"All right. Eating now, see me?" she asked and took a bite of the food that was on her plate. "Are you going to shower with me, Z? 'Cause I will make a simple admission, if you get in there naked with me I am so not sure if I will be able to keep my hands to myself. It's been a great many years since we have had sex and I really miss it. I really love making love and I truly would like to be able to be with you. Very much so."
"We can't until you make your choice," he said softly. "So no, we won't be showering together, darling. We will be showering alone, each in our own shower, all by our lonesomes. And it will be that way until we mate after you've made your decision on who is primary in your reproductive life."
"Damn," she grumbled. "Okay." She sighed and licked her lips. "I tried, God that's not a choice I want to make. It's not a choice that I think that I can make." She looked up at him and asked, "What if I can't make a choice? What if that's a choice that I can't make? I want you both. I really do. I want you both in my life but I don't know how to make that choice."
"Then you flip a coin and we call it in the air," he said with a wink. "But whatever the choice is will be one you have to live with. I'm sorry but the only other thing is going old school. And old school is bloody beyond all belief. Talk to my parents about it when we go for dinner. I'm sure they will have some advice to help you out."
"I hope so." Lacey sighed and shook her head. "Okay, point me in the direction of a bathroom so that I can get started on that shower so that we can get moving sooner rather than later. I really and truly want to get started or else I'm going to do something like jump you. That would be bad."
"Very at this point," he told her. Getting up he went around a corner and came back a couple minutes later. "Here you are." He passed her the clothing she'd been wearing the night before, cleaned and folded. "There's a bathroom off the bedroom you slept in last night. Go and clean up. I'll get the kitchen cleaned and then we'll meet in the living room when we're both done."
"Sounds good." She hesitated and then reached out to him and linked her hand with his. "Hey, we will be okay, won't we?" she asked softly. "We will somehow find a way around this, right?" She wanted to be able to have a life with them, and she was worried she would somehow mess it all up.
Cupping her cheek, he leaned in so they were nose to nose. "You will figure it out and we will come through this better than ever," he said. "Have faith, Lacey. We believe in you, believe in yourself as well, darling," he told her, brushing a kiss to her lips. "Now go and shower before I forget all my good intentions and say to hell with it all."
"You are very right," she told him and brushed her nose to his. "I look forward to being able to have the time with you guys." She pulled back and put her hand to his cheek. "How long after I make the choice do we have to wait?" she asked.
"As soon as you decide then the mating dance is fully on. From then we just need time, a private place and one another. Nature will take its course from there and we will be in the hands of Fate," he said softly. "Go and shower, little one, we need to finish some business."
"Yes, we need to take care of everything so that we can meet your parents, so that we can all have a talk and so that we can figure out just what we will do with life. See if we can find a common ground and make the decisions that need to be made. Oh and during that time we will also try to hunt down the asshole who has been taunting me for years, the bastard who has tried to blow up one of the men that I loved." That was the hard part, that was what sealed the man's fate, when Zhubin had been hurt it only pissed Lacey off all the more.
"Your eyes get all glittery when you are pissed off, did you know that?" Zhubin smiled and pulled her off her chair, put her clothes in her hands and pushed her toward the door. "Go and shower, damn it. I really hate repeating myself. We can figure everything out later but you need to get ready to move."
"Right, shower," she said with a nod. "And no I didn't know that my eyes glittered when I got pissed off. You never mentioned it before, I wonder why?" she asked teasingly. "Okay, time to get going. See you soon. Meeting you back down here after my shower and I'm dressed?"
"Precisely, now go, woman," he said softly. Once she turned and headed out there was a low growl from behind her.
Chapter Seven
Walking into the office building, all thirty stories of industrial steel and shatterproof glass, Zhubin looked to her. They were both feeling it. There was a new tension in the air, not good. The ride to their floor, twenty stories up, was silent except for the ding indicating each floor they passed.
Stepping out they were immediately flagged down by their boss. Following the man toward his office, Zhubin let her go in first and take the chair while he prowled. Small spaces, even with windows, made him uncomfortable, something pretty easy to see given the tension in his body.
"Good to see you both alive and well," their Captain said, looking them over. "Agent Rose, you'll need to stop by medical and be cleared before you can go back on active duty. No arguments, you took a good smack to the head from what I hear. Agent Zhubin." The man's dark gaze turned to the prowling male. "I'm assuming you've healed up without any issues."
"None at all, sir," he said in response, barely pausing in his slow prowl.
"Yes sir." Lacey knew that was coming, dammit. "However, I would like to add in that I really am doing fine sir. I would much rather stay on the case then spend any down time."
"No arguments, Agent Rose," their Captain said as he leaned back. "And has Agent Zhubin been informed of the possible suspect in the case?"
Lacey flushed but nodded, damn she hated that everyone in the sun was aware of what had been happening these last years and Zhubin and Ansell weren't. "Yes sir. I told him this morning."
"Good. Now." The Captain's eyes focused on Zhubin. "And how do you intend to capture this man? You understand how his mind worked before he was turned and you have studied Vhampires enough to know how they work, so, ideas, suggestions?"
"I plan on baiting him. Taunting him and when he gets pissed, killing him, sir," Zhubin said in a cool, calm and very relaxed tone of voice. "Luhpynes on a whole are aggressive hotheads. Vhampires are cooler, more collected but are cocky assholes. Combine those two and you've got a shitstorm just waiting to happen."
"Good. Are you certain that you will be able to handle him alone? He has all your strengths, but those of a Vhampire as well, so are you certain that this is something that you will be able to take on by yourself? I'm not trying to be a dick, I just need to know that I'm not sending you off to die."
"I don't plan on taking him on alone but, should it come to it, yes I could take him on by myself. I don't actually want to so I'll be pulling Ansell and a couple others in," Zhubin told the man. "I want Agent Rose with us twenty-four-seven as well, sir, no unusual duties for any reason. If she gets pulled for a different assignment I'm going to automatically assume it's this guy trying to get her alone. That being the case I'm going in with a ‘kill first' attitude, no questions asked."
Leaning back, the Captain watched him carefully and then asked, "And if I say no?" He waved his hand slightly in the air in a circular motion. "For the sake of argument, if I say no? What if I feel that it's a bad idea to have Agent Rose with you and Ansell twenty-four-seven?"
"It wasn't an option," Zhubin said honestly. His tone was flat, tight and held a subtle layer of warning. His eyes locked on the Captain, not so subtle given the glow that was starting to grow. His Luhpyne side was putting in its two cents and was not happy with the Captain at all. "But if you even thought of saying no for any reason you'd never get past the N."
Nodding, the Captain leaned back. "It's a good thing that I was only testing the water then, huh? And put the Alpha away, I had to know that you understood just exactly what and who Agent Rose was to you." He glanced to Lacey and raised a brow.
"He does. I told him everything."
"Good. About fucking time. I couldn't tell you, but she could. I was fucking livid when they bound me." He still couldn't say much about it because of the magic binding his tongue. "I trust you to keep our girl safe."