“What’s up?” Aidan made her nervous. As always when he turned his attention solely to her, she felt his light-blue eyes laser through every layer of defense she’d built up around herself, exposing her as weak.
“I don’t want…” She didn’t want him thinking this was about Will, because it wasn’t. And she didn’t want to sound like a defensive woman who wanted to prove herself, because that’s exactly what she was, damn it. “I need something more useful to do. Let me start taking some of the humans and scathe members out of here. Will can’t take all of those runs if he’s planning a new exit.”
Shit. She’d brought Will into it anyway.
A small smile played at the corners of Aidan’s mouth. “I thought you and Will were getting along better.”
God help her, they were getting along too well if tonight was any indicator. “It’s not that. I just need to be more—”
“Look,” Aidan cut her off, “I know you can do a lot more than what we’ve given you. You handled yourself really well last month when Tanner died.”
“This has nothing to do with Tanner.” Randa looked at the floor, tracing the outline of a ceramic flooring tile with the toe of her boot. She and another new lieutenant, a guy named Tanner James, had gone to Virginia to try to take Matthias out before they realized how effectively he’d turned the Tribunal against Penton. Instead, they’d been caught. She’d been able to fight her way free, but not before Tanner and his heart had parted company. Cage had taken his spot among the lieutenants.
This wasn’t about Tanner, but his death was one more reason Randa needed to prove herself.
Aidan rolled his head from side to side, tendons popping. God, he had so much on him Randa felt like a whiny jerk for bringing up something just to stroke her own ego. That’s all this was, and she’d been raised better. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have—”
“I’m glad you did. I know you’re frustrated. But there’s a couple of reasons I’ve had you paired with Will.” Aidan ran his hands through his hair and nodded at his mate, Krys, who stood in the hall beyond, waiting for him. She was tall, almost lanky, with dark-auburn hair and intelligent dark-brown eyes. Her heart-shaped face gave her a sweet look, but Randa knew she was smart and strong willed, with an offbeat sense of humor. She could actually make Aidan laugh. The two of them completed each other, much like Glory and Mirren did. Randa liked to watch them together.
Aidan lowered his voice. “One reason I don’t want you going solo is, well, it’s hard for you to blend in. I don’t mean this to sound sexist, but Matthias got a good look at you the night of the fires and there aren’t that many female vampires with red hair running around in the woods. You haven’t been turned that long, Randa. It’s no reflection on you. If I didn’t trust your skills and respect both you and your training, I’d have never made you a lieutenant. I came to you, remember? You didn’t ask me for the job.”
Well, that made Randa feel about three inches tall. He was right. Aidan had never made her feel second-rate. She’d done that to herself. What was that quote from Eleanor Roosevelt? No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
“You said there was another reason you paired me with Will. What is it?” She’d put her combat skills up against his any day and beat him. Well, if she could learn not to let him distract her.
“Will’s coming into his own as a vampire.” Aidan looked down the now empty hallway toward the rooms where all the lieutenants bunked. “Do you know the difference between a regular vampire and a master vampire?”
Huh? “I know you and Mirren are the only masters here. You have stronger sensory skills, mental communication, stamina.” Hell, they were better at everything. “What does that have to do with Will Ludlam?”
“I’m not even sure how master vampires are formed; it’s one more step on the evolutionary scale, and most vampires don’t reach it. But Will’s going to. He’s mentally tougher than he lets people think he is. He might already be developing some of the master skills; I sense that he is. You can learn from him, if you’ll just find a way to get past the armor you two put up when you’re together.”
Randa stared down the hallway, imagining the arrogance billowing like a mushroom cloud outside Will’s door. That spoiled clown was a master vampire in the making? Oh, hell no. Life couldn’t be that cruel.
Aidan laughed. “Daysleep time. Try not to think about it.”
Easy for him to say. Randa scuffled her boot heels on the tile floor on the way to her room and flipped the bird at Will’s door on principle. Just like magic, the door opened and out came Liv, his fam.
