“Looks that way,” Sean agreed. “We’ll get Dimitri’s exact location to you soon. But if he discovered the tracking device, he could be taking us on a wild-goose chase.”
“We’ll let Angus know. Thanks, Sean.” Phineas hung up, then turned to his brother. “Angus will be in his death-sleep right now, so can you send him an e-mail?”
“Will do.” Freemont swiveled in his chair to face the computer. “Oh, I found out who’s the current owner of the Haggerty ranch. Some dude named Rhett Bleddyn.”
Brynley gasped.
“You know him?” The shocked look on her face put Phineas on edge. His hands clenched into fists. If this Rhett was the one who’d raped her, then his days were numbered. “Is he the one who—”
“No.” She shook her head, her face pale. “That guy died in a drunken brawl three years ago.”
“Good riddance,” Phineas growled. Though he would have enjoyed beating the crap out of him. “Then who is this Rhett Bleddyn?”
“He’s the guy from Alaska I was supposed to marry.”
Chapter Sixteen
The next evening, Brynley hurried to the basement of Romatech, a warm bottle of synthetic blood in her hand. Phineas would be waking soon, and no doubt, he would be hungry.
She’d spent a restful day at Romatech, hanging around the security office, cafeteria, or a bedroom she’d been given in the basement. Phineas was in the bedroom next to her, and she’d checked on him earlier in the day. He lay still in his death-sleep, a sheet pulled up to his waist, his gorgeous chest bare.
He looked so peaceful, nothing like the angry Vamp who had punched a tree till his hands bled. She touched his hands, running her fingers over his. They were cold, but healed. Tears came to her eyes as she recalled how upset he’d been when he’d heard her story. He’d shared the pain and outrage with her. He did love her. She didn’t doubt it. She just didn’t know how their relationship could work.
Phil seemed very happy with his vampire spouse, Vanda, but he’d given up so much. He’d been disowned by their father, his inheritance stripped and given to their younger brother, Howell. And worst of all, Phil had given up the chance to have children.
She’d always hoped that somehow, someday, she’d find a werewolf husband who didn’t care that her father was rich and powerful. He’d love her for herself, and they’d have little werewolf babies. They could make their own little Lycan world somewhere in the country.
Phineas did love her for herself. And like the other Vamp men, he could probably father children. Half-Vamp, half-werewolf children? Was that even possible? Could the genes coexist? Could she be happy living in the Vamp world? Phil had lived with the Vamps for nine years before marrying Vanda. He’d had plenty of time to adjust and put the Lycan world behind him.
He’d managed to make a clean break, but Brynley wasn’t sure she could. She’d spent too many years at home with their younger siblings, so she was attached to them in a way that Phil wasn’t. Especially her younger sister. Glynis had been only eleven years old when Mom had died and so distraught that Brynley had sheltered her from the ugly truth about their father’s unfaithfulness and their mother’s hopeless despair. Maybe that had been wrong, but Brynley hadn’t wanted to burden her younger sister with more pain.
Brynley winced. If she chose to stay with Phineas, her father would probably banish her. She could end up separated from her sister for centuries. Glynis had grown up so trusting and eager to please that it would be akin to leaving an innocent lamb among wolves.
And what about her inner wolf? It was overjoyed about going back to Wyoming tonight for the full moon, but it would object to being banished. Hell, it would tear her up inside if she could never go back. With a groan, she realized she didn’t know what to do. But she did know one thing for certain.
She’d fallen in love with Phineas.
That morning, she’d gathered up the pile of clothes he’d left on the floor and washed them in the basement laundry room along with hers. Lara had loaned her a bathrobe to wear, and after putting the clothes in the dryer, she’d gone to her bedroom for a long nap.
After waking up, she’d showered, put on her freshly laundered clothes, and stacked Phineas’s clothes in his bedroom. He was still dead.
With a sigh, she headed to the cafeteria. Freemont was there, so she joined him for an early supper.
Now, with the sun due to set in three minutes, she was hurrying to the basement. The full moon was rising, and she could already feel her inner wolf growing impatient to shift.
She wondered briefly if Kyle would be shifting at his brother’s ranch and perhaps mutilating more cows. Maybe he drained all the blood to give to Corky. Maybe she was hiding out at the Haggerty ranch with Rhett Bleddyn. Why would her ex-fiancé buy a ranch in Wyoming when he had so much land in Alaska? And why would he ally himself with an evil vampire? So many questions, but she knew Phineas and his friends could be counted on to find the answers.
Meanwhile, she was eager to shift and roam the Bighorn National Forest that backed onto Phil’s land.
She let herself into Phineas’s bedroom and set the warm bottle of blood on the bedside table. He was still dead, but soon that would change. She paced across the room. Any minute now.
She halted at the foot of his bed when his body jerked. His chest expanded and lifted off the bed, causing his back to arch. She winced. It looked painful.
“Phineas.” She rushed to his side. “Are you all right?”
