'Course, that means I can beat on his pretty face without him cheating with that super-fanged strength.”

“You can try,” Jacob replied.

Despite the banter, Lyssa felt the same intense yearning from him she was feeling toward their son.

Go hold him, Jacob.

He gets to see his mother first. That's what I promised. I told him I'd bring you back to him. And like his mother, he's terrifying to face when he's not given what he wants.

“Where do you want it?” Gideon asked. “Wrist or neck? I know there are other places, but if you want it from my thigh, you're going to have to wrestle me on that one. I don't think you're up to that.” He shot Daegan a cocky look, apparently in response to something his vampire master had said in his mind. “Blow me.”

Daegan gave him a look of predatory amusement, suggesting such repartee was a form of male bonding. Or provocative foreplay. Returning his attention to Lyssa, Gideon explained, “He said if he was close enough, he'd slap my head for being insolent.”

She accommodated, a halfhearted thwack behind his ear that earned a grin. “You hit like a girl,” he noted.

“After I take your blood, I'l put you through the garage wal .”

“That's a hell of an incentive for a good Samaritan.” Then he sobered and his voice softened, showing he could be as intuitive as his brother. “Let's get this done so the little man can see his mom. What will work best?”

“The throat.”

Nodding, he shifted closer. As he did, he lifted her hand to his shoulder, near that juncture with the throat so she could direct him as she wished. It was so different from the first night she'd met Gideon. Angry, defensive, determined to convince his brother she was a monster. This side of him, the vampire servant and yet stil so much the lethal vampire hunter, was quite appealing. As he moved his touch to her wrist to hold her steady, she leaned in and touched her mouth to the strong, corded throat. Daegan moved even closer to Anwyn, his hand on her shoulder as well , though it was a different form of guidance.

She expected Daegan had told Anwyn to go in the house, for she seemed to be visibly taking a firmer stance, her jaw tight, refusing to leave or look away from another vampire female taking blood from her servant. Lyssa didn't blame her. Under similar circumstances, she wouldn't let Jacob out of her sight, either.

While Daegan didn't seem perturbed, she expected it would have been quite different if it was a male vampire drinking from Gideon. Vampires were curious in their jealousies. She didn't expect to see that situation ever happen, regardless. No vampire she knew, male or female, would dare to take something that belonged to Daegan Rei. Not without his ful , unequivocal consent. In writing.

It was important not to coddle Anwyn too much, though, because the woman was a Mistress, and had her pride. Being a third-marked servant with that nearly limitless well of sexual response, Gideon could be aroused by Lyssa putting her mouth on his throat, even without enhancement. However, she slipped in a smal dose of pheromones. The sensation of her pul ing at his throat went straight to his cock.

Anwyn had trained her alpha hunter very well , so he maximized the pain and pleasure response.

Though he made a strangled noise of protest, he remained where he was. Lowering her other hand, Lyssa grazed his chest with her fingertips and cruised down to the waistband of his jeans, teasing over his hip bone.

“You're trying to get me in trouble,” he muttered.

Lyssa gave Anwyn a gleaming look that didn't convey chal enge, but conspiracy. A true Mistress, Anwyn picked up on it. Her tension eased, the beautiful lips curving.

“She wants me to get you in trouble, Gideon.” Lyssa licked the flow of blood. It carried an appealing taste, the familial bond with her servant.

“It's more pleasurable to punish you.”

“Damn vampires.” He caught a breath as she closed her hand over him beneath the straining jeans. He was hard and thick, eliciting a little purr in her throat.

“Just as nice as I remember it.”

Jacob was a weighted, silent force in her mind.

He'd tamped down his reaction with effort because he'd been her servant long enough to understand certain things. He'd expected nothing different from her when he'd cal ed in his brother.

At least I got to choose the donor, my lady.

She gave the chal enging thought the narrow look it deserved. Stil , he'd been kind enough to arrange for his brother to be here for her, and she wouldn't goad him past bearing. Done with her teasing, she returned to drinking, pul ing strong and deep. It felt good to have all those expected compulsions . . . to assert her dominance over other vampires present, to ease that sting with some playful eroticism, to feel the blood strengthening her so quickly she had to relax the grip on Gideon's biceps so she didn't cause him the wrong kind of pain.

She also had to force herself not to rush it, because Kane was waking up. Moving to Daegan at last, Jacob took the baby from him. As Kane recognized his father, his cries became the textbook baby response to an unexpected surprise. He started wailing his lungs out.

It was all show, however. He settled after Jacob gave him a gentle bob in his arms, wagged a finger at the tip of his nose. “What's all this about? A vampire doesn't cry. Your mother's told you that.” As she finished drinking, Gideon was so heavily aroused that standing was somewhat awkward.

