“As in you don’t like it or…”
“I’ve never had the inclination.” He moved his weight from one leg to the other even though both feet stayed on the ground.
Her mouth dropped open. After a few seconds of fly catching she snapped it closed. “You’ve never kissed anyone before?”
Zane shook his head.
“You’re missing out you know?”
His mouth pulled into a thin white line. “I doubt it. Let’s go.”
Chapter 12
After driving about a half hour, which took them deeper into the country, they arrived at the area in question. Male vampires were everywhere. More piled out of vehicles both in front of and behind them. The big vampire, Ross, approached them as they pulled up. Zane grabbed her hand as she slid from the vehicle. “Stay close.”
“I take it the area is secured,” Zane spoke softly.
Ross seemed surprised to see Tanya but quickly composed himself. The big vampire cleared his throat. “Yeah. I sent scout parties out over a two mile radius. All is clear.”
“I take it they chose this spot because it’s furthest from the castle.”
“That would be my guess. They were good to keep the prints to their side of the fence. It was pure luck that one of the guards spotted the area at all. If you’ll follow me.” Ross walked in the direction of the fence, crouching at a specific area. He gestured to the barrier. “If you take a really good look, you’ll notice how the wire has been welded back together.”
Tanya gasped, sure enough, there was a definite thickening where the wire had been re-joined. The line was half a meter in a line perpendicular to the ground. It wasn’t something you would see unless you were specifically looking for it.
“Take a look around. He pointed at the dirt on either side of them.” Red dust with patches of grass. Nothing unusual.
Zane let out a pent up breath as he rose taking her up with him, their hands were still clasped. “Damn. The bastards were here.” His eyes followed the dirt to the grass beyond.
“I don’t see anything.” She knew she should keep quiet.
“That’s the problem. This ground was swept. It’s too smooth.” He walked her a few feet up the side of the fence. The ground had a very different look. Nowhere near as smooth.
“Oh, wow.”
“That’s not the worst of it,” Ross’s expression was grave as he spoke.
“I was afraid of that.” Zane angled her back to where they had been standing, he used a hand on her lower back.
Ross clasped the fence, his eyes solidly on the ground on the other side. “What do you make of that?”
Zane dropped her hand and mimicked Ross. Tanya did the same. There were definite prints on the other side. Zane gave a sharp intake of breath. “Not a fuck.” Tanya felt tension radiate from his body. His hands were white knuckled on the wire. Tanya turned back to the churned up earth, not sure of what it was she was supposed to be seeing. Over to the right was a definite indent of a huge paw.
“An animal?”
“Not bad, human,” Ross said. “Try shifter. Too big for a regular wolf.”
Now that he had highlighted the fact, she realized that he was right. She could most likely fit both her splayed hands inside the print.
“Mother fuckers were here together,” Lance’s voice boomed from behind them.
Tanya shrieked, grabbing at her heart. Stupid vampires and their ability to sneak up on a person. All three men looked at her. Zane slid his hand around her waist. The show of…affection…more like possessiveness shouldn’t be endearing, yet, it was. She got the feeling Zane didn’t normally touch women in public, at least not very often. If ever. Silly man had never even kissed before.
“Are you sure they were here together and not on separate occasions?”
Lance raised his eyebrows. “You’re seriously asking me that?”
“I’m being hopeful. Besides, it’s never good to assume.” Zane narrowed his eyes at the other vampire.
Lance inclined his head slightly. “I had our best tracker take a look and Griffin was one hundred percent sure. Wolves and elves. They seem to have joined forces.”
Zane shut his eyes while using his free hand to pinch the bridge of his nose.
“There are more tracks once you get into the cover of the forest, they go on for a few hundred feet,” Lance paused as Zane turned to look at him.
“Go on,” Zane growled.
“I’m not sure of the reason for the breach, but I would suspect they chose this fence because it’s furthest away from the castle. It’s also the part of our perimeter closest to the forest. I suspect that they entered our territory to check if they could get away with it. With the intention to scout our land in order to plan an attack.” Lance lowered his voice, his eyes darting around the clearing. “They would have been watching for us, but they are long gone by now.”