Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 72056 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72056 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 360(@200wpm)___ 288(@250wpm)___ 240(@300wpm)
“Circumstantial how? You think he attacked them, left them immobile, and then someone else came along and sliced out their hearts?”
“Why not? The lycans know better than to mess with us.”
A few years ago, the Vampire Brotherhood and the Lycan Council reached a truce of sorts. We all agreed to register our bite marks with the government upon reaching the age of eighteen. Bite marks are unique to all vamps and lycans, like fingerprints are to humans. Any lycan or vamp mark can be easily identified via the central computer system. Surely this Victor knows all that, so why would he take the chance of being found out?
“None of this makes sense,” I say.
“I agree.” Dad pauses and rubs his chin. “Which is why I need you to get close to him.”
Here it comes. “Uh…how close, exactly?”
“I think you know. You won’t mind. He’s very handsome. I have a photo here somewhere.” He pats some papers on his desk.
I roll my eyes. “If he’s so handsome, why don’t you seduce him?”
Dad lets out a chuckle. “Trust me, I would if I could, but by all accounts, Victor Rogan is not the least bit interested in men.”
“Pity.” I look at my fingernails. Pretty ragged. Maybe I can fit in a manicure when I get home.
“You’re telling me.” He shuffles more papers. “Ah, here it is.” He shoves an eight-by-ten glossy across the desk.
I widen my eyes. Handsome doesn’t even begin to cover this god.
“I see you’re pleased.” Dad smirks. “I hear the photo doesn’t do him justice.”
Heat curls in my gut. My nipples harden. Emerald-green eyes fringed with thick black lashes, a chiseled face, just the right amount of dark stubble. And hair. Glorious hair. I love long hair on a man. It’s even darker than my own and it falls in unruly waves around beefy shoulders.
My heart slams against my chest, its cadence rapid. My skin heats, cools, heats again.
I close my eyes and inhale. The thump thump of his heart, the whoosh of the blood through his veins…both crash into my ears like a roaring storm.
I shake my head to gain composure. What imagination! I’ve never had such a physical reaction to a photograph.
I open my eyes.
Yeah, I can do him.
All for the sake of my people, of course.
“He’s in Vegas, staying at his penthouse at the London Hotel and Casino.”
“Penthouse?”
“Yeah. He owns the hotel.”
“So he’s richer than God.”
“He does all right. I’ve booked you a suite there.”
“Dad, I have a life here in Chicago. And a job, remember? I can’t just take off.”
“I’ve arranged a leave of absence.”
I work the night shift as an ER physician’s assistant at a local hospital. The hours suit me, as I don’t react well to sunlight, and I have blood ready and available whenever I need to feed. I’m good at my job, and the chief of staff adores me. My immediate supervisor, Margot the Bitch, does not, however. No way would she have agreed to a leave of absence.
I eye my father’s grin. “You didn’t.”
“Sorry, I did. Just a little. I need you on this, Hannah.”
“But you said there’s no excuse for using mind control.”
“I said there’s no excuse for misusing mind control. This is not misuse. This is for the good of the Brotherhood.”
Right. Dad always did have one set of rules for himself and one set for everyone else. Just ask my mom.
“Fine. Fine. I’ll go to the London.”
“And you’ll seduce Victor Rogan.”
“I’ll try to seduce Victor Rogan. What makes you think he’ll have me?”
“You’re a beautiful woman, Hannah. You know that.”
“Dad”—I hand the photo back to him—“look at this man. I’ve been told I’m attractive, but he’s a fucking Adonis.”
“Trust me.” Dad grins. “He’ll jump through all kinds of hoops to get to you.”
I shake my head. “You know as well as I do that weres only respond like that to their own kind.”
Dad’s eyebrows twitch slightly. “It won’t be a problem.”
“I can’t see how it won’t be. I’m half human and half vampire. Even if he thinks I’m the hottest thing walking, he’ll hardly jump through any hoops.”
Dad smiles—a surly grin—as his phone rings. “Did you not have a physical reaction to his picture?”
I can’t lie to my father. He’s a full-blooded vamp who can sense arousal from miles away. The intensity of my reaction shocked me, and my body is still humming.
“Give it your best shot.” Dad adjusts his Bluetooth. “Check in with me in three days.”
Three days?
“You expect me to seduce a werewolf in three days?”
He waves me away as he speaks into the phone. When Dad is done with a conversation, he’s done.
Icy needles prick the skin on the back of my neck as I walk out the door.
2
My stomach tumbles, and not from the unusual amount of turbulence on the airplane. Dad sprang for a first class seat, and I nurse a vodka tonic to sooth my nerves.