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  “I promise.” Kaitlyn didn’t even have to think about it. She’d be happy if she never saw Harrington, or Korzha, again.

  “I’ll talk to you soon,” Elena said.

  “All right. Bye, Mom. I love you.”

  “I love you more. And remember what I said. Stay away from Korzha.”

  After telling Kaitlyn good-bye, Elena went looking for Drake. She found her husband in the council chamber with his brother, Andrei.

  Drake smiled and waved her forward when he saw her standing in the doorway. “Come in, wife. We are through here.”

  “Hi, Andrei,” she said, moving toward the table where the two men sat.

  “Hello, Elena.” Andrei looked at Drake. “I will take care of the matter we discussed right away.”

  Drake nodded.

  “What matter?” Elena asked when Andrei left the chamber.

  Drake blew out a breath. “Northa wants a new TV for the playroom. She says there are new ones now, with something called scent-o-vision.”

  Elena grinned. “Did you buy one yet?”

  “Andrei will take care of it.” He grinned back at her. “Sometimes I am not sure freeing the sheep was a good idea. So,” he said, drawing her onto his lap, “what troubles you?”

  “How do you know something’s bothering me? Maybe I just came in for a hug.”

  “Elena, we have been together over twenty years. I do not have to read your mind to know you are worried. I can see it in your eyes. So?”

  “Who’s Daryn Korzha?”

  Drake’s expression turned grim; his arm tensed around her. “What did you say?”

  “Kaitlyn met him. Do you know him?”

  “Yes. I know him. His mother is Nadiya, my father’s fourth wife.”

  “Nadiya, as in Florin’s mother?” Elena swallowed hard. Florin had killed Drake’s sire, and Drake had killed Florin.

  “The very same. Why do you ask?”

  “Kaitlyn said she met a man named Korzha the other day. He accidentally bumped into her.”

  Drake snorted.

  “You don’t believe that?”

  “I do not believe in accidents, or coincidence.” Setting Elena on her feet, he began to pace the floor. “If there is mischief afoot, you can be sure Nadiya is behind it.”

  Nadiya had not spoken to anyone in the Carpathian Fortress since Drake had killed Florin, and no one here had seen her since then. Elena assumed Nadiya had gone to her own house in Bucharest to grieve for her son, but what if, instead of being in mourning, she was plotting treachery against Drake?

  Elena pressed a hand to her breast. It was suddenly hard to breathe. What better way to hurt Drake than to hurt his daughter? “What are you going to do?” she asked.

  “For now, I am going to make some inquiries.” Seeing her worried expression, he drew her into his arms and kissed the top of her head. “Do not worry, wife. I will get to the bottom of this.”

  Elena gazed blankly at the cards in her hand. Hoping to distract herself, she had met Northa, Marta, and Elnora for their weekly card game. Northa was the oldest of the three other women. She had curly brown hair and slanted brown eyes. Marta was a pretty brunette with hazel eyes. Elnora was a petite redhead with a slender, perfect figure. Elena considered the three women her closest friends. When Drake had offered the sheep their freedom, Marta and Elnora had stayed because they had feelings for two of the vampires. Northa had elected to stay because she enjoyed being bitten, and because the Fortress was the only home she had ever known.

  Elena looked up when Marta called her name.

  “It’s your bid.”

  “Oh, sorry,” Elena said. It was nearly impossible to concentrate on her cards. Kaitlyn was her only child. If anything happened to her . . . She forced the thought from her mind. Drake wouldn’t let anything happen to Kaitlyn. She had to believe that. And yet, Drake was here and Kaitlyn was in another country, alone among strangers.

  “Elena, are you all right?” Northa asked, her brow furrowed with concern.

  “Fine, just a little preoccupied tonight.”

  Elnora laid her cards aside and leaned forward. “Anything we can do to help?”

  “Not really . . . well . . . what do you know about Nadiya Korzha?”

  “Not much,” Elnora said. “Except she was one of Rodin’s wives.”

  “I saw her a couple of times,” Marta said. “Ice-cold, she was, even worse than Liliana used to be.”

  “Bitter,” Northa added. “Very bitter. Why do you ask?”

