Chapter 6

Lia openedthe door for them, shaking his hand and giving Georgia a hug. "I'm so happy you found your truemate," she said as she shut the door behind them. "Sylas are you hungry? I've got amazing chocolate croissants and plenty of coffee."

"That would be great, thank you. I was a little distracted by my beautiful mate today." He winked at Georgia, who gave him a gorgeous smile that made him want to carry her right back to their place and forget about all the bad stuff happening.

But, keeping the kiss safe including the master and mistress, meant that Georgia would be safe too, and that was definitely the most important thing to him.

They all sat at the kitchen table. He grabbed a croissant and fixed coffee for himself, as did Lia. Caleb and Georgia both had heated synthetic blood.

When everyone was settled, Caleb said, "I read the article you forwarded. I can't believe that no one ever pointed out Felicia's brother being missing. I had no idea she had any family at all."

"I think you were pretty tied up in your grief and dealing with being master of the kiss," Lia said, giving his hand a squeeze.

"I didn't think of it until Sylas and I were talking about what's been happening."

She walked the kiss leaders through their conversation, ending with finding the article.

Caleb scrubbed a hand over his face and leaned back in the chair. "I think I've been fortunate to not have anyone come after me the last few years that I've been master. Before I had Lia in my life, I would have welcomed the challenger. But now there are too many lives on the line, too much at stake for this sort of thing." He looked at his mate for a long, quiet moment. Then his features hardened and Sylas saw the predator planning his next move. "We need to first confirm it's Julian, but I have no doubt that it is. Why he's moving against me now is anyone's guess, but he might have been amassing an army to come against me."

"How easy is it to take over a kiss?" Sylas asked. "I don't know a whole lot about vampires."

"There's no true hierarchy, every kiss is different," Caleb said. "Some of them have only the master in charge, some have a setup of ranks like shifters, and some have a group of elders to help with policy and enforcement. I have Nash as my right-hand, but our kiss doesn't have a hierarchy. When I mated Lia, I enacted a new set of laws about inheritance, so that when I step down as master, one of our children will take over. Since vampires are immortal, there aren't a whole hell of a lot of ways to take us out. Beheading, for example, which could happen in an accident, would mean that Lia would take over until one of our children was old enough to lead, then the kiss would pass to them. If someone kills me with the intention of taking over, though, then the kiss belongs to them, period." He paused, looking thoughtful, then said, "When I took out the previous kiss master, there were no laws about succession. I think he assumed he'd be master forever, and when we're immortal we tend to think in those terms. If he'd had a successor and laws in place, when I killed him, I would have had to battle his heir as well. As there were no laws, and no one to succeed him in his family line, I only had to take him out.

"If you die before the baby is born, whoever kills you gets to take over?" Lia asked, her brows high. "What about me?"

Caleb gave her an incredulous look. "Sweetheart."

She shushed him. "I mean I would be devastated and despondent over your death, but if you die before the baby is born, then I'm out of the kiss?"

"The laws don't allow for a non-vampire to take over the kiss," he said. "Once you're turned when we're finished having children, then the laws will apply to you. But right now? If I died tomorrow, you're a shifter and our baby isn't born yet, so whoever kills me is the head of the kiss. And you would definitely need to get the hell out of town just to be safe."

She made a face. "I don't want to talk about you dying, holy shit."

He kissed her cheek and said, "I'm not planning on dying."

"Good. I freaking just got you and I don't want to raise this baby by myself." She put her hand protectively on the swell of her belly.

"We need to find this Julian fellow," Sylas said.

Caleb nodded sharply.

"There's also the issue of the mole in the kiss," Georgia pointed out. "It doesn't do us any good to try to find Julian if someone is feeding him information."

"Good point," Caleb said. "I need Slade, he's our tech guy."

"I'll have him come over," Lia said, typing on her phone. "And Alaric and Galen too. Alaric can have Ronan and Dredge watch over the hotel."

Sylas texted his brother and new brother-in-law about the situation, assuring they were up to date on Georgia's discovery. He was so proud of his super-smart mate. She figured out the mystery behind who was attacking the kiss, and because of her, they were going to be able to put down the threat and keep everyone safe.

Especially her.

"I have an idea," Georgia said.

"A sexy one?" he whispered in her ear.

She chuckled. "No. Well, yes, of course because who wouldn't think sexy thoughts about you? But my idea is to go check the original kiss membership list and compare it to the current one and see who is still here."

"Isn't the kiss generally the same?" he asked. "Caleb didn't kill everyone when he took out the former master, plus Felicia and her cronies."

"People left when I took over, though," Caleb said. "They had been loyal to the former master and didn't want a brand-new vampire running things. For the last three years there has been turnover as well, I'd be curious to know who is here from the original membership, and who had perhaps been allied to Felicia and the people I killed for harming my family."

"Where are the membership lists?" Sylas asked.

"In the library, it's in a locked room in the office area topside," Caleb said. "There are a few offices and conference rooms on one side of the club area, which we used when I first took over, until I had the actual office built. I haven't been in the library for a long time."

"I'll go now and let you know what I find out," Georgia said.

"I'll come with you," Sylas said, rising to his feet.

"Of course you will," she said with a smile. "You're my mate and where I go, you go."

"Damn straight."

"Keep me posted," Caleb said. "I've put out a blast message to the kiss to stay in their apartments until instructed otherwise. At least this way we'll keep our people inside and from being used as bait to get me outside."

Sylas and Georgia said goodbye and left, using the elevator to head to the ground floor where the club and offices were located. He heard someone knocking on the front door of the club when Georgia had unlocked the door to the library. He gave her a swift kiss on her cheek.

"I'll go see who it is," he said.

"Don't let in anyone dangerous."

He grinned. "I'll do my best."

After another quick goodbye kiss, he walked out of the library and headed to the foyer. There was a monitor next to the large double doors that showed the exterior view, from the stairs to the sidewalk, and down both sides of the building. There was a microphone image on the bottom right corner.

A small group of people were outside.

"The club's closed," he said, after pushing the button.

"Come on," a male said, lifting his head and looking into the camera. "We just want a drink and to dance."

"There are signs everywhere outside," Sylas said. "The club is closed, and you shouldn't even be near the building. You literally stepped over the do-not-cross caution tape."

"Let us in," a female said. "It's not fair to close the club, we just want to have fun."

He was about to answer, when he had the strangest feeling.

The back of his neck tingled in awareness. He stared at the monitor and realized the group of people were all fidgeting and looking around nervously, and they weren't dressed to go to a club.

He spun to go to Georgia when he felt an intense and powerful fear eclipse him, nearly bringing him to his knees. As abruptly as the fear happened, it ceased entirely and he gasped, his heart pounding.

He'd been feeling Georgia's fear.

And now he didn't feel anything.

"Georgia!"