She had a glazed-over, orgasmic expression on her face, and Randa dropped her gaze to the woman’s neck. She didn’t see his mark, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t there. Had to have been a quickie, though. “Have fun?”
Liv was five ten, with perfect skin, full lips, and hair and eyes almost the same color of dark chocolate. Just Will’s type, in other words. She could be a model.
The lips were in the midst of some serious pouting, though. “I hate being down here.” Liv opened the door, and Randa followed her into their room. “Will’s too distracted by everything that’s going on. He’s no fun anymore.”
“He’s…” Randa had been about to say Will was too self-absorbed to be distracted by anything beyond what he could see in a mirror, but she stopped herself. Aidan considered him strong going on stronger, and Cage had thought the cocky attitude was an act. She needed to keep an open mind. “What’s bothering him?”
“I don’t know—he doesn’t talk much, and he’s been all quiet and broody. I can’t make him laugh anymore.” Liv yawned. “You need to feed before you sleep?”
Randa gritted her teeth. It wasn’t just feeding from another woman she hated. The whole act of feeding was gross. Gross, but necessary if she was going to stay strong enough to keep up with her soon-to-be master vampire partner, who’d sure enjoyed himself tonight when he flipped her, disarmed her, and landed on top of her. “Sure, if you’re up to it.”
The vamps worried about having their humans feeding two vampires each, but they’d lost a disproportionate number of their bonded humans as it started looking more likely they’d have to move into Omega. Randa didn’t blame them, just as she didn’t blame her fam, Gary, for leaving. She’d encouraged him. They had no emotional attachment to each other beyond a polite friendship. He’d been assigned to her; she fed from him. Now she shared a feeder with Will.
Liv sat on the edge of the bed and rolled up her sleeve. Randa sat next to her and lifted the woman’s arm to her lips, then stopped. Will’s scent was all over her, and Randa saw two small bruises where he’d bitten—on the arm, the least intimate place from which to feed. By morning, the marks would be gone.
“I thought Will fed from…other places.” Randa winced. That question had come out before she could stop it. She didn’t need to know Will Ludlam’s feeding habits or to have anyone think she was interested. “Never mind. TMI.”
Liv huffed. “He used to feed from other places, and he used to be a good lover. I thought it would be cool to be his mate. Now he’s all grumpy, and I’m sort of wishing Cage would—” She flinched as Randa bit into her arm, an inch away from Will’s marks. “Well, Cage is sexy.”
She chattered on as Randa fed, sharing her views on Cage’s accent, Cage’s wardrobe, which leaned toward a lot of black and white, and Cage’s ass.
Randa finished, licked the wounds, and considered their newest lieutenant. Did he have a nice ass? She’d never noticed it.
She had noticed Will’s, though. And that was just wrong.
Cage started talking before Will had even opened his eyes the next evening at dusk. Now that the man had been outed as a shrink, they’d never shut him up.
“What do I need to know about Matthias? I want to infiltrate his scathe as soon as possible.”
Will groaned and rolled over. Cage had pulled on black pants and was already lacing up his boots. His chest was all hard planes with a
light dusting of hair, but he was kind of scrawny—chicks liked that? He wasn’t as heavily muscled as Will, who’d never bulk up to Mirren proportions but worked at keeping enough muscle to maximize his strength—but not enough to cost him speed.
“I just don’t get it.” Will swung his legs over the side of the twin-size bed and raked his hands through his hair.
“Don’t get what?” Cage pulled a black sweater over his head and clamped his hands on his hips. “Why I need to know about Matthias? That should be obvious.”
“No, why all the women have the hots for you. Must be the accent.” Will rifled through the few clothes he had in Omega—they’d all brought minimal wardrobes down here several weeks ago in case they ever had the need to go underground in a hurry. Damned insightful of them, in retrospect. He found a copper-colored shirt that wasn’t too wrinkled and tugged it over his head.
He had one leg in his jeans before glancing up to see a perplexed look on Cage’s face. “What?”
