“Hmm,” Anders said dubiously, and then eased her back so he could kiss her nose. Smiling crookedly, he then commented, “You seem to have a tendency to find trouble.”
“It wasn’t me this time. I was just following Roxy. She— Roxy!” Valerie stiffened, her eyes wide and worried. “He said he killed her but I thought I heard her bark.”
“She’s fine,” Anders assured her quickly. “She’s in the house. She came up to the bedroom and woke me up. It’s how I knew you were in trouble. You weren’t with her. So I came looking for you.”
“Oh,” Valerie sagged against him, but shook her head. “I don’t know how she got in the house. I saw her go into the garage, but when I got there she wasn’t there and he grabbed me.”
“There’s a door between the garage and the laundry room. He must have opened it and lured her into the garage and then the house somehow, and then closed it behind her to wait for you to catch up,” Anders said.
“Oh,” Valerie sighed, and then followed Anders’s gaze when he suddenly stiffened and glanced toward the house. The front door was opening, she saw, and then Roxy rushed out. Lucian and Leigh followed more slowly as Roxy hurried toward them, tale wagging happily. Valerie slid free of Anders and crouched to greet the dog as she ran up.
“Good girl,” she said, massaging her cheeks and the sides of her neck. “Good girl for getting Anders. Yes,” she praised, and then straightened as the other couple reached them.
“Igor?” Lucian asked on a yawn, rubbing his hand across his very wide, bare chest. The man had obviously just rolled out of bed. He wore only a pair of green plaid pajama bottoms, and his hair was standing on end.
Anders nodded.
Lucian peered at the large man with the wooden sunflower sticking out of his chest, and commented, “Well this makes a change from the old pushing up daisies.”
Leigh tsked at the comment and slipped past Lucian to get a better look at the man. Shaking her head, she said, “Did you have to use the sunflower? I loved that tomato stake and it’s the only one I have. You should have used one of the frog stakes. I have three of them.”
“I’ll remember that for next time,” Anders said with amusement.
Lucian slid his arm around Leigh and hugged her briefly. “I’ll call the boys to come collect him. They can take out your sunflower before they take him away . . . I’ll have them clean off the blood for you too,” he added, when Leigh screwed up her face with disgust.
“Maybe we should take it out now,” Anders suggested. “If we leave it in too long he might not come back and we still need information. We haven’t even been able to get a name out of his boss.”
“Ambrose,” Valerie announced.
Anders glanced at her with surprise and shook his head. “Damn, woman, you were only in the garage with him for a matter of minutes. How did you get that out of him?”
“My natural charm?” she suggested with a grin.
“You didn’t happen to find out what they did with the women too, did you?” Lucian asked.
Valerie’s grin faded and she shook her head. “No. I’m afraid not.”
“I guess you’d better take it out now then,” Lucian suggested, not sounding pleased that they had to.
Anders didn’t look any happier about having to do it as he bent to grab the wooden sunflower and pull it from the man’s chest. When Leigh grimaced at the bloody tip, he said, “I’ll rinse it off with the garden hose. It will be good as new.”
“Good thinking,” Lucian said. “I’ll watch Igor while you do that.”
Anders raised his eyebrows. Apparently, he’d meant later, but he nodded and headed around the garage saying, “I’ll only be a minute.”
Shaking her head, Leigh turned to lean up and kiss Lucian’s cheek. “I’ll call Mortimer for you. I have to go check on the twins anyway.”
“Thank you, love,” Lucian said, watching her go. Once she disappeared into the house, he turned back and eyed Valerie. “So? When do you want to be turned?”
“I didn’t agree to turn,” Valerie squawked with amazement.
“You haven’t, but you will,” he said with a shrug.
“What makes you think that?” she asked warily.
“Because if you don’t, I’m going to have to wipe your memories and have you returned to your life and neither of us wants that,” he said simply.
“Anders said I could have time to decide,” Valerie protested, and then frowned and added, “And what do you mean, neither of us wants that? Why would you care?”