He, on the other hand, had been haunted by the too-real possibility of her death when she’d been away. The inevitability of it happening if she stayed away too long. And now that she was back, now that she’d been in his bed, he was not going to lose her to something preventable, when he could make her safer simply by keeping her in the dark about matters that involved only vampires.
“Sakal arrived tonight, within a few minutes of his arrival time last night,” she was saying. “We hung around a little while after, just in case it was a short visit. But again, like last night, there was no movement in or out of the building for the time we were there. When we left, however, we took the long way around so we could see into the windows of the cafeteria, which they also use as a lecture hall. And we took some photos.” She shoved six pictures to the center of the table. “That’s two sets of three photos. They’re not the best quality, since they were taken at the extreme high end of the long-range scope, and through the windows, too. But you can make out what sure looks like Sakal on the stage, especially since we’d just watched him arrive.
“One more thing,” she added, and tossed six more photos onto the table. “We’re confident that the three women who accompanied him tonight are not the same ones who were with him last night.”
“I didn’t know you’d photographed him last night,” Xavier commented.
She looked at him with raised eyebrows and an expression that said, “You’re not the only one who can keep secrets.”
If it had been more important, he would have been furious. But since he already knew that Sakal was the one behind the attacks on his people, and most certainly the one planning even more and deadlier attacks, he let it go. For now. There would be a time for them to have a discussion about secret-keeping. Preferably when she was naked and in his bed—the one in his vault, so she would be unable to escape.
“You may be right,” Joaquim said, sliding the six pictures over for Xavier to see.
Each showed a single woman, with enough detail to establish that there were no duplicates among them, despite similar, but not identical, builds and hair color. Which meant there’d been an entirely different trio of women last night.
“It’s possible there are even more than the six, my lord.”
“Possible,” Xavier agreed. “But still all human, correct?” he added, in a telepathic aside to Joaquim who, unknown to Layla, had been there that night to see the women for himself.
“Yes, my lord. Definitely human tonight.”
“They’re probably still human,” Layla observed, not knowing he’d already confirmed it. “But humans can be highly-trained and deadly, too.” She lifted both hands palms up to indicate herself, then added, “Especially if they know they’ll be fighting vampires. They’ll come prepared.”
“You’re right.” He pretended to ponder this news. “I’m not convinced they’re a threat, but let me think on it later. If that’s all for now?” he asked, eyeing each of them in turn. “Good. We’ll meet again tomorrow night. Layla, if you would remain a moment?”
The two vampires, knowing why he was not offering further consultation or planning for future operations, said their farewells without comment. Once they were gone and the door closed, Xavier pulled Layla from her seat and kissed her.
She resisted for a second or two, but then surrendered to the undeniable passion between them. He felt it, and was sure she did, too. It was like two parts of a whole that were inexorably drawn together to create the “one” where they belonged. She grabbed onto his neck, pulled at his hair, and pressed herself against him until he could feel every curve and swell of her breast, despite the athletic bra she wore under two layers of clothing.
She’d gone up on her toes to reach his mouth, but he tightened his arms and held her there, to prolong the kiss. He wanted nothing more than to carry her into his bedroom and spend the rest of the night there together. But he couldn’t risk her getting curious about why he had to leave for a meeting in the wee hours before dawn, and then have her decide to spy on him in one of a thousand ways he could imagine her doing so successfully. And if he could come up with that number of vulnerabilities, with all the knowledge he had of his own abilities and the surrounding territory, he was damn sure she could figure out a sufficient number to make it possible.
But fuck, she was succulent.
He released her gradually, letting her slide down, with delicious, almost painful, friction, along his body until she stood on her feet once more, gazing up at him with a question in her eyes.
He met those eyes and sighed. “Business, cariño. I have a conference call with several of the vampire lords who share this continent with me. And once that is complete, there will be the inevitable individual calls which will certainly follow.”
“Wow. You guys talk to each other? I thought vampire lords were all, “Don’t set foot in my territory,” she quoted in an extra-deep voice.
“We are, but aside from that, we have agreed, after the model of your American vampire lords, to cease aggression against each other’s territories, in the interest of preserving peace. Which is better for all of us, especially now that humans are becoming more and more aware of our existence, and are prying into our affairs. We can no longer pass off ourselves as medieval lords fighting for land, or heeding the call of the Church to drive out non-believers.”
“Well, hell, it’s been a long time since you could do that.”
“Ah, but you humans are such a violent and bloodthirsty lot. There’s been no shortage of very believable wars for us to camouflage our battles.”
“I suppose I have to admit that, given the way I’ve earned a living for all these years.”
He smiled, and though she once more tried not to respond to him, her smile, while grudging, lit her eyes with stars. She loved him. She wasn’t willing to tell him yet, but he knew she loved him.
“What will you do with your evening without me?” he asked teasingly.
“Oh, you know, gambling. Sex. Maybe combine the two into a game of strip poker. There are two of each of us in the barracks. That works.”
“I know you’re joking, but I am not amused.”
“How do you know I’m joking?”
“Because I know you. You don’t fuck more than one man at a time.”
“Crudely spoken, but regrettably true. No, I’m going to bed early, maybe read something that has nothing to do with fighting or war or anything violent. Not even sports. And then I’m going to go to sleep early and catch up on all the hours I’ve lost burning the candle at both ends.”