“In other news,” I said, turning my head to look at him. “The mating heat seems to have disappeared.”
“Noticed that, did you?”
“Kind of hard to ignore.”
“Don’t get used to it. I think it’s just dormant while your body is healing. But it shouldn’t be as bad when it comes back, since we’ve completed the bond and your canines dropped.”
“And, you know, we’re in the same place,” I added dryly.
“That too.”
“And we’re going to stay in the same place,” I continued. “Right?”
“I’ll even leave the door open when I shit,” Daniel vowed in mock seriousness. “My bowel movements are your bowel movements.”
“You think you’re funny,” I countered. “But which one of us will be laughing when I come in while you’re on the toilet and sit on your lap to tell you about my day?”
Daniel laughed. “Please don’t.”
“Doors closed when we poop,” I agreed, letting my eyes fall shut.
“It’s over downstairs,” he said after a moment. “Do you want to hear about it?”
My eyes popped back open. “Yes.”
“François Baudelaire financed them to find the secret to immortality. You heard that part.”
“Tale as old as fucking time,” I grumbled.
“So he approached General Keihley because they had a bit of a relationship already. When Keihley got on board, he pulled in Morren and Adamson. Morren, because he figured he could bully him into doing what he wanted, and Adamson, because he has a human girlfriend who is not his mate.”
“No way.” My eyes widened.
Daniel nodded. “They’ve been together twenty years.”
“And he’s had to watch her age while he stayed the same.”
“Yeah,” Daniel sighed. “He knew Adamson would be willing to do whatever it took, because if they were successful, then his lover could be changed.”
“Fucking hell.” The implications were extreme. “But what if he found his mate down the road? That would be a clusterfuck.”
“Pretty much.”
“There’s a human man, last name of Hermann, who is in charge of the human side of things. Adamson doesn’t know if he’s a scientist or just a strategist, but he’s the contact that Keihley had with the human faction. Adamson didn’t know how to find him.”
“I bet Chance can,” I said confidently. We’d had more than one discussion about Chance’s aptitude with computers and patterns.
“That’s the next step,” Daniel said. “Find Hermann.”
“Or you could just take out François Baudelaire,” I argued. “Stop the money and you stop the attacks.”
Daniel smiled. “He’s on the list too, baby. But it’s not as if he’s giving them petty cash to go buy bullets. We have no idea how much money is already in their hands. Killing Baudelaire may not even slow them down for a while.”
“Dammit.”
“Getting closer,” he reminded me, leaning down to brush his lips over mine. “Without contacts in Vampire Command, the humans will be hobbled. Arthur has already talked to the heads of government, and they’re going to put out a joint statement warning Vampires not to report their mates, just in case there are any traitors we haven’t found yet.”
“You think that’s a possibility?”
