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“I also believe that life is one big cosmic joke. Here God had finally given me the one thing strong enough to stop my brother and his kind, and it was his own daughter. That’s why I used you for that purpose while also waiting for the day when you’d turn evil as Max did, but that didn’t happen. When I finally believed you were different, I sent you to capture Liam Flannery, hoping I could use Max’s maker to draw him out.”
Cat shook off her shock. “Ianturned Max into a vampire?”
“Seems so,” Bones replied quietly.
Don didn’t realize the significance. He had no idea that Ian had sired Bones, too. He only gave Cat another hard smile.
“Yes, and as fate would have it, Liam-or-Ian-got away from you when I sent you after him. I’m guessing revenge for that attempt is why he sent the shooter after you last night.”
“Ian didn’t hire that gunman,” Bones said, giving Cat a moment to absorb all this. “Ian wants her alive. No, someone else is trying to kill her, and it’s someone here.”
Don snorted. “And you thinkyou’regoing to find out who this mythical traitor is? How? By torturing all the staff?”
Bones let his contempt fill his voice. “For someone who’s studied vampires for decades, you certainly don’t give them much credit. Forgetting these?”
The light from the new gleam in his eyes landed on Don’s face, painting it in a green glow. Don looked away at once.
“Ah, yes, the spellbinding eyes of the nosferatu. Many days, I wished I had the ability to glare the truth out of people, if I could avoid the other consequences of such power.”
“Yes, well, power has a price, and it always gets paid,” Bones said in a light tone. “Now, shall I let you go, Kitten, so you can bash his head in as you seemed to want to before?”
Bones dropped his arms from around her, but Cat didn’t move. She only gazed at Don as if seeing him for the first time. After long moments of staring, she shook her head.
“Ishouldkill you for what you did to me, but I won’t. I understand needing vengeance better than most people. It makes you do rash things, like hunting vampires as a teenager because you’re trying to even the score for your mother. Or sending your niece on suicide missions so that one day, if she lives, you can use her to trap your own brother.”
Most of the time, Bones loved her deep sense of compassion. Today, he loathed it. What Don had done to her was unforgiveable, and yet here she was, forgiving him.
“Besides, aside from my mother, you’re the only family I have left,” Cat said with a terrible attempt at a shrug. “I don’t count Max for obvious reasons, so…you can come with us while we look for the traitor. Or don’t come. I don’t care.”
But she did care. That was obvious, and Don wasn’t a fool. His gaze sharpened as he looked at Cat, and then shuttered as he glanced at Bones.
Bones stared at him, letting the green bleed out of his eyes so that Don had no excuse to look away.You haven’t won, old chap. Thingsareabout to change.
“But if you come with us, Don, you can’t interfere,” Cat went on, oblivious to the silent exchange between Bones and Don. “Think you can handle that?”
Don stood up, deliberately waiting a beat before turning his gaze away to show that doing so was a choice, not a fearful reaction to Bones’s hard stare.
“I can handle it,” Don said to Cat, but Bones knew the words were directed to both of them.
Bones bit back his scoff.Oh, I’ll make you prove that.
“Then let’s do this,” Cat said.
* * *
Tate and Juanweren’t the only employees filling up the hallway outside Don’s door. At least a dozen more were there, and several of them had used the “flashlight” feature on their mobiles to illuminate the dark since the battery-backed emergency lights only cast a faint red glow. Then, their hushed conversations ceased when Cat, Bones, and Don appeared.
Bones scanned the crowd, searching expressions, measuring heart rates, and scenting the air. So far, everyone seemed to be the normal amount of upset considering the building’s lack of electricity, internet, and ability to leave. Time to increase the pressure and see who cracked.
Bones let his eyes glow and smiled wide enough to show his fangs.
Gasps sounded over Tate saying, “We good, Cat?”
“For now,” she replied, watching as Bones outpaced the employees who tried to run. Then, he corralled them back toward Don’s office.
“Tate, you and Juan can help,” Cat went on as Bones moved through the group, searching for the scent of vampire, ghoul, or traitor-inducing terror. “We’ll start with the team,” Cat continued. “They all know what I am and where I live, so after Bones is done here, they’re next.”
“We called in all thirty of them,” Tate confirmed. “They’re in the training room, but they’re armed, Cat. We’ll have to bring them out in small groups, so Mr. Pointy Teeth doesn’t get staked on sight,” he added with a cold glance at Bones.
