Page 10 of Ryder’s Storm

The elevator dinged, and Grayson got in, swiped his access card and punched the button for the top floor where the executive offices were located. He waited impatiently for the doors to close.

“Hold the door!”

He recognized his older sister’s voice, and pressed the button for the door to close immediately, not in the mood to speak to her, but Isabelle was faster.

“Hey, Grayson,” Isabelle said as she jumped into the elevator just before the doors closed.

Isabelle was only a year older, and the spitting image of their mother, Delilah. At thirty-two, she was still single, though she’d had her share of boyfriends. But whenever things got serious, she bowed out. In that respect they were very similar. Grayson too, wanted to play the field for as long as he could before committing to one woman for the rest of his life. Frankly, he found the idea unappealing. To have sex with the same woman for centuries? Where was the fun in that? He liked variety. It added spice to his life. It would take a very special woman for him to give up his bachelor life.

“Back already? I thought you were on an assignment,” Isabelle said.

He forced himself to be civil when he felt anything but. “I finished it.”

“Oh, great, then you’ve got time.”

Figuring that she was about to recruit him for one of her many projects of improving the lives of vampires in general, and members of the extended Scanguards family in particular, he replied, “I don’t. I’ve got a meeting.”

Sometimes he couldn’t take Isabelle’s constant positivity. How could somebody be so happy and cheerful all the time? What the fuck was she on?

“Well, maybe after your meeting I could run something by you.”

He took a breath. “You know what, Isa? Whatever it is, I’m not interested. I’ve got enough on my plate.”

She lifted her eyebrows and gave him a once over. “Somebody’s in a bad mood tonight.”

He glared at her, ready to tear into her, but then he stopped himself. “Forget it.”

The elevator stopped and the doors opened. He charged out, glad to not have to continue a conversation that would inevitably lead to an argument. Isabelle fought with him constantly, whereas their younger brother, Patrick, could get away with murder without as much as a reprimand from Isabelle. Fighting with her was never very satisfying, because she was rational and won far too often. It pissed him off.

Grayson headed for his father’s office, and opened the door after a cursory knock. Samson Woodford stood near the window looking out over the lights of the city, his second-in-command, Gabriel Giles next to him.

Both looked over their shoulders. His father looked less than two decades older than Grayson, even though he was over two-hundred-and-sixty years old. He made a striking figure. Tall, slim, with dark hair and hazel eyes, he drew everybody’s attention to him without uttering a single word. They’d had their differences, but when it came down to it, Grayson admired his father and wanted to emulate him. But it was harder than he thought.

“Can it wait?” Samson asked. “Gabriel and I are in the middle of something.”

Gabriel was one of his father’s closest and oldest friends. On the surface, Gabriel looked like a thug. He had the hideous scar that ran from his eye to his chin to thank for it. But everybody who knew Gabriel, knew that he was fiercely loyal to Scanguards, and protective toward his family, an honest man with strong morals. He would take a silver bullet for his mate and children. Come to think of it, so would all the mated vampires in Scanguards’ employ.

“No, it’s urgent,” Grayson said. Patience had never been his strong suit. He wasn’t going to start with it now.

“I’ll leave you two to talk,” Gabriel said and made a motion to walk toward the door.

“No, stay,” Grayson said. “You might as well hear this. It concerns our contract with Brandon King.”

Samson and Gabriel exchanged a look.

“Please tell me you didn’t piss off his daughter,” Samson said on a sigh.

“I didn’t piss her off. She pissed me off,” Grayson started. “You know what she did?”

“I’m sure you’ll tell us any moment now,” Samson said.

“She manipulated me into taking her with me to pick up a takeout from Tomaso’s. Of course, there was no parking outside, so I had to double-park and hop inside. And while I’m arguing with the hostess because she couldn’t find Scarlet’s order, she just ditches me and disappears. Turns out she never ordered takeout from Tomaso’s. She sent me in there knowing that it would give her plenty of time to escape.”

“You do know that she’s not your prisoner, right?” Samson said with a hint of a smirk on his face.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t mean she can just take off. She was gone for hours. I looked everywhere for her. And then she just waltzes in after midnight and tries to sneak past me. That devious little b—”

“Don’t say it,” Samson warned.