Tate, Juan, and Cooper filed into the training room. They weren 't wearing full battle gear, which would have been a bulletproof vest, a flexible silver-lined neck protector (which I designed after Dave's death), or automatic and semi-automatic guns complete with silver cartridges. No, they were each wearing just the usual cotton pants with crewneck T -shirt that all our team wore while training.

Except this was no ordinary training operation, even by our standards. Next to me, Bones held Belinda in an iron grip. Don, safe in his overlook box above us, looked decidedly bleak. He hadn't liked this idea. Neither had I, but that didn't mean I couldn't see the merit of it.

"Are you guys ready?" I asked.

My tone was calm, belying my inner churning stomach. All three men nodded.

"Then take a knife, each of you. Just one."

They complied, going over to the container where we had knives piled up like so much garbage. I glanced at Bones. He nodded once and then bent to Belinda's ear.

"Remember what I told you," he said very softly, yet his voice dripped with ice.

Then he released her, and she charged like a blond Tasmanian devil at my men.

They scattered, moving with a speed that would have been impossible for them a week ago. Pumped full of Bones's blood, however, they managed to avoid her first grab. Tate spun behind Belinda, flinging his single knife at her back, and it lodged to the hilt right where her heart would be.

She swung around, reaching behind her while I barked out a reprimand.

"That's great if you're intending to kill her, but I told you to treat this situation like a test run for Ian 's guards. If they're dead, what hostages am I supposed to bargain with?"

A fleeting look of sheepishness crossed Tate's face. "Sorry," he muttered. "Just knee-jerk reaction, I guess."

Belinda s.n.a.t.c.hed the knife out of her back and flung it at Tate's feet.

"a.s.shole," she growled at him.

Bones gave me a knowing look. "See why I insisted on steel knives instead of silver? I reckoned one of them might panic and go for the kill instead of the capture."

I knew it was more than nerve-wracking to face a vampire with nothing more than a single weapon, but Tate and the others had to master their emotions. Not only would it be bad for bargaining purposes to be without hostages, but if we slaughtered Ian's men, I was guessing he'd be even more unreasonable to deal with.

"Your objective is to restrain Belinda with nonlethal means," I said sharply. "If you can't manage to do that, then you're off this mission. Period."

"And if after an hour you haven't restrained me," Belinda purred, "I get to taste one of you. Mmm, fresh blood. I haven't had that in over a year."

She licked her lips as she said it, eyeing them with a l.u.s.tfulness that had nothing to do with s.e.x. Juan swallowed. Tate backed away. Even the normally stoic Cooper looked uneasy. This was news to them.

"For motivation," I said coolly. "Now, who's going to be happy in an hour? You guys, or her?"

Belinda bared her fangs and leapt at them again. This time, she picked just one and dove low, knocking Juan 's legs out from under him. Juan scrambled, but Belinda was faster. She had her fangs near his throat before he could push her away.

I tensed, ready to hurl myself into the action, but Bones grasped my arm. At that same moment, Cooper and Tate jumped on Belinda. Cooper yanked her head back by her hair, and Tate gave her a roundhouse kick to the face that would have snapped the neck of a normal person.

Belinda was dazed for a moment. Only a moment. Then she reached behind her and flung Cooper over her head so hard, he landed a dozen feet away.

"Let them handle it," Bones said low. "You can't always be there to protect them."

I set my jaw. Sure, Bones had threatened Belinda with truly horrible punishment if she got out of line and killed one of them, but that wouldn't make the unlucky one any less dead. Bones didn't think she was dumb enough to try it. I wasn't so confident.

Still, his logic had been undeniable. Belinda was an average-strength vampire, and if my guys couldn't handle her, then they couldn't be counted on with Ian's men. Nothing like trial by fang, I thought grimly. Come on, guys, make me proud. Take the blond bimbo down.

Tate and Juan circled around Belinda while Cooper got up and shook himself. His forehead was bleeding. Belinda's nostrils flared with hunger. She glanced at Juan, smiled, and then ripped her top open. Her full, bra-less b.r.e.a.s.t.s bounced into view.

Juan stared, faltering for an instant. It was all the time Belinda needed. She lunged, slamming her fist into his head. Juan 's eyes rolled up, and he dropped to the floor. Tate chased her, but she'd already reached Cooper. A hard blow to his abdomen had him instinctively hunching, and her tongue snaked out to lick the red trail dripping from his forehead.

"An appetizer," she murmured, then lifted Cooper like he was a toy and threw him at Tate, who was almost on them. The two men went sprawling with a jumble of limbs.

I gritted my teeth. Bones reached down and gave my hand a squeeze. I knew what he was thinking. We'd have to come up with a Plan B for capturing Ian's men, because Betty Boop here was whipping their a.s.ses even though the odds were three against one. Well, two against one now, since Juan was solidly pa.s.sed out. Wait until I got ahold of him, letting a pair of t.i.ts distract him like that. Juan would wish he hadn't woken up.

