Chapter 7

Georgia had beenin the kiss library once when she'd had her name added to the membership list. She'd been really impressed by the library, which was a large room with floor to ceiling bookshelves filled with books related to vampires in general and the kiss itself, such as membership lists, laws, and history.

It took her a long moment to find the membership book, but she found it next to the law books. The large volume had been started a few hundred years ago by the original master of the kiss. Before modern times, vampires were added to kiss membership by vowing themselves and their immortal lives to the master, and often involved some kind of brand or tattoo. She was thankful all she'd had to do to join with Caleb was promise not to be an ass or a criminal.

Her thoughts drifted to Sylas as she set the book on a small table. She didn't know when he'd want her to turn him. It wasn't a difficult process, it just involved opening his veins to drain his body of blood, and then feeding him her blood. He'd sleep for a day or so while his body turned, and then he'd wake up a vampire. There was a learning curve when it came to feeding from humans without taking too much. Vampires had to have blood every day to survive since they didn't eat regular food. Real blood or synthetic would sustain them. They'd use banked blood that the kiss provided. She kept a supply in her freezer for days when she wanted real blood instead of the substitute.

Pulling her train of thought back to the matter at hand, she opened the membership book and turned the old, yellowed pages carefully. She'd talk to Sylas about the turning process and when he wanted to do that later. For now, she was going to focus on figuring out which original people were part of the current kiss.

After a lot of page turning, she found the membership list from the year Caleb took over. The original master's name was Greaves. If she recalled her kiss history correctly, he took over from the previous master who'd been killed during a territory battle, and while Greaves hadn't killed him, he'd claimed the leadership anyway and was crazy and dangerous and killed anyone who went against him.

She was thankful Caleb was a kind and protective master. He always had the kiss's best interests at heart.

She opened her phone and took a photo of the membership list which spanned two pages. There were forty-seven members in the kiss when Caleb took over. She turned the page to see the current membership list, using her finger and thumb to make the image of the other list large enough so she could read it.

At the top of the new membership list was Caleb, followed by the members who stayed. She used the editing tool on her photo app to cross off the names from the original list who hadn't stuck around when Caleb took over. The current list had been added to many times, including when Georgia joined as well as when Lia mated Caleb and became the kiss mistress.

It didn't take her long to get through the list and compare it, just a few minutes in fact. She could hear Sylas talking to someone and suspected it was whoever had knocked on the club door. Probably some idiot humans who couldn't read the closed signs.

A name appeared two times on the membership list.

Devon Mallard.

It had been on the original membership list and the name had migrated to be part of the kiss under Caleb, but the male had left a month later, his name crossed off in red ink with the date.

But he'd come back to the kiss a few weeks ago.

She frowned, her mind spinning. She remembered when he came to the offices and asked to join the kiss, because Lia had asked her to arrange for a money transfer to help Devon with moving expenses from his current kiss to Belle Terra.

But he'd already been part of the kiss before?

She didn't remember anyone mentioning that.

His was the only name that had been part of the original kiss, stayed with Caleb, left, and then joined again. Hell, it was suspicious simply that he'd joined up a few weeks ago and the issues had been happening so recently.

His kiss job was within the tech department, which meant he had access to the servers and devices used by the kiss.

"Holy shit."

She picked up her phone to call Caleb when she had the strangest feeling she wasn't alone. And it wasn't a good feeling.

Her skin crawled and every warning bell in her brain clanged loudly.

Fear washed over her.

She turned slowly, hoping that there would be nothing there, that the fear was just her mind playing tricks on her.

Something hit her in the back of the head and she grunted as she collapsed, everything going black.

* * *

Sylas raced toward the library and found it empty, Georgia's phone on the floor next to an empty table. He moved to the door, inhaling and picking up her scent down the hall, away from the foyer and toward the back of the club.

He followed her scent, running as fast as he could, his cat furious that she'd been taken. He reached the end of the hall that split in two directions and heard a steel door shut to the right. Racing for the door, he hit it with his shoulder and found it blocked by something, the door opening a crack but not fully.

He backed away a few steps and touched his cat for more strength and speed, then hit the door with everything he had. A dumpster had been moved to block the door and it slammed against the side of the building as he stumbled out of the club and into the alley.

The taillights of an SUV lit up and then the vehicle lurched forward.

They were going to get away! He knew in his heart that his mate was in the SUV.

Unable to stop his shift, he leaned into the feeling, pushing his cat faster than he ever had before. His clothes shredded as his saber came out, his huge tawny body with dark brown stripes hit the ground on all fours, his enormous claws digging into the concrete as he launched himself after the SUV as it raced down the alley. Before it could turn onto the street, Sylas leaped with all his might, his powerful legs carrying him to the SUV, his claws hooking onto the back bumper.

The SUV screeched as it rounded the corner and he nearly flew off, but he wasn't about to let go and risk Georgia's safety. As his back legs scraped and bounced on the pavement, he unhooked one paw from the bumper and sank his deadly claws into the back door, pulling himself up. Once he had his back paws on the bumper, he clawed his way to the roof of the SUV. No matter how hard the vehicle swerved from side to side, his claws were too strong to let him be flung off.

He wanted to just tear into the roof and climb in, but he knew that would take too long. Instead, he dug his claws in and pulled himself to the driver's side, using his paw to punch and claw at the window.

