"Yeah. You know how to find me."
The murmur of a velvety female voice, soft from sleep, carried vaguely through the receiver.
"Ah, hell, Gid. Don't tell me you're in bed with Savannah ."
"I was," he replied, leaning hard on the past tense. "Now that she's awake, she says she's tossing me over for a hot shower and a cup of strong coffee."
Nikolai groaned. "Shit. Tell her I'm sorry for the interruption."
"Hey, babe," Gideon called to his beloved, blood-bonded mate of some thirty-odd years. "Niko says he's sorry for being such a rude bastard and waking you up at this ungodly hour."
"Thanks," Niko muttered.
"You're welcome."
"I'll check in with you again from the plane heading home."
"Sounds good," Gideon said. Then, to Savannah on the side: "Hey, love? Niko wants me to tell you that he's hanging up now. He says you ought to come back to bed and let me ravish you slowly from your clever and beautiful head to your delectable little toes."
Nikolai chuckled. "Sounds like fun. Put me on speaker so I can listen at least."
Gideon snorted. "Not a chance. She's all mine."
"Selfish bastard," Niko drawled wryly. "I'll catch you later."
"Right, later. And Niko - about the Yakut situation? Seriously. Don't even think about being a cowboy, yeah? We've got bigger issues to contend with than trying to corral one loose-cannon Gen One. It's not our area, especially not right now." When Niko didn't immediately agree, Gideon cleared his throat. "Your silence isn't exactly giving me the warm fuzzies, my man. I need to know you're hearing me on this."
"Yeah," Nikolai said. "I'm hearing you. I'll see you in Boston later tonight."
Niko closed his cell phone and slid it back into his pocket.
As much as it fried him to think of turning a blind eye to Yakut and his sick activities, he knew Gideon was right. What 's more, he knew that the Order's leader, Lucan, as well as the rest of the warriors at the Boston compound would say the same thing to him.
Forget about Sergei Yakut, at least for the time being. That was the sensible, smartest thing to do. And while he was at it, he would be wise to forget all about Renata too. She'd made her bed, after all. The fact that she'd evidently made it with sadistic scum like Sergei Yakut was none of Nikolai's business whatsoever. Beautiful, ice maiden Renata was not his problem, so good riddance to her.
Good riddance to the entire nest of vipers he'd uncovered in Yakut's domain.
Just a few more hours to kill before nightfall, and then he could put it all behind him.
She never had gotten used to sleeping through the daylight hours, not in the whole two years she'd been living in service to a vampire.
Renata lay in her bed, restless, unable to relax and close her eyes even for a few minutes. She tossed and turned, flipped onto her back and blew out a sigh, staring up at the timber rafters.
Thinking about the warrior...Nikolai.
He'd been gone for hours - nearly half an entire day - but she still felt the weight of his contempt pressing down on her. She hated that he'd seen Yakut feeding from her. It had been hard to pretend she wasn't ashamed when he caught her gaze from across the room. She'd tried to appear unaffected, defiant. Inside she'd been shaking, her pulse jackhammering almost out of control. She hadn't wanted Nikolai to see her like that. Even worse that he had learned of Yakut's brutal crimes and clearly thought her to be a part of it as well. She couldn't get the withering, accusatory look he'd given her out of her head. Which was ridiculous.
Nikolai was Breed, like Yakut. He was a vampire, the same as Yakut. Like Yakut, Nikolai had to feed on humans in order to survive. Even in her limited understanding of their kind, Renata knew that drinking from human beings was the only way the Breed could obtain nourishment. No convenient vampire-friendly blood banks where they could pick up a pint of O-Negative for the road. No animal predation as a substitute for the real thing.>"Yours," Lex said, sensing an opportunity and pouncing on it. "You know about the Gen One slayings. The question is, why would you lie about it?"
"I don't publicly discuss Agency issues." Fabien all but spat his reply, puffing out his thin chest with self-righteous indignation. "What I know or do not know is my own business."
"You knew about the attack on my father before I mentioned it, didn't you? Were you the one who called for his death? What about the others who've been killed?"
"Good Christ, you are mad."
"I want in," Lex said. "Whatever scheme you're involved with, Fabien, I want in."
The Darkhaven leader expelled his breath sharply, then gave Lex his back as he casually walked over to one of the tall bookcases built into the silk-papered wall. He smoothed his hand along the polished wood, chuckling idly. "As illuminating and entertaining as our conversation has been, Alexei, perhaps it should end here. I think it best if you go away and calm yourself before you say anything more foolish."