“I doubt you have any noble intentions about anything.” Gideon snorted.

“Probably true. I am painfully aware, however, that sometimes Fate has to play out her hand. If things go according to plan—a simple validation procedure, I am raked over the coals for making unauthorized kills—yes, Anwyn would be better off having you there, helping her maintain stability. But there will be considerable danger to you. Great danger. On top of that, we will need to weigh how it could play out if things don"t go according to plan.”

“What matters is her.” Gideon set his jaw. “It"s going to be sticky either way. You"ll have to prove to me it"s in her better interests for me to stay behind, or kill me. I don"t think you"ll do either one.”

“Don"t tempt me. I might choose the easier of the two.” Daegan sighed. “I"ll think on it.

We"ll need to talk to Anwyn. We must all be in accord on this.”

“Agreed. But not tonight. And I want to be the one to tell her I"m coming with her.” Though Gideon gave the vampire an even look, underscoring it, he couldn"t help shifting, feeling the regret anew. “I wasn"t intending to tell her like that. About the annual kill.”

“She was going to find out soon enough. Perhaps it"s best that she has time to digest it, before we have to travel.”

“Yeah, but she wanted tonight to be different. She was trying to focus on your homecoming and put the rest on the back burners. She"s been working her ass off these past few weeks, and she wanted to enjoy something.” Gideon cleared his throat. “She really missed you.” Daegan swore softly, and returned to the dresser, emptying his pockets. The mirror"s reflection showed the bed behind him, a reminder of many things shared there. It was good to be home, but it wasn"t home until Anwyn truly welcomed him. He"d looked forward to that as well, but perhaps hadn"t counted on it the way Anwyn had, knowing what lay between them.

“You told me once that you weren"t used to relying on anyone, Gideon. I told you I was the same. I"ve never relied on anyone until her. It"s easy enough for me to get what I want from a woman, but the night we met, she met my gaze, saw what I was, didn"t flinch. Wasn"t even really interested in that. She didn"t have to give me anything, and I couldn"t have made her give me anything. She"s that kind of person. So when she did, it was her choice, her will, her desire. It made me trust her, believe in her and need her, in a way I"ve never needed anyone.” In Gideon"s stillness, Daegan sensed his shock at the bald words, and wondered himself why he"d said them aloud. Spending long periods of time without any confidante, he thought he"d outgrown the need for one. But perhaps nothing had ever bothered him as much as this estrangement with the difficult woman he loved, what had happened to her, what he"d been powerless to stop.

He heard everything. It had amazed him to learn, early in his life, how little humans heard.

Vampires heard more, but his hearing exceeded even theirs. If Anwyn let out a whispered sigh, even behind the closed door of her room, he could hear it. He heard the movement in the soundproofed playrooms above them. Knew there were insects and worms scratching and working their way along tunnels they"d made against the sunken foundation of this underground level.

So he heard Gideon move toward him. However, he was in for a surprise himself when the man"s hand closed on his shoulder. He went still under the quick passing of a thumb over his collarbone, a rough grip that denied the hint of a caress. Then Gideon pulled back abruptly, leaving it hard to decipher the brief gesture. However, for some reason, the touch loosened things up in Daegan"s chest. “Go see her. I"ll hang out somewhere. She"s in her room.”

“I"ve told you before not to give me orders, vampire hunter.”

“You don"t care whether I live or die, except that it concerns Anwyn. Well, same goes. She needs you. And since I"m in a nurturing mood, I"ll mention you look like you need blood. If you need to go coax a pint out of someone, we should be fine. She had her injection right before we came to get you, and she"s good for a couple of hours yet. Plus, I have the restraints, and with advance warning, she"ll put them on and I can handle her from there.”

“I"ll keep that in mind, Mom.”

Gideon made a suitable hand gesture reflected in the mirror. Daegan glanced over his shoulder, flashed his fangs at him. The hunter gave him a sardonic grin in return, then left the room, leaving him to the unpacking and shower he"d planned.

Don’t tempt me . . . The warning he"d issued to Gideon had several levels, but the hunter was as oblivious to them as he was to personal danger. Take Gideon Green to a Vampire Council meeting. By the Holy Relics . . . Of course, there would be some small pleasure in seeing the poker-faced Lord Uthe drop his jaw on the Council table. Shaking his head, Daegan started to move toward the showers, his hand on the hook to his trousers, but then he stopped.

