I ignored Juan's praise and advanced until I pointed a finger in Bones's chest, which shook with suppressed laughter.

"Now, Kitten, it wasn't exactly a lie. Merely an embellishment of the truth. I told you vampires found that right irresistible, and some do. Myself, for one, whenever I'm around you. And do you remember how you were back then? So uptight and prissy, I couldn't resist needling you. Really, in all fairness, I never intended to let it go on this long-"

My voice trembled with wrath. "You perverted, depraved b.a.s.t.a.r.d, how could you!"

"What a mean trick," Tate agreed instantly.

Bones reached out to me, chuckling, but I slapped his hand.

"Don't touch me. You're a dead man."

"Since before you met me," he agreed, still grinning. "I love you, Kitten."

"Don't try to get out of this. We'll see if you love me when I pay you back."

"Even then I will love you," Bones called out as I stomped away. "Even then."

I watched with empathy as the tremors ripped through Tate. The white cup that had held half a pint of Bones 's blood fell from his trembling hand. Bones gripped him by the shoulders until the glaze faded from Tate 's eyes, he stopped shaking, and he breathed without sounding like he was choking.

"Let go of me," Tate snarled as soon as he could talk.

Bones released him. Tate inhaled several deep breaths, and his widened gaze met mine.

"Jesus, Cat. This isn't like before at the cave. What the h.e.l.l is in that a.s.shole's blood?"

I didn't respond to the insult but only to the question. "Power. The blood you had before was from a weaker, shriveling vampire, so it doesn't compare. Are you okay now?"

"Everything is so loud, and so clear." He shook himself like a dog flinging off water. "And the smell! G.o.dd.a.m.n, Juan, you stink! Didn't you shower today?"

"f.u.c.k off," Juan growled, looking sheepish. "I showered, but I ran out of soap. Didn't know we were getting sniff tested."

I knew to suddenly have a vampire's sense of smell was an incredible thing. It was like being born blind and then later recovering your sight. You couldn't believe how much you'd missed.

"All right, Juan, you're next."

After all three men had been given blood, we proceeded to the training room. It went well, though I 'm sure my guys had other views over their treatment at Bones's hands. Don was nervous, but he visibly relaxed when Bones revived Tate after their bout and sent him on his way with constructive criticism and even praise. Tate took his place by my side and made one statement about the experience.

"b.a.s.t.a.r.d hits harder than a f.u.c.king freight train."

I just smiled. "I know."

"You've schooled them brilliantly, Kitten."

Cooper had just been perked up with a blood chaser, and Bones glided over to me.

"They are without a doubt the toughest humans I've come across," he said to Don next. "With the additional strength of blood, they'll be equal to a young vampire." Bones kissed me on the forehead as he spoke. That single touch, combined with the past couple of hours of watching his shirtless predatory ballet, made me react in a purely instinctual manner. My loins clenched, greedily demanding attention.

Uh oh. I had to get out of here. Fast. Before the boys picked up on the fragrance of my l.u.s.t.

"I'm off to clean up; I'm sweaty. I'll, ah, see you all later," I said, and practically ran out of the room in my attempt to salvage my dignity.

"Where do you think you're going?" I heard Tate ask, with an edge to his voice. "Wrong way, Bones. The men's showers are in the opposite direction."

"I'll file that away with all the other information that doesn't pertain to me" was Bones's mocking reply.

I ignored them and kept going, reaching my locker room, shutting the door, and stripping off my clothes in a blur. A cold shower, that's what I needed.

Tate's voice still reached me through the door. "Got something you're embarra.s.sed to show us, vampire?" he taunted.

Bones merely laughed. From the sound of it, he was almost at the door.

"Just not stupid. Where would you rather be?"

"Don't answer that," I heard Juan caution Tate, and then Bones came inside my locker room.

I was already under the cold spray of water. When Bones turned his eyes to me, I shivered, but it had nothing to do with the chilly liquid.

"Not here. It's...inappropriate."

Bones removed his pants and kicked off his shoes in a single motion that made my breath catch. He came toward me, reaching behind me to turn the water from cold to hot.

"Sod 'em," he responded, kneeling in front of me. His mouth caressed my stomach. "I want you, Kitten, and you want me." His tongue snaked out and moved lower with relentless accuracy. "That's all I care about."

I clutched his shoulders as my knees went weak and my worries over propriety went out the metaphorical window. The hot water poured over us in much the same manner as the blood now racing through me.

"I'm going to fall," I warned him with a gasp.

"I'll hold you," he promised throatily.

I believed him.

When we emerged an hour later, my face was flushed from s.e.x, the heat of the shower, and the look Tate gave me when I walked into my office. He was waiting for me there. Bones had stopped by the lab again for more blood extraction, per Don 's request.

"Christ, Cat, you couldn't even wait until later to crawl into the coffin with him? " Tate asked, giving his head a disgusted shake.

That succeeded in dampening my good spirits. "First of all, none of your business, and second, how do you know we weren't just talking?" We weren't, but that wasn't the point.

Tate snorted rudely. "My senses just got put on steroids, remember? Not only could I hear you-now I can smell it on you. You reek of it, even after your shower."

G.o.d, how could I be so stupid? Frankly, I was used to being the only one with extra perceptions.

"Then I switch to my first point, which is that it's none of your business." No way was I going to cringe under his gaze.

Another snort, but with bitterness this time. "Yeah, you've made that crystal-clear."

The pain on his face stopped my next spiteful remark. "Tate. I'm not trying to hurt you or prove anything. What happens between him and me doesn't have anything to do with you."

As if mentally summoned, Bones appeared in the doorway. Tate brushed by him without acknowledging his presence, throwing a last parting comment to me as he went.

