“Afterward, I’ll send her back to you,” he repeated stubbornly.

“Is that what she wants? Or, the more critical question, is that what you want?”

“Danny, she can’t stay here forever.”

“Why not? If she’s agreeable to that, she’d be a help to you there, I’m sure. And if one or more of the fledglings end up being there an extended time, she would want to stay there with them. She’d accept that. I know you’d be gentle with her, Mal. You’re remote and don’t deal with other vampires too often, so she’d be all right. As she gets more seasoned and experienced—”

“I’d be able to whore her out when other vampires visited. Or be forced to do so when I had to take her to the Regional vampire gathering, where the third-marked servants are required to be present for pointless games and power plays.”

Danny paused. “Wasn’t exactly my way of putting it, but you know our ways. It’s not all like that. With the right servant, it’s a mutual pleasure. And Elisa has the nature for it.”

“The nature, but not the heart.” Mal tightened his jaw. It was true, but he wasn’t going to put it all on Elisa like that. “And while my cock might respond to it like any trained dog will if handed the right treat . . . it’s not what I am either, not heart deep.”

“Really?” He could almost see that slim brow arching, Danny’s intrigued look. “Are you going to elaborate on that?”

“You know my history. It’s not a surprise to you. I’m not like born vampires, or even most made vampires. Before I was turned, I wanted something different, even if I pissed it away.” He hitched over it, because it was probably the first time in his life he’d said it. “That hasn’t changed, not really.”

“What was it you wanted?” Danny’s voice was neutral, quiet.

What the hell? He’d opened the can of worms now, right? “A family. A home. Children. I wanted to hunt as the old ones of our tribe used to do before we were overrun with settlers, bring home game to my wife and have her prepare it. Sit with her around a fire at night, watch our children play and think about how I’d make love to her that night. I’m a vampire, Danny. I can’t have that memory. I can’t have the fantasy.”

“Maybe not exactly like that, no. But our way of life doesn’t completely exclude such a thing, Mal. And as much as you like that picture, there are things in you that are different from that, too. Things you need as a vampire that you can’t deny.”

“That’s the problem. They’re all tangled together. I’m with her, and I want . . . I want to own her. Make her mine in all ways. Take her to her knees and teach her pleasure there. And I also want to see her . . .”

“Cook your food, sit by your fire at night?”

“Yes. You’re going to ridicule me, I’m sure.”

“No,” Danny responded. “I’m not. I love my station, Mal. I love to watch the seasons cycle, help the new lambs be born. I love sitting on the porch with Dev at night, listening to the radio and watching him whittle. I also love taking him to bed and wringing him dry, making him serve me over and over again, in a hundred ways.”

“Well, the man is hung like a stallion in full rut mode, from what I hear.”

“There is that.” Danny’s feline smile was palpable over the phone. “But it’s not really that. Don’t deflect. When we have to do vampire business, which is more often than he or I like, we’ve learned to take a great deal of pleasure from those games, because he’s serving me, and every time it pushes his limits, he knows he’s serving me even more. That’s the magic of the third-mark bond, Mal, when it’s true. It’s something so strong between you that anything which gives you pleasure will give her pleasure. If you loosen up those tight laces on your vampire nature a bit, you’ll give her even more. The two desires can go together for us.”

He didn’t say anything as Danny added, “You know she has it in her. My mother knew it when she groomed her to become a member of my household. But if what you were just saying is your true desire, you couldn’t have found someone more appropriate. Elisa is unique. She’s not flashy or worldly in the least. She just has an abiding desire to serve, to please. To love.” The last was added in a murmur. “Mal, if she’s offering that gift to you, and you want it, don’t be a fool. Don’t turn away from it. You may not be able to have what you wanted, but you can have something maybe as special for one of our kind. And she very well may be in the same boat at this point.”

Not able to have what she wanted, but something different, if he offered it to her. But what kind of offer was it? Did it really give her anything? “If she doesn’t want the third mark, I won’t do it. And even if she does, if she wants to come home after, I’ll send her back to you. Which is what I think will happen.”

