I took a seat next to Rosemary on the sofa. She leaned against the opposite arm and pulled her legs up beside her, tucking her feet under my thigh. Maybe she wasn’t as immune as she was letting on.
Dalton dropped onto one of the chairs. “So what have you told him?”
“Just that you reported that I’d mated one of your sons and they’d picked me up like we’d hoped.”
“You put her in this?” I asked Dalton incredulously. “What the fuck were you thinking?”
“I was thinking that my very human goddaughter didn’thavea mate, and when they figured that out, they’d let her go.”
I laughed humorlessly. “You thought they’d let her go?”
“From all accounts?—”
“What accounts?” I asked, cutting him off. “From what we’ve seen, no one has made it out of their little labs. And who the fuck are you working for? Because I’d really like to speak to whoever decided that it was a good idea to send a human woman to those fucking monsters. Are you out of your godsdamn minds?”
The minute my legs tensed so I could rise to my feet, Rosemary moved, crossing the couch to tuck her shoulder into my armpit and her arm around my waist. I wasn’t sure who had taught her the move, but she succeeded in instantly calming me. I nearly let my eyes fall shut as my heart stopped thudding in my ears.
“Why don’t I start at the beginning?” Dalton said.
“Calm down,” Rosemary whispered in my ear. “Flying off the handle isn’t going to get you answers any faster.”
I turned my head until we were nose to nose. “I’m going to tear the head off anyone who thought putting you in danger was an acceptable choice.”
“I was safer than you’re thinking,” she replied, her breath whispering across my lips. “Now, shhh.”
“We started getting reports that Vampires and their mates were disappearing three years ago?—”
“Four,” Gary corrected. “Sam came to us four years ago.”
“Right,” Dalton agreed. “We’ve known Sam for years. He works at the local tractor store…” He paused when he caught my dubious expression. “Gary and I own a lot of land. We’re in there more than you’d expect.”
“He said he hadn’t heard from his sister in a few weeks, and he was getting worried. She’d never gone more than a few days without checkin’ in and shootin’ the shit with Sam’s wife,” Gary explained. “His sister’s mated to a Vampire, if you hadn’t figured that out already.”
“We looked into things for him, but there was no trace of the sister or her mate,” Dalton added grimly. “Their house was untouched, cars parked in the driveway. They had no children yet, no pets. It looked as if they’d just left.”
“But they didn’t come back,” Gary said.
“No, they didn’t.” Dalton shook his head. “And then it happened again about six months later. Someone else mentioned that a Vampire they knew had vanished. There one day and gone the next. They’d assumed that their acquaintance had gone on a trip, but they never returned. The stories kept happening. Vampires and their mates disappearing into thin air. All newly mated, all quietly living their lives, suddenly gone.”
“How many?” I asked, my voice rough. My brother Ambrose had found a handful of small tokens hidden in the room where our brother Zeke had been held, so we knew there were others, but this sounded much bigger than any of us had imagined.
“Fifty-four,” Dalton replied quietly.
It felt like I’d been punched in the chest. That was far more than we’d heard of. More than I’d ever thought possible.
“Couples,” Rosemary clarified. “Fifty-four couples. One hundred eight, total.”
“One hundred nine,” Gary said. “When we add your brother. He was mated?”
“My brother’s mate is safe,” I replied, sick.
Gary’s nod seemed relieved.
“We didn’t put it together,” Dalton said apologetically. “As far as I knew, Zeke hadn’t been mated, so his death didn’t fit the pattern.”
My baby brother had known better than to report his mate to our government. There was no record of Charles. Unfortunately, the militia had discovered him anyway. I doubted Zeke had been able to hide his mating heat symptoms for long.
“Tell me the rest of it,” I ordered, pulling Rosemary tighter against me. Her heart beat steady and strong beneath my palm.
