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She digested that for a few moments. Then, “So, if I kill Max once I find him, it could set off a war with Ian, like I don’t have enough problems with your horny sire to begin with.”
Exactly.
“That’s why I’m going to change your status in the vampire world, Kitten.I’llclaim you, but first, I need to be free from Ian. Otherwise, anyone I claim is automatically in Ian’s line, too. That’s why we’re meeting Mencheres. Ian will be far less likely to retaliate if Mencheres allies himself with me.”
Cat slanted a look his way. “Did Ian know that you were looking for me before…before I had my run-in with him?”
“Yes. I told Ian I was hunting you to limit the damage you’d do in the undead world. When his desire for you became obvious, I said a few ungentlemanly things to discourage him.”
Her brows went up. “Like what?”
Bones stifled his laughter. “I told him you whined ceaselessly, snored abominably loud, and shagged terribly. Oh, and that you lacked adequate hygiene-”
“Youwhat?”
Her shriek reverberated off the steam pipes surrounding them, but that was nothing compared to the look on her face. His laughter burst free.
“Now, Kitten, I did have your best interests at heart. Besides, you told Ian I exploited you and then refused to pay you, so you were hardly concerned with my reputation, either.”
“I was trying to protect you, not slander you!”
“As was I. But, sadly, Ian didn’t fall for my misdirection and still obsessed over you, a trait that we shared.”
That last comment mollified her, but from the glances she kept shooting his way, she might still hold a grudge for the other, and he hadn’t even been lying about her snoring.
They walked in silence for a few minutes. Then, she said, “How about you just kill Ian, and I’ll kill Max?”
Bones paused. She stopped, too, her eyes widening when he grasped her shoulders. It’s not as if he hadn’t thought of that. He had. Many times, and most of them were before he’d ever met Cat. He’d certainly kill anyone else threatening her this way, but with Ian…it wasn’t that easy.
“If it came to a choice between your life or Ian’s, I would cut him down, Kitten. But despite our many feuds, or how ruthlessly he’s pursing you…Ian and I have a bond. He’s been a large part of my life since I was human, let alone the centuries after that. That’s why, if there’s a way to solve thiswithoutkilling him, then that is the route I’ll seek.”
Guilt twisted her features, and she covered his hands with hers. “I’m sorry.Of courseyou can’t just kill him. I couldn’t, either, once I knew who he was to you.”
No, she couldn’t, yet he might have to, and the realization made him feel like he’d swallowed ashes. Ian’s stubbornness was one of his defining characteristics, and he’d already decided to “acquire” Cat. So, nothing that Bones did, including claiming Cat under his line, might stop Ian short of his own death.
“If it comes to that, at least I’ll know it was my only choice,” Bones finally replied.
Cat gave him a searching look, and then dropped her hands and the subject.
Bones was glad. It didn’t bother him to plot against Ian, especially since his sire was being a complete prat, but the other thought was more upsetting than he cared to admit.
After several minutes of silence, they finally reached the underground stream beneath the campus. Cat stared at it in amazement while Bones paused at the water’s edge.
“This is where we meet Mencheres.”
As if he’d been waiting to hear his name, an old metal door screeched in one of the tunnel walls, and Mencheres ducked down as he stepped through it. Cat gasped as she felt the outer rims of Mencheres’s aura. It grew as the other vampire approached, until Bones’s entire body was humming, and more impressive was that Mencheres was still holding much of that aura back.
“Grandsire,” Bones said, using the term Cat had mentioned. “Thank you for coming.”
Mencheres embraced him. Bones didn’t flinch as that power sizzled into his skin, but that was only because he expected it.
“Bones, it has been too long,” Mencheres said.
Cat was staring at him, taking in Mencheres’s long black hair, obsidian eyes, and skin the same color as the Egyptian deserts he’d grown up in. Despite his vast age, Mencheres looked to be in his late twenties, and when he smiled at Cat, it softened the inherent regalness of his features.
“This is Cat,” Bones said when Mencheres released him.
She held out her hand. Mencheres shook it, not offended when she let go with a smothered yelp. He was doubtless used to people reacting that way to his crackling power.
