CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

D ex. Who the fuck was Dex? Did Brooklyn not have any girl friends she could have met for lunch instead? And fuck Ben for bringing up his sexual past.

Logan wriggled his jaw.

Okay, fine, his recent-ish past.

Most vampires slept with both sexes. Humans had quite a different take on it. They put them in boxes with labels and made a big deal about it.

Sex was sex. Whatever body parts someone had.

Whoever your mate ended up being, then so be it.

He'd seen the surprise in her eyes and hated that he couldn't explain. Why it mattered now, he didn't know.

Except he did.

He was in love with her and the possibility that Brooklyn was his mate was one he realized he needed to acknowledge.

That she was out in the fucking field with them couldn't have been worse timing.

Or on a date with her ex.

Every muscle inside him was coiled and ready to fly out into the sunshine. Brooklyn had been gone for about three hours. She was inside the BioZen building, and until they heard from her and learned she was waiting in the restroom, they had no idea if she was safe.

There was no reason to think otherwise.

Except if you were a pining insane mate.

A maybe mate.

Jesus, he was starting to understand the insanity he'd witnessed the other males in his world be struck with when they'd met their mates.

It was fucking embarrassing.

Brooklyn was safe. The plan was solid.

Unless the Russians knew she worked for the vampire royal family. It had been discussed that the individual who'd hidden in the castle and taken Willow might recognize Brooklyn.

A small risk but one they'd identified when planning.

One no one mentioned to the little human, and he knew why. They didn't want to deter her. Now it was rolling around inside Logan's mind, causing him heartburn.

He crossed and uncrossed his legs, which were sitting on the coffee table. Marcus had knocked them off twice, telling him it was bad manners.

"I'm an assassin. Not a gentleman." Logan had shrugged, then put his feet back.

"Warriors can have manners." He'd countered, kicking them again.

"Please," he drawled in disbelief. "Tell me which side of the plate the small fork goes?"

Blank stare.

Logan had lifted a brow at the SLC.

Then Marcus spluttered, "Fuck you."

Ben had chuckled next to him in the armchair. They were all just sitting around waiting.

"Left," Kurt said, and they all glanced at him as he shrugged. "I know things."

"Bullshit," Marcus said and whipped out his phone. "I'm asking Siri."

"You know AI lies, right?" Ben asked, just as the door burst open and the prince walked in. Followed closely by Craig.

"How are we going?" Brayden asked.

"We should hear from her in around ten minutes. All is going according to plan," Kurt said, tugging on the front of his vest.

The prince leaned his ass against the heavy TV cabinet and Craig stood with a wide stance a few feet away. It was clear to everyone what his job was.

To keep the prince alive.

He hadn't stayed behind last night. He had trailed Brayden, and it was likely the prince knew. In fact, there was no way he wouldn't. The fact he was standing here today said he was putting a lot of faith in their plan and trusted them.

A heavy burden for all four of them.

One, he knew the others were perhaps more used to being SLCs, but for Logan it was serious. Retrieving the Moretti prince's mate was not something one did every day.

And not when a key player in the plan was a woman I've fucked, and I'm struggling to come to terms with the fact she might be my damn mate.

The desire to ring Brooklyn and tell her to get out of there was strong. He had a bad feeling, which was maybe nothing more than a natural need to protect her.

If she was his mate.

As soon as she led them to the location of the lab, he was ordering her to get the fuck out of there.

Kurt's phone beeped.

A surge of adrenaline rushed through Logan's body. It was her. He knew it.

"She's in," Kurt said. "We have one more hour."