Danika awoke the next evening to a loud ruckus downstairs. She pulled on her robe over her bra and panties and headed out into the hallway. Both William’s and Mason’s doors were open, but they weren’t inside. Yelling floated up from the entrance hall.
“I need to speak with her now,” said an angry Neeman.
“It can wait until she is up,” said Mason.
“I agree,” said William.
“This cannot wait.” Neeman’s voice rose higher.
“What is going on here?” Danika eyed the scene. Neeman looked a bit worse for wear. He had a healing cut above his eye and a swollen lip. Behind him was the entire Tracking Squad, all looking a bit beaten up.
“I need to speak with you. Now.”
“I’m sure that whatever you have to say can wait till I have finished dressing,” she said. Several house slaves came out of the kitchen. A few coven members peeked at the disturbance.
“I assure you, Danika, this cannot wait.” Neeman advanced up the steps.
Her blood began to rise. She flew down the stairs at him, baring her teeth.
“You may call me mistress, or lord; you lost the right to call me Danika years ago, Neeman,” she snarled, inches from his face. All eyes were on her. After everything that was going on around her, she couldn’t afford another disrespect.
Neeman continued to stare at her in silence, and just when she was about to strike, he adverted his eyes and lowered his head. “I meant no disrespect, my lord,” he said, loud enough for everyone to hear. Then he leaned in. “I simply thought that it might be most important that I inform you that I have four rogues in my trunk, one of whom is not quite dead.” He lifted his eyes sideways to glance up at her.
She froze. Things couldn’t get worse. Just then, Garon and two large bodyguards walked up the front steps and into the house. Oh for the love of—
For a moment, they locked eyes, then Garon scanned what she wore, or didn’t wear, and his expression turned to disgust. “Is this how you run your coven, Lord Danika? By entertaining company in your underthings and dressing gown?” he spat.
She straightened, her robe open in the front. Her gaze pierced Garon unflinchingly. “What are you doing here, Lord Garon? You were not given welcome to enter my home.” She twirled her ring, trying to control her anger.
Garon’s rage was apparent. “I’m afraid, Lord Danika, that I do have business here. For the next fourteen days, your business is my business. The three kings have given us a period to...learn to cohabitate. Therefore, it’s my duty to stay here and learn about both you and this coven.”
“There will be no cohabitating for you and me, Lord Garon. As you can see, I already have a coven-full. You, should you wish to stay in my territory, will stay in your hotel and away from me at all times. Know now that when fourteen days are up, I will not be your mate.”
Lord Garon walked forward, stopping just short of the staircase where Neeman, as well as his trackers, stood guard in front of her. “Lord Danika, your impetuousness may begin a war that you cannot get out of. It would be a shame for the three kings to have to come in and appoint a new coven leader in your stead, due to your childish behavior.”
“Is that a threat?” she spat.
“Call it a mere suggestion that you closely examine your behavior with me from here on out.”
“I think it is time you leave my home.”
“I’ve been given permission to be here, and I will leave when fourteen days are up.”
Mason moved quicker than a Vampire and stood inches from Lord Garon’s face. Garon’s bodyguards rushed forward to defend their master, but Neeman and the trackers were right there at Mason’s side.
Mason’s large form towered over the thin Vampire. “I believe you were asked to leave.”
“And I believe, slave, that you have no right to even speak to me,” Garon shot back. “That will be one thing that’ll be remedied when I am mated to Lord Danika. You slaves will learn your place.”
It was her turn to rush forward. Her teeth bared, she growled low in her chest. “You will never be mated to me, Garon. And my slaves are none of your concern, and never will be,” she said. “Now leave my home before I’m forced to remove you myself.”
Garon stood his ground, and she thought that she was going to have to remove him physically, when Chase spoke from above.
“Lord Garon, why don’t you and I go for a ride, and I can show you some of the sights of the city?” Chase moved along the landing toward the stairs.
Garon’s gaze flickered from Danika, up to Chase. “Thank you, I would most like to get to know this city better, as it seems I’ll be spending much time here in the future.”
Chase walked down the stairs, all eyes on him. He stopped by Danika’s side. “After you.” He gestured Garon toward the exit.
Garon’s gaze raked Danika one last time. “I will see you later.”
Chase stood by Danika for a moment. “He’s right, Nika, you need to think this through a bit better. Whether you choose to go through with the mating or not, our coven cannot afford a war, and that is where you’re headed if you continue on this way with him. I’ll try to keep him out of your hair, but you at least have to be civil to the man. And for heaven’s sake, please put on some proper attire. I know you have no need for modesty, my dear, but many of us more old-fashioned Vampires still do.” Chase bent and kissed Danika on the top of the head and then headed out.
The whole house was silent, on pins and needles. Danika stood, gaze fixed on the door. Finally, she turned to Mason. “Please tell Doc we have a live rogue. I’ll be there in ten minutes.” She pulled her robe closed around her.
Mason nodded and stalked off. The slaves scattered out of his way. Danika locked eyes with Neeman. “Bring them in through the garage. I’ll be down presently.”
“Of course.” The cut above his eye had healed and his lip had normalized.
The trackers moved around her as she walked toward the staircase.
“What would you like me to do?” William walked up the stairs next to her.
“Damage control. I need you to be a presence for me here in the house for the next few hours. Listen to the slaves, smooth things over with them. Make sure that this is played down as much as possible. I don’t need a coven full of mutineers on my hands.”
“I’ll do my best.”
