Chapter

"How far away are we?" Kellan asks too loudly, waking me up.

I glance around to see the others have already roused from their sleep in the massive RV. Jase is still a sleeping beauty with his arm draped around me, holding me so close to him.

We were the only ones who stayed awake until time to go, and now we're sleeping the whole journey. We never stopped talking long enough to sleep back at the small compound. The conversation flowed, both of us laughing and talking for ours.

It was nice, reminding me how easy it is to be with him. It never feels forced or awkward. It's always so right. It's not that way with Kellan. I'm pretty sure it never would be.

Kellan is speaking with the driver up front who is talking in a hushed whisper. We're not far from reaching this source of Mom's, but the ride is stopping early.

I look out the window to see Bangler, a city down from where we need to be. Rex is strapping his guns on, and Mel is doing the same.

"What's going on?" I ask, my query waking Jase, as he too rises to investigate the commotion.

"Kellan just got tip from one of his old prison friends. He's going to follow it up, and we're going to head in with him. We're sending Simone with you since she's still asleep and the two of you need to make up," Rex says, his brotherly tone absent and replaced by a paternal once instead.

"If your best friend did what she did would you want to make up so soon?" I grumble, feeling Jase's hand slide around my waist.

He knows I'm talking more about him than I am about Kellan. The fact she wanted to kiss Jase hurts so much more than her and Kellan sharing a kiss.

"Fair enough, but I don't have a best friend as to me as Simone is to you. She's more like your sister. So, work it out. Mom's orders. The three of you should be able to handle a full blood on your own."

Does he know what you are?

Jase shakes his head, and then Mel leans over to hand Jase his phone. "Call us if you need us. I'll be running point on this. Good thing I'm a general and can make such calls," she jokes, giving him a wink before heading out the side door.

"I'll call you later," Jase says, lying back down.

Kellan doesn't say anything before he disappears from the RV. In fact, he hasn't said anything at all since he took me to Jase and handed me over to where I belong.

"Please stop thinking like that," he murmurs. "It's giving me too much hope, and it'll kill me if you choose him."

The driver starts moving the RV again, and I snuggle into Jase. My skimpy skirt isn't as comfortable as the satin robe I spent hours in. The very low cut shirt is bare in the back, which has kept Jase's hands all over me since I put it on.

It's not far from dawn now. Our nights and days for the week have been a blur. I feel like we've lived on the road.

"I'm choosing you. Stop accusing me of anything else. I just haven't had the chance to tell Kellan alone," I whisper. "Does Mel know I know what she is?"

He nods, shrugging somewhat. "I told her I was going to tell you. I told her she could tell Rex about me after I told you. I wanted you to know first."

I love you.

He smiles, cupping my face before drawing me in for a deep kiss.

"I love you, but you can't do this until you're better. Stop torturing me with too much hope. I know my odds with going against your counter. I'm worried you'll have a different opinion when you don't need me to keep you sane anymore."

I want to object, but his eyes shift to hybrid blue, letting me feel his emotions. He doesn't want to argue with me. I wish I could read everyone this easily. I've never been able to distinguish the emotions of others from my own. It's usually more annoying than it is helpful. But with Jase, it's incredibly refreshing.

"Is it?" he asks with an adorable grin.

Very.

I hop up and break contact with him for the first time in hours to refresh my makeup and comb through my hair. When I return, I see Simone handing Jase a vial of blood.

"I never got to use it, but I guess I don't have to now. I wanted you to have it back because I wasn't sure how you wanted to dispose of it."

He nods, shifting uncomfortably as she starts averting her eyes from his. I'm sure she overheard some of our conversation now, and he's reading it in her mind. She knows I love him. She knows I want him. But I don't care. It's the truth.

Jase looks over at me, stifling a grin as he overhears my thoughts. Simone tries to smile at me, but I meet her with an icy glare. She frowns and sighs out while walking back over to a bunk, grabbing up her purse as the RV comes to a crawl in front of our destination.

"You're going to interrogate, I assume?" Jase says teasingly, motioning to my skimpy attire.