He really did need that shower. He"d executed one final vampire an hour before he"d gotten on the plane, and though he"d washed up in the sink, he still wanted the full cleansing effect. The vampire had been older and more aggressive, and had landed a lucky strike with a machete that had deprived Daegan of a quart of blood. He did need to feed, but he needed Anwyn more.

He"d told her he wouldn"t search her mind without valid cause, but that didn"t prevent him from using it as a direct communication link. Anwyn, would you come take a shower with me?

The night he"d forced her to make Gideon her full servant, mere days before he left her, he"d been beyond cruel to her. He"d savagely fucked her to rouse the predator in her, made her discard despair for fury. Afterward, he"d wanted to take her into a bath, sponge the evidence of his barbaric behavior off her thighs himself, hold her close, stroke her hair. Instead, he"d been ruthless. This past month, he"d stayed away from her because it was best. But Gideon was right. Now he had the opportunity to show her the tenderness he"d had to withhold. Though, in truth, that might have to wait. He needed to take her roughly first, his body vibrating for her in a way that had almost spilled onto Gideon, when he"d come close enough to touch Daegan.

Blood and physical needs were tied up in the emotional, all riding close to the surface.

At last she responded. If I can stake you in your sleep afterward.

It almost made him smile. So much for tenderness. Would you like me to come get you?

No response to that, but there was a faint sense of acknowledgment, positive or negative he didn"t know. Leaving his room, he crossed over the shared living area, aware that Gideon was moving around the small reading room. Anwyn"s door was cracked. Stepping in, he rapped on the boards, a simple courtesy, and gazed to the right, expecting her in the bathroom. He reached out with his mind and—

Stars exploded in his vision from whatever blunt object hit his head. He ducked the next blow, caught her around the waist and yanked the bat out of her hands, tossing it toward the bed, swearing audibly. But it was her swearing he heard in his mind.

You son of a bitch.

She was vibrating with full, glorious rage. The pathetic, weeping creature she"d so often been before he left wasn"t anywhere to be seen, replaced by flashing eyes and a swirl of sable hair. She continued to swear at him in her mind, keeping the fight in silence. Obviously she didn"t want Gideon privy to it, though her emotions were stormy enough he"d be surprised if Gideon wasn"t picking up some of the fallout.

He shoved her up against the wall, keeping her arms pinned. Their bodies were intimately close, bare chest in his open shirt pressed to ripe breasts in lace, because she"d been changing.

She was wearing a black demi-cup, one of his personal favorites with its propensity to be low enough to expose areola, particularly during this kind of struggle.

“Why the hell did you do that?” he demanded, low, overriding her mental diatribe. Blessed Virgin, he thought she might have cracked his skull, and wondered when she"d decided to keep a baseball bat in her room.

“Because I"m going to have to kill someone to live. Because I didn"t ask for this. Because I wouldn"t have changed anything about knowing you, even if I"d known this was going to happen, and I don"t know what kind of person that makes me. Mostly because I"m tired of learning about things by accident, or having them sprung on me, because one or both of you doesn"t think I"m ready to deal with it.”

“Then let me bring Gideon in so you can hit him in the head, too.” She snarled at him, and the tiny needle points of her fangs glittered. Humor vanished, and he caught her chin. “I won"t hesitate to do anything I feel necessary to protect you, to help you deal with this. You aren"t invincible. You can"t handle it all at once, Anwyn. We"ve made the best judgments possible. I told you from the beginning, for this to work you were going to have to relinquish some control to us, trust us with that much.”

“What about the night you made me mark Gideon? The way you fucked me? You were pissed, and you were using your dick to make a point. That wasn"t about trust and judgment.”

“Yes, it was. You had no right to try to take your life. I had to break you out of your suicidal self-condemnation and deal with my anger at you at the same time. It suited both purposes.” She stared up at him. They held that locked battle of wills for several minutes. Daegan was acutely aware of the way her body felt, only that bra and her thin skirt between them, her bare foot pressed tensely on top of his.

“I want you to answer a question, and I want it to be the truth,” she said between clenched teeth. “And don"t you dare tell me you always give me the truth, or I swear I"ll neuter you in your sleep.”

Daegan pressed his lips together. If he smiled, he expected she"d react the same way. “Ask your question.”

“We"ve been together five years, come this December. Do you remember back when you wanted me to be your servant, and I refused? You left me for six months.” He remembered, as much as he didn"t want to recall that bleak period, or face the question he knew she was about to ask.