Unfortunately, she was not a war matri like his own clan's legendary Lady Anjelica, who had directed engagements against mortal Purist hunters and Tribe renegades. There was even a rumor that Anjelica had fought n.a.z.is in the French resistance, though Clan females weren't supposed to put their precious selves in harm's way.

He bet Anjelica would have authorized the use of deadly force if necessary. But Serisa was the one who approved the op.

Fortunately, Serisa's bondmate Barak was a war leader, and more practical. He understood the need for having a Plan B.

Right now they were still on track with Plan A, but being separated for any length of time was not part of the plan.

Colin paced some more, and after about five minutes, he decided that he'd had enough. He was going to find Mia.

He listened at the door for a moment, and detected the heartbeat and breathing of a guard posted in the hallway. No need to go through the mortal if he didn't have to.

He crossed to the room's large window. He was three stories up at the rear of the mansion, which was perched at the edge of a cliff. Not only did this provide a spectacular view, it afforded a natural security measure. There'd be a lot more than three stories to fall if you tried to get out the window. Which he intended to. The walls were brick, which an experienced rock climber like himself could scale. Especially an experienced rock climber who came equipped with long, strong claws.

Mia was one floor below and to his right, on the same side of the house. It was late on a cloudy night, but Colin also had excellent night vision. He smiled. This was going to be fun.

Thanks, Grandpa.What on earth had she meant by that?

Mia sat on the heavily carved Victorian bed and looked at the white lace canopy that arched above her head. The room was all pink and white and girly. She was getting really sick of being tucked away in luxurious cells, to be brought out when other people were ready to make p.r.o.nouncements and decisions.

She was also thoroughly confused by her own behavior. Her hands were clenched tightly together, her stomach was full of acid- winged b.u.t.terflies, and the headache that had plagued her since she mind-zapped the lawyer was still throbbing against her temples. Frankly, she was a wreck. She needed action, and she wanted Colin. Though she thought he was p.i.s.sed at her, from the look he'd given her at herThanks, Grandpa.

Colin probably thought she was on the Patron's side. Maybe she was a better actress than she thought, and she'd been really deeply into the moment. Or maybe there was some residual sympathy for the old man's cause lurking somewhere inside her.

Maybe the old man was the one telling the truth, and all the others were the ones lying to her.

She smiled at this thought, and relaxed a little.Oh, yeah, every vampire I've met has been part of a vast conspiracy to convince me that my opinion of them is the most important thing in the world. Mia shook her head.And to think I pointed out to Colin that everything isn't always about him.

Maybe they were bonded because they were a lot alike. She hoped they were alike in the good ways as well as the egotistical bad ones. Or maybe it was just the s.e.x-she ached for him at the thought. At the same instant, something tapped on gla.s.s behind her. Mia jumped to her feet and whirled toward the room's window. She almost screamed when she saw an upside down face grinning at her wildly through the lace curtain.

She rushed to the window, pulled back the curtain, and lifted the window. There was no ledge. Colin's hands were braced on either side of the window frame, and the rest of his body was held up like a gymnast's at the top of a vault. The thought of the drop he was hanging above terrified her.

"For crying out loud," she whispered fiercely to the vampire clinging head over heels to the outside wall. "You look like a scene from a Dracula movie."

His maniacal expression turned to surprise. "I do?" He laughed softly. "I hadn't thought about that."

She glanced toward the door, where there was a guard posted, as he swung himself into the room. As soon as his feet hit the floor, Mia grabbed him in a tight embrace, her heart hammering in her chest. "You could have been killed!"

"No way. That was easier than rock climbing."

He sounded way too smug, and far too pleased at her getting all huggy on him. Now, wasn't that just like Colin? Which was just the way she liked him, G.o.d help her.

She loosened her hold to tug his head down to hers. His hair was silk against her hands, and the touch of his skin overwhelmed her. She kissed him, all her tension fueling her hunger. He cupped her rear and pulled her against him, and their hips ground together in quick mutual arousal.

Colin just wanted to get Mia on the bed, get her under him, get inside her, and feel his c.o.c.k tightly surrounded by all the soft, yielding heat tha- "Whoa, whoa, whoa," he said. He let her go as if he'd been burned. Hewas burning up, on the edge of losing his mind to his desire for her.

"Whoa what?" Mia asked, staring at him with a stricken look in her eyes. Her desire was a perfume surrounding her, calling to him.

Colin took another step back, shaking his head, trying to get his arousal under control. "Not now," he whispered, motioning toward the door.

Mia closed her eyes. She was trembling. He watched her helplessly while she got herself under control. And he kept his hands behind his back, because just looking at her was almost too tempting.