"Mom said she likes to be seduced... by women... so, sit back and enjoy the show. There's no one else here licensed to interrogate, and this chick likes to play before talking."

He loosens his collar as we follow Simone out, and his hand slides down my bare back to rest just above the top line of my skirt.

"I don't know if I can watch you interrogate. You're much better than you once claimed, and I'll want you afterwards. I've got a jealous nature, you know?"

This feels like it did before we broke up, and I love it. He offers me a tight smile, and I pull him to me, kissing him in front of the hotel and everyone on the street. He kisses back, his tongue slipping in to raise hell as his grip tightens.

Behind his closed eyelids, his hybrid blues must emerge because I feel it... all of it. His crazy desperate need for me pounds into me with an invisible force, and I jump up to wrap my legs around his waist.

Please take me.

He releases a strangled moan, and he forces my back against the wall of the lobby where a few gasps erupt. I ignore them, not giving a damn. We're hybrid. We're allowed to be this way.

He smiles behind the kiss, pulling back as he slips free from my ensnaring legs.

"I like the way you said that," he murmurs before kissing me softly, and then he laces our fingers together.

You mean the way I thought that.

He laughs, nodding after. "It's not often I get to just be me. In all actuality, I'm all hybrid," he whispers, escaping the ears of all others. "I'm just a different kind of hybrid."

You're my hybrid and I'm yours.

He stops walking, turning to face me as he pulls me to his halted stance. "I really hope that's true because I've never ached like I did when I thought I lost you forever. Don't bring me in and force me to endure losing you that way a second time. I won't survive it."

I feel like an ass now. I know he's so worried I'm just confused, but Kellan is the only thing that confuses me. I know what I don't feel for him, and I know what I'm supposed to feel. With Jase, I know exactly how I feel at all times.

"Let's focus on interrogating," he says as we head into the elevator.

Simone has gone on ahead, apparently not wanting to eavesdrop on our conversation. I'm glad. I hate seeing her even look at Jase.

When we reach the room, Simone is propped up outside the soundproof room. She puts out a cigarette quickly when she sees us, and I frown. She only smokes when she's upset. I've only ever seen her smoke after her parents and my dad passed on.

"You guys ready," she says, swiping at the lingering smoke to fan it away.

"Yeah," Jase murmurs while knocking.

No one answers, so Jase leans in, listening to the silence. "Fuck. She's hurt."

He kicks the door open, bending the heavy metal with too much ease before we rush in. He must have read her mind because there's no way he heard through these thick walls. I couldn't even hear.

My mouth falls open when I see a woman who has been gagged and then bound to a chair. Her throat is slashed, bleeding profusely. Her body is mangled from a terrible beating, and her head is tossed back, very little life left in her eyes.

"Shit," Jase says while glancing at his phone. "This city is organic and Mel and them took our blood in case of trouble. They didn't think we'd need it since this was supposed to be a friendly grill session."

"Organic?" I squeak, freaking out a little. "As in no packaged blood? What the hell? We can't let her die."

I could bleed for her. I could let her heal off me in order to find out anything on these assholes. We need her.

"No," Jase says. "You can't... not for forty-eight hours. I'll... fucking shit. I'll do it."

No!Hell no.

"Aria, we don't have a choice right now. If she can give us anything at all-"

Before he can finish, he's interrupted by the sound of blood pouring. I look over to see Simone pushing her own blood into the mouth of the full blood.

"Fuck, Simone!" Jase blares. "She's full blood. Your blood is-"

I cover his mouth, realizing the door has been left a gaping hole and everyone can hear.

Her blood isn't poison. Don't let anyone know she's hybrid right now. Simone has secrets too.

Simone's eyes shift to be paler, just like her mother's once did, and then they bounce back to cosmic blue. Ty's experiments left her a new breed of hybrid as well, the feared kind. Simone's body was eventually restored, but not before she conceived Simone.

I can't believe she just did this. They'll kill her if they find out, and that woman will know she's not human or full blood. Full bloods can't heal full bloods, and humans are weaker in a blood fuck.

The woman rouses from her almost dead state, and her blood bringers emerge, breaking the flesh of Simone's milky white skin on her shoulder.

