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To cover his churning emotions, he let out a harsh chuckle. “So, she pulled a stake-and-run on you, hmm? To quote you, that’s hilariously rude.”
Ian’s eyes flashed emerald. “She had a team of surprisingly well-trained, silver-armed humans with her. I ran off like she ordered me, but then circled back to catch her unawares. By then, she was being hustled into a van by the blokes, and they were surrounding the property. Under normal circumstances, they’d be easy pickings, but with my newly-pierced heart…”
“You were weakened,” Bones finished. Few vampires survived having their heart pierced with silver at all, and fewer still would have the stamina to attack anyone soon afterward.
“Don’t you haveanyidea where she is?” Ian asked, that impish smile back on his lips. “Irritating or not, you wouldn’t have let someone so unique entirely off your leash.”
Bones smiled despite his urge to smash Ian’s face in. “I’ve kept track of the damage she’s caused, but I haven’t taken the time to look for her. I keep expecting her to get killed.”
That last part was horrifyingly true, and also why he hadn’t had a decent day or night’s sleep in years.
“If you care so little, why rush to see me as soon as you knew she visited me, then?”
Ian’s light tone didn’t fool Bones. His gaze was back to crystalline sharpness.
“As I said, she’s violent,” Bones replied. “She wouldn’t have shown up for a social call, and I wasn’t sure if her going after you was a backhanded assault on me. You and I might have our differences, but I can’t have some chit thinking she can slaughter you to spite me just because I owe her money.”
“You came to check on me?” Ian clutched his heart as if overcome with emotion. “Oh, Crispin, youdocare!”
“Don’t get used to it,” Bones said coolly.
Ian laughed. “Eh, it was nice while it lasted. Well, I assure you she had no idea of our connection until after she’d stabbed me, so you can rest easy on that front. And, if you have no useful information”-Ian waved at the door-“you can return to wherever it is you skulk off to when you’re ignoring me.”
He was being dismissed, and Bones hadn’t learned nearly enough yet. He already knew Cat traveled with human soldiers, but none of them had been left behind at Ian’s former residence. Bones had already mesmerized those guards to make sure. They were only local police officers, and they believed the house had been the scene of a violent drug bust, not a vampire attack.
“If not spite toward me, then why did she show up at your door at all?” Bones asked, his tone only one notch above bored. “You’re not the type she normally goes after, unless you’ve taken up a new hobby of mass-murdering humans?”
Ian snorted. “Not yet, and I asked her the same thing. She said it was because of Thomas and Jerome, my former employees. Here I was in Siberia, killing that trophy-hunting sod, while back at home, my own people were stealing from me. Do you know how it felt to see my prized Edvard Munch paintings on eBay?”
“Terrible. That’s the only artwork of yours I’m envious of,” Bones replied with a straight face.
Ian gave him an arch look. “Liar, but that’s off topic. So, I returned home and killed those thieves. Didn’t even make a mess of it. Your Red Reaper shouldn’t have known a vampire did it. I healed the puncture wounds in their necks before they died, but then not a week later, she shows up pretending to be an FBI agent. That part was boring, but the way she kissed me?” Ian let out a luxurious sigh. “That was anythingbutboring.”
Bones turned around and left. It was that, or he’d rip Ian’s head off, which would be gratifying in the moment, but have long-term consequences. Besides, he already knew that Cat distracted her targets with kisses right before she slaughtered them. Ian was just lucky enough to live to tell the tale.
“If there’s nothing else, I have places to be,” Bones threw over his shoulder. Thank God the sire bond went only one way and Ian couldn’t feel the possessiveness burning through him.
“Don’t be a stranger!” Ian called out.
Bones turned to give a scathing reply, thought better of it, and spun back around-
-and walked right into someone coming up the staircase. Only Bones’s quick grip prevented the man from falling backward down the stairs since his arms were filled with yet another crate, and he held it up to protect it instead of grabbing the handrail. Bones couldn’t even see his face with the crate in the way, and he steadied the stranger with a short laugh.
“No need to surf the staircase with your backside rather than drop one of Ian’s trinkets.”
“If you knew what was in this, you’d understand,” the man replied with a Midwestern American accent.
“Max, is that you?” Ian called out. “Took youforeverto fly in! Now, tell me you have my Faberge eggs.”
“Right here,” Max said, and lowered the crate.
The floor felt like it vanished beneath Bones. Thatface.
He knew it better than he knew his own, for he’d long ago memorized those dark red brows framing thundercloud gray eyes, that straight nose, those high cheekbones, that stubborn jaw line, and those generous lips, but never before had Bones seen those features anywhere except on Cat. Now, they were also on a tall, athletic-looking vampire striding through Ian’s door.
Max disappeared into the parlor before Bones could snatch him back. His blasted shock had cost him precious seconds! Now, he could only hope that Ian wouldn’t notice the resemblance-
“Break my back and baste myballs!” Ian shouted, shattering that hope. “Iknewthe Red Reaper looked familiar! I even told her so. I just couldn’t place where I’d seen her before. Turns out I hadn’t, not really. Max, you magnificent bastard! Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”