Danika closed her doors and moved to her bed, grabbed the pillow off it and shoved her face in. She screamed with everything she had, then breathed in and out several times, listening to the sound of it. She threw the pillow to the bed and hung her head. She wished her parents were there; they’d know how to handle all this. She felt very much unprepared for the duties of being the Vampire lord she was. She sat on the edge of her bed. Perhaps she should step down and let her uncle take over. He would run the coven with a fair and firm hand. But to do that would be letting down her parents and the legacy that her father had left to her. She wouldn’t let his memory die. She needed to find a mate. And she had two weeks in which to do it.
* * * *
Mason, Doc and the tracking squad waited for her in Doc’s lab in the basement. The lab had been put down on its own level with only the empty security bunker and a blood freezer to keep it company. They’d never had to use the security bunker, but during the war with the humans, they had kept it well-stocked in case they ever had need. Next to the bunker was a walk-in blood freezer, stocked to the top with blood and Savor. The whole level had its own back-up generator system that was solar-powered and would last indefinitely, as long as the panels weren’t disturbed.
Danika’s black platforms with pink bows clunked on the floor. She reached the bulletproof glass double doors and punched in the code for access.
Everyone stood around a gurney that was almost straight up and down. On it was a rogue covered in dirt and blood. He gnashed his teeth and cursed while Doc drew blood from his restrained arm.
“I’m going to rip your throat out. When I get off this bed, I’m going to take you down like a slow old gazelle, and I’m going to suck you dry. All of you!” he yelled. Doc finished drawing the blood and held a cotton pad over his wound. Within seconds, it stopped bleeding.
The trackers backed away a foot to give her space, but Mason moved closer to her side; his eyes wary.
The rogue had bloodshot brown eyes, messy black hair, and smelled as if he hadn’t bathed in months.
“What’s your name?” she demanded.
“Why should I tell you?” he spat.
Mason stepped forward, muscles bunched, his eyes blazing. Danika put her hand on his arm, but pulled it away.
“Because I’m the one who’ll decide whether you live or die tonight,” she said.
The rogue stopped thrashing and toned down to merely fidgeting.
“What’s your name?” she asked again.
“Simon.”
“Where did you get the human blood?”
“A vampyr gave it to me.”
“What vampyr?”
He started thrashing again. She didn’t have much time.
“Who gave it to you? How many of you are there? Where are you staying?”
It was too late; the rogue had gone back into a rage, swearing worse than ever. Then he looked Danika straight in the eyes.
“He’s coming for you. It’s you he wants. I was a test. The others were a test. But now, it’s your turn.” His eyes bulged from his head as he spoke and then he let out a bloodcurdling scream and went limp.
Danika’s blood chilled. “Wake him,” she said to Doc.
Doc checked the rogue’s eyes, and then his pulse. “I can’t, he’s dead.”
“He was fine a moment ago. What happened?”
“I’ll have to check.”
“You do that.” She turned on her heel and stalked out of the lab. Her body shook, and her hands trembled. She had to keep it together till she got to her room. She was at the elevator when a warm hand fell on her shoulder.
“Danika,” Mason said.
“Don’t.” She turned to him.
“How long has this been going on?” he pressed.
She stared at him ready to tell him to back off, but it was no good. She had to tell someone. “Since Xenock...” She couldn’t finish the statement.
“You think someone else made Xenock turn on you.”
“I saw he wasn’t well, but I didn’t want to believe it. In the end, when he attacked me, he was in the same rage that rogue was. He just kept chanting over and over.... ”
“Chanting what?”
Flashbacks stormed her brain. Xenock pacing at the end of her bed. “She’s mine. I deserve her. We belong together.”
“Danika?” Mason placed his hands on her shoulders.
She blinked rapidly and then swallowed hard. “Yes, I have thought someone was after me. But I don’t have a clue whom.”
“Garon?”
“Until this week I never knew Garon had that much influence or reach. But now... Now I’m not sure.”
Mason pushed a stray hair out of her face. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
Danika lifted her gaze. His hand was so warm on her cheek, and the small rune scar on her breast began to burn from the nearness of him. It comforted her. He stared deep into her eyes; she wanted to bury her head in his chest and feel the security of his arms wrapped around her. He leaned his head closer.
“Lord Danika.” Neeman called from down the hallway.
She stepped away from Mason, relaxing her features to assume a look of complete boredom “Yes, Neeman?”
“I think we should talk about this rogue problem; it’s getting worse.”
“Meet me at my office in two hours with a game plan, please.”
Neeman gave a tight nod and glared at Mason. The elevator opened and Danika and Mason stepped inside.
She was staring at Mason’s broad shoulders when he turned to her and pinned her with his fiery gaze. She wanted to melt right there.
“Danika, about last night—”
“Don’t, Mason. Last night was just both of us blowing off steam. I was overcome with the emotions of the day’s events, and passion took over. It was a mistake. I get that. Don’t worry, it won’t happen again. Especially now that I have to find a mate.”
“You know you don’t have to. You have—”
“You? Yes, I do have you. And I have William. But you’re a sort of human who cannot be turned, and William is a fledgling.”
“We can protect you. I can—”
“Like Sherman said, I need a mate who’ll keep Garon away.” It sounded harsh, because if she weren’t, he would end up in her bed again this morning.
“I’ll keep Garon away,” Mason said.
She wanted to believe him. She wanted to say yes, but she didn’t. “Only a male of my society will keep him at bay. You aren’t that man.”
Mason searched her face, but Danika held her resolve. That wasn’t what she’d intended to come out of her mouth, but it was the truth. She could no longer deny it. She had to choose a mate, and Mason wasn’t it.
The bell sounded and the elevator opened. Without a word, she slid past him and out of the elevator into the hallway. William waited for her, a piece of paper clutched in his hands.