“Always,” he said, and was surprised to discover he meant it.
Natalie’s smile was beautiful, her feelings written on her face and in her eyes. “I have to shower,” she told him. “You want to join me?”
He shook his head. “I’d love to, but I can’t. I wasn’t being mean earlier. Alon really does need me tonight, and he’ll be waking soon.”
“You were being a little mean,” she said gently, “but that’s okay. I’m going to get dressed, and go through those files that I—”
“We need to talk about that,” he interrupted. “And about last night.”
She frowned. “You think last night had something to do with the files?”
“Maybe,” he said. He wasn’t convinced the two things were connected, but he didn’t believe in coincidence either. Not when it came to vampire politics. “You go ahead and shower, and after I get Alon settled, you and I and Marc will talk.”
“Okay.” She went up on tiptoes and kissed him. “Give Alon a kiss for me,” she said saucily. She spun away and headed out of the kitchen, but not before Christian slapped her pretty little ass and growled a wordless warning.
She was clearly terrified. Or at least, that’s what Christian told himself as she laughed all the way to her bedroom.
Mexico City, Mexico
Vincent stared down at the contract sitting before him. The paragraphs of constipated words went on and on, saying things that any moron would have known without being told. Why did lawyers feel the need to spell out every insignificant detail, covering their asses against the most unlikely outcomes, including possibilities that simple common sense should have argued against?
And why the hell did he have to sit here reading this crap when his territory was in turmoil, with new rebellions seeming to spring up almost daily? It was like that game of whack-a-mole. Every time he put down one rebellion, a new one sprang up. And while he had a good team of people, the ones he could trust absolutely were still few in number. In time, that would change, but for now, he could only rely on those who’d been with him for years. The ones who’d been secretly sworn to him rather than Enrique. And as if all of that wasn’t enough, now he had this European bullshit to deal with.
Logically, he knew it would get better, that this instability was typical of any transition in the vampire world. But sometimes his gut rebelled against logic, and it felt as if the crises would never end, that this would be his life from here on out. And when that happened, he had trouble remembering why he’d ever wanted this fucking job in the first place.
Throwing down the pen he’d been using to annotate the contract, he picked up his cell phone and called Lana.
“Hey, baby,” she answered, sounding perfectly happy to hear from him, but a little distracted.
“You want to go for a run? Or a swim?” he asked her.
“Um, can you give me half an hour?”
“What are you doing?” he demanded rather grumpily.
“Aw, is his lordship bored?”
“Just answer the question, smartass.”
“Well, you know that wedding dress I told you I needed for the big day? It turns out those things need to be fitted, and if I move right now, I’m going to get skewered by about a thousand tiny pins.”
Vincent frowned. He’d have time to finish the contract. Damn. “Okay, thirty minutes. I’ll meet you—” He was interrupted when his lieutenant, Michael, opened the door, his knuckles rapping on the wood as he entered. One look at his face, and Vincent knew it was bad.
“Something’s going on, querida. I’ll call you right back.”
“Vincent?” Lana’s voice sounded concerned, and Vincent had a feeling she was right to be.
“Finish your dress,” he told her. “And don’t worry.”
“Vincent—” she started to say, but he hung up, reaching for the paper Michael was holding out to him.
He read through it quickly, then looked up. “What the fuck is this?”
“It looks like an intel report from Anthony.”
Vincent read it again, paying closer attention to the small details that made the report seem credible. “Anthony’s supposed to be in hiding. And who the fuck faxes something this urgent? Hell, I didn’t even know we had a fax machine.”
“Maybe this is all he has access to wherever he’s hiding. The bigger question is how the hell he knows what’s going on, and can we trust anything he says.”