He reared back with a roar and slammed his claws into the window as the SUV veered to the side. The male inside shouted in alarm as the window shattered and Sylas reached inside. He swiped blindly, his thick claws cutting and slashing the male behind the wheel, who cursed and shouted. The SUV listed violently to the left and then to the right, going up on two tires as it wove across the street and narrowly missed being hit by another vehicle with its horn blaring.

The SUV hit the sidewalk, slammed down on all four tires and tottered toward a building before shuddering to a stop.

Sylas leaped off the top of the SUV, sank his claws into the passenger door where he was certain his mate was being held, and pulled back with all his might.

Someone opened the other door as the one he was pulling creaked and bent under his massive strength.

Footsteps pounded on the pavement toward him and he heard, "Sylas, we've got your back!"

He recognized Alaric as the one who called to him. Galen appeared next to Sylas and said, "The door's open on the other side, dude."

He stopped pulling and blinked at the bent door. Through the cracked window he could see the other door was open.

Chuffing, he extracted his claws from the metal and padded around to the other side to find his unconscious mate on the floor of the SUV.

"Lemme check on her, hold up," Galen said.

But Sylas didn't want to wait. He leaped onto the seat and stretched out, setting a paw gently on Georgia's back. He knew she was alive, because he could feel the connection to her as she came back to consciousness with a groan.

"Dude," Galen said, shaking his head with a chuckle. To Georgia he said, "You're safe and your mate's a saber right now, by the way."

Georgia groaned a little louder and touched the back of her head. "Ouch."

Sylas let out a chirp in question.

She turned her head slowly, then had to tilt her body to the side to be able to look at him fully. Her eyes were wide and her pupils dilated big like coins. "Damn. How did that happen?"

"We were coming from the hotel and saw an SUV race out of the alley, followed by a saber. Alaric, Slade, and I followed on foot. We saw Sylas take out the window and cause the crash. Looks like the driver's dead, but Alaric and Slade are chasing the one that jumped out of the SUV when it crashed."

"Not anymore, we got the bastard," Alaric said, coming down the sidewalk with a male between him and his brother.

Sylas snarled a loud, unholy sound.

"Hold on a second," Galen said.

Sylas sailed out of the SUV and landed in front of the males, growling and showing his long canines.

Alaric smacked him on his nose. "Dude. We need him to tell us where his boss is. No snacking."

He gnashed his teeth in annoyance.

"Keep him away from me!" the vampire male shrieked.

Slade chuckled. "Tell us the truth and we'll keep him away."

"That's the mole," Georgia said as she sat up and climbed gingerly out of the SUV.

Sylas moved to her and let her lean on him.

"He is?" Alaric asked.

"Yes, I found his name on the membership list before Caleb took over and then after, and he left and then came back a few weeks ago."

"How interesting," Slade said. "Sounds like you've got some explaining to do, asshole."

The male didn't look too scared, or like he'd tell anyone anything, so Sylas bared his fangs again and flexed one paw so his dark claws came out.

The male shuddered and said, "Okay, okay, I'll tell you what you want to know, just keep that freak away from me."

"Hey, Devon, he's no freak, he's my truemate, and he's not a backstabbing mole like you. Fuck all the way off."

Sylas punctuated her words with a roar.

"Hell, yes," Galen said.

"We'll get him back to the club," Alaric said. "Galen, stay with the SUV until the police show up. Do you need medical assistance, Georgia?"

"Just some real blood and I should be fine. How long will he be a tiger?"

"A few hours," Slade said.

"Caleb is going to want to talk to you both again," Alaric said. "After you feed and clean up."

"Will do," she said. She looked at Sylas. "You saved my life." She hugged him around the neck and squeezed. He put one paw gently on her back and held her close with a purr. "You're the coolest looking big cat I've ever seen in my life, and your fur is so soft and warm!" She snuggled in his embrace and he grinned inwardly, a purr rumbling in his chest. He loved that she liked how he looked and felt safe with him.

There were sirens in the distance.

"You two should get going, if they see a saber they're going to want to keep you here until you can give a statement. I'll send them to the club to speak to Caleb and you can give your statements when you're ready."

"Thanks," Georgia said.

She and Sylas walked down the sidewalk. He glanced over his shoulder to see Galen on his phone, leaning against the SUV, most likely texting his mate that he was safe.

It scared him to the core how close he'd come to nearly losing Georgia. If he hadn't been able to shift on the fly and grab the SUV, he might have lost her. There was no telling what that asshole would have done to her to get Caleb to come out of the club and put himself in harms' way.

He was just damn thankful his cat had been ready, and that his claws worked equally well on metal and glass.

"Holy crap that was crazy. I wonder if whoever was knocking on the club door was a distraction so I could be alone in the library. I hope they figure out where Julian is and put an end to this nonsense. I don't like thinking we'll always be worrying about each other's safety."

He yowled in agreement.

"Thank you for saving me," she said with a low voice.

He wanted to tell her that he'd always come for her, always put her safety and protection over everything else. He'd just wait until he was back to human and could tell her. For now, he purred loudly and she chuckled.

"I'm the luckiest female on the planet to have such an amazing male for a mate. I'm so happy you came to Belle Terra and you're in my life. I don't know what I'd do without you."

Fortunately, she never had to find out.