And, yikes. What if that territory wasme?
I dismissed the thought immediately. My sister had probably made him swear to protect me, her baby sister. As far as he was concerned, this was just another mission. No reason to flatter myself.
But boy, did that tiger snarl as he circled me.
Chapter Six
ROUX
“You’re limping,” Gen said once we’d regrouped and headed back to the château.
I huffed. No, I wasn’t. I was conserving energy with my right rear leg. There was a difference, dammit.
I kept my eyes on the lights ahead and did my best to strut, not shuffle. But naga wounds — even small ones — were a bitch. I could feel icy venom trickling through my veins with every shaky beat of my heart. Not enough to kill me, maybe, but enough to make my eyesight blur and throw off my balance. If we didn’t get inside soon, I might be reduced to flopping over — or accepting help.
Which might just kill me, because tigers didn’t flop, and we certainly didn’t need help. Especially not from lions, vampires, or their boss’s kid sister, no matter how beguiling — er, exasperating — she might be.
“Any idea who they were?” Gen asked Henrik.
He and Bene had followed the intruders and seen them race off in a dark car parked behind the Citroën Gen and I had left at the side of the road.
That meant they hadn’t stumbled across us. We’d been followed.
“Stéphane, Nicolas, and a third naga I don’t know,” Henrik said, leading us inside like he owned the place.
I snorted. All vampires were snobs, but Henrik took the cake. Still, he’d made himself useful, and I couldn’t fault that.
I could, however, fault his track record. For every time Henrik raced in to the rescue, there was another occasion when he let us down, big-time. The man madewild cardhismodus operandibecause it was useful. He got the privileges of warm-blooded company, and every time we vowed to banish him, he would make himself indispensable.
Like now.
“Who the hell are Stéphane and Nicolas?” Gen demanded.
She and her sister might not have a lot in common, but they’d both gotten thebossygene.
Henrik made a dismissive gesture. “A couple of young upstarts.”
I rolled my eyes. Anyone born after 1910 counted as young in Henrik’s book.
My joints creaked as much as the staircase. It didn’t creak under Henrik, though. Something I found creepy as hell, even after all these months working together.
“Either they’re fools, or they hired out to someone — again.” He sighed.
“Again?” Gen yelped.
At the top of the stairs, I intended to veer off for my room in the west wing. But I wasn’t sure I would make it, so I followed Gen into the drawing room instead.
She turned to me, then gasped. “Oh my gosh. You look terrible.”
I mustered the energy to glare at her, but she was right. I felt terrible.
“Shoo.” Henrik waved to me. “Go to your room and sleep it off, won’t you?”
I would if I could, dammit, but I was close to swaying.
“Sleep it off?” Gen admonished. “We have to check those wounds.”
Bene gave an exaggerated whimper and stuck out a paw.
