Spade made his way down to the arena to give Bones an affectionate slap on the back.
“Bloody hell, mate. You a married man? Now I’ve seen it all.”
The tension visibly drained from him as he smiled at his friend. “Charles,” he said, calling him by his human name. “I believe we’re in need of a lift.”
We hitched a ride with Spade, who drove us to the airstrip where the same helicopter that had brought me here would now take all of us back to the warehouse. Once we got there, Bones let Ian’s six men loose and told them they were free to go. They looked stunned to be released so easily, but didn’t question it, and melted away into the night. Then there was one more stop to let Spade off before we reached the compound. By that time I was tired, physically and emotionally, but there were still things to do.
When we arrived, the five of us went straight to Don’s office. My uncle’s forehead creased in what might have been embarrassment, and he quickly ceased his examination of my attire. Oh yeah. I’d forgotten I was barely dressed.
“Uh, Cat, would you like a lab coat or... something?”
Bones took off his jacket. “Here, luv, put this on before your uncle turns red. Best do that anyway, since I’m about to flog Juan for trying to memorize every curve of your arse.”
I took the proffered coat and glared at Juan pointedly. He smiled, unrepentant as always.
“What did you expect? You shouldn’t have let her walk in front of me, amigo, if you didn’t want me looking.”
“You’re all here, so obviously the operation was a success.” It was straight to business as always for Don. “Cat, you gave instructions to have Noah Rose transferred directly to a hospital? And to have his car wrecked and police reports of a hit-and-run accident filed?”
“That’s right. Bones just might put your brainwashers out of a job, Don. Noah has no idea what he saw tonight. All he’ll remember is that he was in a car wreck and he has to call his insurance company in the morning. You don’t have to worry about him.”
“You know, that brings up a very good point.” Tate gave Bones a hostile glance. “How do we know he hasn’t been fucking with our minds this whole time? Your decision to make him part of this team could have been planted, Don!”
Bones answered the accusation for him. “He knows it wasn’t. For one, this office is being recorded by a battery-powered camera stuck up in the ceiling. I can hear it, old chap,” he supplied at Don’s flabbergasted expression. “Of course, I could have just made you think you watched what occurred when you hadn’t, but you went on alert as soon as you heard your niece was shagging a vampire. You’ve been tipping the bottle, as it were. Drinking vampire blood to immune yourself to mind control. I can smell it on you.”
Don’s face confirmed it all. I shook my head.
“You will just never trust me, will you? Look, I’m tired, so let’s make this brief. Ian and Max are still alive, but they won’t mess with either of us anymore. It’s been settled. Under nosferatu laws, Bones kind of... um, married me.”
Don tugged madly at his eyebrow. “What?”
I explained briefly about the laws of binding, and then shrugged.
“Humanly speaking, I’m still single. As far as anyone undead is concerned, however, I’m married to Bones lock, stock, and two smoking barrels. Sorry I couldn’t give Max your best, Don, but I’ll get him one day. I promise.”
Those same steel-gray eyes stared at me. At last, Don smiled faintly.
“I did give Max my best. I sent him you.”
A lump rocketed its way up in my throat, and I had to blink.
“There is another matter we need to discuss,” Bones said, surprising me.
“Okay, but make it fast. I’m about to fall asleep on my feet.”
“Yesterday Tate told me your friend drank vampire blood as he died. That’s a rather significant detail.”
I frowned wearily. “How so? It couldn’t have made him a vampire. He only had a few swallows at most. We buried him three days later, and believe me, he was dead.”
“Quite so, as far as being a vampire or a human is concerned. But there is another species, isn’t there?”
We all looked blankly at him. Bones made a noise of concession.