Page 19 of Blood & Ice

Maverick noted the hasty backtrack and raised an eyebrow. “Find something?”

“Maybe,” I hedged. “It might be nothing. We shouldn’t get too excited about it.”

His eyes narrowed on my face, and he scooted closer to me, leaning in to get in my space. The kiss came without warning and was so sweet and intoxicating that he was able to pluck the phone from my fumbling fingers.

“Mav, don’t,” I protested weakly. “I don’t want to upset you. Besides, you don’t know the code.”

“It’s Cain’s birthday,” he said without looking up. “December 16, 1973.”

I opened my mouth, closed it, and then contented myself with a scowl. “You were spying on me.”

“No, I watch you sometimes. There’s a difference.”

“Oh yeah?” I asked. “What’s the difference?”

“I observe you in order to find ways to make your life easier.Spyingimplies I’m poking my nose into things you don’t want me to know. But you’ve unlocked your phone dozens of times in front of me, so I don’t think this one counts.”

A fluttery feeling went through my belly at his casual admission. He was taking this husband thing a hell of a lot more seriously than Jonathan ever had. I’d never had someone who wanted to take trouble off my plate, instead of shoveling it on.

Maverick went very still when my phone opened to the search. His face blanched, and his hand tightened around my phone until the case creaked in protest. He managed to let it fall from his fingers with a visible effort and closed his eyes, sucking in deep lungfuls of air.

“Rupert’s mansion,” he hissed. “Fuck...”

“It’s not Rupert’s mansion anymore. You killed him,” I corrected. “Someone else is in charge and I need to get in contact with them. I want to feel out the room. It’s possible that this has been done without the new leader’s knowledge.”

“Unlikely,” Maverick muttered.

“I’ll try to be the optimist in the room. We’ll give them a call and see if we can schedule a meeting. I’ll update Aurea somehow, and that might appease her itchy trigger finger.”

It wasn’t a guarantee of safety, but it was a better plan than I’d had twenty-four hours ago. I just had to talk down a group of murderous vampires who’d already attempted to kill two people I was sworn to protect and indirectly caused my brother’s death.

Happy thoughts, Tally,I thought.

But the only one I could come up with was the whole place burning down to the ground with the bloodthirsty psychos trapped inside. I could roast marshmallows around the bonfire with my kids when the screams died down. There was a happy thought. Homicidal, but still happy.

Maverick switched to the keypad and began to dial a number, signaling me to wait when I asked who he was calling. When the phone began to ring, he turned on the speakerphone and set it down between us. A few moments later, an annoyed woman’s voice answered.

“You have some nerve calling me at this hour,” Wanda said, trying to growl the words. They came out thick with sleep, ending up closer to a throaty purr. Wanda had been forced to pretend she was a full vampire for a while now. “Taliyah, you’re a friend, but I swear to the goddess...”

“Tally didn’t call you, cousin mine. I did. I need to speak to Lorcan.”

That succeeded in shutting her up. If she’d been present, she probably would have stared. I know I was. Maverick requestingLorcan’s presence was unheard of. Wanda’s beau tolerated Maverick’s presence in the coven. Maverick only refrained from hexing Lorcan because he was teaching Astrid the finer points of being a vampire.

“I’m sorry, I think I might be having a fever dream,” Wanda said eventually. “Did you ask for Lorcan?”

“Yes, kick him awake. I need to talk to him.”

Wanda paused, then said, “Okay. I’ll be right back. He’s in the basement and there’s not a lot of signal down there. I don’t want to drop the call. This is one that I justhaveto hear.”

“Fine,” I said, cutting across Maverick before he could lob a sharp retort at Wanda. “We’ll wait.”

There was a stretch of empty air. I almost hung up after five minutes of air whooshing past the receiver. Then, at last, the phone on the other end rattled and Lorcan’s Irish brogue came through the speakers.

“You need me, hmm?” Lorcan said, with an edge of amusement in his tone. “I’m sorry to have to disappoint you, but I am a one-woman vampire, warlock. You’ll have to keep your pining to yourself.”

Maverick let out the rough approximation of a growl. “Don’t flatter yourself, Lorcan. Even if I were so inclined, I’d do better than you.”

Lorcan laughed, a sound so infectious that it made me smile in spite of our current predicament. “Alas, I have been rebuffed by a Depraysie yet again. What seems to be the problem? And is it really so urgent you had to wake me from a death sleep to have this conversation?”

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