Page 84 of Betrayed in Blood
I raced after him as he marched down the hall. “What guests? I didn’t hear anyone arrive.”
“Lyra met them and took them around through the garden. Trudy wanted to see the flowers.”
“Trudy? You mean Trudy and Harlow are here.”
“Yes.”
Him and his damn one-word answers.
“I thought they were coming for dinner.”
“And the meeting.”
I was ready to leap on his back and attempt a new maneuver Simone had taught me, but we’d reached the solarium, and multiple voices shattered my dream of taking him down.
Devon met me at the door—a huge smile for me and a glance at Sergi I couldn’t read. Sergi smirked and walked to a computer station Lucas was setting up.
“I’m sorry Sergi didn’t inform you of my afternoon plans.” He gave me a light kiss and rubbed my arm. “I take it the two of you haven’t worked out your issues.”
“Evidently not.”
He chuckled. “I’ve been at the coastal safe house reviewing our final security upgrades. When Sergi contacted me after your lunch meeting, I called Harlow and asked if they could come early for the meeting. He was supposed to tell you all of this.”
“I suppose you’re not going to have him drawn and quartered.”
His smile was more than charming, and all I wanted to do was melt into him and forget the room full of people. “I think that might be a rather harsh punishment. Perhaps the two of you locked in the training room for a day might be a better resolution.”
“I could work with that.” I was already thinking of how that would go, another one of my evil smiles forming.
“Pandora,” a familiar voice called out. “Get your sweet ass over here and give Trudy and me a hug.”
I laughed as Devon shook his head. We both knew Harlow just wanted to squeeze my ass. But he did more than that. He wrapped me in a huge bear hug then dragged Trudy in so the three of us looked like idiots in the middle of the room.
“I always pictured a three-way with us.” Then Harlow grabbed my ass.
I pushed him off, unable to stop grinning. “You’re still a pig.”
“I think it gets worse the older he gets.” Trudy gave me her own hug. “So, what trouble are you in these days?”
“When are we not in some type of trouble?” Then my smile faded. “I’m afraid this one hits close to home.”
“Yes, Devon mentioned that.” Harlow pulled his serious face together for a slim moment, then his face lit up. “But don’t worry about that. We’ll save your mum and sister.”
“If everyone could take a seat. Let’s get this meeting started.” Devon stood next to the computer station where Lucas typed a few last keystrokes before finding a seat with Ginger, a tablet firmly in his grasp.
The cadre were all accounted for, including Jacques and Decker, who I was beginning to think of as Devon’s extended cadre. Colantha, Ginger, and Lyra—the triple threat as I called them—had filled a sofa. When I glanced around for a seat, I found Simone leaning against a wall, which wasn’t a normal position for her to take. She gave me a smile, the tips of her fangs showing, and nodded toward Devon.
He was motioning me to a chair next to where he stood. I took it, feeling like everyone was up to something. Or maybe it was my own doubts and concern for my family and having no one to talk to about it before the meeting.
“As most of you know, Cressa received an anonymous message from someone who claims her father is in trouble and needs her help. Their responses to her most basic questions, like who are you, have been slow in coming. Their last request was for a meeting tonight at midnight in a secluded spot, and, of course, she was to come alone. She responded that she was out of town and wouldn’t return until tomorrow.” He glanced down at me. “I believe we’re still waiting for a reply.”
I nodded.
“We have come to the conclusion that this is a ruse to lure Cressa out of the lockdown. We assume the threat comes from Venizi, but we hadn’t been able to confirm that until Cressa met with her mother’s friends earlier today. That meeting provided us with a valuable lead.”
Devon nodded to Lucas, who turned on the LCD monitor that had been rolled in on a stand. A black-and-white freeze frame image appeared on the screen. It was from the video feed the evening that April and, at the time, an unknown vamp, had gone into my old apartment. The video I’d asked Sergi to pull.
“Cressa was able to get the name of her sister’s boyfriend—Jasper Hunnicutt. Sergi has spent the last couple of hours searching to see if Hunnicutt is a vamp by putting the name and this face out to our entire Family. Based on a hunch, Sergi also checked the list of rogue vampires. Now, we know not all rogues will declare themselves for the records, but this one has.” He nodded to Lucas.
