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“Theloversarestillbusy out there,” Étienne murmured. His lips moved against Samantha’s neck, sending delicious shivers deep into her belly. “Maybe we should stay busy in here?”
In the hot-tub hideaway, Ryan was nearing climax, and he wasn’t shy about vocalizing. They would have heard him even if Samantha’s windows hadn’t been open to catch the night breezes. The polite Canadian lost all semblance of restraint when he and Natalia were alone together. They might not even notice Samantha settling in for her pre-dawn meditation practice on the lawn, but the carrying on did nothing to inspire divine tranquility.
Étienne nuzzled behind her ear, the stubble on his jaw prickling against the tender skin there. “Mmmmm,” she said, verging on letting him persuade her. Outside, Ryan went over the edge, Natalia right behind him with a cry just this side of human.
“Shall we try to outdo them,chaton?” Étienne whispered.
She giggled as she rolled toward him. “You are such a bad influence on my morning practice.”
“But you don’t really mind, do you?” The words were a heady, sultry purr of French seduction that melted her insides and drew her mouth to his.
His hand was making its way down her body when a strange voice broke the sensuous spell. She put a hand on Étienne’s chest, stopping him, then pressed a finger to his lips. Together, they listened as an unfamiliar male voice greeted Natalia.
“How did you find me?” the vampiress demanded. “What do you want?”
“Didn’t your time with us teach you anything? Esteban always knows where everyone is, sweetheart.”
Samantha put a hand over her mouth. Étienne’s eyes widened. “Vampire?” he whispered.
She nodded and slipped out of bed as quietly as she could to pull his discarded t-shirt over her head. Étienne followed suit, donning his shorts, stumbling in his haste. Samantha cringed at the noise they were making, then realized it didn’t matter. Their heartbeats alone would give away their presence. To the intruder outside, they were mortals and, therefore, of no consequence.
“Of course, we had a bit of help. Didn’t we, Ryan?” said another voice, also male but not so smarmy, almost bored.
Shock gripped her by the throat. Two. There weretwostrange vampires on the property. And she hadn’t seen Serge since the blow up the night before. When she refused to capitulate to his adamant assertion that there was only misery in her and Étienne’s future, he had disappeared in an offended huff.
She nudged aside the sheer curtain covering the sliding doors. Two figures stood between her pool house home and the hideaway grotto. Both were tall and dressed in black, one slim and graceful, the other bald and bulky.
Predators.
Serge, I need you!she called, praying he wasn’t sulking a hundred miles away.
Étienne, standing behind her, closed a steadying hand on her shoulder.
Ryan appeared out of the shadowy recesses now in all his nude, bearded glory. “That’s bullshit. Esteban doesn’t even know I exist.”
Slim, the laconic vampire who had made the accusation, gestured at a chair and shifted his voice into compulsion. “Have a seat, blood bag. And don’t get up again.”
Ryan sat.
“You see? You can be compelled just like anyone else.”
A look of confusion crossed Ryan’s face.
“How dare you speak such lies!” Wrapped in a towel, Natalia was the picture of indignation. “He is mine. I know his mind. Esteban never touched him.”
“Guess Esteban knows how to hide a compulsion,” gloated the other vampire, a brutish mountain of a male. “Blood bag here’s been reporting to Esteban every day without even knowing it.” Pitching his voice into compulsion, he added, “But you’ll know it now, won’t you, blood bag?”
Ryan shook his head and began making low, choking noises, but he didn’t get up. “No. No, please God, no.”
No, please God, no, Samantha echoed silently. She had kept Natalia and Ryan apprised of events in Vancouver these past few days. If this was true—
“Say what you came to say, and go,” Natalia demanded. “I am done with all of you.” Her eyes had gone full vampire, glowing with Dominique’s essence.
The duo studied her. The brute rubbed his gleaming bald head. Slim put his hands on his hips. “Well now, that’s just it, princess. Once you’re part of the colony, you’re always part of the colony. No one leaves. I guess you weren’t there long enough to figure that out.”
Natalia took a tiny step back. Compared to them, she was pint-sized and could be a fraction of their age. Her voice changed, became hoarser, growling, the sound of a cornered vampire. “You should leave.”
“Or what?” Brute glanced at Ryan, still seated, hands clamped around the armrests. “We know that impostor you swore yourself to is on his way to the summer lair. You know where that’s going to end.”