The long dark hair of the woman is matted with blood, her face is streaked with it, and suddenly her lips are on Simone as the wound on her neck seals.

Jase turns away just as things start crashing to the ground, and he pulls me out into the hall way, looking around.

"What are you doing?" I whisper.

"I'm looking for anyone out of place. That wound was fresh... like we interrupted them. Do you see or feel anything?"

It doesn't work like that. It's not a tracking beacon power. I told you that you're the only one it works properly with.

"Then use me to make it work on someone else," he whispers while holding my hand.

I shut down everything as I attempt the feat I've never done before, and I study hard, trying to pinpoint the killer. I almost feel a head-rush when I scroll through the numerous emotions of everyone in the building.

I feel something wet dripping from my nose as I become overloaded with all the bizarre and strong feeling exuding from the unseen people behind closed doors.

Heartbreak, anger, rage, pain, anguish, bliss, betrayal... it's like a painful buffet for the empathic mind.

Then I feel it. Fear. The stench of a man with dread as he hides, cowering somewhere that makes him feel claustrophobic. My eyes open and I look around, seeking the small space where I felt him.

"There," I whisper while pointing to the narrow door that most likely conceals a janitor's closet.

Jase doesn't hesitate. He drops my gun and stealthily creeps to the small door. Pointing directly at the thin sheet of metal, he shoots five times, driving the uranium tipped bullets into the metal.

We hear a thud, and we open it up to see the bloody pulp of a man Jase hadn't meant to kill.

"Shit. I meant to wound him," he gripes, slapping the wall. "I just didn't want him to draw a weapon on us."

I sigh out, and then I start searching his body, searching for a scorpion tattoo. I shred his shirt off, but nothing.

"If he's one of them, he's hiding his tattoo," I murmur, letting my eyes move around the hallway for someone who might see us. "How did he get by us?"

"He probably ran out when we were distracted and fighting over who gave her blood. I couldn't read his mind. I didn't know he was there until I smelled sweat in the air. Hybrid sweat."

He stops talking when he becomes distracted with his phone, typing away to send out messages.

"I'll send for a team. There should be one stationed nearby. I'll let their coroner take a look at this guy."

He looks up to see a man pushing a cart full of cleaning supplies toward us, and Jase heads toward him, using his powerful strut to demonstrate his poise under pressure.

"I'm Commander Jase Ericson," he says while flashing his badge. "I need a new door, and I need this floor shut down."

The guy salutes, though he's merely a cleaning man, and he shakes as his keys jiggle in his trembling hands. He pulls one off and hands it to Jase.

"These go to all the doors up here. Choose whichever one you want. I'll call the manager."

He leaves the cart where it's at, and out of habit, I inspect it for the possibility of a bomb. Jase smiles when I seem pleased that it's merely a bunch of cleaning supplies.

"That's very thorough of you Ms. Banner."

"I'm not risking the commander's safety," I murmur softly, threading my fingers with his once again.

He stops and releases me while opening a door. People start shuffling out of the room when he announces his rank, and then other doors fly open as everyone starts evacuating the floor.

Jase's phone rings just as he manages to unhinge the heavy door, and he hands the phone to me while putting it on speaker.

"What's up? You said to call if it was safe," Mel says obliviously.

I follow behind him, holding his phone up, as he carries the new door to the room where Simone is rocking our informat's world.

"I need you to get here now. Someone put a hit on our informant. I want backup in case there are more."

"We're on our way. We're done here anyhow," Mel says very seriously, and then the line goes silent.

Jase pops the new door into place, and then he checks to make sure it swings back and forth properly before ushering me in. We hear the ravenous, carnal sounds running amuck from the other room, and Jase blushes.

At least they made it to the bedroom. They made sure to rough up the living room and kitchen area before getting there though.

"We should wait outside," he grumbles, clearly not enjoying the two girls getting dirty.

That surprises me.

"It's just awkward," he says with a shrug. "Simone's like your sister, therefore, it's weird."

I laugh, pushing him down to the couch.

