Page 67 of Claim of Blood
“I’m sorry—your rooms?”
“The wardrobe was purchased days ago. But your belongings?” His eyes glinted with satisfaction. “Those were moved during your... hour of rest. Perhaps a touch longer.”
“An hour.” Leo’s voice was flat. “In an hour, you had a wardrobe delivered and my things moved?”
Adam’s fingers traced his bare shoulder. “When you’re as old as I am, beauty, you learn the value of efficient staff.”
Leo groaned, embarrassment pulsing through him as he dressed, painfully aware of each step and bend, pushing more of Adam’s release from his body. His boxers would be wet in minutes—again. At least he had underwear this time, unlike during the council meeting, where he’d been left in only jeans.
The memory sent another flush over his skin. Everyone in that room had smelled Adam inside him, watched the wet spot spreading across the fabric. At least this time he was clothed, even if the evidence would soak through soon enough.
“I will show you where the camera was,” Adam said, voice still carrying the edge of that earlier growl.
He guided Leo through the house, a warm hand at the small of his back. They stepped through the conservatory into the gardens, the evening breeze cool on Leo’s overheated skin. They followed a gravel path to the woods bordering the manicured grounds, stopping at a small shed. Adam pointed to an obvious gap where a camera should have been.
Leo studied the mount, instincts already cataloging details even as part of him hesitated. He could still walk away from this final betrayal. But he knew he wouldn’t.
“When was it noticed missing?” he asked quietly.
“A few hours ago,” Adam replied. “Oren saw the daylight loop on the feed during his evening check.”
Leo nodded. “That’s why he wants the system upgraded?”
“Yes. He wants tampering alerts.”
Leo turned toward Adam, searching his face. “I’m not going anywhere, am I?”
Adam’s smile was almost sad. “No, beauty. Your former life is gone.”
“They really abandoned me,” Leo said, voice soft. The words tasted bitter.
“It appears that way,” Lander said gently. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”
Leo drew a long, steadying breath. The ache of it pressed against his ribs, but under the grief, something else settled: a strange, quiet freedom. They’d made their choice. Now he would make his.
“You have another traitor,” he said, voice firmer. “Jackson couldn’t have looped that feed alone. This is a probe. They’re testing you.”
Adam’s jaw flexed. “Explain.”
“They want to see how you react. Whether you’ll assume it was an accident. Whether you’ll hunt Jackson down. Whether you’ll upgrade your security. Every answer teaches them something.”
His hands moved as he spoke, punctuating each point—old training surfacing without thought.
“This is the first of many. They’ll escalate. Test response times. Maybe stage an incident elsewhere in PDC to draw you off Innsbrook. They’ll measure how fast your Court mobilizes, how the pack responds, whether the Coven intervenes. They might even engineer an ‘accident’ to see how quickly your medical staff reacts.”
Lander’s brows pulled together. “All of that just for reconnaissance?”
Leo nodded. “They’re mapping your entire ecosystem, not just planning a strike.”
Adam’s expression was unreadable. “The solstice,” he said slowly. “If this is only testing, will the attack still come then?”
Leo hesitated, staring at the empty mount. “No. The timeline’s wrong. For a target like you, we’d strike fast, clean, decisive. Not this... slow circling.”
“What does it mean?” Adam asked.
“I don’t know.” Frustration bled into his voice. “And that terrifies me. Because whatever this is? It’s bigger than anything I was trained for.”
Silence settled, broken only by the evening chorus of crickets starting up in the trees.
