Renee hesitated and examined that thought and the feeling that went with it. He really had become important to her, never mind the shortness of their time together. Their relationship had been forged in excitement and strife, and it had drawn them together into an undeniable intimacy fast and fiercely. At least, it had for her. She didn’t know about him.

Rafe stepped away from her after placing a soft kiss on her lips. She was thrilled that he did so in front of the queen. She felt like it marked the nature of their relationship to the other woman. She would have preferred if he had been more heated, the kiss more of a brand. Something that showed on the outside what she was feeling on the inside.

To that end she grabbed hold of his arm and turned him back to her. She rushed her body up against his, cupped his face in her hands, and drew him back to her mouth for a hot, blistering kiss. Her body curved into his aggressively, her hand sliding down his neck to his shoulders as his arms wrapped around her. He took over the kiss in the next heartbeat, dragging her in tight, his hard body pressed all along her softer one. Their tongues tangled and their bodies heated. But after what seemed like too brief a time, he lifted his head away from her and drew in deep breaths.

“Soon,” he murmured breathlessly against her temple as he kissed her there lightly.

She nodded, content for the time being with their extremely public and possessive display. She drew away from him and looked toward the queen, ready to gauge her reaction. But Simone wasn’t even looking at them. She was focused on her phone and the texts she was sending. Frowning in consternation, Renee stepped away from Rafe and crossed the room to where Rafe had dumped the body of the sycophant. She checked on his state of consciousness until she was satisfied he was genuinely out cold. She wouldn’t put it past him to fake it.

Chapter 20

Both Rafe and the queen were on the phone, speaking rapidly in a variety of languages until people began to show up. The first was Danton, the tall black vampire from the committee. He nodded to Renee in greeting then moved toward Rafe and the queen. He took in the unconscious phant and raised a brow.

“Keeping a pet, are we?” he asked.

“This phant knows where Killean is right now,” Rafe explained shortly.

Tension immediately whipped through the other man.

“How long?”

“About twenty minutes. We’re running out of time. If we don’t get ready and get after him now, we might lose him. He might move before we even get a chance to mobilize.”

Just then the sound of a phone going off filled the room. It wasn’t a full ring, but it was definitely the sound of a notification. No one checked their phones, already knowing that it wasn’t any of their personal phones. Rafe knelt by the phant and searched his body. He found the phant’s phone and read the text message that had come through.

“It says ‘report,’ ” Rafe said.

Rafe swiped at the phone and tried to access it. It was locked with a passcode.

“Try his thumbprint,” Renee suggested.

Rafe did so and he smiled when the smartphone unlocked and the text messages bloomed across the screen.

“Killean. The texts are from Killean.”

“What should we do? Answer it?”

Rafe scanned through the previous texts.

“There’s something off about these texts. They seem a little awkward. Some of them don’t make sense to me. It must be some kind of code. If we answer we might be breaking the code and tipping Killean off.”

“If we don’t answer the same thing will happen,” Renee said.

“Wake him up,” Danton said to Rafe.

Rafe spent the next couple of minutes trying to rouse the phant. During that time the queen’s penthouse became a hotbed of activity. More and more people arrived. Until even the spacious penthouse began to feel a little crowded. With each arrival the queen explained what was happening.

“Simone,” Rafe said, “get me a glass of water.”

Simone did so herself, rather than delegating the task as Renee might have expected a queen to do. She came back with the water and Rafe slowly spilled it over the phant’s nose and mouth until the phant gagged and woke up, spewing water and coughing hard.

“There we go. He’s awake,” Rafe said with a cold smile for the phant. “We need you to text your boss and tell him you’re still waiting on my arrival. And you need to do it,” he said as he handed him the phone, “in code. I know you’re talking in code to him. Tell me what it is.”

“It…every first word of the text has to use the next letter in Killean’s name, and then it starts again from the beginning. I’m on the second L. See?”

The phant turned the phone toward Rafe who quickly reviewed the messages to see if he was telling the truth. He nodded when he was satisfied that he was.

“Tell him…‘Leave it to me. We’ll have him shortly.’ ”

Rafe nodded at Danton’s suggestion and took the phone from the phant to type in the message. He hit send and held his breath.

The phone made a sound as the response appeared. Hurry up.

“I don’t think he suspects anything yet,” Danton said. “But he will if we don’t get our shit together.”

“You’re going to take us to Killean,” Rafe said to the phant.

“He’ll kill me!” the phant cried.

“So will we. Look at it this way, you’ve had a good run. You’ve gotten the chance to run wild and debauch yourself. You’ve lived your life fully.”

“Not so fully. We only get what Killean gives us…and that isn’t very much. I…I miss being a legitimate vampire.”

“Too bad for you. But here’s your chance to do one last good thing for the vampire people. Take us to him, let us kill him. If you’re lucky and we win the day, maybe we’ll let you go.”

“But I’ll be branded a traitor. I’ll have nowhere to go.”

“Maybe not on the East Coast. But there’s worlds of phants just like you out there. They aren’t long for this world after the treaty is signed, but you might be able to buy a little extra time for yourself.”

“How are we going to do this?” Danton asked.

“Well, they want me. I say we give them what they want. Tie me up, send me in with this guy. We’ll take the opportunity to get Killean talking, maybe we can find out what Draz is really up to. If anyone would know it would be Killean. He’s his major lieutenant.”