her face. ‘Unremarkable’ was not a word he would ever associate with Kall. But his brother’s words confused him.
“What do you mean you can’t smell her?”
“You can? Does she smell like a vamp to you?” Drei sniffed. “Because right now I smell you, me, Cass, Em, and Cat, but no one else.”
Kall’s full lips turned downward. “You smell me? Not even Seren can smell me. He thought for sure he’d be able to sense me somehow, since he Made me, but he can’t. It drives him crazy. What do I smell like?”
Mindful of the others in the room, but suddenly uncaring, Grig encircled her arm with his fingers and lifted her wrist. He inhaled slowly, brushing his nose back and forth against her silky skin, drawing that soft, fresh, floral scent into his lungs. “Roses.”
“Oh great,” Drei muttered. “Leave it to our little brother to Mate with a vampire.”
Em chuckled. “Just imagine what mom’s going to say.”
*****
They sat in silence, the thick walls of the barracks at HQ blocking out all outside sounds. His mother, Elena Lupei, commander of the Alpha Trio, had cleared everyone else out when they’d brought Kall in. ‘For her protection’. But he knew it was because she didn’t trust Kall.
His mother’s treatment of the gorgeous vampire had set Grig’s teeth on edge, but he’d kept his mouth shut. After his brothers’ words at 5tM, he was hardly about to add more fuel to the fire of their ridiculous speculation.
On the bunk below him, he heard Kall sigh. The bed creaked, but she didn’t speak.
It had taken several hours for Kall to tell them everything she’d learned about Seren’s scheme while he’d had her in captivity, and then even longer to hash out a plan to take him down. Luckily for the Lupei brothers, and Cat and Cassandra, the skeletal vamp had only shared his mad plans with a small group of his fledglings.
The crazed vampire had known for some time, it seemed, that some humans possessed something more, ‘other’ as Cassandra referred to it. He’d suspected that if these special humans were turned, they would make powerful vampires with all kinds of extra abilities. He wanted to make an army of them, to rule over vampires and Shifters... and humans too, most likely. Basic world-conquering megalomania stuff.
But not all of these Others could be turned. In fact, of all the ones that he’d kidnapped and attempted to make into his army of super-vamp soldiers, only Kall had survived. Seren believed it was because she was young and female. That’s why he wanted Cat so badly.
Tonight, it would all come to an end. Kall knew where Seren performed his twisted experiments – she escaped from what he called his ‘lab’ only a week ago – and they were going to destroy it, and Seren. Grig should be going over the battle strategy, making sure they’d thought of everything.
Instead, he couldn’t force the picture of her face out of his mind, dark eyes wide, soft mouth parted as she whispered ‘You see me’ in wonder. And then his brothers’ words... Could he really be Mated to her? A vampire ? It was wrong. And impossible.
Like being Mated to a human was impossible? They’d all believed that, until a few months ago. But both Em and Drei were proof that they’d been wrong. It did happen.
“Are we going to talk about it?” The words came out harsher than he’d intended. He didn’t mean to snap at her. But the muscles of his jaw were tense as he stared up at the ceiling.
Below him, he heard another soft sigh. Her fresh, sweet scent wafted up to him. His dick was instantly hard. He gritted his teeth, ignoring it, waiting for her answer.
“I...” She began, but trailed off. The springs of the bunk gave a piercing squeak as she shifted position. He heard her boots hit the floor. “It... might not be for the reason they think.”
Kall was up now, pacing. Grig swung his own legs over the