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“WE SHOULD HEAD BACK to Denver before my brother checks up on me,” I suggested and held my hand out to Freya.
“Do you expect him to call you soon?” she asked, reluctantly taking my hand.
“He knows I want a few days to myself, so he probably won’t call,” I replied. “But he has a habit of checking our locations through our phones.”
Freya glanced at the phone in my pocket. “It’s hard to keep up with all the new gadgets humans create.”
She’s going to get an education about technology once she becomes a member of our squad. I kept that thought to myself and nodded at Epsilon. The mouse took us to a hotel in Denver.
We only had about half an hour before the sun would rise, so we hurried inside. I used my credit card to book a room for a few days, then we took the elevator up to our floor.
“Ladies first,” I said after opening the door.
Freya swept past me as regally as a queen and entered the bathroom. She took a quick shower and emerged with her hair dripping wet. It was long enough to brush against her lower back. Vampire charisma washed over me as she examined the bed. “You’ll watch over me while I sleep and you won’t let anyone into the room,” she commanded me.
I had no choice but to obey her and nodded in agreement. She checked to make sure the curtains were securely closed, then lay down on the bed wearing the only clothes she seemed to own. She watched me through lidded eyes as we waited for the sun to rise. The moment it did, her eyes closed and she went deathly still.
I was disappointed that she’d felt the need to compel me again. “She’ll learn to trust me,” I said to Epsilon. The mouse looked up at me and twitched his whiskers. “I knew you’d agree,” I said with a grin, then headed to the door to put the do not disturb sign on it.
Entering the bathroom, I grabbed a fresh towel and crossed to the bed. Freya hadn’t ordered me not to touch her, so I dried her hair and used my comb from my backpack to brush it. Just as I’d known, her pale blonde hair was stunning spread out on the bed. I refrained from touching her any further. The last thing I wanted was for my mate to be creeped out by me touching her while she slept. She still had Killion’s hair clutched in her hand. I didn’t try to pry the strands from her fingers. She didn’t trust me enough to let me keep hold of them.
The room had a tiny kitchenette, so I switched the coffee machine on, then dashed out of the hotel to stock up on supplies. Epsilon stayed behind to guard my mate for me, being an extension of me so I could stick to her order. I didn’t smell anyone’s scent near the door when I returned a few minutes later.
I poured myself a cup of coffee, ate a few sandwiches, then took a seat on the bed to use my phone to search for wiccans. I needed one that our squad hadn’t met yet and settled on one in Vermont. She lived about an hour away from a town we’d been to during a mission a couple of years ago. Her website mentioned she was willing to work at odd hours, so I gave her a call.
“You’ve reached Hazel Maxwell,” she said when she answered her phone.
“Ms. Maxwell, my name is Nick Garrett. I was hoping you’d be able to help me locate someone with a tracking spell.”
“I can perform the spell as long as you have some of their hair or fingernails,” she verified.
“I have two strands of his hair. Will that be enough?”
“It should be. When would you like me to cast the spell for you?”
“I can be at your store at about ten o’clock tonight,” I replied. “Would that be too late?” That should give Freya and me enough time to make our way there once the sun went down here in Colorado and the vampire woke up.
“Not at all, Mr. Garrett. I’ll see you then.”
“Thanks, Ms. Maxwell.” We hung up and I blew out a sigh of relief. “I’m glad Alex gave you to me, boy,” I said to Epsilon. He’d perched on my knee as I’d performed my search. I petted him and he gently nibbled on my fingertip affectionately. It would have been impossible to embark on this secret mission without my tiny zombie’s help.
Even shifters had to sleep and I yawned tiredly. Although I’d been ordered to watch over Freya, I didn’t need to stay awake to do it. I was a light sleeper and I would wake up if anyone tried to open the door. Besides, Epsilon would warn me if someone tried to come in. He climbed up to sit on my chest when I lay down next to my mate to sleep for a few hours.
I’d never imagined I would find my true mate, or that she would be the living dead. Worry about how my family would take her kept me from falling asleep immediately. Then I realized it didn’t matter what anyone else thought of my mate. So what if I’d fallen for a master vampire? She didn’t seem to be as evil as the rest of her kind. She’d never even fed from a human. I hoped she would tell me more about her history, but I already knew she’d had a traumatic past.
My hand seemed to move of its own volition as I fell into a light doze. It clasped my mate’s fingers, which finally allowed me to fall into a deeper sleep. I woke up a few hours later to find Freya staring at me. She’d woken up once the sun had gone down and had released my hand. Instead of getting up, she’d rolled over to lie on her side. “I ordered you to watch over me,” she said with a frown. Her hair cascaded around her in a slightly messy tangle as if she’d run her hands through it.
“Epsilon would have woken me up if anyone had tried to enter the room,” I pointed out huskily. My stomach rumbled and her lips quirked upwards slightly. “Are you thirsty?” I asked. “Do you want some of my blood?”
Her fangs elongated and she stared at my neck longingly before shaking her head. “I’ve heard my kind can become addicted to supernatural blood. I’ll stick to feeding from animals.”
She couldn’t bite me, since her toxin would most likely kill me. I was willing to fill a glass of blood for her, but she’d made her decision and it would be pointless to argue with her.
“Did you find a wiccan?” Freya asked, sitting up to comb her hair with her fingers again.
“Yeah. Her name is Hazel Maxwell and she lives in Vermont.”
“Vermont is a long way from here.”
“I’ve been there before, so Epsilon can take us there.”
“Zombies are very strange creatures,” she mused, eyeing the mouse. “Did you know your kind was created to destroy them?”
“I’m aware,” I replied and put my hand beneath the fieldmouse to catch him when I sat up. “I know someone who was there the night the Asgardian army came here to fight the Viltaran aliens.”
Freya shuddered slightly, then stood up. “We should leave,” she said.
“I need to take a shower, grab a cup of coffee and order something for dinner,” I said and smiled winningly. A large, hot meal would tide me over longer than sandwiches would.
Most women melted beneath my smiles. The vamp merely cocked an eyebrow and motioned at me impatiently. “Hurry up,” she ordered, but she didn’t shove her death magic at me this time. “Or it will be too late for us to visit with the witch.”
“I told her we wouldn’t be there until ten pm, Vermont time,” I said as I stood up and stretched. “Here, watch Epsilon for me, will you?” I thrust the mouse at her and she looked down at him. “He won’t bite,” I said with a smirk.
Holding her hand out gingerly, Freya allowed me to place my zombie on her palm. They were still looking at each other doubtfully when I picked up my duffle bag and stepped into the bathroom.
