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The hoodie. He was wearing a University of Alaska Fairbanks hoodie, and I’ve been trying not to think about him since the alley, because it means remembering that night, remembering his face. Somebody made him. Somebody decided a college kid was worth the trouble.

“How many Renards are there?” I ask.

Marthe returns to the table. “Depends how you count. Including all the cousins, a little over three hundred. About what we’ve got, and the Lunds too.”

Three clans, three Guardians, three roughly equal piles. Two hundred and thirty-six years of nobody being able to move on anybody.

“So he’s not short of vampires,” I say. “He’s short of more vampires than everyone else. What if they’re making them?”

“It’s risky,” she says. “If the council discovered the Renards were making vampires, it could lead to the dissolution of the Pact.”

“Make enough, and you have an army.” Luca taps the end of the screwdriver against his chin. “Overthrow the council?”

“That’s a dangerous thing to say out loud, Luca. Don’t go repeating it.”

“He might be onto something, though, Mom,” Nick says. “Anna has been speaking out more. Dominic has been looking nervous in meetings. Maybe there’s a fracture.”

“Doesn’t matter. You have no proof, so don’t go poking around trying to find some.” She holds his eye until he looks at the table. “You and Ellery are on thin ice until the council decides what to do with you both. Leave it alone.”

“Okay, I will.” Nick stretches. “We should get home.”

I don’t miss the way he says we should get home. Like it’s a house we share. I might like it a little too much.

“I’m going to stay here tonight.” Luca finally removes the last screw from the board. “I’ll let you two lovebirds have the house to yourselves for a while longer. Just don’t have sex on the kitchen counter. Some of us need to eat.”

“Luca!” Marthe swats him on the arm. “Leave them alone.”

Nick glares at him, and I pretend to look very hard at the table.

Chapter 36

Ellery

We barely make it through Nick’s front door before his mouth is on mine and I’m attempting to unbutton his pants. Out of respect for Luca, I force Nick away from the kitchen and upstairs. He sinks down onto the end of the bed and pulls me into his lap. Our kisses turn feverish, and my hand slides beneath his waistband. He lets out a groan, his head tipping back, eyes closing. I lick down his jawline, pausing over the spot on his neck where his pulse would be if he still had one.

“Elle, slow down.”

I don’t want to slow down. I want to climb inside his flannel shirt and live there. I want to know what it feels like to belong to someone who wants to belong to me. Who won’t try to blunt me so I fit into their version of what I should be. Who takes all of me as I am.

“I know.” His palm flattens against my sternum. “I can hear you.” He kisses me once, light and quick, before flipping us over and pressing me into the bed. Then he’s the one not slowing down.

The next day, we don’t make it to breakfast until eleven.

“Would you mind if I hang out at the newspaper for a few hours?” I ask as we step out of the cafe into the chilly day.

“If that’s what you consider fun, have at it.” He grins. “I’ll come by later and bring you lunch.”

“Will it be in a brown paper sack? Sandwiches with the crusts cut off?”

“Only if you’re a good girl,” he whispers against the shell of my ear. He turns to leave, stops, then scoops me up in his arms, kissing me deeply.

Old Jack from the hardware store goes past and pretends very hard to be looking elsewhere.

“I’ll see you later.” I’m still smiling when he’s halfway down the street.

My brain has been circling around Luca’s theory since I got up this morning. Marthe said not to poke, but I can’t sit here while there might be more vampires out there attacking people or while Constantin is clearly determined to destroy Nick. Anna’s running the investigation, but there’s nothing to prove the Renards are or aren’t behind making that vampire. Who’s to say she won’t tamper with evidence to hide their involvement in any of this?

Luca knows everything and everyone, so I start there.