  “Her son, Daryn, might be in California. A man by that name just happened to bump into Kaitlyn.”

  “Oh, if it’s him, that can’t be good,” Marta said, her eyes widening in alarm.

  “Daryn fed on me once,” Northa remarked, shuddering with the memory. “He reminded me of a hungry lizard.”

  Elena couldn’t help laughing at the image but then, to her chagrin, she felt the sting of tears behind her eyes. For all that her daughter was half vampire, she was still a young woman who’d had little experience with men, whether they were human or vampire. And even though she had a vampire’s increased speed and strength, would that be enough if she had to defend herself against Nadiya, who was older, stronger, and more experienced in the way of the world?

  Elena slumped in her chair, suddenly certain that Drake was right. There was no such thing as coincidence.

  She knew, with every fiber of her being, that Daryn Korzha was up to no good.

  Elena clenched her hands in her lap. Kaitlyn had to come home—the sooner the better.

  Chapter 14

  It was Saturday night and the casino was in full swing when Zack entered the club. It had taken him a good long while to learn to block the myriad smells that clung to mortals, to tune out the rattle of the dice, the whirring of the games, the never-ending conversation, the raucous laughter and shouts of the winners.

  Feeling restless, he wandered over to the craps table and tossed a hundred-dollar bill on eight the hard way. In the past, before he’d built his own casino, he hadn’t been above manipulating the dice or the slot machines when he needed a little cash. Of course, cheating took all the fun out of winning.

  The croupier tossed Zack an apologetic look when the man who had the dice rolled a five.

  Shrugging, Zack left the table and strolled through the crowd, pausing to say a few words to the regulars, consoling the losers, congratulating the winners.

  He stopped to watch a newlywed couple who were playing one of the old dollar slots. The husband wanted to quit, but his bride kept urging him on.

  “Just one more time, honey,” she coaxed. “If we win the jackpot, we could put a down payment on that house.”

  “Nobody ever wins the big money,” her husband muttered. “These machines are all rigged.”

  “Please, Tom. I have a feeling we’ll win.”

  “You and your feelings,” Tom scoffed, but there was no irritation in his voice. “You haven’t been right once since I’ve known you,” he said with an affectionate smile, “except when you married me.” He shook his head. “Oh, what the hell,” he muttered, and dropped five silver dollars into the machine.

  Zack watched the woman’s face. She was a pretty thing, with short blond hair and bright green eyes. If she wanted a house, by damn, he’d see that she got one.

  The wheels spun. Slowed. Stopped.

  The bride squealed as three purple sevens stood side by side on the pay line. The light over the slot machine lit up and silver dollars began to pour into the tray.

  Grinning, Zack moved on, his thoughts turning, as always, toward Kaitlyn and the man who had been stalking her.

  After telling Scherry he was going out for a while, Zack left the casino.

  The night was cool and clear and the streets were crowded with people, but he paid them little heed as he walked quickly toward Kaitlyn’s place. Upon arriving, he opened his senses, searching for some sign that the Romanian vampire had been there, relieved when he didn’t detect
the man’s scent.

  Moving closer to the house, he could hear Kaitlyn moving around inside—the slam of a drawer, the sound of water running, the smell of baked chicken when she opened the oven door.

  He frowned, wondering if she was having company over for dinner. Walking to the back of the house where the kitchen was located, he dissolved into mist and peered into the open window.

  Clad in a pair of white shorts and a silky-looking orange-and-white striped shirt, she stood at the stove, her back toward him while she stirred something in a pot. Her legs were long and tan, her waist narrow. Her hair fell in long, loose waves down her back like a river of ebony silk.

  Had he been in corporeal form, Zack was sure his mouth would have been watering, not from the smell of the food, but from the enticing scent of the woman.

  Zack hovered there, content, for the moment, to simply admire the way she looked, the fluid way she moved, the lilting sound of her voice as she hummed an old rockand-roll tune. Watching her, it was hard to believe she was half vampire. She seemed totally human. Until she put her dinner on the table and filled a goblet with a mixture of red wine and blood.

  Type AB negative, he thought. Her drink of choice.

