“Wouldn’t it irritate him,” Adrian murmured, “if he knew how delighted I was instead?”
Eve shot a deliberate glance at the two lycans. “There are rumors. I’ve heard a large portion of your workforce has gone on strike. Gadara’s hoping to step in and help you out with that, of course. But if you’re looking to avoid his hefty commission and don’t mind working with grunts under the table, I can get you some referrals. Just let me know.”
Adrian deciphered the message clearly and was grateful for it. His Sentinels weren’t completely hanging in the wind without his lycan “workforce.”
There was help available, if he decided they needed it. Whether or not he did anything with that knowledge wasn’t as important as possessing it to begin with.
Eve moved toward the door. “I brought your paper in,” she said, gesturing at the folded newspaper in a plastic bag dotted with morning dew. “And you should have someone pul your trash cans off the curb. I figured you’re probably not used to worrying about that at Angels’ Point, but some neighborhoods penalize residents who leave them out after trash day. Mortal lives are a bitch.”
He stared at the newspaper as the door shut behind her. Air-conditioning…newspapers…trash… “Someone’s been staying here,” Lindsay muttered. “We lost track of that with Vashti showing up, but she wouldn’t mind the heat, would she? She wouldn’t even think about messing with the AC.”
“No.”
“Who would dare use someone else’s place like this?”
“Perhaps it’s not daring,” he murmured. “Perhaps it’s desperation. Navajo Lake is only a few hours’ drive away.”
“Oh.” The compassion in her eyes stirred his soul.
He could stay and wait them out, but if they feared reprisal, they’d steer clear. They would need reassurance of a different sort.
Glancing at the two lycans, he said, “Ben. Andrew. I’m going to leave you two here. You can deal with the situation. Bring whoever it is back to Angels’ Point, if that’s what they want. If not, let them know this property is going up for sale next week.”
The two guards were quiet a moment. Then one nodded; the other smiled. “Thank you, Adrian.”
“For what?”
“Trusting us,” Ben said.
“And taking us back,” Andrew added.
Adrian looked at Lindsay, at a loss for what to say. Her encouraging smile got him back on track. “Let’s pack up and get to the airport. We need to get these samples to Siobhán.”
She reached for his hand and squeezed. He wondered if she knew what that simple gesture meant to him, how much love and support it conveyed, how quickly he’d come to depend on it. On her.
He’d come to Vegas for blood and was leaving with something far more precious—a deeper connection to the woman who held his heart. In the chaos of his life, facing terrible odds and even more horrifying decisions, Lindsay was his light in the darkness. Shining even when he couldn’t see her.
CHAPTER 17
“Fuckin’ creepy,” Raze muttered, crossing his arms as he leaned into the side of Vash’s rental. “Quiet as a damn tomb.”
Elijah glanced at the vampire and nodded grimly, in accord with the sentiment. His skin was crawling. They’d split up and surrounded the residential subdivision, then worked their way inward, looking for any signs of life. What they’d found was nothing. Nothing at al .
“Where are the newspapers?” Vash asked, moving restlessly. “The mail? The overgrown lawns? You can’t have an entire neighborhood disappear and not leave a trail that someone can fol ow.”
Syre opened the back of the Explorer and began pul ing out weapons. “How do you suggest handling this, Vashti?”
“Two vamps on vantage point—rooftops, each end of the subdivision. Then three teams: one wil take the homes in the center while the other two come around the outer circle on opposite sides. We pick this place apart home by home. The lycans can do the walk-throughs for occupants, while the vamps work on gathering physical data. There has to be a loose thread to pul somewhere.”
“Al right.” He looked at two of the vamps he’d brought with him. “Crash and Lyric, you two are on point. Anything makes a run for it, take it down.”
The two minions each selected a weapon and moved off, their bodies freshly fortified against the noonday sun by Fal en blood.
Elijah waited for further instructions, grateful for the dark sunglasses that hid how he watched Vashti. Her hair was restrained in a ponytail, her body encased in her customary black—the pants he’d shoved down her thighs earlier, paired with a leather vest that zipped from navel to cle**age.
Her creamy skin and bril iant amber eyes captivated him, as everything about her did. His woman. So beautiful and infinitely deadly. A warrior whom other warriors fol owed into battle without question. He adored and valued her, even while she was driving him crazy.
She divided the remaining five vampires into teams of two, two, and one, then turned to him for guidance on how the four lycans should be divided. He put Luke and Trey with the teams of two vamps, and put Himeko under his watch. She could handle herself, but he’d lived—barely— through the Las Vegas attack. If they were facing something like that again, he wanted to be the one who had her back.