“Me, too, querida,” Juan added. “That pendaho can have two worms on the hook instead of one; it will look better.”
“I’m in,” Cooper said. “Who wants to live forever?”
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, I was going to squirt tears. How unprofessional.
Bones overrode Don’s instant objections with a curt interruption.
“Save it, old chap. They’re grown men, and it’s not like they’ve been gardening these past years, is it? Besides, I knew they’d all offer, and here I’ve only just met them. How could you expect any differently?”
“Cat, you can’t take the three top members of my team into a hostile nest the likes of which they’ve never seen! If they all died, it would destroy this operation, utterly finish it!”
Don pounded his fist on the desk for emphasis. Bones leveled him with a look devoid of green.
“Here and now, decide which is more important to you. Your niece... or the risk to these men and your operation. We all make choices we have to live with. This is yours.”
“And it’s not like they’re docile lambs,” I added. “They’re not just bait—they’re Trojan horses. Whoever Ian picks to guard them will never expect how tough they are. They’ve been fighting vampires for a long time, Don. If I didn’t think they could handle it, I’d never let them volunteer.”
Don glared at me. I held his gaze, not blinking. Bones had made a prediction on this outcome also.
Don was the first to look away. When he spoke, his voice was rough.
“I pray to God you’re not wrong to trust this creature, Cat. If he’s played you, we’ll all go down in flames for it. He’d better be as good as he is arrogant.”
Four out of four. Bones smiled triumphantly. “Don’t fret, mate. I’m not playing her, and I am as good as I am arrogant. After all, I had you pegged. She was sure you’d refuse. I told her you wouldn’t.”
Don looked as worried as I felt, but he didn’t object further.
“It will take a few weeks to assemble everything,” Bones said, “and the three of you will be busy until then. If things go south, you’ll need to react quickly. You all know the price behind drinking vampire blood, right?”
Cooper didn’t. In a few minutes, he was informed about the ramifications of his actions in the cave. He took it far better than I had. He simply snorted once in disbelief.
“Welcome to the freak club,” I sympathized. “All of you will need to be immune to vampire mind control, and blood’s the only way to do that. Anyone who refuses will stay back. I won’t risk your lives, or the lives of those around you, by letting some vamp green-eye you into submission.”
“I’m up for juicing,” Tate said, again being the first to offer. “But you won’t mind if I refuse to suck blood off his tongue like you did?”
Bones let out a bark of amusement. “Don’t fret; you’re not my type. Anyone else have a concern?”
There were no other voices of dissent. Bones rose.
“Right then. Let’s go to the lab, so Don can put my vein on tap again. Really, old chap, you’re as excited over my blood as any vamp is over a juicy artery. Sure you’re not hiding some family traits?”
“That’s not funny,” Don brusquely responded, but he also stood, and we proceeded to the lab. The path leading to it had been cleared of other employees, minimizing Bones’ exposure on the premises. The same was done to the pathology unit. Once we got there, Bones gave Tate a calculating look.
“Ready for an upgrade? After your first dose, I’m going to beat the seven shades of shit out of you to see how much you can take.”
“Bring it on” was Tate’s reply. “Cat’s been pounding on me for years. Years. How long have you spent with her, combined? Only six months?”
Bones grabbed him, intending to do something painful, no doubt, but I hauled on his arm.
“Quit it! Tate, enough of the taunts, and Bones, how old are you? Why don’t I just give you a pair of my panties to hang around your neck? Then whenever you feel jealous, you can wave them at whoever’s pissing you off.”
“Like you wear panties,” Tate muttered.
I punched him. “Not that it’s any of your business, but I only go without when I’m on a job!”
Instead of being incensed by Tate’s knowledge of my underwear, Bones gave me an odd look as he sat in the chair Don indicated. Don set up a line and a bag and inserted the needle, since Dr. Lang, the head pathologist, still didn’t want to stick Bones himself.
“Kitten, are you still hunting vampires without your knickers on?” he asked with that same strange countenance.
“If I’m playing the bait, yes, but if it’s a search-and-destroy, no. Why?”
His lips twitched. “We’ll talk about it later,” he demurred.
I pounced. For him to look so peculiar, there had to be something to it.
“Tell me now.”