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I don’t know how much time passed before Ryan managed to grunt out, “We’re at an impasse.”
He was right, but I was too focused on holding steady to speak. This was going to be a marathon, not a sprint. One of us would run out of energy, and when that happened, the other would win.
I intended to win.
I hadn’t accounted for the possibility of us still at an impasse as dawn approached, however.
And, as the sun neared, it sapped my strength. I wasn’t going to last much longer.
“You ready to call it?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“On Zed, then. Three. Two. One. Zed.”
We both let go, and I telepathed my driver. I’ve possibly waited too long, but I’m ready.
I’m just down the road. I felt a lot of magic being thrown around, so I stayed outside the zone of it, but I wanted to be closer. I’m less than three minutes away.
“My driver is close,” I told Ryan.
“Good. I was making plans to wrap you in a blanket and carry you out to him that way.”
“I have a good twelve minutes, and he said he’s less than three minutes away.”
“I’m sorry we have to say goodbye so quickly, but I don’t regret using every minute we had in the all the ways we did.”
I couldn’t help my smile, and he gave me a fierce hug, which I returned.
And then the limo pulled into the driveway, and my slayer walked me out to it.
Chapter 17
Ryan
The driver took her to TBC, which I knew because I had cameras outside all the vampire establishments, so I could keep track of who came and went.
Slayer Central has analysts who keep track of such things for us. We just have to set the cameras up, and they note in a spreadsheet when people I’m monitoring leave and arrive at each place.
I tried to find out who was missing from the coterie’s guard, and discovered no one knew where Largo was. I didn’t spend too much time trying to figure out what he’d done, since I assumed I’d find out that evening.
I hadn’t harassed Patrick and Briana down in Ringgold in a while, so I drove to town, parked on another road so I’d come in from the back, and took two hours to come through their woods and to the house. Briana was in the backyard on a blanket reading a book with a cute little bunny rabbit curled into her, munching on a slice of apple. Yes, the werewolf has a pet bunny. Crazy, right?
Briana’s scent told me she was pregnant, which meant when Patrick came outside, I’d have to be prepared for him to be practically feral. Wolves don’t deal well when an intruder sneaks up on their pregnant mate — especially when she’s completely naked.
And yet, that was my job, so I wasn’t going to leave before I gave them a subtle reminder I can get to them even when they think they’re safe.
The entire backyard was under video surveillance, so I came in at an angle behind her, and strolled to her on the grass, making sure not to step on anything else until I was fifteen feet from Briana. I let my scent go free, and said, “Hey there, Flopsy. Is that apple good?”
Briana’s heart stuttered and raced, and she was on her feet in a blur so fast I barely saw it, but she realized who I was before she actually attacked. Patrick came racing out of the back door, and I stepped forward and lifted Flopsy into my arms and stroked her oh-so-soft fur.
He stopped a few feet away, his hands fisted at his sides because he couldn’t hurt me without risking the rabbit.
“I should kill you on the spot, Slayer.”
“No need. I’m just here to give my congrats on the new wolfpup. Couldn’t happen to a better couple. I’m truly happy for both of you.”
Briana leaned down to retrieve the blanket, stood, calmly wrapped the soft fabric around her, tucked the top in and rolled it so it would stay, and then took Flopsy the bunny from my arms.