  Zack was wondering if she ever drank anything else when Daryn Korzha appeared in the kitchen. What the hell? Apparently Romanian vampires didn’t need an invitation to enter another’s home. Or maybe that only applied to mortal dwellings. He would have to ask Kaitlyn about that. Later.

  Kaitlyn whirled around, her eyes flashing with anger. “What are you doing here?”

  “You stupid half-breed, you don’t even know who I am, do you?”

  Kaitlyn stared at him. She had rarely felt fear in her life, but she felt it now, along with a sudden certainty that he belonged to the Carpathian vampires. No one else would know of her mixed heritage. The pureblood vampires, inherently linked by centuries, recognized each other on sight, but Kaitlyn lacked that particular talent. It also explained his ability to materialize inside her house. No human could do that.

  She lifted her chin, refusing to let him see her fear. “What do you want?” she demanded with far more bravado that she felt.

  “Enough talk,” Korzha said with a sneer. One arm snaked out, wrapping around her waist to hold her flush against his body while he jabbed a needle in her arm.

  She struggled a moment, then went limp.

  In an instant, Zack was inside the house. He didn’t ask questions, simply grabbed Korzha from behind and broke his neck. Kaitlyn slipped from Korzha’s grasp and dropped to the floor. Zack took a moment to make sure she was breathing, then rummaged through the kitchen drawers. A broken neck wouldn’t keep the vampire down for long.

  Zack cussed long and loud until he found a large wooden spoon. Grabbing a knife, he quickly fashioned a point on the end of the handle and drove the makeshift stake through Korzha’s heart, all the way to the floor. Dark red blood bubbled up from the killing wound.

  Korzha gasped, his hand curling around the stake, but the strength was already draining out of him. He convulsed once, and then lay still, the life fading from his eyes as his skin turned a pasty gray.

  Zack rocked back on his heels. It had been a long time since he’d killed another vampire, but he would gladly have dispatched this one again.

  He glanced at Kaitlyn. She lay on her side, her eyes closed, her breathing shallow. Figuring she would be out for a while, he carried her into the living room, laid her on the sofa, and covered her with a blanket that had been folded over the back of the couch.

  Returning to the kitchen, Zack hoisted Korzha’s body over his shoulder and carried it outside.

  He stood in the dark a moment, considering what to do with the body. He grunted softly, wondering if the bodies of vampires who were born and not made disintegrated in the light of day the way his kind did.

  Since he wasn’t sure, burying the body seemed like the smart thing to do. Moving with preternatural speed, he found a stretch of deserted ground high in the mountains. Dropping the body unceremoniously on the ground, he quickly dug a deep hole in the soft earth. Needing to make sure Korzha didn’t rise again, Zack ripped the man’s heart from his chest and tossed it and the body into the hole.

  Once the corpse was buried, Zack transported himself to his lair, where he washed his hands and changed his clothes.

  Minutes later, he was back at Kaitlyn’s house, scrubbing the blood from her kitchen floor.

  Kaitlyn groaned softly as consciousness returned. She opened her eyes slowly and glanced around. What was she doing on the sofa? And why did she feel so funny?

  Sitting up, she glanced around the room, her eyes widening when she saw Zack sitting in the chair across from the couch.

  “What are you doing here?” She frowned as her mind cleared. “Where’s Daryn?” Her gaze darted around the room, but there was no sign of Korzha. “Where is he?” She rubbed her arm. “He jabbed me with a needle.”

  “He’s gone.”

  “What do you mean, ‘gone’? What did you do?” She stared at Zack, weighing the curtness of his words, the icy expression in his eyes. “Did you . . . is he . . . ?”

  Zack nodded. “He’ll never bother you or anyone else again.”

  Daryn was dead. It took a moment for the cold reality of it to sink in. Zack had killed a man. She had never killed anyone and now Daryn, a member of the Carpathian Coven—one of her father’s half brothers—was dead. Because of her.

  “Hey, are you all right?” Zack asked. “You’re looking a little pale.”

  “Do you know what you’ve done?” What would her father say? What would he think, when he found out?

  “Saved your butt, that’s what.”

