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Hannah reached over and touched his arm. “Hey, if you frown any harder, you’ll break your face in half.”
He laughed and his arms eased apart.
Suddenly, a soft alarm sounded within the room.
Hannah slid her chair close to the central computer once more and started moving her mouse, then tapping on the keyboard. Her eyes went wide. “Jude, it’s from Longeness. He’s been trying to reach you.”
He’d already removed his coat, which had both the com attached at the shoulder that connected him to the Kellcasse center and his phone. “Shit. Even my phone’s in my coat.”
“It’s okay. I’ve got your center online. You can video-chat now.” She rose from her chair and gestured for him to sit down.
Jude was grateful that when Hannah originally ordered office furniture, she’d planned on accommodating the Vampire Guardsmen. The three chairs in the room were each built on big lines and could handle his two-eighty and then some.
He sat down and saw his center’s com specialist. Longeness rubbed the tip of his right fae ear, pulling all the way to the elongated point, a sure sign of his distress.
Jude knew better than to react. Remaining calm for his people was a constant part of his strategy. “Apologies, Longeness. My phone was elsewhere. What’s cookin’?”
“Mastyr, we’ve had word that another wraith-pair attacked the access checkpoint. The guards survived but only because the pair was intent on getting to the Sound before dawn.”
For a long moment, Jude could hardly think. Another wraith-pair was headed toward Port Townsend? They rarely, if ever, crossed the earth access-point lines.
“But that’s the second wraith-pair tonight. They never leave Kellcasse.” He felt uneasy. He didn’t say as much to Longeness, but his first thought went to the ancient fae. Something was on the wind. “Was there anything unusual about this pair? Was a vampire part of the bond and if so, was he a mastyr?”
“Vampire, yes. But to my knowledge, he wasn’t a mastyr.”
Jude scrubbed a hand through his thick hair, dislodging the clasp. “Well, thank the Goddess for that.” Wraith-pairs with mastyr vampires as a mate wer
e nearly impossible to defeat alone. “I’ll head out into the Sound and meet these bastards.”
“Do you want me to send Guardsmen to back you up?”
“No. I’m good.” He’d like to see a regular wraith-pair move against him. “And Longeness, how’s the wife?”
“Complaining all the time now.” His woman was expecting twins and only had a month to go.
“Completely understandable. Take her some flowers when your shift ends.”
“Plan to. I’m not a complete gremlin’s ass.”
“No, that you’re not.”
He signed off and grabbed the clasp that now hung at the back of his head, tugging it out in stages. He had an impossible mane of hair, kept long as was the Guardsman’s tradition. Thank the elf lords for the invention of crème rinse.
He rose from the chair, lifting his arms to re-clasp his hair, then turned toward Hannah.
She looked odd, though, pressing a hand to her throat. Her gaze tracked the lines of his raised arms and his chest, gradually moving over his hips and down his heavily muscled thighs.
This was one of those moments when he was glad he worked out as much as he did. He knew what he looked like, the raw physical power he exuded because of his size.
And the room suddenly smelled of roses and seashells.
His body heated up something fierce in response because of her perfume. In another minute, if things went on this way, the snug fit of his battle leathers wouldn’t be hiding his desire for her.
Securing the woven clasp at the back of his head, he moved toward her. She leaned against the doorjamb, her hands at her sides. “What’s going on, Hannah? Why the sudden interest in me?”
“It’s not sudden,” she whispered, meeting his gaze in that steady way of hers.
“You know this would never work.” He drifted his fingers through her hair, still not understanding what had changed that he now wanted Hannah as much as he did.