“Hmm. Regardless, you have my blessing.” Now there was amusement in her voice. “Have her call me after she gives you her answer on the third mark, so I can discuss it with her, confirm it’s what she wants. I assume you’ll advise me where you’re going, and assure me that you can protect her. Recent events . . . may interfere with her submissive nature.”

“I know. That’s the other thing, why I want to make sure that she’s willing and able. But you have my word. Nothing’s getting past me to cause her any fear or harm her. These will be one-on-one meetings with the vampire in question. Should be manageable.”

“All right. Now, about Leonidas.” Danny sighed. “How likely do you think it is the others will have this problem as they age, but don’t change physically?”

“Your guess is as good as mine, unfortunately. We might be able to get more information out of them on their ages, but my guess is that Victor and Leonidas were of similar ages.” Mal pushed his chair back. “I think the vampire next closest to them in age is Jeremiah, for all that he looks younger. There’s a maturity to him far different from the other four. But unfortunately, his bloodlust episodes have the same quality as Leonidas’s, though he’s worked harder to fight them off.”

“So we might have more time on the younger ones.” Danny’s tone was thoughtful.

“What are you thinking?”

“Well, this may sound a bit off, but there’s a vampire, a very young one, barely more than a fledgling himself, who’s earning degrees in scientific study in London. He’s a born vampire, his father a well-regarded overlord in line for Region Master there. Anyhow, Lord Brian recently wrote a paper for the Vampire Council proposing the establishment of a facility to study problems uniquely applicable to vampires. Our weakness to sunlight, unexpected transition effects, the Ennui. It’s not anything more than a concept at this point, but I’ll send you the article. It was given to all the Region Masters. Since he’s young and eager to prove his skills and worth, you might consider inviting him down to meet the fledglings, see what he thinks of the progression of terminal bloodlust, because it’s a unique situation, as far as we know. If he is what he says he is, he might be able to help.”

“All right.” Mal made a note of it. “Send me the document. If he could figure out how to handle their fangs, that alone would be a blessing. It would give them a visual normalcy that would help them get along better in both human and vampire society.”

“I thought about just extracting them when they were here, but it felt wrong. I didn’t know how it would impact the marking serums.”

“If there’s such a thing as an expert on our kind, I’d feel better doing it after getting his recommendation.” His lip curled. “Of course, it’s been my experience that science wasn’t even a field until a group of people made a career of acting on the dangerous thought, ‘What would happen if we . . .’ et cetera, and decided to call it scientific inquiry.”

“Sounds like Lord Brian will enjoy your company.” Danny chuckled. “Like two peas in a pod. He may never want to leave your island.”

When he passed through the kitchen, Kohana grunted at him. “Mail and meat delivery came in.”

“Yeah, I heard the plane. You get anything from your sister on the res?”

Kohana nodded. “The money I’ve been sending her has been helping. She’s got running water in the house now.”

“Good. We’ll keep sending what we can.” Mal cocked his head at the Indian’s expression. “Something else?”

“Elisa got your gift.”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about, old man.”

“Not as old as you.”

“But I’m prettier.”

Kohana snorted. “So you say. Go see the girl. She’s a picture.”

“You getting sweet on her?” Mal inquired, even as he moved toward the opposite exit from the kitchen.

“If I was?” Kohana arched a brow. “You’d have something to say about it, I’m willing to bet. Or do you not know anything about that, either?”

Mal chose to ignore the comment and the additional snort that followed him out of the kitchen as he headed to the upper-level bedrooms. That was another reason why he preferred his island to anywhere else. Several of his staff knew him well enough they wouldn’t be surprised by what he’d said to Danny about the things he held on to, old dreams. They didn’t find it odd because they were things humans could want, did want. Why would it all disappear just because he’d become a vampire? Even for the born vampires, he often wondered why it was so strange and taboo for a vampire to want family, connection.

The strong cravings he felt for blood and sex might be a little overthe-top when compared to humans, and he might be leery of calling his staff his friends outright, but it didn’t mean he didn’t value such connections. Gods, it gave him a headache. He scowled. No wonder he preferred staying on the island.