When Mia opened her eyes, there was anger in them.

He desperately wanted to calm her, comfort her-find out what was p.i.s.sing her off.

He said, "Laurent's escape is overdue. We have to do something."

"Are you sure he's still locked up?"

Colin nodded, but before he could say anything, the door opened.

Four of the guards entered, all carrying guns. Garrison came in after them with an aide at his side. The old man leaned on a cane.

Colin was aware that there were other armed men out in the hall.

He could take them out if he had to, but- "Grandpa!" Mia shouted, and rushed forward. Weapons were raised, but she ignored them, though she stopped short of touching the Patron.

"I'm so glad you're here!" She pointed at Colin. "He wants me to help him steal your data. The hunters don't really trust you, and I didn't ask for their help catching the vampire. When they surrounded your people at the airport, I couldn't think of a way out of bringing him here. And then he showed up in here and told me he wasn't going to wait for you to make a decision-"

Garrison cut her off. "You are a very talkative young woman."

"I guess that doesn't run in the family," Colin said, which focused Garrison's attention on him. Colin glared at Mia. "How did you manage to call for help? And why? Is blood so much more important than the cause?"

She whirled to face him. "You have no right to force the issue. I won't let you sabotage my grandfather's work."

"Blood is what it is all about, Faveau," Garrison spoke up. "Finding out what's in their blood that makes them what they are. It's a pity you chose not to wait for my decision. I sent for you to tell you that I would work with your people."

"You can't trust them," Mia put in.

"So it seems."

"But you still need their data."

"You won't get any help from us now," Colin said.

"Which is why you won't get out of here alive," Garrison calmly responded. "If we have no mutual need-"

"But thereis someone that needs him." Mia smiled slowly, and her expression was diabolical enough to make Colin nervous. "The vampire. Why don't you put the vampire hunter in with the vampire for a while? If the creature's hungry...I suspect Mr. Faveau would rather share his data than become snack food for the thing he hunts."

"b.i.t.c.h," Colin said to her, then told Garrison, "You can't torture what you want out of me."

The old man shrugged one frail shoulder. "But there's no harm in trying. Dump him in with the creature," he told his guards.

As he was led out the doorway, Colin heard Garrison say, "Caramia, child, you are an a.s.set to the family after all. Come and join me for a drink."

Chapter Twenty-six.

The pain was so bad, Laurent could barely stand it. The blinding bright lights far overhead burned his eyes, even though they were closed. The temperature was cranked up to the point that it nearly scalded his skin, and they'd stripped him down to his underwear so there was a lot of skin to burn. But the restraints were the worst, fastening his arms behind his back. The searing agony around his wrists was so great that he'd gnaw his hands off to get free of the pain, if he could only get to them.

Lying on the floor, curled up in a ball and concentrating hard on trying not to scream, he almost didn't hear the door open.

Someone was shoved inside, and the door closed again before he could gather the strength to lift his head, let alone make a lunge for freedom.

When he did manage to lift his head and pry his eyes open, it took several tortured moments for his gaze to travel up a long, lean body dressed in black and finally reach the face of the newcomer.

"Oh, it's you," he managed to croak out.

Colin Foxe squatted beside him. Squinting in the hideous light, he looked Laurent over. "What happened to you?" "I don't do drugs," Laurent rasped out.

He wasn't sure if he was more furious at the Clan vampire who was merely inconvenienced by the things that were killing him, or at the Tribe alphas who forbade the use of the elixirs that would keep away this pain. Mostly, he just wanted the pain to go away.

He wanted it to go away so badly that he couldn't stop the moan that escaped him. But this one sound of weakness was the closest he'd come to begging.

Foxe reached out and turned Laurent onto his stomach. "d.a.m.n. They put silver on you."

"I-noticed."

Laurent could have broken the steel handcuffs he'd worn when he entered the cell. But before he had the chance, someone had picked up an ampule from a selection on a cart and stuck a needle into his neck. When he woke up he was alone, stripped, and silver bound his wrists. Silver was a soft metal, and even a mortal female could twist off the cuffs that hooked his arms together.

But the burning agony of silver against his skin paralyzed him and made the task impossible.

Colin saw that Laurent's skin was badly burned. The daylight drugs only offered him partial protection from silver burns, so he pulled off his shirt and wrapped it around his hands before touching the manacles. Even with the protection of layers of cotton, Colin's skin grew uncomfortably warm before he was able to pull the soft metal apart. It took a few more moments to pry Laurent's wrists out of the cuffs. Once they dropped to the floor, Colin stood and kicked them aside.

Colin didn't offer to help Laurent up, but turned his back to give the other Prime privacy to get himself together. A couple of minutes pa.s.sed before he heard Laurent take a deep breath and slowly rise to his feet.

