Harlan had begun climbing the stairs, but stopped to level a speculative look at the rugged vampire that had grown out of the underfed, beaten down boy he took under his wing. “Why would diamonds scare her off?”
“Because Miss North doesn’t seem like theaccepts-diamonds-from-virtual-strangerstype, boss. She’s too earthy for that sort of thing.”
He did not enjoy learning that Atticus had been paying such close attention to his witch. Luckily for his protégé, he also knew that was instinct talking, not good sense. Of course he paid attention to her.
Atticus Caldwell was, for all intents and purposes, his son. He was violently devoted to Harlan — and therefore equally devoted to whomever he chose as an anchor. In Atticus’s position, he would have done the same thing: gathered information on the target prior to making a move, so his team could go in informed and ready to dismantle any obstacles.
With an uncomfortable little jolt, Harlan realized that Atticus might actually have more insight into Zia thanhedid.
Jogging back down the stairs to join the other vampire by the edge of the koi pond, he demanded, “How often do you speak to her?”
Aware that he was treading on dangerous territory, Atticus kept eye contact and loosened his posture when he answered, “Maybe once a week. Usually only in passing. I rarely talk to her, but I see her almost every day when we change shifts.”
Grim give me patience.
He loved the boy. He would not throttle him out of jealousy. It wasn’t Atticus’s fault Harlan had stupidly decided to torture himself over the past year. If he claimed her like he should have, it wouldn’t have bothered him that the other man exchanged regularhelloswith his anchor.
At least not after a while, anyway.
Forcing the acidic jealousy back down, Harlan tried to get his thoughts back in order. Once, he was the most feared assassin in the New Zone, if not the entire UTA. He could plan. He could use any resource available to him. He could hunt. He could take down any target.
He had to think like the assassin, not the possessive vampire, and take advantage of whatever it was Atticus knew.
“Tell me what you think she would like,” he bit out, fingers clenching and unclenching by his thighs. “If not gifts, then what? How do I make it clear I want her?”
“Without making her uncomfortable, boss. That’s the key.” Atticus shrugged. “She’s real sweet, that one. Never has a bad word to say about anyone, does her work with a smile, and gets flustered when anyone pays too much attention to her. I thought she was going to start crying this morning when I told her she needed a guard. A woman like that will get spooked if you come on too strong.”
Harlan’s chest constricted so hard, it nearly knocked the wind out of him. “Shecried?”
Panic blasted through him.
Zia wasn’t allowed to cry. He was just trying to keep her safe. Why would she think that was a bad thing? Did it scare her? Why didn’t Atticus fuckingsaysomething—
“She didn’treallycry,” Atticus rushed to assure him. “She just got this big, wet look in her eyes. Adriana is like that, too, remember? When she was a kid, any time she thought someone was mad at her, or upsetaroundher, she would start crying. Didn’t matter if she actually felt bad or not.”
Harlan paled. He vividly recalled Adriana, Atticus’s little sister, crying every time he looked at her wrong. It didn’t matter that he treated her like a princess, nor that she frequently sought him out when she needed to feel secure in her brother’s absence. He’d taken countless lives over the years and yet he never felt more like a monster than when the tiny vampire stared up at him with tears in her eyes.
Voice hoarse, he asked, “How can I court a woman like that? I’ll terrify her.”
Atticus shook his head. “Nah, not if you go slow. People like that aren’t made of glass, they’re just sensitive and easily spooked. You have to know how to get them to trust you.”
“How do Idothat?”
The other vampire nodded in the direction of the rose garden, lit up by soft lamp light. “Have you asked her for a tour?”
He blinked. “A tour of my own garden?”
Atticus’s lips curled. “Not to overstep, but I’m gonna go ahead and say that it’s much morehergarden than yours.”
Fair enough.“So I just… ask her to walk with me in the rose garden? Then what?”
“Then you keep making excuses to see her.” Atticus propped his hands on his hips. Nodding decisively, he added, “Andthenyou buy her the diamond bracelet.”
ChapterSeven
“Anne,it’s too early for you to be up.”
“The day I decided to have children, I made peace with waking up before sunrise,gülüm.”Her mother’s smooth voice, lovely even at the early hour, filled Zia with warmth. At least, it did until she demanded in rapid-fire Turkish, “Where have youbeen?You haven’t called in a week. Your father and I were worried something happened to you.”