Fifty minutes later, Tate and Cooper were soaked with sweat, Juan was just coming to, and Belinda hadn 't been successfully restrained. Oh, Tate and Cooper had come close a few times, but they hadn't managed to hold on to her long enough to hand her back to Bones, which had been their objective. My stomach seemed to drop. If it had just been a matter of taking a kill shot, they would have succeeded several times over. But they couldn 't subdue her without resorting to unacceptable means.

Motherf.u.c.ker. That was going to have two bad consequences, the first of which would start now.

Belinda smiled with her fangs fully extended. "I won, so I want my victory spoils. Unless you're a liar, Bones."

Bones crossed his arms, giving her a hard stare. "I said you'd get your prize. I didn't specify when, however."

Belinda began to curse him when, amazingly, Tate interrupted her.

"Let's get this over with," he said shortly, and walked-or rather limped-up to her.

My gaze widened. "Tate-" I began.

"Save it," he cut me off. "We failed you, Cat. You think her biting me is gonna hurt more than that?"

The rawness in his tone made me blink and turn away. I wanted to tell him it wasn 't his fault, that even with the added strength from Bones's blood, he was still human and Belinda was still not. It was a lot easier to kill than to capture a vampire, even for me, or Don would've had more sets of fangs in his undead stable. But I knew my sympathy would only make Tate feel worse, so I didn't say anything. I pretended to be fascinated by the wall in the opposite direction from where he was.

"Who says you're the one I want?" Belinda asked dismissively.

"Doesn't matter; I'm the one you're gonna get," Tate replied, his tone hardening. "You understand chain of command, suck head? Out of the three of us, I'm the top of the chain, so you're getting my vein and no one else's."

That made me blink more rapidly. G.o.d, how like Tate to insist on taking the bullet, or in this case, the bite. It was what made him such a great leader. He never shirked from his duty to his men.

I felt rather than saw Belinda smile. "I guess you'll do, then. Come here."

"Not so fast," Bones said, even as I composed myself and turned around. "Wrist only, Belinda. Not his neck."

She gave a pout that was both menacing and sultry at the same time. "But I like the throat better."

"Too b.l.o.o.d.y bad," Bones said coldly. "Argue again and you'll get nothing."

I'd been about to insist on the same thing. A ripped-up arm was a d.a.m.n sight less lethal than a ripped-up jugular, just in case Belinda thought about reneging on her promise to behave. Still, she seemed afraid enough of Bones to believe that he'd make her more than sorry if she did, which I guess stemmed from her knowing his reputation. That 's why Bones picked Belinda versus our other two caged vamps to test the guys, he'd explained. They hadn't known him, so they didn't know that he would follow through with exactly what he said. Belinda did know him. Too much of him for my liking, but there was nothing I could do about that.

She smiled as she reached out to Tate. Her shirt was still hanging open, leaving her b.r.e.a.s.t.s bare, and she cradled his arm next to her. Tate's heart rate was way above normal and increasing, but I thought that had to do more with the anxiousness over being bitten versus excitement over Belinda's t.i.ts.

"Don't worry, gorgeous, you'll like it," she purred, giving her fangs a last lick.

Tate grunted. "Not on your afterlife, b.i.t.c.h."

Belinda just laughed. Low, throaty, and knowing. "Yes you will." Then she sank her sharp incisors into Tate's forearm.

I saw the tremor go through him even as his heart began to beat faster. He thinned his lips, but not before a soft sound, almost like surprise, slipped from them. When Belinda swallowed and drew deeper, sucking on his arm, Tate 's eyes fluttered closed for a second before he snapped them open. And stared at me.

It was only a few moments, but it seemed to stretch much longer. Tate's indigo gaze took on that same heated intensity it had the night he'd gotten drunk and confessed how he felt about me. I knew he 'd be feeling that intoxicating warmth slipping through his veins. That heady, seductive rush that belied all logic. It didn't happen every time a vampire bit someone, of course. I knew from experience after some nasty fights with them that a bite could hurt like h.e.l.l. But when a vamp didn 't want it to hurt-it didn't. Not even in the slightest way.

"That's enough," Bones said in a clipped tone.

Belinda slowly drew back, licking the drops of blood from her fangs. Tate didn't move. He just kept staring at me like I'd somehow grown undead powers and mesmerized him.

"Close the holes," Bones directed Belinda. Tate hadn't even bothered to wipe the blood leaking out in a slow drip from his arm.

Belinda scored her thumb on a fang and held it over the punctures. They vanished in seconds.

"Is this why you can't stay away from him, Cat?" Tate finally asked, ignoring everyone else around him.

I was stunned at the question, but Bones only smiled, showing a hint of his own fangs.