His eyes opened and immediately focused on her.
She smiled. “Welcome back. I brought you a bottle—”
His eyes flashed red, and with vampire speed he grabbed her arms and tossed her over him and onto the bed.
“Phineas!” Her heart thundered in her ears. Good Lord, he’d lifted her like she weighed nothing. Her eyes widened as he leaned over her.
He touched her cheek, then ran his fingers down her neck. The fingertips pressed against her throbbing artery, and his nostrils flared. “So hungry.”
She had a strange urge to let him bite her. A part of her was appalled, but a larger, more insistent part found his desire exciting and the act compelling. Intimate. His fangs would be inside her. Her blood inside him.
The wolf inside her stirred, drawn by the thought of blood. It growled softly. Good Lord, if she shifted now, she might lose control and bite Phineas, and that would be disastrous.
She motioned to the bedside table. “I brought you some blood.”
He glanced at the bottle, then back at her. His eyes still glowed red.
She gestured at the bottle once again. “It’s nice and warm. And fresh.”
His mouth curled up. “Not as fresh as you.” He traced her collarbone. “Or as warm.”
She winced. This was a hitch in her schedule she hadn’t counted on. “Phineas, don’t vamp out on me. Get a grip. The full moon is rising, and I need to—” She stopped when his finger touched her lips.
He traced the curve of her upper lip, then the lower one. “Do you know how much I want you?”
Her body responded with a surge of lust and desire, but she tried to ignore it. “You’re hungry. I understand that.” She pointed at the bottle. “Hurry up and drink.”
“I wasn’t talking about food.” He sat up and reached for the bottle.
She started to sit up.
With vampire speed, he pushed her back down. “Stay.”
He lifted the bottle to his mouth with one hand, his other hand on her shoulder, keeping her pinned to the bed.
Her inner wolf hissed, annoyed at being restrained and anxious to shift. “Phineas.” She attempted to sit up once again.
He didn’t let her budge. “Stay.”
“I’m not a dog.”
“That’s for sure.” His hand slid down to cover her breast.
Her breath caught. Her nipple hardened beneath his palm, and she fought the urge to arch against him. This was not the time to succumb to desire, but my God, she wanted him.
He lifted the bottle back to his lips and drank. His Adam’s apple moved with each swallow. Such a strong, manly neck. His hand gently squeezed her breast in time with each swallow of blood. And with each squeeze, her desire grew stronger.
Was he nude beneath that bedsheet? What she could see of him was beautiful. Smooth velvet skin over rock-hard muscle. She ran a hand up the corded muscles of his arm, over the bulge of his biceps, and up to his broad shoulders. When she stroked his chest, a deep groan rumbled in his throat.
Oh God, she wanted him something fierce. She squeezed her thighs together. If he didn’t rip her clothes off soon, she’d do it herself.
No! her inner wolf objected. Tonight is my night.
She groaned with frustration. Phineas finished the bottle, set it down, and leaned over her once again.
“Your eyes are still red,” she whispered.
“I want you.” He brushed her hair away from her brow. “I’ve wanted you for so long.”
“Then why did you turn me down the other night?”
“You wanted a short affair based on lust. I want more than that.”
She skimmed her fingers over the prickly whiskers along his jaw. “I want more, too. But I don’t see how—”
“If we want it bad enough, we’ll make it work.”
She gazed into his red, glowing eyes and dared to believe that somehow their love would survive.
His gaze lowered to her mouth. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he inched closer.
“Yes,” she breathed, letting her eyes drift shut.
His lips touched hers, gently at first, although there was nothing gentle about her reaction. Her fingers dug into his shoulders. Her heart beat wildly.
Her wolf objected, threatening to shift.
Phineas deepened the kiss, molding his lips to hers, and she opened her mouth to let him in. She swirled her tongue with his. He tasted of blood, but she’d tasted blood many times as a wolf, and it only made her hungrier for him.
A surge of wolf power shot through her, and she broke the kiss with a gasp. “Phineas, I have to shift! I can’t wait much longer.”
He sat back, grimacing. “Damn.”
“I can’t help it. We have to hurry!”
With vampire speed, he zipped out of bed and into the bathroom, so fast she barely had a glimpse of his nak*d body. But what she saw was enough to make her collapse on the bed with groan of frustration. A few seconds later, he was back and throwing on the clothes she’d washed.
She scrambled out of bed as he pulled on his cowboy boots, and noticed a surveillance camera close to the ceiling. It was blinking red. “Is that thing on?”
He glanced at it, his eyes back to their normal dark brown. “Damn.”
“That’s a yes?”
“Yeah.” He set his cowboy hat on his head and tossed her his jacket. “Let’s go.”
She strode alongside him. “So we showed up on a monitor in the security office?”
“Maybe.” He headed down the hall, snapping his plaid shirt together as he went. “I should have thought about it, but I was . . . distracted.” He punched the button for the elevator. “I owe you an apology.”