"I'm used to hearing Simone be crazy. I lived with her for a few centuries until she went to Hershian."

I sit down on his lap, straddling him as intimately as I can while bringing my lips to his. My short skirt slides up as I start unbuckling his pants, and he groans into my mouth.

"Aria, it hasn't been forty-eight hours yet."

"I just won't have an orgasm," I murmur against his lips before pulling back. "Just let me feel you inside me for a second."

His eyes darken, his body begging him to oblige. He lets me finish unbuckling his pants, and then I stare into his eyes as he slides my underwear off, pushing them into his pocket before jerking me to him hungrily, owning me with his greedy lips.

"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck," he gripes in a comically frustrated outburst. "I can't. If I start, I won't stop and you know it. And you're sure as hell not going to be the one to stop it. You know that too."

He's right.

I pout lightly, and then I given him a vixen's wink as I climb out of his lap.

"Well, there is a rule that I can't have an orgasm," I murmur, lowering myself to the ground between his legs. "But there's not one saying you can't."

His breath hitches as I take him into my mouth, and his hands tangle in my hair as his head drops back, finding it to be the relief he needs.

"This isn't very fair to you," he murmurs, half-heartedly objecting, but not really wanting me to stop.

I dare not pull away from him when he releases a strangled moan, gripping me tighter as my lips slide with a balanced rhythm.

You can pay me back later.

With that, he starts tugging me harder, making my rhythm quicken as all the sexy sounds in the world slip through his lips. I slide his pants just a little lower, giving myself the ability to take him in fully, and his sounds grow all the more carnal, making me worry that alone might be my undoing.

He grips me tighter, and my hands slide down to press against his hips keeping him from rushing the finale. My tongue dances in swirls, and he squirms in response, making me feel powerful, wanted, desired.

"Damn, I love you," he breathes, his eyes rolling back in his head as he tenses beneath me.

I want to smile, but I refrain, trying to keep my sexy persona in check as I own him. I watch him as his eyes come back to meet mine, and an unspoken connection burns deep as his eyes shift to be mismatched.

I feel a low, rumbling power ruling me in that instant, and I've never wanted anything as much as I want him right now. It affects him too, and I can feel it, feel the ruling and combining power that mingles between us as I take him deeper, bringing my lips to meet his base.

That's the first time I've seen his eyes as they truly are, and it's so fucking hot. It's almost more than I can bear, but then I feel him lose his own control, his heartbeat racing as he explodes into my mouth, exhaling my name in a breathy prayer.

I smirk as I draw back, swallowing his sex and candy, and he pulls me to him crushing his lips to mine as a reward for my dirty little treat. The carnal sounds coming from the back room make us both laugh lightly, and we're forced to break apart from the kiss.

"I'll definitely pay you back," he murmurs, a little breathless with praise in his tone.

I smile before kissing the side of his neck and curling into his arms.

"I like the real you," I murmur softly, pulling back to look into his still mismatched eyes, feeling my soul reaching for his.

He smiles bashfully, kissing my forehead immediately after.

"I'm glad to hear that. I was worried I'd freak you out and scare you off again when I told you the truth."

"I wouldn't ever freak out because of something you are. I wouldn't have freaked out about you being commander if you had told me right away. This... I understand keeping this a secret, and I'm happy you trusted me enough to tell me before you had to."

He frowns, to my surprise. "Aria, I wanted to tell you so many times about being the commander. I really did. I'm sorry you think it's because I didn't trust you. That had absolutely nothing to do with it. I just knew how much you hated the commander without knowing him. I couldn't bear the thought of you hating me that much."

I guess I did make it hard for him to tell me.

"I could never hate you. I wanted to hate you, but I love you too much to ever reach that extreme," I murmur while resting my head against his chest, feeling his heart beating under my cheek.

"Good to know," he says with a grin I can actually feel.

Then his body tenses against me. "What?"

"They're coming up. My sister just sent me a message, via her mind. They're almost here."

I don't move. Staying pressed against him, I murmur, "So you can hear really far away?"

"Only if I can see the person usually. Mel has gotten good at projecting her thoughts."

He shifts to make me have to rise up, and I raise a quizzical brow.

