stood as close as lovers and touched easily. What the fuck was that? It was obvious that Brian loved Layla, and he couldn’t believe she was so blind that she didn’t see it. She’d always been smarter than the others in her age group, and nothing he’d seen so far indicated that had changed. She was also incredibly observant, especially of the people around her, with an intuitive sense of human behavior—something he obviously lacked. She hadn’t been so quick to notice though, when she’d denied there was anything more to her relationship with the human. She had a big blind spot there.
Not that it mattered. In the end, she would be his. It had taken all his strength to walk away once. He wasn’t going to do it again. Not now that she’d returned, with all the beauty and sensuality that had been only a promise in the teenager, and was now fully realized in the woman. Not even her physical strength and military experience could take away from her desirability. She was lush and curvy, despite the lean muscles and battle-hardened gaze. And damn if he didn’t want her more than ever.
Layla joined him, her dark eyes raised to meet his. “What’s with the scowl, oh great one?”
He closed his eyes briefly. She could push him as no one else could. Mostly because he wouldn’t have tolerated it from anyone else. “The day’s events don’t lend themselves to laughter,” he growled. “May we leave now?”
She made a noise that was half laugh and half snort—nothing that a lady would have permitted to escape her delicate lips. And yet he found it charming.
“I’m hungry,” she said simply. “And since I’m probably going to be the only human at this meeting, I need one of your minions to bring me some food. A sandwich will be fine. A big sandwich, with no onions. Everything else is good.”
“I don’t have minions, but I will be happy to request a sandwich for you, especially one with no onions.”
She laughed, and they walked the rest of the way in a comfortable silence.
CHUY STOOD WHEN they entered, and gave Xavier a slight bow from the waist. “Sire.”
Xavier waved his lieutenant back down, and Layla noticed that he was drinking rum tonight, rather than wine. She personally despised the stuff, but since the vampire symbiote metabolized alcohol too rapidly for it to have any real effect, vamps mostly drank for the taste. And rum had a very distinct taste. Blech.
Joaquim walked in a moment later, while she was pouring herself a good old-fashioned whiskey.
“Good evening, my lord,” Joaquim said, then added, “Commander,” with a look in her direction. He ignored the bar, going straight to the conference table, where he sat facing the room.
“Layla?” Xavier said, once they were both seated at the table, with him at one end, and her sitting next to him—a seat, she couldn’t help noticing, that both his vampires had left carefully open. “Tell us what happened today. In detail, if you would.”
She looked up, ready to begin, but paused when one of Xavier’s vampire guards walked in and set a plate in front of her, with the requested sandwich, along with some sliced fruit, and an unopened bottle of water.
“Gràcies,” Xavier said. “I sense visitants,” he added, indicating there were to be no visitors, no interruptions.
“Sire,” the vamp said and closed the door behind him as he left.
Layla gave the sandwich a longing look, but settled for a slice of fruit and a sip of water before beginning her report. “It started with a call from one of the teenagers, Alícia Vilar. There was a rumor running around the school that the children’s van had been attacked, and the children taken. I want to add at this point that I don’t think whoever took them expected us to respond as quickly or effectively as we did.”
She leaned forward, warming to the topic. The kidnappers’ motivation had bothered her almost from the beginning, but especially after her team had found the children practically unguarded, and had freed them easily. It certainly had been different than other hostage rescues they’d executed over the years.
“First, the kidnapping was not just daytime, but morning. They could just as easily have taken the kids on their way home in the early afternoon. They knew my father was gone, but they didn’t know that I’d replaced him, or that I’d immediately go after them. And they sure as hell didn’t know that some of