Page 37 of Cooper’s Passion

Luther and Katie were already entering the living room through the open archway from the foyer. Both were dressed elegantly. Luther wore a smoking jacket, and Katie was dressed in a long red dress, looking stunning as ever.

“Hey, Coop,” Luther greeted him. “Did Jacob behave?”

“He was an angel.” Cooper smiled at Katie. “Hey, Katie. Did you guys have fun at the fundraiser?”

“Yes, but let’s not talk about that,” Katie said and made a step closer to Anita. “Why don’t you introduce me to your… uhm, friend?”

“Katie, Luther, this is Anita Diaz. She’s with the Elko County Sheriff’s Department, and she’s helping me with a case.” He smiled at Anita, who already extended her hand to Katie. “This is my father’s sister, Katie, and her m— uh, husband.”

Mate, he’d almost said, because couples in their vampire society were more than just husband and wife. They were blood-bonded, mated for life.

As they exchanged polite greetings, Katie cast him a sideways look. “Wes said she’s your girlfriend.”

Cooper shot a look at Anita and noticed that her cheeks were flushed. “So, Wes had time to update you on my life, but didn’t have time to come home to babysit. Why does that not surprise me?”

Luther chuckled. “Must run in the family.”

Katie elbowed her husband in the side, but the big vampire wasn’t deterred. He put his arm around Katie’s waist and pulled her closer.

Katie looked up at him, smiling. “Are you complaining?”

“You know that I have absolutely nothing to complain about.” Then he motioned toward the playpen. “Let’s get Jacob so you guys can get out of here. Thanks so much for taking care of him.”

“It was really no trouble,” Anita said. “He’s such a sweet boy.”

Luther furrowed his forehead. “Are we talking about the same child?”

Cooper laughed and winked at Luther. “Well, Jacob has inherited many of your traits.” Then he took Anita’s hand. “We’d better go. Have a good night.”

Moments later, they were in Cooper’s car heading for the Tenderloin, an unsavory neighborhood in downtown San Francisco.

“Your aunt and uncle look really young. Katie can’t be older than you.”

“Oh, she’s definitely older than me, but she’s the youngest of the three siblings. My dad is the oldest. And like I said, we’ve got good genes. We all look younger than we are.” In fact, as a vampire hybrid he would never look a day older than he looked now.

He glanced at her from the side. What else had she noticed? He’d smoothed over Jacob’s bite, and was certain that she’d accepted his explanation. He’d been careful so far, and as long as he kept himself on a tight leash, he’d make it through another few days, before he had to think about how to approach telling her about the existence of preternatural creatures.

“So why are we meeting your colleague Vanessa so late at night? Is she always working that late?”

“Comes with the job. She does outreach to some of the more vulnerable populations in San Francisco.”

“The homeless?”

He nodded. “And the prostitutes. They all know her, and she’ll be able to get them to talk to us.”

“But how would that help us? We’ve just established that the serial killer picks women in positions of power. I’ve yet to find a case where he abducted a prostitute.”

“You’re right, he’s not after prostitutes. But they can help us. You’ll see.”