"Sorry," he murmurs. "I don't want to rile up Kellan before we question this girl."

I frown, not liking the fact he feels like I don't belong to him instead of Kellan. Jase smiles upon reading my mind, another bashful grin that makes my heart flutter.

"You definitely belong to me, but we need a peaceful front. Just play along," he murmurs with a captivating tone that makes me wobble even while sitting down.

Fine.

He chuckles lightly just before standing, and then he walks over to the door. With a wink, he buttons and zips his pants back up, making me giggle lightly. Then he opens the door up, and everyone piles in. Kellan is the first through the door, his eyes falling on me, and suddenly I remember something.

My underwear is still in your pocket.

Jase coughs, surprised by my unexpected reminder. I do well keeping a stone face, not laughing or even smiling, though hysterical laughter is breaking free in my head.

"You okay?" Mel asks, patting Jase on the back like she's worried he's strangling.

"Yeah," Jase grumbles, cursing me silently.

Kellan comes to sit down beside me just as the wild animal sounds get louder, screams erupting from the back room as the girls reach the peak they've been working toward.

"Who's getting fucked?" Kellan asks, seeming confused.

Jase starts laughing, and I snicker as well. "Simone," I murmur, laughing softly after.

His eyes widen, and then he leans back, smirking a little. "I thought you guys were interrogating a female suspect. I felt you being seduced."

Oh fuck.

Jase looks away, not meeting the eyes of anyone for fear of causing a scene with Kellan. He lets me feel his silent laughter breaking free, and I stifle a grin.

"Actually, we haven't started interrogations yet, but as you can see, it's a seductive atmosphere," I murmur in a forced explanation.

I don't like lying to him, but Jase refuses to let me tell him the truth until after I'm done with my forty-eight hour trial period.

"It's definitely hot in here," Kellan chuckles while fanning himself lightly.

Rex groans, covering his ears while leaning into Melania, and she giggles patronizingly. Jase has been gone from my side for five minutes, and my headache is already starting to return with a pounding force.

"Sorry," he murmurs while coming back to sit down beside me, letting his hand barely rest on my knee.

Kellan tenses, but he doesn't say anything. It's a respectable touch, though I wish Jase was more concerned with my needs as opposed to Kellan's.

"So why's Simone fucking some dude and where's the girl we're supposed to interrogate?" Kellan continues, ignoring the contact.

Jase bursts out laughing, turning his head away to let it roar free for Kellan's misconception.

"It's not some dude ," I chuckle out. "That's the girl we're supposed to interrogate."

Kellan coughs out his surprise, pounding his chest to let air find the right pipe to travel down.

"What the hell?" Rex grumbles, his ew- face coming out more prominently.

Jase slowly finds a medium between laughter and composure as he answers. "When we got here, the woman's throat had been slashed. We interrupted the killer. Simone had to give her blood-"

He stops, noticing the perplexed faces, and I drop my head to my hands.

Blabbermouth.

"Sorry," he whispers, tensing up immensely for his slip.

"But Simone is hybrid and this chick is supposed to be full blood. Her blood would kill her," Kellan says, not realizing the stupid slip of tongue Jase just had.

"He's your counter, Aria," Rex sighs. "It's not like it's some grave injustice to tell him. Besides, Simone knew what she was risking by doing this. We have to worry about that woman talking more than we have to worry about Kellan."

Obviously he's already told Melania then.

Kellan looks at me expectantly, and I sigh out just as the girls start a new round of scream and play. I cede, groaning inwardly as I start explaining.

"Symphony was Simone's mother as you know. Symphony spent too many years as Ty's pet project. She was the only one Ty could find whose blood was compatible with my mom's without the stage three savage blood.

"She was a force to be reckoned with, but without the phase three blood to seal it permanently, it gradually filtered out of her system. She and Uncle Clay didn't think about it affecting a child, but it did. They knew it the second she was born. Her eyes morphed into the perfect blend of hybrid and full blood. After a while, they didn't change so much, and they stayed more hybrid.

"Mom's emergent blood changed her, made her more like us. She's immortal like us and her blood is harmless to a full blood like ours.

