He didn’t have to wait long. Zane barged into the office, slamming the door behind him, reminding Oliver of the mood he was in. Pissed off didn’t even begin to describe it.

Zane pinned him with a glare. “Insubordination. Withholding of evidence. Refusal to follow orders . . . ”

“You’re repeating yourself. Insubordination and refusal to follow orders I believe are the same thing.” Oliver knew he was treading on thin ice, but he couldn’t help himself. Zane needed to be cut down from his high horse.

“Oh, you think you’re so smart! What happened to you, Oliver? What happened to the nice young guy who couldn’t do any wrong? Who looked up to us?”

Oliver fisted his hands at his hips. “That guy became one of you and realized you’re all made out of flesh and bone, just like the rest of us. You’re not any better than me! You’re just a bigger asshole! So, go ahead, be yourself! Behave like an asshole like you always do, and let’s get this over with. You wanna dress me down? Take a swing! See if I care.”

The standoff took several seconds, then Zane sighed. “You haven’t changed at all. You’re still a hothead, just like when you were human. Only then, you still had some respect for us. Or maybe you were afraid of us.”

“I was never afraid of you,” Oliver hissed.

“Well then it’s time to make sure you’re afraid of us now. So let me tell you this: you can kiss your job and your association with Scanguards goodbye if you don’t fall in line now. Orders issued by a Scanguards superior are to be followed. That goes for everybody, including you!”

Oliver crossed his arms over his chest. “That’s funny coming from you. Considering that not too long ago you defied direct orders from Gabriel and Samson to be with Portia.”

Zane’s chest rose. “Keep Portia out of this.”

Satisfied that he’d hit a nerve, Oliver continued, “It’s the same thing, so don’t make it sound like I’m the first one in this company who’s ever defied an order when he knew it was wrong. You of all people should understand. But no, you’ve suddenly turned into the establishment. When did you stop using your gut to figure out what’s right or wrong?”

“Don’t tell me who you think I am!” Zane thundered. “I know what you’re trying to do and it’s not working. I won’t tell you where she is. No discussion. You’re in no condition to be around her. Her blood will destroy you. And we all—all of us at Scanguards—care too much about you to let that happen.”

“You have a funny way of showing that!” Oliver grumbled and tuned on his heels.

Before Zane could stop him, he was out the door, slamming it even louder than Zane had only moments earlier.

29

A persistent ringing sound penetrated his sleep. Blindly, Oliver reached for his alarm clock and slapped his hand over it, hitting the snooze button. But the ringing didn’t stop. He forced open one eyelid and glanced at the clock. It was just past three in the afternoon. Who had set his alarm clock to three p.m. and why the hell didn’t it stop?

He shot up to sit and glanced around the dark room, with every second more awake, until he finally realized that the ringing wasn’t coming from the alarm clock but from the heap where he’d tossed his clothes when he’d come home shortly before sunrise.

He lunged for it, and pulled his cell phone out of his jeans pocket. “Yes?” he answered it without even checking caller ID.

“Hey Oliver,” a female voice cooed.

“Huh? Who’s this?”

A chuckle on the other end of the line. “Karen, of course. Don’t tell me you were sleeping.”

“Hey, Karen,” he answered quickly. She was one of Vera’s girls—probably the chattiest of them—and she had no idea that he was a vampire. Nobody who knew what he was dared calling him during daytime hours. “I had a late night. What’s up?”

Did she want him to come over to Vera’s tonight? While he was a regular at Vera’s establishment, all the girls there knew that he never came for sex. He simply loved hanging out with Vera and flirting with the women in her employ. Even though he’d gotten plenty of offers from several of the women—freebies so to speak—he’d never taken any of them up on it. He wouldn’t start now.

“We haven’t seen you all week. Are you cheating on us?”

“Would I do that to you?” He forced a chuckle, even though he wanted to get back to sleep so he would be refreshed by sunset to continue searching for Ursula. The night before, he’d stopped by Amaury’s place, finding only Nina at home. He’d eliminated their home as Ursula’s hiding place after his visit and driven to Zane’s house. The dog had been the only one at home. Nobody had answered the doorbell, and after climbing a fire escape and peeking into the windows on the upper floor, he’d determined that there was no trace of Ursula. Besides, Zane would never leave her alone in his house, knowing that she would probably try to escape.