“What about Gabriel?” I asked.
“I’d never seen him before, not until he walked into the hospital. They never spoke of him either.”
“And they took off when they sensed Gabriel coming,” I added, remembering the events of that night.
“They wouldn’t do that if he were working with them,” James agreed.
“But iftheycould sensehim, why couldn’t Gabriel sense his own sisters?”
James frowned. “I don’t know.”
Kian spoke up nervously. “C-could garlic have anything to do with it?”
“That’s just a stereotype,” I said dismissively. Then I glanced at James. “Right?”
“It’s amisconception,” James allowed, turning his attention to Kian. “Why?”
“Every time I met with them, I noticed the smell of garlic. I figured that made sense for vampire hunters, but remember smelling it at James’s house too. Later, I chalked it up to the concussion.”
“Wait,” I interjected, “the garlic myth is true?”
James shook his head. “Not in the traditional sense. Garlic isn’tharmfulto us, but it can distort our senses, especially smell. In this case, Gabriel might have been able to sense the two of them but not recognize their scent.”
What do we do?”
“Nothing right now,” James said, shocking both of us. “We’re getting marriedvery soon. If Kian’s right and those two are leading a whole organization to take me down, they’d have to be pretty bold to strike when there are so many eyes on me. We need to be strategic with this information and extremely careful about bringing it up to Gabriel.”
“The twins aren’t coming with Gabriel to the wedding?”
James snorted. “No. They’re remaining behind to run the PI business.” Kian and I both slumped in relief.
Feeling exhaustion sweep over me, I relaxed into the couch cushions. “If we leave this until after the wedding, can you promise my kids are going to be safe?”
I heard the words as soon as they left my mouth. James arched a brow at me, and Kian tilted his head.
“Kids?” he repeated.
I smirked. “Well, youaremy son-in-law, after all.”
That knocked the cocky grin right off of his face.
“Yes,” James finally answered, distracting both of us. “If I have anything to say about it,everyoneis going to be safe. For now, the only thing we can do is put it out of our minds.”
Easier said than done, but what wasn’t? I turned my attention to Kian. “Do you want to stay here tonight? It’s a long drive to Cambridge.”
“Hannah might panic if she wakes up alone in the morning. I should get back.”
After an obligatory goodbye to Carlos, and with a promise to let us know the second he made it home, Kian left. Despite the stress, the only thing I wanted to do was go back to bed.
James picked up on it and we quickly fled to our bedroom. But instead of drifting off to visions of our wedding, of music, cake, and our lives beginning together, two pairs of glowing red eyes reflected behind my eyelids.
We’d just confirmed that vampires were behindeverything, and we’d practically spent the last year putting information right into their hands.
Chapter 20
Typically,I was the first to leap at the opportunity to work a busy shift. However, in the days leading up tomy wedding, the only thing I wanted was to be curled up in bed with James.
We’d hardly been able to keep our hands off each other, exacerbated by the looks that Shiloh occasionally gave us during our shifts.