Leaving him in that state was her gift to Anwyn and a volley back to Daegan, as effective an admonishment as the head slap. Daegan's gaze coursed over Gideon as he turned, heat flickering in his eye. He nodded to Lyssa, tacit appreciation.

Gideon sent her a wry look, well aware of the manipulation. “Stil one scary, irresistible bitch.” Though she saw Anwyn's alarmed glance snap from him to Daegan, Lyssa gave the vampire hunter a feral smile. In Gideon's way, he'd just paid her a supreme compliment and reassured her at once.

Her momentary weakness due to a need for blood did not diminish her strength in his eyes in any way.

And he had very clear-seeing, unsentimental eyes.

Then that was all past. Kane saw her.

He went up several decibels, an ear splitting cry that had his uncle wincing good-naturedly. Leaning down, Jacob put the child in her lap. Kane's little fists immediately closed on her hair, and he leaned back against that hold. His arms spread wide as he swayed, his scream turning to a giggle of delight.

“I suppose you have been a great deal of trouble?” she asked, suffering the yanking with great delight.

Mr. Ingram had returned, having left John occupied in the house. “Not as much as you'd expect, ma'am.

All you real y need is his uncle. The little man comes to him in a heartbeat and does whatever he tel s him to do.”

“Big softy,” Jacob told his brother.

Anwyn shook her head then. “I suspect part of it is Gideon reminds him of you, Jacob. But Gideon is a very good parent. Very no-nonsense.”

“Zero tolerance for bul shit,” Ingram added with a faint smile. “Begging the ladies' pardon.” Gideon rol ed his eyes. “These vampires are wishy-washy as hell , bro. They spoil the kid rotten if you don't watch them every minute.” He jerked his head toward Daegan. “He's the absolute worst.

Would probably let the kid get away with actual murder.”

“It depends on whether or not the target deserves it,” Daegan responded, unruffled.

Gideon scoffed at that. “Before Mason and Jess left for their Council meeting, I told both Mason and Daegan they shouldn't reproduce. They'd have the kind of obnoxious, spoiled kids no one wants to be around.”

Jacob's smile turned instantly to a frown. “Mason took Jess to Council? She has no business being there. Has he lost his fucking mind?” Gideon held up a quel ing hand. “Don't jump my ass about it. She made a deal with the devil or something. She gave him those girly doe eyes and said in that sweet-as-a-sugarcoated-knife voice: ‘My lord, who is more qualified than you to protect me?

And you can't leave Lady Lyssa undefended at Council.' He couldn't argue with either point. The girl has guts and brains.”

“I would be very upset if championing my cause endangered her—” Lyssa began, but Gideon immediately shook his head.

“Not like that. She's right, if you think about it. The Council's done wanting to harm her, and Mason is the most qualified to protect her, with the possible exception of you and Daegan. The main reason he didn't want her going was because of her past baggage, her fear of dealing with group vampire situations. But he's helped her heal, helped her be stronger, and now she wants the chance to meet those fears head on. Since he loves her, he can't real y disagree with that.”

“Jesus, my brother has become Dr. Phil,” Jacob snorted.

Anwyn chuckled. “He's just repeating what he's heard me say. Like a trained monkey. No real comprehension, just regurgitation. Of course, monkeys actual y do comprehend . . .” Lyssa let the inevitable banter that fol owed wash over her as she gazed down into Kane's blue eyes.

Her heart turned over when he offered a smal smile, laughing at all of them. It seemed to her he'd grown exponential y. He'd been doing a little walking before they left, in fits and spurts. Now his legs looked much stronger, sturdier.

She resented having to deal with Council. She wanted to tel them all to go to hell ; if they wanted her, they could come find her, and pay the consequences.

She'd thought a lot about that Council missive.

She'd also thought about her father, dying in a rose bush in the desert. She wished he could have met his grandchild. She thought about Rhoswen, the way she commanded her world, her strengths and weaknesses. A thousand years had taught her that every chal enging situation held a lesson to be learned. Having that confidence required taking huge risks, but sometimes, to secure the future, risk was necessary.

“Kane is going to go with us to Council,” she said out loud. “But not because of Council's demands.” Jacob turned toward her. As her servant, he might not always be privy to her mind. But this was not one of those times. In this, he was Kane's father, and she let him fully into her head, let him see what she was thinking. A shadow closed over his face as he considered it, but she also saw him go through the same quick analysis she did. There weren't too many variables to consider. She'd said it in the Fae world. She was done running, and that meant they had to confront the Council as a unit.