"Simone is registered as a level seven because of the power people know about, but in reality, she's a level twelve. Just like Mom was a registered level eight until her true powers came to life and she became a level fifteen."

Kellan sits back, soaking that in.

"That's almost impossible. Not the part about Simone, but the part about your mom. Your dad was only a level seven, so how was he her counter."

Jase answers that, since he and Dad were apparently closer than I realized. "Because counters are power based from puberty, according to the studies we've done. Araya was subdued until much later in life, making her counter not have to be so strong. Unlike Aria," he murmurs softly, his eyes cutting away.

Kellan starts to say something else, but the door to the bedroom opens, letting the stench of sex drift out.

A woman walks in while tying her red satin robe into place. Kellan's eyebrows cock up as a humored smirk appears.

Her long, wet, dark, and thoroughly-fucked hair sweeps low, and she finger-combs through it when she sees us.

"Aria?" she asks, looking between me and Melania.

"That's me," I murmur quizzically.

"Simone wants to see you," she says while walking over and grabbing a glass of whiskey.

I smirk as everyone stares at the woman who seems to have been in the shower during one of the times they rolled around in that back room.

I stand up, losing Jase's healing touch, and then I head to the back. As I step into the room with an open door, Simone is pulling on a pair of leather pants that aren't hers, and she's wearing a black lace bra that is a little too big in the cup area.

"Why are you wearing those?" I ask curiously.

She groans, shaking her short wet hair in frustration while pulling on a loose, one-shoulder shirt that also doesn't belong to her.

"She ripped my clothes off," she whispers, grumbling the whole time.

I stifle a laugh, almost forgetting I'm supposed to be mad at her. Then she turns to me, sincerity and pain in her eyes.

"I'm hybrid. I realize that, but I usually draw the line at girls. I hope this somewhat makes up for the crazy shit I've done," she says hopefully.

I sigh out, all my humor leaving. "You're my sister, Simone. I can't stay mad too long. And you did fuck a girl for me," I mutter, letting my humor return by the end.

She laughs and cries at the same time while wrapping her arms around me in a much needed embrace. I grimace against her hybrid heat, but I hug her like the sister she's always been.

"I love you, Aria. I'm sorry," she whimpers, genuinely emotional which is unlike her.

"I love you," I sigh out, running my hands through her wet strands to comfort her as she hugs me tighter, making the heat unbearable.

"Shit," she murmurs, pulling back instantly when my clothes start to sizzle. "Sorry."

I force a grin, though it's obvious how fake it is. "It's fine. Jase can cool me down."

She nods, accepting that, and then we walk out to the grinning faces of the crowd. Simone rolls her eyes, ignoring their mockery, and then she holds her hand up in a preemptive objection.

"I don't want to talk about it."

Everyone giggles, and then Kellan holds his hands in front of him in a playful, begging manner. "Please, please talk about it."

For the first time ever, I see Simone blush fiercely. I almost laugh as she fidgets awkwardly, not acting like the cool, poised, sassy hybrid I know at all.

I think Simone has a major crush on Kellan. That's why she kissed him.

Jase frowns, nodding like he already knows.

Don't look so sad. That's perfect.

Jase seems confused, almost surprised by that. I smile as Kellan continues to tease Simone, but all the fun is brought to a halt when the lady in the red robe walks in to join the party, two glasses of whiskey in her hand.

She hands Simone the extra glass, offering her a wink directly after, which makes Simone roll her eyes.

"So, I take it Araya needs some info. I guess I sort of owe you my life, so what do you want to know about?" she asks, sipping her whiskey while going to sit down on the chair across from Kellan and Jase.

I return to sit by Jase before my head explodes, and he instantly cools me with his incredible touch, taking all the pain away by simply wrapping his arm around my shoulders. He's not going with the respectable hand-barely-on-my-knee right now.

Mmm, I love you so much.

He fights a grin, his eyes avoiding Kellan's glance. Then Kellan chimes in to voice a question.

"We were under the impression you would need a playful interrogation."

