Page 45 of Blades and Bone

Hamish sighed. “And alerted every other spy.”

“Potentially. We don’t know that they know about each other or that they are working together. Mirabella trusts no one, and these people are probably here because she has their loved ones.”

“I wouldn’t trust someone loyal to the cause only by force…and from what I saw in Albany, she always has a couple of her true believers on site or at least nearby.”

“So we’re dealing with an octopus, with each arm reporting back and being given different instructions.” If they cut one arm off, it didn’t really matter. They had to find the brain. Which meant they needed to capture an arm.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Hamish spent the rest of the day following Brodie around as if he was his new personal assistant or something, supposedly learning the ropes of the business. They hadn’t gone directly to the kitchen. Instead, they had stopped at security, where Brodie had reported Hamish’s guard as absent from his post.

Brodie was also more devious than Hamish had suspected. He’d given Hamish a ring with a small burr on it, so every time he shook hands with someone in greeting the burr cut them just enough that Hamish could then lick the blood off the ring—careful to go in the correct direction so he didn’t cut his tongue, and he only had a second or two as Brodie redirected the victim’s attention away to something else—and test if they were vampire.

So far, they had no vampires, blooded or otherwise, and he had two fresh cuts on his tongue. It was not what he would call a win. Not only that, but he didn’t really like tasting random people’s blood.

Hamish raked his fingers through his hair after ripping off the hairnet and tossing it in the trash as they left the kitchen. “I need a drink to cleanse my palate.”

One of the men who made the desserts wasn’t working today, but that wasn’t suspicious because he didn’t normally work today. The other was a woman, and she definitely wasn’t a vampire.

Brodie placed a hand on his lower back, directing him. “We can stop by the cafe and grab something.”

He wanted something stronger than what the cafe had on offer, but he also didn’t want to interfere with his ability to taste the blood. It was such a small sample. “Sure…coffee and water chaser?”

They walked in silence to the cafe as if worried that someone would overhear. Were they being paranoid or expressing much-needed caution?

“Has someone checked the staff in the bungalow?” Even if Brodie hadn’t authorized it, he was sure Garrick would have arranged it.

“Yes. There are fewer of them, and it’s easier to use a little ensorcellment to taste them. They are all clean.”

Which wasn’t what either of them wanted to hear. He was sure that if a vampire had been found, Brodie would’ve told him, though that would not have stopped their search.

“Do you want anything to eat?” Brodie asked as they approached the counter.

Hamish eyed up the delicious-looking treats, thought about what was on his list, and decided not to risk it. “Ham and cheese sandwich. Toasted.”

Brodie ordered two of them and coffees to go.

They couldn’t exactly sit and talk in the cafe. It was too busy, as it was the restaurant that was open from five in the morning to ten at night. Brodie had also explained that it was where after-hours room service came from, as even when it closed to patrons, there were still staff out the back preparing for the next day. It seemed as though the resort never slept.

Brodie’s phone rang. “I’m stepping outside.”

Hamish waited by the counter for their order, absently scanning the room and the staff behind the counter, and peeking into the kitchen beyond, while wishing he had his phone to play with. He was so used to reaching for it when he had nothing to do, or when he had a question, that he was lost without it.

Instead, all he could do was look around and consider the best way to add vitamin C to something in high enough doses to impact vampires. It wasn’t hard to buy, but it might be suspicious to add…and if it wasn’t being added in the bungalow kitchen, it had to be added in the resort.

He also wanted to look up what Brodie referred to as ‘bratting’ even though he was already sure it was a kink term. Given Brodie’s collection of toys and his rope, it made sense.

Did it make sense that he did it?

No…but he had been in trouble a lot for misbehaving as a kid. His mother had told him he acted as though there was no such thing as bad attention while implying that there very much was, and he was doing it wrong. If he’d been born female, he would’ve been valued and doted on even though he wasn’t part of Ann’s direct line. Instead, he was just another drone. Another worker bee who was expected to follow orders without thinking.

Maybe he would be better off unaffiliated and free to do his own thing…but he liked being part of a family. Already he missed his cousins and brothers. Cousins, more so because they were closer in age. Vampire women usually had years between children, and his mother was no exception.

He caught one of the kitchen staff staring at him and almost held his gaze instead of letting it drift away, but something about it made his pulse kick up. Now he was definitely being paranoid. Usually, if a man was looking at him for any length of time, he gave him a smile and a look, inviting them to try something. Some sneered and turned away, some wanted a fight, others returned the smile, and then it was a carefully worded dance until it was established they were very much on the same page.

He glanced back at the man with a careful smile on his lips, as if checking him out. He was…so he could give an accurate description.

The man stared for a couple more heartbeats before looking away.