Page 34 of Bonded By Blood
Right. She should have remembered that name. Brianna straightened in order to speak properly. “Jasen and Seth have been hunting the Wilson brothers for most of a century,” she said. “In the beginning, as I understand it, they didn’t know they were hunting two vampires. It’s only been in the last few years that we’ve made any real connections.”
Joe’s brow furrowed thoughtfully. “But you knew about both before Whitney?”
Brianna nodded. “Not by long, though.” It was hard to narrow down the timeline when years, even decades, had the bad habit of blurring together in retrospect. “We learned a lot when Seth worked a case in Baltimore, where he met his Bond Mate, Veronica. It turned out she already had history with them, and she helped identify the brothers.”
Joe made a face, as if something in the story didn’t sit right with him.
“What?”
He opened his mouth, closed it again, and finally said, “It’s just … if it took your best guys one hundred years, give or take, to even figure out they were looking for two vamps instead of one, I don’t get why all of a sudden the Wilsons are messing around so close to their enemy.” He released Brianna’s hand as he began gesturing. “I mean, we’ve all heard the expression about playing with fire, but this seems a little excessive. Have they ever taunted you like this before and you just didn’t know who you were looking for?”
Brianna frowned again. What he said made sense. Too much sense. “Not that I’m aware of, no.” Plus there was the gap of some two years where they’d disappeared completely. Had they been living right under the First Family’s noses the entire time, there in California? Or had they fled the state—as originally assumed—and only recently snuck back across the border?
“From what I heard,” Joe said, draping an arm across the back of the sofa as he faced her, “they nearly got caught last time, right? So why take the risk of coming back now?”
She didn’t at all like where he was going with this line of thinking. Almost hopefully, she said, “They could be insane. Perhaps sadistic.”
“Sure.” He didn’t look convinced, though. “Or maybe they want something.”
Brianna groaned and slumped against him. She really hadn’t wanted him to say the words out loud. Of course they wanted something. Was it too much to hope what they wanted was simple chaos? A little vampire anarchy, maybe? She could handle that. It was whether or not they wanted something more complicated, had a deeper agenda, that concerned her. She didn’t realize she’d been harboring that fear until Joe put voice to the words.
“Sorry,” Joe said softly, wrapping an arm around her and sinking back into the couch. “I know it’s not a happy topic of conversation.”
“It’s not,” she replied, her voice muffled by the fabric of his shirt. “But it’s important.”
“But you’ve never met the Wilsons before, right?”
Brianna blinked into the dark green cotton in front of her face and straightened until she could see his eyes. “What?”
His shoulders moved in a miniscule shrug. “I was wondering if it could be some super-long revenge plot is all.”
She sighed. It was as good a thought as any probably. “I haven’t, at least. I’m sure Mother hasn’t. She wouldn’t have hesitated to turn her insults personal when we had Troy in custody if she knew him.”
Joe’s lips twitched. “Is it bad if I believe that without any difficulty?”
Brianna let herself grin, just a little. “My mother can be incredibly petty sometimes. You aren’t hurting my feelings to admit you can recognize that in her.”
“I was more worried about immediate beheading.”
Brianna leaned in, pushing up on her knees, and deliberately brushed her hands around his neck. “Don’t worry,” she said quietly as her fingers slipped into the edges of his soft brown hair, “your head’s safe with me.”
His face lit with a devilish grin and his arms came around her. “Is it?” His rumbled question tickled her skin.
“As long as you keep me happy,” she replied breathlessly, her lips teasing his. One of his hands slid down her spine and the kiss sealed. She nearly moaned as she leaned against him, their tongues swirling together. His hand settled over her ass and he held her in place as he fell back against the armrest, dragging her into his lap. Brianna laughed into the kiss and trailed her fingers along the collar of his shirt.
A lot had happened in the last couple of days, but her body remembered well how good it had felt in his hands. Already she could hardly stand the weight of her own clothes.
Joe had a hand tangled in her hair and he’d figured out a way to suck on her tongue that shot through her like fire.
She wiggled on top of him, the skirt of her dress riding up, and had just gained enough clearance to properly straddle him when someone cleared their throat from across the room.
They stilled, and Brianna wondered, in the back of her mind, if her face was as red as Joe’s. It felt like it should be, if not brighter. She couldn’t remember a time she’d been so embarrassed. Her mind was a frenzy as she scrambled off Joe’s lap and straightened into a respectable seated position, her dress hopelessly twisted and wrinkled around her.
Joe cleared his throat self-consciously.
Across the room, waiting patiently, stood Matilda. The smaller woman wore a faintly amused smile and didn’t look flustered in the least.
Brianna wasn’t sure if that made her feel better or worse. Without meaning to, she mimicked Joe and cleared her throat before speaking. “I’m so sorry, Matilda.” Was this how Kendall had felt the time Brianna had caught her half-naked with her boyfriend as a teenager? No. Kendall was just angry. Or she’d done an amazing job of covering up her embarrassment with anger. “What is it?”