  Kaitlyn nodded, then frowned, momentarily distracted. “How did he get in? That’s what I want to know.”

  “Are you saying he was never in here before?”

  “Exactly.” A shiver of revulsion skittered down her spine. “I would never have invited him into my house.”

  Zack grunted thoughtfully. “Do your kind need an invitation?”

  “The full-bloods do. I don’t.” She tapped her fingernails on the arm of the sofa. “Since his mother is a witch, I’m wondering if it’s possible that she could have given him some sort of spell to negate the power of the threshold?”

  “Beats the hell out of me,” Zack said. “I don’t know anything about witches, but I guess anything is possible.”

  Kaitlyn stood and began to pace the floor. As her mind cleared, she realized that the fact that Daryn was kin made everything worse. What would her father think when he found out Zack had killed one of their kind? Her father hated the Others; this would just make things worse. Still, Daryn had obviously been up to no good—she refused to think he had intended to kill her—and surely her father wouldn’t condemn Zack for defending her.

  She glanced at Zack, suddenly afraid for his future. She had seen her father when he was angry, and she had never forgotten it. She had told Zack her father in a rage was a scary sight, but that didn’t begin to describe it. Her father hadn’t raised his voice or anything like that, but he had suddenly seemed larger than life as he castigated one of his brothers. Preternatural power had rolled off her father, so strong, so overpowering, it seemed to suck the very air from the room. Her uncle had reeled backward, blood running from his nose and mouth as if he had been struck, even though her father had never raised his hand. She had known instinctively that, had he wished it, her father could have killed Ciprian.

  And now, because of her, Zack’s life might be in danger, although once she explained what had happened, she was sure her father would understand. She had to believe that.

  “Why was Korzha after you?” Zack asked.

  “I don’t know.” Sitting on the sofa again, she fidgeted with her hair. “I haven’t known him very long. In fact, I met him about the same time I met you.”

  Zack leaned forward, his forearms braced on his knees. “He was like you, a Romanian vampire.” I
t wasn’t a question.

  She nodded. “He was one of my father’s half brothers.”

  “Go on.”

  “My grandfather had a lot of wives.” That was an understatement; he’d had twenty. “And they had a lot of children.” Another understatement. “Usually, only my grandfather’s favorite wife and her children lived at the Fortress with him. The other wives all had homes elsewhere because no one really liked my grandmother back then.” Kaitlyn smiled inwardly. Her mother had told her that Liliana’s demeanor had changed drastically after Kaitlyn was born. Liliana had grown kinder, Elena had said, more thoughtful of others.

  Zack leaned back in his chair, contemplating what Kaitlyn had said. Vampires marrying, having children, living in castles like old royalty. It was a hell of a story.

  “I didn’t grow up at the Fortress,” Kaitlyn said, “so I don’t know all of my father’s half brothers and sisters, or their mothers. My grandfather’s wives all kept their maiden names so he would know which children belonged to which wife.”

  “Sounds like he had quite a harem.”

  Kaitlyn laughed. “I always thought so.”

  “So, all things considered, it appears that Korzha was after you for some reason. Do you think he intended to kidnap you, and if so, what was his motive?”

  “I don’t have any idea.” She chewed on her lower lip a moment. “Years ago, before I was born, my father killed one of Daryn’s brothers.” It was an old story, one well-known by covens throughout the world.

  Zack grunted softly. “Sounds like a good, old-fashioned case of revenge to me.”

  “After more than twenty years?” It seemed a farfetched idea, and yet, in the back of her mind, she remembered her father calling to check up on her not long ago. He had said something about a rumor he had heard, and almost in the same breath, he had mentioned Daryn and his mother. Was it possible Nadiya was behind it all?

  When she asked Zack what he thought about it, he shrugged. “You know what they say, revenge is a dish best served cold.”

  “It would have to be frozen by now,” Kaitlyn retorted. “Zack, you have to leave here. Or I do. If my father finds out what happened . . . You know how he feels about the Others. And if he finds out you killed one of us . . .” She shuddered, not wanting to dwell on what her father might do. She had no future with Zack. She knew that, but she didn’t want anything to happen to him.