“Do not tell me what I need to do. I’m your Elder, and you are standing in my home.”

She rolled her eyes, which only served to send his beast stalking. “You known damn well had I brought her here first neither of you would’ve made it to Court. Besides, did you ever think maybe she needs a little time to collect herself? She didn’t know she was coming back today until about an hour ago.”

He fisted his hands at his sides. “If it’s time she needs to collect herself, why are you sending her to Court?”

Trinity tipped her head back and stared at the ceiling, as if the answer to his question could be found amongst the white paint. “Because she’s a Servio.” She lowered her head and stared hard at him. “Because it’s a perfect opportunity for her to see nearly every Fledgling in your city. You know, the ones who’ll try to use and abuse her to get what they want. Going to Court her first night back gives her a chance to memorize every face in the room before she gets sucked into youthful politics and games. Don’t you think she deserves any head start I can give her?”

Kerestyan drew a calming breath. “I concede your reasoning. However, you should’ve brought her here first. You should’ve allowed us, at the very least, a chance to talk before enduring a situation where we’ll be forced to ignore each other.” He narrowed his eyes on his sister. “You did explain to her the rules of Court, yes? She knows I have no choice but to treat her as I would any other resident?”

“Yes, Kerestyan, Logan is well aware of Courtly conduct. It’s not like I didn’t put any thought into this. Relax. You’ll get to have her in your bed soon enough.”

“My interest in Logan goes far beyond what happens between us in the bedroom! How dare you assume my only interest in her is sexual.” He closed the space between them in a single stride. “How dare you stand in my home, in my city, and treat me with such disrespect. Treat her with such disrespect.”

“How dare you question me about the choices I’ve made for my Servio.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder. “I think you forget, at the end of the day, she’s mine…not yours. And if you keep pushing the issue, I can pack her schedule full of so many meetings and so many errands she won’t have time to play with the Lord.”

He straightened as crimson washed over the room. “You will not keep her from me.”

“Excuse me?” Her lips parted in a challenging smile. “Are you attempting to compromise my control over my servant?” She clucked her tongue at him. “Dad will not look kindly on your breach of Nelek Decorum.”

She is your lesser. It took everything Kerestyan had, every shred of self control he possessed, not to free the animal raging inside him. “Leave my home and do not return this night.”

Trinity laughed as wind whipped across the room. “I’ll leave, but if I even think you’ve done something to sway my servant from me, I won’t hesitate to tell Dad. And you know damn well the rules are in my favor on this one.”

Kerestyan gnashed his teeth together when Trinity disappeared. Never, in all the time they’d known each other, had he ever felt such an overwhelming urge to strike her. To stand over her with his fangs bared and remind her she was, and would forever be, four thousand years his lesser.

His sister had always had a penchant for playing the rules as close to the line as she possibly could, but to stand before him and threaten to keep Logan from him…

He pushed the thought from his mind as he cast a glance to the clock on his night table. In little more than an hour he was due in Court. Perhaps the smiling green eyes of a certain woman in the crowd would return the control he’d slowly lost during the last nine days.

Kerestyan nodded to himself before he walked over to his armoire and chose his clothes for the night. Seeing Logan again would go a long way towards soothing the savage beast who craved her return as much as he did.

He smiled as he laid his clothes across the bed and headed for the shower. So would an hour of peace and quiet without someone younger than him screaming about politics, injustices or rules. Honestly, he’d had his fill over the last two weeks, and wasn’t sure he could stay his hand any longer.

***

Logan braced a hand on the turn-style blocking her entrance to the subway platform then kicked her legs over the dull silver bars. She landed with a familiar ease and took off in a paced run again, ignoring the angry shouts of a weeble-wobble security guard, who didn’t even bother to stand up from his seat. She smiled as the ring of a nightstick smacking against the metal leg of a folding chair faded behind her.

Immortal or not, some things never changed.

She rushed down the worn stairs two at a time, refusing to slow down until she reached the platform she needed to be on. Leaning back against one of the dirty columns plastered with flyers, she closed her eyes and worked to pull oxygen into her lungs.

The last time she’d felt so much motivation to run without stopping, Trinity had been trying to punch her. Strangely enough, she felt the same then as she did now. Only the hard kick to the gut she’d received for her efforts then paled in comparison to the stabbing sensation that burned in the center of her back now.

She rubbed her palms over her cold cheeks. She should have listened to her instincts when they’d urged her not to trust the lying bitch. The only difference was that while Trinity had promised not to punch her, she’d never promised not to manipulate her.

“I’m responsible for everything you do and say, and while I don’t like exerting emotional or mental control over my Servios, I’ll do it if I have to.”

Listen to the words. Logan lowered her arms and swung her fists back into the cinderblock column behind her. Oh, she’d made it clear she didn’t like using mental or emotional control but that didn’t mean she hadn’t.

She opened her eyes and stared down at the stained concrete floor. Trinity had made quite a show of convincing her she’d never manipulate an emotion as precious as love. But what if she’d lied about that, too? What if she’d silently channeled thoughts through the bond they supposedly shared as Master and Servio?

What if the feelings she had for Kerestyan weren’t her own?

It was yet another question in her life she didn’t think she’d like the answer to.

Logan groaned as her own thoughts were drowned out by a chorus of loud, obnoxious laughter. She watched as a group of men sauntered across the platform and stopped to stand about ten feet away near the next column. Dressed like Bikers, they hooted and hollered at a middle-age woman walking by, and two of the leather clad idiots even had the balls to grab her ass, and more, before she broke free and hurried away.

Logan shook her head as more laughter filled the chilly air. She’d committed some actions in her time on the streets that kept her moral compass firmly in the grey, but she’d never invaded anyone’s personal space for longer than it took to relieve them of their money.

She narrowed her eyes as one of the Bikers met her disapproving stare through a curtain of shaggy, blond hair. He appeared to appraise her for a minute before he turned and whispered something to one of his bald buddies. He snapped his fingers then pointed at his friends coat and made the “gimme” motion with his hand.

Logan stiffened as the guy reached into his coat. She hadn’t survived on the streets of New York this long to get shanked in a subway station on a decent end of town. She wasn’t leaving the world like that, and if for some reason fate dealt her that card this time around, she’d take every single one of their punk asses with her for the trouble.

When Baldy produced a cell phone, a surge of relief splashed over her. Unfortunately, concern recoated her nerves as the blond flipped open the phone, punched a few buttons and then stared over at her again. He cast a glance back to the phone, to her, the phone, then back to her yet again before he flashed a fanged smile.

Great. She’d been back for less than an hour and had already gained the attention of another vampire…and a stupid one at that.

She extended to her full height when he approached and stopped no more than two feet away. If nothing else, maybe forcing him to look up a few inches would make him think twice. “Is there something I can do for you?”

“It is you,” he laughed. He held up the phone, screen facing him. “How’d you manage to get out alive when they got dusted?”

She glared down at him. “Get out of what alive?”

He flipped the phone around and held it in front of her face. “That.”

The same heart Odin said she didn’t have; sank all the way to Logan’s toes. On the little smudged screen, beaming in grainy but vivid color was a picture of her and Kerestyan standing outside the convenience store the night he’d found her.

“My Techy friend Frank says this pic was snapped a few minutes after two of our peeps got dusted in an alley by his Lordship.” He lowered the phone and leaned forward to sniff the air around her. “How the fuck did you get out alive? Your Puppet ass was just as much of a breach as they was. Right, Frank?”

Logan’s entire body tensed as his group moved to form a semi-circle behind him. She scanned each one of their unblinking faces then swallowed the knot forming in her throat.