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“So that’s a dead end,” Cain said.
“Still, it verifies Twilight’s story. She did see the man. There’s no good reason for wiping the footage except to cover his tracks.”
“Yeah. Anyway, I just wanted to update you. I’ll be in touch if we turn up anything else.”
“Good.” I ended the call and glanced at Twilight. “You heard all that?”
“Yeah.” She made a face. “He’s got everything covered, doesn’t he? I wonder how long he’s been planning this?”
“That,” I replied, “is a very good question. It may even go back to my mother’s assassination. My father was fine up until then.”
Kuro would’ve known that when a vampire loses their mate, it wrecks them, body and soul. And of course, Prosper knew that too.
Twilight’s chest heaved. “If SI was behind your mother’s slaying, I’m sorry. But if they were, I’m betting someone in your syndicate brought them in.”
“You’re saying we have a traitor.”
“Well, yeah.”
“I’m starting to think the same thing.” My jaw hardened. “One thing I can promise—if we do, I will hunt them down and make them wish they’d never been born.”
25
TWILIGHT
When I woke up later that morning, Brien’s body was curved around mine, his arm draped over my breasts. I smiled to myself and snuggled closer.
It was a relief to have told him everything, and after, he’d been less guarded with me, more open. Before falling asleep near dawn, we’d made love a second time—and ithadbeen making love, slow and beautiful, his eyes holding mine until we climaxed at the same time.
I stroked a hand down his forearm. That’s when it hit me; he hadn’t left me to sleep in his vault. He’d slept in his bed with me.
Rolling over, I nuzzled his chin, shadowed with sandy brown stubble. Strands of wheat-gold hair trailed across his cheek, and his lashes formed thick semi-circles on his sculpted cheekbones. Even asleep, the man was beautiful, a slumbering demigod with broad shoulders and six-pack abs.
I heaved a breath. “You had to make me fall in love with you, didn’t you? I’m a sucker for alpha males, especially when they’ve got that protective thing going on. I mean, you made sure Avril had blankets and food, and I’ll bet you’ll quietly send her off-island with a new name and some money. You’ll tell yourself that cutting her off from her family and friends is punishment enough—won’t you?”
Of course, he didn’t answer.
But I couldn’t stop. I’d been bottling up a lot of feelings, and now that the cork had been removed, they spilled out.
“And I’m a freaking stereotype—the slayer who fell in love with her target.” I traced a fingertip down his straight nose to the cleft in his perfectly chiseled jaw. “Except in the real world, we don’t do that sort of thing—well, Renata and Zaq did. But he’s a dhampir and you’re vampire-born, which is so far above a human slayer I must be bat-shit crazy to want more.”
I gave a sad little laugh. “But guess what? I do want more. You think I’m yours? Well, it goes both ways.”
I came onto all fours, glaring into his face like I could make him love me through sheer force of will. “You’re mine now, and I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you. Because I think we’re mates, and I’m not going to settle for second best. I want more than a blood bond. I want your fucking heart.” I took a deep breath. “I want you to turn me into a vampire.”
My heart thumped. I sat back on my heels.
There, I’d said it aloud.
The idea that had been knocking around in my brain ever since I realized I’d fallen in love with a vampire prince. The only way I could have Brien—all of him—was to become a vampire, too. Renata and Zaq worked because like Zaq, she was a dhampir.
But Brien was a vampire. For this to work, I had to meet him as an equal.
I grimaced. Yeah, I’d definitely gone bat-shit crazy—or maybe it was more accurate to say I’d gone over to the dark side.
Me, Nikki “Twilight” Kim, one of a long line of famous slayers.
But Brien would never fit into my world. Hell, I didn’t fit into my world any longer. The slayer part of my life was over, and yet I couldn’t see me re-entering the mundane human world even if I managed to evade SI’s long arm. These past couple of years, I’d felt like a fish out of water. When other humans had been in high school hanging out with their friends, I’d been in training morning to night to assassinate the world’s most dangerous creatures.