“Women have the hots for me?”
“Pffft.” Will jerked up the jeans and zipped them. “Yeah, don’t let it go to your head.”
Cage laughed. “Well, Randa Thomas is pretty hot. Can’t believe she’s not with anyone—doesn’t even have a real fam.”
A flash of anger shot through Will’s veins and settled somewhere in his gut. “Stay away from…” He straightened up and looked at Cage, who wore a broad, annoying smile. Where had this possessive shit come from? It had to stop. “Good luck to you. Randa’s a hard-ass.”
Cage chuckled in a way Will didn’t much like. He couldn’t tell if the guy was laughing with him or at him—it felt like the latter. He needed to watch his tongue around the shrink. And change the subject.
“So, back to Matthias. Let’s talk about my paternal paragon.”
Cage followed him into the hallway, and they sat down in the same small conference room from the previous night. “Anything that will help me not just fit in but earn his trust?”
Will looked at Cage—really looked at him, with a clinical eye. He was handsome enough, with long brown hair and eyes a funny color of green. He looked too damned healthy, although he was kind of skinny. “First thing, you have to do without food a few days after you first infiltrate his camp. Don’t feed any more often than they do, maybe less at first. His followers are all hungry as hell. I think it’s how he gets them to do his dirty work.”
Cage nodded slowly. “I’ve been doing that already, been limiting to feeding every other day. Even Matthias looks half-starved. They’re probably sharing humans like we are, only with a higher vamp-to-human ratio.”
“Not only that, but my guess is that they’re intentionally eating light so the humans won’t get used up as fast,” Will said. His father was nothing if not practical, and at least now he knew why his roomie looked so scrawny. If he’d been starving himself awhile, he’d been planning this even before they were all forced into Omega.
Cage tilted his chair back and propped his crossed ankles on the edge of the table. “What else?”
Will took a mental step back from Matthias the father to look at Matthias the vampire. “He’s a master vamp but not a really strong one. He just has a lot of political muscle, a lot of smarts, and no conscience to get in his way. He was turned in the mid-1960s when he was forty-five years old. He can do some mental tricks but nothing like Aidan and Mirren—I think because he doesn’t get close enough to anyone to strengthen his bonds. He’s smart and he’s ruthless; don’t let your guard down around him, ever.”
Will stood up and began pacing around the table, staring at the floor. “He doesn’t reward creativity or out-of-the-box thinking—unless you can somehow make it look like it was his idea and it’s proven successful.” Another corner, another turn, more pacing. “He wants yes-men, but only insofar as they’re able to say yes and then complete tasks on their own. Never show weakness. Never show uncertainty. Never ask for help. He’ll exploit it.”
He stopped in front of Cage. “And unless you’re into rough sex play with sadistic bastards, stay away from Shelton Porterfield. I saw him in town last night, panting after Matthias like a dog in heat. He’s second-in-command now. You’re a little too old for his taste, but keep things professional with him, and don’t give him anything to use against you.”
Cage’s voice was soft, calm, maddening. “Sounds like you speak from experience.”
Will stopped, remembering the summer after he’d been turned, when he was still reeling from his mom’s death, from having to kill Cathy, from the rapid changes to his own body. He hadn’t toed the line to Matthias’s satisfaction and had been sent to spend the summer “training” under Shelton. And Matthias knew exactly what Shelton’s training entailed.
He’d see that bastard Shelton dead before all this was over. “Yeah, well, don’t expect me to lie on the couch and reminisce, Doc. But don’t kill Shelton. He’s mine.” He’d had a shot at Shelton when he’d gone to Virginia to rescue Mirren a couple of months ago, but he’d let the SOB live so he could stay focused on his mission. He wouldn’t let that opportunity pass again.
Will left the room before Cage could respond. Something about these close quarters was playing serious games with his mouth. As in, he kept running it, talking his way into deeper and deeper holes. He’d never had this problem when he was living alone.
