“Soon. Are we crowding you in this apartment?”
She laughed. “Hardly. Besides, I’ll probably move to the barracks. I’m bringing Brian and a couple of the others here from France. I’ll need them if things get any uglier, and they can always give your newbies a few pointers.”
“Brian’s coming? I’m sorry we’ll miss him.”
“Normally we’d split the two assignments, but they don’t need him there. He’s pitifully bored. And who knows? He might still be here when you get back. So when are you leaving?”
“In a couple of hours. I want to walk the wall with you today, introduce you to as many people as I can.”
“Good idea. I’m not here to shake anything up. I want to slide into your routine as smoothly as possible.”
“Good. I’m sure people will have questions, and I don’t like unnecessary surprises. So, I’ll tell them as much as I can. Especially after the meeting last night.”
Layla didn’t want to talk about last night’s meeting, so she changed the subject. “I thought I’d check inventory, too. Danilo was in charge of that, but I’m guessing she’s not anymore, since you’ve promoted her.”
“No, she’s still in charge, but one of the others does the actual counting. The job rotates along with the patrol assignments, so that everyone knows what we have on hand in a crisis.”
Layla nodded her agreement. “Always best. Mama, are you leaving any of this bread for me?”
Her mother laughed. “What do you think, mija? That I’d leave you to make your own?”
That made Layla laugh, too, as she stood and gulped down the rest of her coffee. “You ready, Papa?”
He nodded. “I’ve been waiting for you. Do you always get up this late?”
“Oh, Papa, that hurts. This was supposed to be a vacation.”
“Not anymore, mija. You’ve been hired.”
AN HOUR LATER, the morning sun was beating down on Layla’s unprotected head as she stood next to her father and Danilo. She had a cap in her duffle, which was sitting in her father’s office, because she was an idiot. She’d never have left the team’s barracks without a hat. In fact, she’d have berated any member of her team who’d forgotten one. Wars were rarely fought in cool, comfortable climates anymore. Especially not the kind of wars that employed mercenaries, like hers.
“Looks quiet so far this morning,” she observed, as she pushed up her sunglasses and raised high-powered binoculars to her eyes. They didn’t do much to reassure her, since an entire army could have been sheltering in the surrounding forest, and they’d have been effectively invisible. At night, a good infrared scope would sort them out, but in daytime, especially on hot days like this, there wasn’t enough variation between human body temperature and the surrounding air. Infrared wouldn’t work.
That might even be a factor in choosing to attack during the day. Though if so, it was a minor one. She had a lot of doubts about this situation, but one thing she knew for sure—the attacks were coming in daylight in order to keep the vampires out of it. Hell, Xavier’s vampires didn’t need infrared. They didn’t even need to see you. They could just follow the sound of your heartbeat.
“Here you go,” a male voice said from behind her, as a baseball style cap was propped on her head. “You’ll fall over in this heat, hermosa.”
Layla grabbed the hat and turned to find a young man whose soulful brown eyes carried a teasing glint over a bright, white smile. He was maybe an inch taller than she was, which put him around six feet, with a sturdy, muscular build, and an attitude that said he knew just how pretty he was. It was also obvious that he was accustomed to sweeping women off their feet with a single glance.
Too bad Layla preferred men, rather than overreaching boys, since this one was certainly several years younger than she was.
“This is my daughter, Layla Casales,” her father growled. “Your new commanding officer.”
The boy/man’s grin only widened. “How wonderful. Welcome to the Fortalesa, my lady.”
“Just plain Captain will do,” she said dryly and handed back the hat. “I have a hat. Where are you supposed to be?”
He blinked in surprise, clearly taken aback by her reaction. Or the lack of one.
“Aww, did your charm fail you this morning?” she wanted to coo. But he needed to understand that she was not his hermosa or anything else. She was his commanding officer. She studied him, waiting.
“I’m, that is, I have a message for the commander,” he said, stumbling only a bit before he straightened and turned to her father. “A body has been found, sir. Southeast, half mile back in the trees. They’re bringing it in now.”
Layla looked at her father, all thoughts of the boy/man forgotten. “Is this a first?”
He nodded silently. “We’ll give Łucja an hour or so to get the— Male or female?” he asked the pretty messenger.
“Uh.” He winced. “I didn’t see the body myself, sir. But I understand the animals had been at it.”
“Ah. Tell Dr. Nowak we’ll be there shortly.”
“Sir. Ma’am?” he added uncertainly in Layla’s direction, then quick-stepped toward the nearest stairs.
“He’s a good man,” her father said.
She turned from watching the messenger disappear down the stone steps. “Is he? A man, I mean. What is he, eighteen?”
Danilo snorted at the same time Layla’s father said, “Twenty-five on his last birthday, and he served three years in the military.”
Layla wondered if she was just that old, or if her idea of the perfect male had been forever skewed by growing up surrounded by gorgeous vampires who appeared forever twenty-five. On the other hand, while they might look twenty-five, their eyes always told the real story. There were multiple lifetimes of living in their eyes. She thought of Xavier’s dark, depthless eyes, the way they gleamed like polished pewter whenever he— Oh fuck, no. She was not going to go all dreamy about him and his freaky vampire eyes. He was the reason she’d never had a serious relationship. Not because no man could measure up to his looks, but because he’d taught her from the very beginning that men couldn’t be trusted.
“Is Woosha the same person as Dr. Novak?” she asked, pronouncing the doctor’s first name the way her father had, since she didn’t know the nationality of the name, or even how it was spelled.