LITMIR.BIZ

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brazenly set up shop nearby didn’t mean things were out of control or that protocols weren’t followed. Those were standard procedures when a Darkblood prisoner was found. “We do things up here just like the big boys do down in Florida.”

      He half expected her to argue with him, but the earlier fire in her eyes had been replaced by a flat nothingness, as if this sort of thing had happened to her before. He ignored the tiny voice inside his head that said he could be such a prick sometimes. Being a good leader meant that not everyone was going to agree with you or want to be your Scrabble buddy.

      “Very well.” She rubbed her hands over her bare arms.

      Good. She knew where he stood and what her role in Guardian affairs was while she was here—nada.

      “I’ll wait by my car for you to collect him, then I’ll be on my way.”

      Which, unfortunately, was to the same place he was headed.

      A SOFT KNOCK on the door interrupted Roxy’s concentration. She looked up from the student files spread on her desk to see a flaxen-haired woman in hospital scrubs enter the classroom. She smelled faintly of sweetbloods—several of them.

      “You must be Roxanne.” The woman held two coffee mugs emblazoned with the Guardian logo, but from the scent permeating the air, Roxy could tell they contained tea. “I’m Brenna Stewart. I work here at the medical center.”

      Roxy smiled stiffly. She wasn’t exactly the best audience for a welcoming committee, preferring instead to keep to herself most of the time. Not that she didn’t like people, but she’d learned to be wary.

      “Please, call me Roxy.” When people said her full name, it reminded her of her mother, who used it to get her attention. As a pre-change youthling, Roxy had had a habit of getting so engrossed in what she was working on that she’d forget the outside world existed. Although her mother had been gone for years now, she still got that ache around her heart whenever she thought of her.

      The woman—Brenna—set one of the mugs on the desk then pulled up a chair. “Roasted green tea. Lily said it’s your favorite. Careful though. It’s hot.”

      Roxy liked the woman’s comfortable, easy vibe. “You know Lily?”

      “Yeah, she’s a good friend of mine. Sorry I didn’t come earlier. I meant to stop in and say hello as soon as you arrived, but we were treating several injured Guardians yesterday and then a sweetblood human came in needing to be rehabilitated. Things were pretty crazy in the clinic for a while.”

      “No problem. I went straight to bed as soon as I got in anyway.” As she’d been bone-tired from the long trip and then that business with the Darkbloods, Roxy was glad the woman hadn’t popped in. She wasn’t used to idle chitchat anyway—most of her friends from her Guardian days had distanced themselves after what had happened with Ian and she’d never bothered to cultivate new ones at the Academy. Instead, she’d immersed herself in her work, reminding herself that if you didn’t let people in, you were less likely to get hurt. “How’s Mason doing? The sweetblood.”

      Brenna looked confused. “You know him?”

      “I was the one who found him walking on the side of the road yesterday.”

      “That was you?” Her green eyes went wide. “I heard that someone took down the Darkbloods who were after him, but you’re not even an agent.” She didn’t say it maliciously or with condescension, so Roxy didn’t take offense.

      “Yep. That was yours truly.”

      “Well, I am superimpressed. No wonder you were exhausted when you got here.”

      It had to have been someone on the capture team who’d told Brenna what had happened, not Santiago. She recalled how he’d arrived on the scene and taken charge, as if he was the one who took those guys down and not her. He was a typical domineering male who worked on the Agency side of things. It had come as no surprise that he didn’t take her up on her offer to help track the DB den. Men like him preferred to do things themselves and get all the glory, which was fine with her. She preferred to work on her own as well, though she’d just as soon stay out of the limelight.

      From what she’d heard about Santiago, she figured he’d have a forceful personality, but she hadn’t been prepared for how formidable he looked. With short dark hair, a square jaw peppered with stubble, and a rigid, soldierlike posture, he was six and a half feet of pure dangerous male. And then there was that strange tattoo on the side of his neck, which stretched into his hairline. She hadn’t been able to see where it began or ended and even now, she found herself wondering how far it went. To his shoulder? His arm? Maybe down his torso?

      And that voice of his. Oh, God, that voice. Rough around the edges like the gravel that had worked its way into her shoes during the Darkblood scuffle, and just as hard to ignore. She wondered what her name would sound like on his tongue. But then she remembered those eyes—hard and unforgiving—framed by equally dark thick lashes. It was as if he had the ability to look straight into her soul and didn’t like what he saw.

      He was definitely a man to be avoided. She shoved him from her thoughts and turned her attention back to Brenna.

      “Lily wanted me to tell you about Finn, my husband-to-be. He’s human and a sweetblood, which…ah…explains the smell on me. Most don’t notice it, but Lily said you definitely would, considering that you basically trained all the trackers working in the Agency today.”

      Roxy had noticed the scent but assumed it was because Brenna worked in the clinic. “I don’t know about all of them.”

      “Most then. How’s that?”

      It was somewhat unusual for a vampire to be in a relationship with a human, much less a human who was a sweetblood and knew that he was in love with someone who could kill him.

      Brenna continued, “Finn’s a helicopter pilot for the Seattle field but doesn’t come to region much. Not all of us can be trusted being around a sweetblood. I still worry about myself sometimes, although he has been trying to talk his way into becoming a changeling.”

      Although changelings were relatively rare, Roxy had met a few of them over the years. Except for those who’d been illegally turned against their will, most went through the transformation because they fell in love with a vampire. A painful process that required the blood of two vampires, it had to be approved by the Council after a long waiting period, but it was possible.

      “There must be something really special between you then. Sounds like he’s totally in love with you.”

      “Yeah,” Brenna said, staring into her cup. “And I’m crazy about him, too.”

      Roxy detected some reluctance. “You don’t want him to become a changeling?” Some vampires thought of themselves as monsters, was that it? Brenna didn’t want the love of her life to become like her?

      “Oh, God, I want nothing more than to live out our long lives together without worrying about my friends and coworkers being around him. And he wants to be just one of the guys in the Seattle office. It’s just that I’m worried about the actual process, you know? It’s not without risk. He could die. Given my line of work, I see the worst of the worst. Motorcycle accidents, gunshot wounds, regeneration problems, head traumas, silvies that miss the heart by inches. To knowingly put my man in danger like that is not something I’m prepared to do. I like him the way he is. Alive. But believe me, he’s trying to wear me down.”

      Roxy wrapped her hands around the mug and found it to be just a notch below scorching now, so she took a sip. “Roasted green tea. Lily knows me too well.”

      Brenna smiled, the trace of worry gone from her eyes. “Speaking of Lily, have you heard how she’s doing?”

      “No, and I’m not really expecting to either.”

      “You’re not?”

      Roxy shook her head. “I told her if she so much as checks in with anyone here, I’ll know about

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