Page 54

They stayed there on the bed, side by side, staring at each other, just long enough to prove neither of them really wanted to leave. But she really needed to call Birdie.

“Breakfast,” he said, standing and walking to the door before turning back to her. “Among other things.”

* * *

Laria wasn’t answering him.

There were two reasons his sister would have gone dark. She was either in trouble or didn’t want him to know something. She and Torr were together, and though he’d not heard back from his brother either, Lawrence found it unlikely both of them had been hurt. One of them, alone, perhaps, but not if they were traveling together. They were too cautious. Too experienced. Over the years, they’d been in enough sticky situations not to take foolish chances. They healed quickly, and nothing short of an aspen wood stake to the heart or total decapitation would put them down for good. Still, it rankled that neither of them had responded to his messages and calls in more than twenty-four hours. Especially now.

“Everything all right?”

Toni appeared in the doorway looking like a cross between an NYU graduate student and the lost princess of some fantasy world. Dressed in a long, flowy skirt and black camisole, she’d piled her wet hair atop her head. She certainly knew how to fill a room with her presence.

“Yes,” he said without thinking.

“Liar.”

She traveled the distance of the long, formal table, much too big for a bachelor, and pulled out the seat next to his. He’d run to The Witch’s Brew for bagels and drinks. Toni picked up the cup he slid over to her and opened the lid.

Inhaling, she looked at him as if he’d given her a million dollars.

“Chai?”

He took a sip of his own coffee.

“What else?” She and Alessandra spent a large portion of their salaries on the coffeehouse’s chai lattes.

Closing the lid, she put the drink to her full, pink lips and closed her eyes. Though she had no memory of the latter part of their encounter, he certainly did. His pants tightened as she made a sound similar to one he’d heard the night before.

“So, tell me what’s wrong,” she said, as if she hadn’t just tempted him to swipe the table clear and have her for breakfast instead of the damn bagel.

It was the kind of thing Laria might say. His sister delighted in the openness of the modern world, which, in her words, was so much less stuffy than the time when they’d been human. The thought of his sister shifted him back to brooding.

“Not accustomed to sharing your problems?” Toni asked. She looked up at him as she spread maple walnut cream cheese on a bagel.

“As a matter of fact, I am not.”

“Why not try it?”

Try it.

He’d been trained to do just the opposite. As clan chief, the burdens lay on him alone. Of course he’d had plenty of support—Torr and Laria, as well as a veritable army of advisors. But his father had always impressed upon Alec, the brother who was supposed to have been chief, that only one man truly ruled the clan. Too many opinions could be dangerous.

“I’m worried about my sister and brother,” he found himself saying. “They’ve stopped texting or calling me back.”

Toni took a bite of her bagel, not typically a very sensuous act . . .

“Do you know where they are?”

“No. I can sense the new Cheld still, somewhere in the south, but it’s not an exact science. Most vampires can only sense them if they’re nearby, but it’s different for us . . . and the Morleys.”

“How so?”

This was tricky to explain. “The Balance created a tie between us, the original two first families and my nieces and nephews—”

“The Cheld.”

“As they were called years later, yes. We have always been drawn to them. When one is nearby, it is easy to sense . . . an exact location. But otherwise . . .” He tried to think of an analogy. “Has a place ever popped into your head, maybe triggered by a smell or sound—”