“I’ll take care of it, Wes,” Yvette suddenly interrupted.

Katie looked at her sister-in-law as she came toward them, grateful for her concern. Yvette, beautiful with her long black hair and elegant in her figure-hugging red dress, ushered her back into the room and closed the door behind them.

“Hey, honey,” Yvette murmured and pulled her into a sisterly embrace. “It’ll be all right. We’ll find her. Scanguards takes care of their own.”

Katie sniffled and lifted her head to look at Haven’s mate. “I feel responsible.”

“Don’t,” she demanded. “Now let’s get you out of this dress.”

With expert hands, Yvette helped her get undressed.

Katie wiped her tears from her eyes. “Are the kids scared?”

Yvette rolled her eyes while she handed Katie a T-shirt. “The younger ones maybe, but the older boys are all suddenly turning into Rambo. Even Cooper.”

“But he’s only sixteen!” And in Katie’s eyes, her nephew was still a child, though he probably wouldn’t have liked to hear that.

“Don’t I know it? But he hears the twins talking about joining the search and off he goes, begging his father to let him help, too.”

“But Amaury’s boys are hellions! They aren’t like Cooper.” Cooper was a lot more sensible. More the thinking kind.

“Yeah, and guess who they got that from. Damian is cut from the same cloth as his father, and Benjamin is just like Nina. And together they’re unstoppable once they’ve gotten something into their heads. No wonder Amaury and Nina stopped having any more after those two.”

Katie sighed and pulled her jeans up. “Aren’t all hybrids like that? Thinking they’re invincible?”

“All hybrids of the Scanguards family sure are. They see their parents and what they do for a living, and they think that every vampire is like that: a fighting machine out to right all wrongs. They’re gonna have a rude awakening one day when they realize that not all wrongs can be fought and defeated. I try to instill that in Lydia and Cooper, but whenever they get together with the rest of the bunch, they want to be superheroes!”

“Can you blame them?” Katie put her hand on Yvette’s forearm, thankful that her sister-in-law was preventing her from spinning out of control. “They see their parents as superheroes, and they want to be just like them. Your kids want to emulate you.”

Yvette raised an eyebrow and tilted her head to the side. “Why do I suddenly feel like you’re trying to butter me up, sis?”

“I’d never do that,” Katie claimed. “Though there is one thing you could do for me, since you have Level A clearance at HQ.”

Yvette shook her head. “The answer is no.”

“You don’t even know what it is.”

“The answer is still no.”

6

Zane slammed his fist on the table, clearly enraged. The silver chains with which Luther was tied up rattled from the impact. They didn’t do any damage to his ankles, since those were covered by his pants, but the shackles around his wrists were another story. They burned painfully into his flesh. But he didn’t flinch. There was nothing Zane could do or say to make him change his answers.

“As I already said, I have nothing to do with the disappearance of Samson’s daughter.”

He blinked against the glaring lights in the underground interrogation room. The room was two stories high, with only one door and a mirrored window high up, facing the table Luther sat at. He assumed that somebody was watching from up there.

“Very odd coincidence then that you showed up here the same night, don’t you think?” Zane flashed his fangs. “Care to explain?”

Not particularly. “Maybe I was in the mood for a cable car ride or a stroll down the Embarcadero.”

The back of Zane’s hand slashed across Luther’s cheek, whipping his head to the side. But Zane would have to be a lot more forceful to do any damage. The time in prison had increased Luther’s tolerance of pain to a level that, to most other vampires, would appear impossible.

“That’s enough, Zane!” a voice came from the door.

Luther shot the newcomer a glance.

Eddie marched into the room. “Take a walk, Zane, I’m gonna have a word with him.”

Zane growled, but stepped back. “I’ll be back with my instruments later.” He turned and walked out, slamming the door behind him.

What he meant by instruments was pretty clear: the bald vampire with the short temper intended to inflict pain by torturing him. What a waste of everybody’s time.