Page 90 of Blood Mosaic

“She was nothing.”

Oleg walked to the car, catching Seban’s eye as he approached. “Back to the house.” He glanced over his shoulder and saw Mika, Tatyana, Oksana, and his people following. “The woman with me. The rest of you in the other car.”

Tatyana froze, and Mika nearly ran into her. “What?”

Oleg held out his hand, snapped his fingers, and pointed at the car. “You? In. Mika?—”

“Leaving.” His enforcer walked back to the other car with the rest of his men.

Tatyana carefully approached the black sedan, and Oleg opened the car door for her.

“Did something happen?” she whispered.

Less than I expected and more than I wanted.“Old business.”

She got in the car, and Oleg walked around to the other side. Seban held the door for him and he slid into the back seat.

The old vampire really hadn’t asked for much. In a way, it was business that had already been concluded, or would be when Zara was dead.

The only problem was now that he’d told a bold-faced lie to the oldest vampire in the world, Oleg felt compelled to actually kill his child.

The thought put a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach.

His fangs ached in his mouth, and the fire that usually warmed him felt like it was biting the inside of his skin.

Your blood comes from the earth. From one of my line. So, Oleg Sokolov, you are mine whether you want to be or not.

His sire was dead. He owed loyalty to no one but himself and the allies he chose. But now the mother of their race thought Oleg had killed his own child, and she approved because Zara had been conspiring with Laskaris, whom Saba hated.

Which meant that Zara had to die. When he finally found her, she would have to die, and the last of Luana’s blood would be gone from the earth.

“Oleg?”

Warm fingers touched the back of his hand, and the biting sensation under his skin eased away.

Tatyana kept her voice low. “What did she say to you?”

She patted my head, called me a good boy, and made me afraid.

“Seban,” he snapped.

“Yes, boss?”

“Call Mika and tell him to fly with the others back to Odesa. Immediately. Tatyana and I will stay at the house tonight and fly back tomorrow.”

“Yes, boss.”

“And raise the screen,” he muttered. “I want to think.”

Tatyana was watching him carefully. “Let me sit in front with Seban. That way you can?—”

“No, you will stay with me.”

Oleg didn’t know why he wanted her except that arguing with the woman made him feel like less of a monster. Which made no sense because he was using her as bait and holding her captive to lure his daughter out of hiding.

She knew nothing about him. Nothing. But he’d made her trust him enough that her heart wasn’t racing in fear as she sat beside him, and Oleg was more than on edge. He felt vulnerable for the first time in a very long time, and feeling vulnerable made him feral.

But as Seban raised the black privacy screen, she reached across the car and took Oleg’s hand in her own.

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