right… I had more to worry about than creepy vampires—like the people hunting them.
“I went on a coffee run yesterday,” I said. “Sort of out of the way, but there’s a bakery across town that Shiloh likes so I went there. When I got back to the car, I found that necklace by the front tire. I assumed the worst, considering the last time I saw one of those I was immediately drugged afterward. So I went to Luke, and he confirmed that it belongs to a hunter. I’d have never known to look for that inscription.” At the mention of his mate’s name, Gabriel perked up. Covering up my nerves with humor, I put on my best grin. “He sends his love, by the way, and his apologies for not being more conversational. Apparently, he’s a bit skittish.”
Again, I’d never seen a vampire blush, but the look on Gabriel’s face came close enough. He swallowed hard, avoiding his sister’s gaze.
Rebecca zeroed in on her brother anyway. “Who’s Luke?”
“He’s none of your business,” Gabriel snapped. Composing himself, he said, “Can we get back to why we’re here?”
His sister wasn’t rebuffed. “Apparently he hassomethingto do with why we’re here, so spit it out. Who is this skittish person, and how is he connected to the hunters?”
“I’ll handle him, and mind your business.” Gabriel shook his head and took a deep, centering breath. Knowing that James only did so when he was nervous, I knew that anything involving Luke would get under Gabriel’s skin. When his eyes reopened, they focused on James. “Has anything else out of the ordinary happened?”
“Outside of my former employee turning up as a vampire?” James asked dryly. “Not that I’ve noticed.”
I also shook my head, but then…
James picked up on my hesitation. “What is it, love?”
I still hadn’t told him about the book I found in my parents’ attic. I didn’t know why, but it felt like it had fallen at my feet for a reason.
Feeling like an idiot, I mentioned it anyway. What if it was like the cursed Koh-i-Noor diamonds from last year? “I found a strange book while we were looking for my dad’s cufflinks.” Even as I spoke about it, my heart sped up. “I thought it was just a photo album, but it didn’t fit with the others.”
“How so?” Gabriel asked.
“It was old.” I scrubbed a hand over my face. “Way old, almost like it would fall apart in my hands. The leather was cracked and it had an inscription on the front that I couldn’t quite make out. At the time I didn’t think much of it, but it was almost like the book wouldn’tletme open it.”
James was already standing from the chair. “Where is it?”
I explained where I’d left the box, and he vanished.
I sighed. “It means something, doesn’t it?” I rounded the desk to steal James’s seat.