"You'd like to believe that, wouldn't you, mate?"

"Tate, why would you even think such a thing?" I managed.

"Don't bother, luv," Bones said lightly, still showing that same toothsome smile. "I don't care what lies he uses to comfort himself with when he's alone at night and you're with me. Belinda, your time-out's over. Back to your cell."

We left without another word, Belinda still licking her lips as we corralled her back to the lower level and her confinement.

TWENTY-NINE.

WE BROUGHT BELINDA OUT EVERY DAY TO train with Tate, Juan, and Cooper. This was at their insistence, not mine. They refused to accept that they couldn't rise to the challenge of pinning her, and were determined to still play an active role in capturing Ian's men. I didn't like it, but Tate had been as adamant as I 'd ever seen him. Belinda didn't seem to mind.

Although she didn't get her prize of fresh blood anymore, she did get to leave her small cell and also had an extra bag of plasma daily for cooperating. Plus I think she liked how frustrated they were by their inability to pin her-at least at first.

After four days of humiliation, the guys started getting better at it. They managed a few times to plug Belinda's chest at just the right angle so one twist would have ended her, if the knife had been silver.

And that, I knew, was enough to make any vampire suddenly become really, really cooperative. With another week or so of practice, they might be ready for Bones to make that call to Ian saying he'd found me and had hostages. Then I could put into action my other plan. The one regarding my father that I hadn't told Bones about. Oh yeah. I was looking forward to that.

On Thursday we went to pick up one of Bones's people from the airport. This person was flying in from London, and was apparently the first vampire Bones had ever made. Some days, vampire hierarchy felt like The G.o.dfather to me. On acid.

"You haven't asked and there's been little time, but you need to know who it is we're getting, Kitten."

We'd just reached the section of the airport where the rest of the nonflying public waited for arriving pa.s.sengers. With today's airline security, it was as far as we were allowed to go, unless Bones turned on his optical headlights.

"Another old flame?" I joked.

Bones didn't laugh. "You could call her that, yes."

I needed a gin for this c.r.a.p. "Great, can't wait to meet her."

"You remember I told you when I was human, one of my clients saved my life by convincing the judge to ship me to Australia instead of hanging me for pick-pocketing? Well, that was Annette. After I returned to London as a vampire, I looked for the people who'd shown me kindness. Madame Lucille, the bordello owner who helped raise me, was dead by then, as were many of the prost.i.tutes I'd lived with, but Annette was still there. I offered her this life, and she accepted. She 's who we're picking up now."

s.h.i.t. I hated her already, and we hadn't even met. That was a new low for me.

"And she'll be staying with us tonight. How cozy."

Bones took my hand. "Don't let it trouble you. You're the only woman for me, Kitten. Believe that."

There was a whoosh of charged air moments later. "She's here," he said unnecessarily.

A woman walked toward us with the unmatched grace only a vampire could harness. Her cool, patrician features screamed aristocracy, and her lightly lined skin had that trademark glowing luminescence. Why couldn't she be ugly? was my first thought.

She looks like a cross between Marilyn Monroe and Susan Sarandon!

Her champagne-colored eyes fixed immediately on mine, and right away, I knew we had something in common. She already didn't like me, either.

"Crispin, can I have a kiss after my long flight?"

Her accent was pure British upper-crust. She was also chicly dressed in a navy jacket with matching pants, and I'd bet her shoes cost as much as my last paycheck. Just looking at her, I felt like I had a smear of something on my face, or food in my teeth.

"Of course," Bones replied, brushing his lips across each of her cheeks. She returned the gesture while giving me a once- over that made me feel as insignificant as her smirk judged me to be.

He turned to me. "This is Cat," he introduced me.

I held out my hand. She shook it with ladylike graciousness, only tightening her pale, delicate-looking paw for an instant.

Oh, she had power as well. Not a Master, but a nice, steady level of torque.

"Delighted to finally meet you, darling. I so hoped Crispin would be able to locate you." She traced a finger down his face as if in solace. "Poor sweet dear, he was positively wretched with worry that something ill had befallen you."

It was official. I hated her. How gracious of her to remind me that I'd made him miserable for several years. Where was a nice silver dagger when I needed one?

"As you can see, Annette, he found me safe and sound." For effect, I brought his clasped hand to my lips and kissed it.

Her smile grew frosty. "My bags should be arriving momentarily. Crispin, why don't you fetch the car whilst Cat and I collect my things?"

It was a toss-up which I didn't like more-being alone with her, or offering to get the car so he would be. I chose the first, since it was more bearable, and Bones left us to get our ride.

Annette had a lot of things, which she helpfully loaded onto me like I was a pack mule while making conversation zinging with underlying hostility.

"Don't you have lovely skin? All that fresh country air no doubt played a part. Didn 't Crispin tell me you came from a farm?" Like the animals, her smug smile implied.