Page 13 of Viktor

Rafe studied the woman. “Is she naked?”

“None of your business. Get out.”

“Whatever’s going on, looks like it could have been worse.” Rafe shrugged.

“How exactly is that?”

“You’ve got a beautiful woman in your house. Obviously, something happened. Did you bite her? Hey, did you turn her? Then you’d have two kids. I’d have a sister.”

“Jesus, don’t even say that.” Viktor could barely handle the hybrid but was determined not to fail him. He refused to be like his sire.

“So, is she staying? Can we keep her?”

“No. No, we can’t keep her.” I’d like to, though. “I’ll return her tomorrow.”

“From where? Is she from a blood club?”

Viktor shrugged and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, no.”

“What did you do, Vik?” Rafe pinned him with a stare. “She’s from Miami?”

“Not exactly,” he hedged.

“She’s not a donor?”

“Nope.”

Rafe exhaled loudly, plowing his fingers through his unruly hair. “I thought you said you were going out. Like here. In Miami. The way you’re all dressed up…Jesus, I thought you were going to the opera or some shit.”

“I said I had an event. I did not say where,” Viktor hedged.

“Where did you get her?”

“San Diego.”

“California? What the…are you crazy? What were you doing?”

“It was an art exhibition. Impressionism.”

“Sorry, what?” Rafe shot him a look of astonishment. “You did not just say you skipped off to San Diego for an art show.”

“She was a person of interest,” Viktor commented blithely.

“A person of interest? Who the hell says that? No, don’t answer. I’ll tell you who says that. The FBI. PCAP. Last time I checked you weren’t either.”

“It’s nothing really. You’re making a mountain out of a molehill. I met her once at a blood club. Here in Miami. She had a bit of a tussle with a vampire. I took care of it.”

“You’re just a regular hero, you know that? Better watch out, people might actually discover you’re not the asshole you pretend you are.”

“I’m not sure what overcame me.” Viktor sighed. “When I went to her friend’s home—”

“Wait up…you didn’t know her?”

“No, but I wanted to make sure she got home all right. She was looking for her friend. After I saved her at the club, I popped over to the address I was given by the maître d’. The apartment was empty. Ransacked. But there were needles in the bathroom. I scented a demon. So yeah, not cool. But while I was there, I stumbled upon her address, and voilà, I nipped off to San Diego.”

“You said you were meeting a friend at an event.” Rafe shook his head in disbelief.

“I was at an event. Long story short, I discovered she was a curator at an art museum. So, I donated a Monet for a fundraiser they were having. It’s a loaner of sorts.”