Page 6 of Vampire Lee

“Dillon’s not on here.”

“Dillon doesn’t work for us. He only lives here.”

Lee nodded.

“Add these to your contacts and get rid of the list. We have an official number people can call, but this way you can reach us faster.”

Lee’s heart blocked his throat. Shit, this was serious business.

“Contact anyone of us if you hear anything. I’ll brief the team, so they know what’s going on.”

“Thank you.”

Murrie stared at him as if he’d said the weirdest thing, and maybe he had, but he knew what it was like to be trapped in a fighting ring, and he didn’t wish it upon anyone.

Chapter 2

Dillon Ross walked into the kitchen and almost backed out. Murrie was still there. He’d escaped earlier when Murrie had walked in with a vampire. He’d hidden in his room for some time, but he was hungry, and Murrie rarely had meetings in the kitchen. And he never allowed vampires into the house. Apart from Mars, but he lived here, so it was hard to ban him.

Hesitating in the doorway, he wondered if he could escape without Murrie noticing him. The moment the thought popped up in his head, Murrie turned his head and looked at him. Damn.

“It’s safe to enter. Lee has left.”

Lee? He didn’t like that Murrie talked about a vampire so casually. Would he be back? Maybe Dillon could stay on the third floor and never come down here. He was the only one living on the third floor. The others lived on the second. There was one available room, but he liked being the only one on his floor, so he hadn’t moved into Kenia’s room. He’d never met Kenia. She’d been working with the others but had sold Devin back to their vampire master some months ago.

Dillon wished he could say he was sorry, but if she hadn’t done it, they never would’ve rescued him from being a blood slave. So he was grateful Kenia turned out to be a traitor. It didn’t mean he wanted to stay in her room, though.

“Can we install a kitchenette on the third floor?” He was sure Devin would order groceries for him. Devin always did things for him.

Murrie stared at him. “A kitchenette? Why?”

Dillon didn’t answer right away. They often tried to get him to eat with them, but he always declined. Devin served him food on the kitchen island now and then when there was no one else around. It was okay. It had taken a couple of months, but he could handle eating with Devin in the room.

“So I can cook.”

“You can cook here.” Murrie’s eyes narrowed. “Has Devin said you can’t cook here?”

“No!” He might wish Devin would back off from time to time, but all Devin wanted was for him to be part of the group. But Devin had been given three more years than Dillon had to come to terms with what happened to him.

Dillon was exhausted. All he wanted to do was put a zillion locks on the door to his room, curl up in bed, and sleep for an eternity. His nightmares always woke him, so he didn’t get much rest, but he wished he could have a space where he could relax.

Walking down here and never knowing who he’d bump into made him break out in a sweat and threatened to stall the air in his lungs.

“Then I don’t see why we need to install a kitchenette. I can order a coffee maker if you don’t want to walk down here every time you want a cup of coffee, but let’s keep the cooking on one floor only.”

Dillon wanted to be angry, but he didn’t have the energy. “I don’t drink coffee.”

Murrie stared at him. “You don’t drink coffee?”

Steps approached behind him, and Dillon was forced to either scramble backward and risk bumping into the person or enter fully into the kitchen.

He hurried forward.

“Oh, Dillon, there you are.” Devin sounded as if he was about to laugh. “I have something for you.”

Dillon turned around and stared at Devin, who was holding a tray filled with plastic cups. From the cups, tiny plants were peeking up. “You have flowers for me?”

“Jalapenos.” He chuckled. “Or, it’s more than jalapenos, but I have a few different varieties of jalapenos and some other peppers, and a couple of eggplants since I read you needed to plant them early too.”

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