“Out of the fucking question!” Wesley interrupted, grabbing her bicep. “You are coming home with us!” He glared at Luther. “You’re not staying with him! It’s gonna get you killed!”

Katie tore her arm from her brother’s grip. “He saved my life! So make your choice.”

Luther tapped Katie on the shoulder. “Katie, just out of curiosity: were you gonna ask me whether I wanted to stay involved in this?”

“No.”

“Thought so.”

And strangely enough the fact that she didn’t give him a choice in this turned him on. Katie was a force to be reckoned with. A woman who knew what she wanted.

Luther grinned and exchanged a look with Blake. “No use fighting her. I tried. And look what it got me into.” What exactly he’d landed in, he wasn’t quite sure yet. But it was a welcome change from the monotonous life he’d spent in prison.

“Yeah, that’s our Katie,” Wes confirmed. “Once she’s got something in her head, you can’t stop her.”

And oddly enough, Luther didn’t want to stop her. Had they been alone, he would have pulled her into his arms and continued where they’d been interrupted, because a strong woman like Katie was a bigger turn-on than anything else he’d ever encountered.

29

“My father will never allow it!” Grayson protested, glaring at Luther. “He hates you!”

Blake put a hand on the young hybrid’s arm, then looked at Luther. “I’m afraid Grayson is right. There are several people at Scanguards who’d rather drive a stake through your heart than let you get anywhere near this investigation,” Blake stated calmly. “Unfortunately we’re running out of time. We know the kidnapper already knows that he’s got the wrong woman.”

Katie’s breath hitched. They had news from Isabelle? Why hadn’t anybody told her? “How? What happened?”

Blake took his eyes off Luther. “We were able to identify the vampire who kidnapped her.”

“Cliff Forrester?” Katie asked. “So you already knew.” She pointed to the piece of paper, then glanced at Luther. “I got you into all this trouble for nothing?”

Blake shook his head. “It wasn’t Forrester who took Isabelle. It was a guy named Antonio Mendoza. He was a hired gun.”

“You think Cliff Forrester hired him?”

“It looks like it. Mendoza took Isabelle and was waiting for the man who hired him to take her off his hands, but when the guy showed up, he realized immediately that Mendoza got the wrong woman. He killed Mendoza and took Isabelle with him.”

“How do you know that?” Katie asked. Her heart beat as loud as a drum, and she knew the vampires in the room could hear it.

Blake motioned to Grayson. “We sent four of the hybrids to Mendoza’s house when we identified him from the surveillance video. The house was empty, but apparently Mendoza didn’t trust the man who’d hired him. He turned on a voice recorder before he let Forrester into the house. It recorded everything. The moment he saw Isabelle, he knew she wasn’t you. He killed Mendoza for his stupidity. But we know he’ll keep Isabelle alive.”

Katie swallowed hard. She knew exactly what that meant, even if Blake didn’t say it. “He’s going to want to do an exchange.”

Silence descended on the room. Nobody said anything. Nobody moved.

Luther’s voice cut through the quiet. “It won’t come to that. There’s another way.”

Katie lifted her lids to meet his gaze. “It’s my fault that he’s got Isabelle. I put her in danger. Had I not changed roles with her, this would have never happened. If I—”

“It doesn’t matter whose fault it was,” Luther interrupted. “I won’t allow an exchange. Once he’s got you, what’s to stop him from killing Isabelle anyway?” He shook his head and looked past her to the other men in the room. “We’ll find him. I know how.”

“And what do we tell Samson?” Wesley asked calmly.

“Nothing,” Blake said. He nodded to Grayson. “Are you with us?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“No.”

“Guess you have my answer then.” He took a step toward Luther, lifting his chin. “One false move, and you’re dust.”

Katie caught how Luther acknowledged the threat with a simple nod.

“How will we find Forrester?” Blake asked.

Suddenly Blake, Luther, and Grayson snapped their heads toward the door. A moment later, Katie heard it, too. A sound outside. Their sensitive vampire hearing had picked it up a few seconds earlier. Wesley drew his weapon, just as Blake and Grayson did, while Luther grabbed her and pushed her behind his back, shielding her from whatever was outside the door.