He walked to the end of the hallway leading to the church exit, pulled a key from his pocket, and opened the heavy steel door. Beyond it was a narrow tunnel, then a wider exit room where the drop ladder to the church hatch hung. The tunnel and exit-room walls consisted of tightly packed dirt. They’d hoped to concrete them in eventually, just as they’d already done with the outlying exit, but time had caught up with them.
Will studied the exit and saw nothing amiss, but a snuffling sound from the top of the hatch halted him. He cocked his head and inhaled. Vampires directly overhead. And something else. Not vampire or human, but…
He looked up sharply at the sound of a long, baying bark, followed by more snuffling and yips. Matthias had brought in fucking dogs, and if they hadn’t found the hatch yet, they were close. Scanning the exit room, Will’s gaze lit on a can of paint, left over from some of the interior work.
He pried open the lid and looked around but saw no sign of a paintbrush. Shit. He climbed halfway up the ladder, dipped his hand in the can, and lifted out a palmful of “Satiny Sage.” It had just the strong paint odor he wanted, and he spread a thick coat of it around the hatch entrance. He didn’t know if it would be strong enough to throw off a scent, but God knew Matthias had access to enough of the town’s clothing and personal items to give the hounds a boost.
Scraping off as much paint as he could along the rungs of the ladder, he descended. The noises of the dogs had disappeared, and he no longer scented their presence beneath the cloying odor of the paint.
One thing was clear, though. Matthias was close. They needed two heavily armed guards in this exit room around-the-clock. Vampires couldn’t stage a raid during daylight hours, but humans could, and Matthias had plenty of money to make it worth their time.
Finally satisfied that the immediate threat had ended, Will reentered Omega and locked the steel door behind him.
The entrance to Randa and Liv’s room stood ajar, and he paused in the hallway. His first instinct was to keep walking; he didn’t want a confrontation. Talking about Shelton had brought up a lot of heavy baggage he’d been ignoring for a long time, and he wanted to discuss security with Mirren. But after last night, he’d at least progressed enough with Randa that he didn’t want to go on solo patrol and leave her behind. Asking her to join him in talking to Mirren might help make up for previous bad behavior.
And if Randa wasn’t in there, maybe Liv was. His feeder was another problem he needed to handle. He’d never led her on, never made her think there was a chance for them being mated, but he knew she wanted it. And he’d been a real asshole lately. Time to suck it up and be honest with her.
>
Truth was, this whole business with his father had dealt him all he could handle, and Liv would never be more than a casual feeder. She was an enthusiastic lover, but she bored him outside the sheets. Lately, even under the sheets. Maybe it was time for them to have “the talk,” the one where he gave her the we’ll-always-have-Penton speech.
He pushed the door open wider, but Liv and Randa were nowhere in sight, only a brunette with one of those short, choppy haircuts, sitting at a small table with her back to the door. A pretty brunette staring into a mirror with a horrified look on her face. Will had thought he knew all the Penton residents at least by sight, especially the ones who’d gone into Omega. This one, he didn’t know.
“Oh!” The woman spotted him in the mirror and turned a wide-eyed face to his.
Holy shit. “Randa?”
Randa’s new haircut had been nothing more than an impulsive whack of scissors. The dye job had been courtesy of Liv, whose natural hair color turned out to be a mousy light brown, and she’d had the foresight, or vanity, to move a box of hair dye into Omega with her clothing.
It was a girly kind of fun Randa had seen others have but had never enjoyed herself. Her mom died when she was a kid, and with a military dad and four brothers, girly didn’t play well in the Thomas household. She and Liv had made a mess and giggled, and it had been a big release of stress and pressure.
Until Liv went off in search of dinner and Randa looked at herself in the mirror and realized what she’d done. She’d lost herself. When she was turned vampire, she’d lost her humanity. All that had been left of the old Randa Thomas was her hair, and now that was gone. After the laughter died, only the hurt and directionless feeling remained.
And now she had to endure the humiliation of Will standing in the door with his mouth hanging open.
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