She lets a chuckle free, her eyes settling on Simone. "I've been thoroughly seduced, fucked, and had the need for closeness sated after tasting hybrid blood for the first time ever. I'll tell you anything you want to know right now."

Simone groans slightly, shaking her head shortly after, and then she goes to sit down beside Melania and Rex on the second couch.

"Do you know anything about the Scorpions in power or the thing leveling compounds as big as Seminole?" I ask, sounding like my mother in my blunt and to the point relay.

"Scorpions, no. Big bad mother-fucker destroying everything she runs across, yes."

My heart patters quickly, and I notice everyone caught the same key piece of that comment as I did when I see their widened eyes.

"This thing is a she? " Jase asks, pulling me closer instinctively when his protectiveness kicks in.

"It is," she says while exaggerating a chill. "The few that will speak about her say she doesn't come out unless her handler lets her. Whoever he is, he's the one pulling the strings, but make no mistake, she's by no means some submissive puppet. She has an endgame, and she's after something. They're residing deep up north... some underground cavern, I think."

I get sick to my stomach, now knowing who was calling me with my blood, and Jase almost tries to pull me into his lap before Kellan snatches my hand and pulls it to him. His hybrid heat is painful, but Jase forces his cooling touch into me, giving me more reprieve from the vicious heat.

Kellan finally drops my hand when he senses my discomfort, but he doesn't do so without huffing first.

"Anything else you can give us?" Jase asks, his voice shaky.

"Don't underestimate them. There's one more thing. They have guys inside the United. Be careful who you trust."

"Fuck," Jase murmurs to himself, gripping his head with his free hand.

"We should go and brief the few we trust," Melania says, motioning us out.

"There's a cleanup crew on the way to take care of the dead body in the hall," Jase says, exhaling a weary breath. "I need to wait for them and instruct them."

She nods as we stand, and the full blood informant stops us. "You got the bastard?" she asks, sounding a little pissed. "I wanted a shot at him. They apparently know who I am. I need a place to lie low."

"Here," Jase murmurs while handing her a card. "Call that number. They'll send you somewhere safe, and that man can be trusted. I can promise you that."

She nods appreciatively, and we all start heading out. The woman pulls Simone's hand in hers, and whips her around to plant a salaciously showy kiss on her lips.

"You come see me anytime," she murmurs softly when she pulls back.

Simone laughs lightly, and then nods before walking off. Melania playfully pushes Kellan's jaw back into place.

"Down boy."

Kellan stands a little taller, looking to me to see if I saw his drooling state, but I pretend as though I didn't. Truth is, I just don't care.

Jase threads his fingers with mine as he pulls me outside, kissing me lightly on the back of my hand. "Don't worry about this. We'll stop them."

"I know. I'm just worried about what they want with me."

"That small dose of blood wasn't enough. They need more," Simone says while fidgeting with the bra that is slightly too big for her, groaning when she fails to make it look better. "Whatever they need it for, we have to stop them. I'm sick of our world being all about blood."

I agree with that wholeheartedly.

Jase leads me down the halls, and then we split away from the other. "Mel, stay here and watch the halls. Kellan, take our informant out to her car. I don't want her having someone blindside her."

Kellan nods, though he's not too happy about getting bossed around. He looks at me, expecting me to join him, and then he grumbles when I cling to the man I love instead.

"I'm going to go find a bra that fits," Simone gripes finally pulling it off and tossing it to the ground without removing her shirt.

Jase lets a laugh free, and I lean into him as he leads me out. He stops me when we're just outside, and he pulls me into his arms in the most perfect embrace.

"I love you. If you want me enough to not give a damn about your counter drooling over Simone, then I think that speaks volumes. We can do this. We can be together."

I almost squeal, but instead I keep a feasible amount of giddiness.

"Of course we can. You didn't think I was serious?" I laugh out.

"I thought you were confused, but nothing should confuse you that much. I saw it. Heard it. Felt it. You love me like I love you."

I smile, feeling like such a goofy little girl, and then I pull him down to kiss me softly just before his phone rings.

"Shit," he gripes. "I have to take this. Duty calls, and this night just got crazy."