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As they continued to skulk in the shadows, Keri was hyper-aware of Joshua's presence beside her. Their mating bond was playing havoc with her self-control. More than once, she caught herself staring at the strong line of his jaw and the elegant curve of his neck. It was hard to ignore the growing ache of desire, the way her body seemed to gravitate towards his.
They ducked into an alcove as a pair of guards passed. In the close confines, Joshua's scent overwhelmed her. Spice and musk and something uniquely him. She bit her lip, fighting the urge to lean in closer. But before she could act on it, Joshua ambushed the vampires and dispatched them without making a sound.
He dragged the bodies into their alcove. The more he killed the Vasiles, the greater the chance of them getting caught.
“We need to keep at least one of them alive to get answers,” she said.
“I don’t need answers. I just need to kill them.”
“You weren’t the one injected with their drug. I need to know what it’s done to me. Is it going to kill me? Us? If another vampire bites me...”
“That won’t happen,” he snarled.
“But if it does, can they now control me and that vampire?”
Joshua shook his head. “This experiment of theirs has to do with the mate bond. And you’re already mated to me. It won’t work with another vampire.”
“But you don’t know if they’ve done something chemically to alter that.”
Joshua’s expression told her how much he didn’t like that theory.
“Listen, up ahead.” Keri pointed to the door at the far end of the corridor. She heard a conversation but not enough to make out the individual words. “Let’s bust our way in and get details on what’s going on. Then you can kill them.”
“Fine,” he said. “Let’s keep pretending we’re under their mind control. It may get us in the room and behind a closed door. That will buy us some time.”
They walked up to the door side by side and knocked.
“Come in,” a voice inside said.
Joshua shook his head, probably in disbelief that he didn’t have to kick the door down, and they walked in. Keri closed the door behind them. There was a tense pause as three vampires stared at them in alarm.
“Reporting as ordered,” Joshua said.
The three vampires relaxed.
“What’s she doing here? She’s supposed to be with the other cattle,” a vampire in a brown suit said.
“Is that really Joshua Nicolau?” a vampire in a black suit asked and then laughed. “He doesn’t look like much.”
The vampire in a beige suit frowned and pulled out his cellphone. “Nicolau should be on his way to his clan right now. I’m not sure why they sent him to us.”
Joshua went after that one. His movement was a blur, almost too fast for her enhanced senses to follow. One moment, he was standing beside her, and the next, he had the vampire in the beige suit by the throat, phone clattering to the floor.
“Don’t kill all of them.” Keri pressed herself against the wall.
The vampire in the brown suit lunged at Joshua, fangs bared. Joshua pivoted, using the beige-suited vampire as a shield. Brown Suit clawed his buddy instead.
“Stop this,” Beige Suit said. “Tell him to stand down.”
Keri didn’t know who the hell he was talking to because no one said anything. Her eyes darted around the room, looking for anything she could use as a weapon. Her gaze landed on a heavy crystal decanter on a nearby sideboard. She inched towards it, trying to stay out of the fray.
Joshua broke the neck of the beige-suited vampire and threw him aside, the force of impact leaving a dent in the ornate wooden paneling. He turned to face the other two, a predatory grin on his face that sent a shiver down Keri's spine.
"Is that the best you can do?" Joshua taunted.
The vampire in the black suit snarled and charged. Joshua met him halfway, their bodies colliding with a sound like thunder. They grappled, a tangle of limbs and fangs, each seeking the advantage.
Brown Suit, seeing an opening, tried to flank Joshua. Keri saw the danger and acted on instinct. She grabbed the decanter and hurled it with all her strength. It shattered against Brown Suit's head, staggering him.
