“You remind me so much of me.” He sighed. “I hope Hunter doesn’t kill you.”
Er, yeah. She hoped so, too.
The door banged open, and her heart stuttered as Riker entered with another vampire.
The new vampire, a tall, broad male with an amazing mane of blue-black hair, strolled toward her. He was dressed like Riker, in jeans and a T-shirt, but that was where the similarities ended.
His ebony gaze marked him as a born vampire, and, like so many borns, his Native American ancestry was obvious in his bronze skin and the powerful, chiseled bone structure of select prairie tribes. An aura of ancient energy practically vibrated off him, and she’d bet her entire company that he was either an original vampire— one of the first humans who contracted the virus—or from a first-or second-generation mating. God, how she’d love to study him. Question him. Get some insight into their mysterious origins that had stumped scientists since vampires were first discovered.
But the raven and crow story was ludicrous. Almost as ludicrous as the demon theory.
“You’re Dr. Nicole Martin.” It wasn’t a question.
Hell, it sounded like a threat. How could something as simple as her name sound like he’d said, You’re dead.
Anxiety dried her mouth to dust. “I am. Nicole, I mean.” Wow. Way to babble.
Grant rounded on her, knocking tubes of kool-Aid all over the counter and floor. “You’re a fucking Martin?”
She casually inched closer to Riker. “I’m the surviving daughter you want to kill.”#p#分页标题#e#
“Huh.” Grant went back to his project, righting test tubes and wiping up spilled liquid.
Okaaay. So not the reaction she’d been expecting.
He was the most unpredictable person she’d ever met.
“Say the same thing to me,” the new vampire rumbled, “and you’ll get a much different response.”
He smiled, revealing fangs that were twice as large as
Riker’s. Those things would hurt. “We need to talk.”
“Who are you?” She looked to Riker for help, but the vampire who had confided in her about his mate and child, who had saved her from poachers and handled her with such care, was gone, replaced by a stone— faced hardass with cold eyes.
“He’s our chief.” Riker’s tone was all business, and disappointment cut deep. She wanted the Riker from earlier. With that Riker, she’d felt almost comfortable.
This one frightened her almost as much as he had when he’d kidnapped her from her home. “Name’s Hunter.”
Hunter stepped into her, so close she could smell smoky whiskey on his breath, and panic fluttered in her belly. He was blocking her view of Riker, using his size to intimidate her. It worked. She felt small.
Trapped. And excruciatingly aware of how disheveled and dirty she was.
“Riker has told you why we need you?”
This guy didn’t strike her as the type to mess around, and she wasn’t naive enough to think that any friendly inroads she’d made with Riker would extend to the clan leader. She had to be careful if she wanted to make it out of this alive.
Craning her neck, she met his steady gaze. “I’ve already agreed to do everything in my power to find and release the female vampire you think my company is holding.”
“We don’t think,” he growled. “We know.”
It was probably stupid of her, but she was still clinging to the tiniest speck of hope that they were wrong, that Daedalus hadn’t been skirting laws to acquire vampires.
“I said I’d help,” she repeated.
“She’s already helped,” Grant chimed in. “She seems to have an advanced working knowledge of our biology. Can I have her when you’re done? We don’t have to kill her right away, do we?”
She let out a ridiculous mousy squeak. “You know, I’m standing right here while you casually discuss my death.”
Riker moved into her line of vision, and she wasn’t ashamed to admit to herself that she was relieved. “No one is going to die.”
An unreadable look passed between Hunter and Riker, and a sudden, tangible tension crackled in the air.
“Look,” she said quickly, hoping to defuse the friction, “I want to get Neriya back and make sure Lucy
is safe. I’ll do whatever it takes, I promise.” Figuring
she had little to lose, she adopted her best CEO voice.
“But here’s the thing. You need me, so I’d like a little assurance that you’ll release me when it’s done.”
Nicole was pretty certain Hunter would refuse.
So she was totally shocked when he stepped back and said, “You have my word. Riker will take care of you.
Speaking of which, Rike, while you were showering, I had a chamber prepared for her. Down the hall from yours.”