Page 69 of Pursued

“It’s okay,cher. I understand. But think—did he sayhowhe’d know?”

A regretful shake of her head. “You have to understand, they didn’t tell me much. To them, I was just another empty-headed thrall. The best way to get to you.”

I drew her into my arms. “That’s where they fucked up.”

* * *

To my relief, Lougenia had made it to her safe room in time, although her assistant as well as the human gardener had died in the attack. I’d already given the housekeeper the all-clear, and as Mila and I took seats at the dining room table, she bustled about the kitchen in her uniform and fuzzy pink slippers, preparing a snack for us—a hamburger for Mila, a couple of rare steaks for me.

Daisy and Diesel settled under the table next to my feet. The wolfdogs were the heroes of the night. Daisy had singlehandedly held off two vampires before being knocked unconscious by a stun gun, and Diesel had made it to the helipad, drawing a trio of outside attackers who’d been dispatched by my security. Unfortunately, Redbone had realized in time that it was a trick and headed to the beach with Stefan and Martin while Airi and her team were occupied.

Mila was barefoot. I glanced down to see her scratching Diesel behind his ears with her toes. The dog’s eyes were slit in bliss. She’d made another friend.

Lougenia set our plates on the table and went back for two more rare steaks, one for each wolfdog. A promise is a promise, after all. The dogs waited for my nod before tearing into the meat. I attacked mine only a little less ravenously, chasing it down with gulps of blood-wine.

“Get some rest,” I told Lougenia. “everything else can wait until tomorrow.”

The housekeeper looked shell-shocked, her round cheeks pale. Her assistant had been killed right outside the safe room.

But she firmed her chin. “No, I’ll do it. I couldn’t sleep a wink now, anyway. I’ll be in the kitchen, cleaning up the mess thosefils-putainleft.”

Airi hurried into the dining room. Her hair was in its usual sleek ponytail, but there was a knife hole in her uniform over her heart. She looked pale, but otherwise all right, and I was in no mood to pamper her. As my chief of security, the blame for this rested squarely on her shoulders.

I invited her to sit, then leveled a look at her. “Report.”

Besides Airi, just two members of my security team had survived: Umar and Paco. That left four vampires and a dhampir dead, as well as Lougenia’s assistant Chandra and three human soldiers. But Redbone had lost people as well: the two men on the beach, and three more vampires at the heliport.

Tomas had been informed and was on his way out to Montauk with a couple of soldiers. We also had people looking for Redbone, but I didn’t hold out much hope. One of his men had probably already picked him up somewhere along the coast.

Meanwhile, no one was being allowed in or out. Umar and Paco were patrolling the grounds.

Airi straightened her already-straight spine another notch. “First, I want to apologize, sir. O’Brien was apparently working for Redbone.” O’Brien was a recent vampire hire.

I made an impatient movement. “You have nothing to apologize for. O’Brien came with a recommendation from Lieutenant Mraz, and he passed my checks as well.”

The enforcer nodded uncertainly.

“So I don’t want your apology, I want some goddamned answers. How the fuck did Redbone get through our security? And don’t tell me O’Brien let him in.”

Two red spots burned on the enforcer’s cheeks, but she met my gaze square on. “That’s exactly what happened, sir.”

“That system is airtight, with checks upon checks.”

“Yes, sir.”

“So how did O’Brien get access to the system in the first place? The man was a soldier. He didn’t have that kind of clearance.”

“I don’t know how he got access,” she admitted, “but he introduced some kind of bug that took down our security for thirty seconds. By the time the backup system kicked in, Redbone and six other vampires were inside the grounds. And thanks to O’Brien, they knew every one of our weak spots.”

“O’Brien shouldn’t have been able to take the system down for two seconds, let alone thirty. I want to know what went wrong ASAP.” I didn’t raise my voice, but both women heard the lethal edge.

Airi swallowed audibly, and beside me, Mila tensed.

I ignored her to keep my gaze on Airi. If Mila was going to be my mate—and I was damned if I’d let her go a second time—then she might as well see what life with me meant. I’d been attacked in my own house, my woman endangered.

If O’Brien wasn’t already dust, I’d have ripped his head right off his body. And if Airi didn’t explain the failure in my security to my satisfaction, she was going to follow O’Brien to her final grave by sunrise.

“Yes, sir,” the enforcer replied. “I’ll get on it right away.”