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“Some kind of blood poison. It was found in his donor drink last night.”
Adrian frowned. “How could that happen? Blood is always thoroughly tested.”
Sara shrugged and wrung her hands together. “I have no idea. It was just his glass too, and all the staff have been thoroughly questioned. Security is on it now. The lab is testing everything that came through the past twenty-four hours. We don’t get to eat or drink anything that isn’t thoroughly scanned first.”
Harlee watched the play of emotions on Adrian’s face. She knew he blamed himself for not being here. But why? He couldn’t have done anything to prevent this from happening. She wanted to go to him, wrap her arms around him and offer him comfort but sensed he wouldn’t welcome it right now.
“Harlee.”
The sound of a strained whisper and the weak squeeze of her hand startled her. She turned her head to Robert, her heart pounding when she saw his eyes open.
“You’re awake!”
She started to move out of the way so the doctor could examine him, but he held onto her hand. “He can wait. I’m fine, feeling stronger already.”
“Really, Robert, it’s necessary—” the doctor started, nearly jerking Harlee from the chair. She hurried out of it to give him access to her uncle.
“I said I’m fine!”
The strength, the commanding tone, was already returning to his voice. Harlee exhaled a sigh of relief. The doctor hurriedly backed away and nodded and Harlee resumed her seat next to his bed, sliding her hand in his. “Obviously everyone sees you’re feeling just fine,” she said with a wink. “I’m glad.”
“And you seem fine yourself,” he said. “I trust you had a fruitful evening?”
“I have a lot to talk to you about,” she said, keeping her voice a whisper. “There’s plenty of time to talk when you’re feeling better. I’d really like you to rest now.”
He nodded. “Spoken like a true member of our clan. On that, I will sleep well.” He drew her hand up to his mouth and kissed the back of it, then looked to Duncan and Adrian. “Guard her well. Someone wants us all dead.”
Adrian and Duncan both nodded.
“We’ll need to get out so he can rest,” she said, for some reason feeling empowered to take charge. She nodded at the doctor as she passed by, ignoring the wide-eyed stares of those in the room.
Adrian just smirked at her and followed her out the door.
She, Duncan and Adrian assembled in the living room, where she felt it was time they had a serious conversation about what occurred last night. She had to talk to both of them about her feelings, about her dominant side and what it meant for both their nations. And they had to figure out who was trying to systematically eliminate the leaders of the vampire and lycan clans.
“Something’s been bugging me since that day we were attacked in the SUV,” Duncan said when they entered the small room and shut the door.
“What?” Adrian asked.
“I was hit with a silver-laced bullet. Understandable since we left from the lycan mansion. If it was government assassins and they had made the house as a lycan location, it would stand to reason they would use ammo to take down werewolves. But they also used the laser light grenades and were shooting UV laser fire, which meant they were also targeting vampires.”
Adrian sat back and stared at Duncan. “I hadn’t considered that with everything that had been going on, but you’re right. Why the hell were they firing both?”
“Unless they weren’t from the government,” Harlee finished for them. “I have something I need to tell both of you and you aren’t going to like it.”
“What is it?” Adrian asked.
She blurted it out before she lost her nerve. “I work for the government. I worked…for the government, as a psychologist. Interrogating lycans and vampires, trying to learn about them, about their minds, so the government could use what I could find out about them…use what I could find out against them.”
They stared at her as if she’d just sprouted horns and claimed to be the child of Beelzebub.
“You work against us?” Duncan asked.
“No!” She stood and wrapped her arms around her middle. “I mean yes. I mean I used to. I didn’t know! About you, about Adrian, about any of this! I didn’t know about you, about us. How could I? The government told us that lycans and vampires were vicious, savage creatures out to take over, to kill all humans. We didn’t know otherwise, how could we? I only knew what I was told.”
God, please believe me. She prayed they understood. But they just stared at her as if they contemplated whether to trust her or not. “When you first brought me here, I thought you knew I worked for the government. I thought I was being kidnapped. When Robert told me I was Stefan and Amelia’s daughter, I thought it was bullshit. I wasn’t raised as a vampire or lycan, I was raised human. I didn’t know any differently. I was raised to think that vampires and werewolves were my enemy, not my family.
“And now?” Adrian asked, his brow arched.