"You might not be out to prove anything, but he sure as h.e.l.l is. Forget him wearing your panties around his neck-he just smothered himself in your scent."

"Ready, luv?" Bones asked, ignoring Tate.

"Is he right?" I didn't let it drop, even though I could already guess the answer.

Bones regarded me with all seriousness. "Partially. I always want you, and you know how fighting gets my blood up, but did it cross my mind that I 'd be literally rubbing his nose in it? Yes. Better he lose his illusions, fast, when it comes to you. But would I have acted any differently if we were alone? Of course not. I can't get enough of you."

"This isn't going to be easy," I grumbled as we headed toward the exit.

Bones shrugged. "Nothing worthwhile ever is."

TWENTY-EIGHT.

BONES WAS VERY BUSY THE NEXT DAY, PULLING in his people from around the nation and even across the globe. He wanted them nearby when he told Ian that he'd found me and had hostages. Bones made me stay put while he went to my house and fetched my cat, who hadn't been happy to be left alone for two-plus days. Then the next morning we woke up at ten, frightfully early for us both, and headed straight to the compound.

"You said you had captive vampires here, right, Kitten?" he asked after we arrived.

"Yeah, three of them, why?"

Bones clucked his tongue in contemplation. "They might be useful. Let me see them."

Tate, Juan, and Cooper accompanied us down to the lower level where the vampires were housed. The guards averted their eyes when Bones walked past, having been instructed by Don not to interfere, but they had never seen a vampire unfettered and strolling about. Their obvious discomfort filled the air.

"In this pen we have Grumpy," I narrated, flipping up the concealing liner that hid the vampire in his prison. It was only raised when the other guards were safely out of eyesight. Since Tate, Juan, and Cooper were juiced with Bones 's blood, they could look at him and not worry. "His real name is Dillon, or so he told us. He's about thirty, I guess, in grave years."

Dillon's blue eyes widened when they met the cool, appraising brown ones. Bones nodded, indicating he was done viewing him.

"Next is Jack, but he's known as Chirpy. He's got a real high-pitched voice, hence the nickname. I'd say sixty? Seventy?

We snagged him at a baseball game. He liked to drink the beer vendor girls."

Sixty or seventy again referred to his undead years, but the living ones didn't seem far off from that number, either. Jack was small, wrinkled, and frail-appearing. Right up until he'd try to rip your throat out.

"And this"-I raised the last shield to reveal the blond vampire I'd captured months ago-"is Sunshine. We don't know her real name; she never told us."

As soon as Sunshine looked up, she vaulted off her cot in a blur of speed to press herself against the gla.s.s.

"Bones! How did you get here? Never mind, just kill them and let me out!"

"Belinda, fancy seeing you here," Bones chuckled. "Sorry to disappoint, but I'm not here to rescue you."

"You know her?" I asked foolishly, since it was obvious.

She touched the gla.s.s. "How can you say that, after what we meant to each other?"

I stiffened, but Tate jumped right in. "You f.u.c.ked Sunshine?"

I was waiting for his reply as well, with a pointed glare.

"We didn't mean anything to each other aside from a few s.h.a.gs, Belinda," Bones answered the question bluntly with his rejoinder.

My hands clenched. Now I wished I'd killed her instead of capturing her.

Juan said something in Spanish I couldn't follow, and to my added amazement, Bones replied in the same language. Juan's forehead crinkled as he laughed at whatever the exchange was.

"That's rude," I snapped, not amused in the slightest. Somehow I knew they weren 't discussing Sunshine's-or Belinda's-teeth.

For the first time, I looked her over as a woman, and I didn't like what I saw. Belinda was very pretty, even without a smidgen of makeup. She had long blond hair, hence the nickname we'd given her, big b.r.e.a.s.t.s, and a small waist on top of curvy hips. Her cornflower-blue eyes complemented her full pink lips. All the better to kiss Bones with...

"Sorry, Kitten," Bones apologized, switching back to English.

Juan clapped me on the back. "He speaks better Spanish than I do, querida."

"Apparently there are a lot of things I don't know about him," I purred dangerously.

Tate hid a smile behind a sudden cough.

Bones turned back to Belinda. "Quit batting your lashes at me. If you're in there, then you tried to hurt her." He nodded at me. "So you could shrivel to dust for all I bother. However, your stay here could be more pleasant if two things happen. The first involves the lovely lady at my side. She would have to agree. The second pertains to your total cooperation or, failing that, your gruesome, prolonged death. Are we clear?"

Belinda nodded and stepped back from the gla.s.s. I shut the obscuring screen, since her face was more than I wanted to see anymore.

"I for one vote for her gruesome, prolonged death," I said as I stomped away. When we were out of the holding level for the vampires, I rounded on Bones.

"You and her? Eww."

My three captains hung back, but with their new hearing abilities, it didn 't matter. Bones crossed his arms and let out a resigned noise.

"Kitten, this was before you. It didn't mean anything." I understood that, but still. This felt worse than when I'd met another of Bones's previous girlfriends, Francesca. At least she'd been helping us track down a sc.u.mbag who used to run a Meals on Wheels with humans as his main course. Belinda, who I'd met when her roommate brought me home thinking I'd make a nice dinner for two, had no such saving attributes.

"Clearly it meant something to her."

Bones shrugged. "Then kill her, if it makes you feel better. Can't say I'd blame you, and I truly don't care. If you like, I'll do it myself."

That stopped me in my tracks. By his face, Bones was serious. He really would kill her, or just stand by and watch while I did.

"I don't murder people just because I'm jealous." Not yet, anyhow. "Fine. I'll be adult, even though the thought of you with her makes me want to hurl. So, then. What's your idea?"