Colin turned back and said, "We wondered why you were late."

"The b.a.s.t.a.r.ds were tricky." He gave Colin a very annoyed once-over. "Now we're locked up together. What happened? Did the girl turn you in, too?"

"Yes."

Despite the lines of pain that still marred his face, Laurent managed to look smug. "Didn't I warn you not to trust her?"

Colin picked up his shirt and put it on before saying, "You warned me." He gave the other Prime a warning look. "And if she wasn't so soft-hearted, I wouldn't be here to save your a.s.s."

"Save my-she betrayed you, dude!"

"No, she betrayed the guy I'm pretending to be. When I told her that you might be in trouble, she managed to get the old man to toss a vampire hunter in with a vampire. Not bad for a spur-of-the-moment Plan B. The woman has promise, and I can't wait to tell her so." He smiled fondly, as though this was a revelation to him.

All Laurent wanted was to get out of here. "Fine," he told the besotted fool. "All praise to your lady, and other flowery Clan c.r.a.p." He gestured toward the locked door. "What's next?"

"Back to Plan A. Only now we bust out and destroy all the data we can find."

Right, he'd been supposed to destroy computer disks and stuff like that. Who cared? What mattered was the payday-not that the n.o.ble, and rich, Clan boy was concerned with that.

"Lead on," he said.

Colin crossed to the door and dug his claws into the lock plate. While the Clan Prime pried out the lock, Laurent went to the table, picked up one of the filled syringes, and moved close to Colin."How's it coming?"

After a moment Colin said, "Done."

Laurent didn't know what was in the syringe, but he had no qualms about sticking it into Colin's shoulder and pressing the plunger. Being a prisoner had taken up too much of the night, and he needed a head start to the premises. Justinian had ordered him to bring back Garrison's wealth, and he wasn't ready to defy the pack leader's wishes yet.

"Sorry," he told Colin as the other vampire fell heavily onto the floor. "But I've got to put my own Plan B in motion."

Mia hoped Colin wasn't mad at her. After all, she'd done the right thing, and he had gone along with it. She wished she could feel him; then she wouldn't be so confused and worried.

The headache was finally gone, so maybe she'd have the full use of her abilities back soon. Being deprived of these brand-new senses made her more aware of them, made herwant them. They completed her, enhancing her connection to Colin.

She hated that she didn't know where he was right now. She'd thrown him into trouble, and she'd just have to trust him to get out. And it came down to who you trusted, didn't it? Just like Domini said. Colin was easy to get p.i.s.sed off at, but impossible not to trust when push came to shove. Did he realize she knew that, though?

She followed her great-grandfather down the corridor to a small elevator with an ornate bra.s.s gate. A pair of his guards followed them closely.

Mia tried hard to keep her mind on the moment, but thoughts of Colin kept rolling around her head.

Did he know she wasn't angry with him for pulling away from her just before the bad guys showed up? She knew he'd felt her emotion, but she hadn't had time to explain that she was annoyed with herself.

She had no business tempting him-them-in the middle of a dangerous situation. She'd gotten thrown into all this action without any training, and now she had to deal with this bonding thing and- She took a deep breath as they stepped into the narrow elevator cage. Mia squeezed in first, and the old man followed, standing with his back to her. She still didn't want anything to happen to the old man, but she was more convinced than ever that he was dangerous and had to be neutralized.

There wasn't any room for the bodyguards, so they hurried down the stairs so they'd be waiting on the first floor when the elevator finished its slow descent.

"How did he get into your room?"

The old man's voice had a cricket rasp to it, and he was leaning heavily on his cane. But there was no doubting the strength of his will or the sharpness of his mind.

"How did you know he was in my room?" she answered. When he didn't reply immediately, she let the subject go, and guessed, "You don't have long to live, do you?"

"No mortal does." He sighed and turned his head to look at her. "I have very little time, and the vampires cheated me out of much of it a few months ago. Now I must rush to rebuild what was lost. Perhaps I could have used your help sooner."

Mia could barely keep her revulsion in check. It sickened her to realize how much this man had destroyed and abandoned in his quest for eternal life. Had he actually lived the life he'd been given? Did he know what he'd given up, or care at all?

"You're just evil, aren't you, Grandpa?" The elevator stopped as she asked her question, and the door slid smoothly open to reveal three people waiting for them. The guards were lying at the bottom of the stairs, and the scent of blood filled the air.

Mia's emotions spiked with terror as she recognized the tall male who stepped forward, smiling coldly. He held a hand out.

"Come with me," Justinian said. "I'll teach you about evil."