The Master dropped his eyes to the tear and huffed, something between a laugh and a reprimand. “Stop fucking around, and explain to me why you put us all in jeopardy.”
“I honestly don’t know.” Kohl scratched the back of his neck before shoving his hands in his front pockets. “I didn’t think about it. I just did it.” He paused. “I fucked up,” he added.
“You’d better believe you fucked up. I don’t like leaving witnesses, Kohl.”
That now familiar heat scalded the back of Kohl’s neck. “She doesn’t remember what happened. Andrew made sure of it.” He fought and failed to keep a level tone as the beast raised its head, and he wondered how far he would go to protect this woman.
Pretty damn far, he decided, if the fact that he was about to breathe fire on the coven Master was any indication.
His leader cocked his head, then leaned forward in his chair, his leather pants creaking in protest. “Kohl?—”
“I know. I can’t see her again.”
The Master’s eyes flashed, and Kohl checked himself, removing the bite from his tone, but unable to do anything about the unhappiness of the beast within. “I know. I won’t do anything to risk exposing the club. Or us.” Even as he attempted to defuse the situation, his gums itched and then burned as his fangs broke through the surface. His skin tingled, the hair on his body standing straight up as heat zig-zagged across the surface.
After a moment, the Master sighed, a great heaving of his massive chest, and the beast settled back down again. “Good. You know I don’t like being a hardass?—”
Kohl bit down on both lips to keep from laughing out loud.
“But this isn’t something I’m willing to give way on. Humans cannot find out about us.”
Crossing his arms over his chest, Kohl begged to differ. “Some already know about us, and they haven’t caused us any harm. And she happens to be one of them. Actually, she’s known about us for years. She doesn’t pose a threat.” He could’ve bitten his own tongue off the moment the words were out of his mouth.
The Master became very still. “What do you mean ‘she knows about us’? I thought you told me Andrew wiped her memory?”
There was no way out now but to tell the truth. “He did. The ones of last night, and me.”
“Then how does she know of us?”
Dammit. Why the fuck did he open his mouth? “Andrew wiped her memory of the shooting, but she already knew about our kind before she came here. She used to work for Parasupe, Inc.”
The Master sat back in his throne. Kohl watched as the blood rose in his cheeks until his face was a deep, ruddy, red. Their leader didn’t like being caught unaware, but there’d be less of a chance of that if the old vampire would embrace modern technology.
They all knew the company. Parasupe—a ridiculously obvious combination of “paranormal” and “supernatural”—posed as some sort of environmental protection company. It was the activists who had made Devon’s life hell. But what the company really did was keep an eye on all of the vampires, shifters, and other supernatural creatures who resided in the fine state of Texas. And they were quickly expanding across the country.
The thing was, though, the humans who ran the company didn’t know the supernatural community was aware of them. However, when your friends with fangs started disappearing with no explanation, you damn well better believe it won’t take long for others of their kind to find out who was removing them from the equation.
“You said she used to work there. She no longer does?”
“No. Something happened a while back. I don’t know all the details, no one does except the humans who were in the courtroom when it all went down, but I think she was a whistleblower of some sort or another.”
“What is that, exactly?”
“A whistleblower is someone who sees something wrong happening within the company they work for. Something serious enough to report. Something that could potentially get another person fired or the company shut down.”
“So, she did this to them?”
“Yes.”
“And she is still alive?”
“Thanks to what I did tonight, yes.”
Kohl was glad to see the color recede as the Master rubbed his jaw with one hand. He really didn’t want to deal with one of his temper tantrums right now. But his next words were not something he ever would’ve expected.
“I want you to find out what happened between her and her company.” He nodded to himself. “Yes, find her. She will trust you instinctively, even if she doesn’t remember you or what you did. You played the hero tonight. Her blood will recognize you.”
Her blood will recognize you. Kohl inhaled sharply, a rush of exhilaration making him lightheaded. The beast, sensing his excitement, stirred, and he silently cursed the reminder of why he could never act on these feelings.
