Page 74 of Blood Mosaic

“We have excellent firewalls.” Elene crossed her arms. “Are you saying?—”

“Every server has vulnerabilities,” Tatyana said. “Even the Pentagon has been compromised. What you don’t have is a sexy image, right?”

Elene narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean?”

“Unless a hacker became obsessed with logistics in the Black Sea, SMO is not going to be a target. Maybe for finances, but that would be taking on the bank servers, and we don’t have access to them. The information that you deal in is simply” —she shrugged— “not very sexy for a hacker. Who cares about a Ukrainian shipping company?”

Elene smiled. “Excellent. We are safe by being boring. Don’t tell Oleg and Mika, but that’s perfect.”

“Okay, great.” She pinched her lips. “I won’t mention it to your boss.”

“He wouldn’t understand half of what you told me anyway. He’s a dinosaur when it comes to technology.”

“Aren’t all vampires?” She was typing with Grimace again, and he sent her a cat gif that made her smile. “They can’t even touch a phone.”

“There are devices now that they can use. They’re clumsy and slow, but they are available.”

“Why doesn’t Oleg have one?”

“He’s not interested.” Elene sat down in Tatyana’s other chair and stretched her arms over her head. “The last thing he wants is to be more available. Years ago he’d take me away to the citadel and we wouldn’t see a screen or hear a radio for a month. Sometimes more.”

Tatyana looked up. “What’s the citadel?”

“His castle. I thought he’d mentioned it. It’s his main residence for most of the year.”

“And you and he would go for work? What if you needed to call the office or…?” Tatyana looked up and saw Elene’s amused expression. “Or… not for work.”

Elene raised an eyebrow. “What do you think?”

Tatyana’s cheeks felt hot. “So work relationships are not foreign to him, I see.”

“They’re not particularly common either. When we were together, I was working for a rival organization.” Elene smiled. “You might say he seduced me away for his own purposes.”

“I see.”

Elene smiled. “He’s an excellent lover and an even better former lover. We’re good friends now. Oleg doesn’t have serious relationships with humans.”

Tatyana dropped her voice. “Can I ask a question?”

“You can ask.” Elene sat up straight. “I’ll decide if I want to answer after I hear it.”

“Oleg’s attitude toward Zara… Were they ever involved? Is that why she hates him so much?”

“Oh God no.” Elene wiped a hand over her face. “This is important to know, so it’s good you asked. Vampire sires and their blood children areneverromantically involved. It’s as taboo as it is in human society. A relationship like that would be considered monstrously perverse.”

“I didn’t know,” Tatyana said. “I didn’t want to imply?—”

“If Oleg had ever turned me, his feelings would have immediately gone paternal. It’s a complicated bond, just like with mates, but it is intensely paternal.”

“Mates?” Tatyana frowned. “What are…? Someone mentioned a mate, but is that like a marriage? Kind of?”

“Sometimes yes. Sometimes no. Mate relationships are different for everyone. Oleg’s was…” She fell silent. “It’s not my place to say.”

Wait, Oleg had a mate? Did that mean that her sexy and terrifying boss was the vampire equivalent of a widower?

Elena continued, “Vampire matings—hypothetically—can be formed for as many reasons as human marriages. And some are very much like a human marriage. Oksana and her mate Ludmila, for instance.”

“Oksana?” Tatyana thought the name sounded familiar, but Oleg wasn’t exactly introducing her to his friends and family.

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