“Tell me you’re joking,” he demanded.
She shook her head.
“What’s he thinking?” Lucien ground out.
“I’m guessing the same thing as you. He wants more than Lana’s blood. The Buchanans are a tasty lot. I had one myself years ago, I know. You boys like different smells though and you want to get yourselves some of that.”
Lucien’s body moved, turning toward Stephanie in a way that made her tense.
“Are you bored, Teffie? Do you want me to challenge you?”
“I’m saying it like it is,” she returned.
“If all I wanted was a piece of ass, I would have seduced Leah twenty years ago.”
“Oh right,” Stephanie scoffed, “you want the taming.”
Lucien, who, these days with Leah behaving the way she was, had little patience, lost the little he had.
“What are you driving at?” he clipped.
“What I’m driving at, Lucien, is I’m all for this. Vampires being vampires. These ridiculous rules being shattered to smithereens. I want the hunt, just like we all do. I miss it. I yearn for it. The problem I have, right now, with you, is that you’ve gone off target. You’re messing with Leah and things are obviously not right.”
“Stay out of it, Teffie,” he warned.
“She’s changed,” Stephanie shot back.
“She’s changed before. You know how it is, how they fight it. She’ll change again.”
“I suspect she will but are you prepared for when she does?”
For the first time in days, Lucien smiled. Stephanie growled.
Then she hissed, “You don’t get it, do you?”
Lucien’s smile grew arrogant. “Not right now but I’m going to.”
Stephanie leaned in. “What, exactly, do you think she’s working so damned hard to protect herself from, Lucien? Have you ever thought of that? You’ve tamed many mortals, what happened with the one who gave you the toughest fight?”
The smile died from his face and Lucien felt himself flinch. Stephanie saw it and went in for the kill.
Speaking quietly, she said, “That’s right, she fell in love with you. Luckily for Maggie, you fell in love with her too and you could make her your mate. That isn’t an option for Leah. So what happens to her when she directs all that feeling and life-force inside her at you then, when you’re done with her, where does she go from there?”
I love you.
The words spoken in Leah’s heartfelt whisper, like they did time and again, day after day, came unbidden into his head.
Lucien didn’t like what he was feeling.
“Stay out of it, Teffie.”
“I’m in it, we all are.” She got closer. “If Rafe moves in with Lana, takes her as a lover, The Council is not going to look kindly on what you’re doing with Leah. They might have before, to pay back their debt but this is spreading. They’ll want to nip it in the bud and the best way to do that is shut down its source.”
“I’ll talk to Rafe.”
“Yes? And what will you say?”
Lucien held Stephanie’s gaze and made a decision.