38

After more minivans from Scanguards showed up, they transported all of the rescued women to a safe house in San Francisco. Several of Scanguards’ staff went to work, contacting the women’s families and arranging for their return home.

The rest of Scanguards had one more task ahead of them.

Oliver sat waiting in the situation room, tapping his foot impatiently. Even though he knew that Ursula was tired and needed to sleep, she had insisted on watching how the rest of her tormentors would finally meet their end.

“When do you want to call your parents?” he asked, knowing that there was no more reason to keep her from them. Just like all the other girls, she would want to return home.

And she would leave him and go back to where she belonged.

Ursula motioned to the monitor that still showed a live feed of the warehouse in Oakland. “After they’re dead.”

He nodded, his chest tightening. “You can fly to New York with the other women if you want. Samson has authorized the jet for it. Or you can fly out later . . . if you want to stay a few days longer.”

He looked away, not wanting to show how eager he was for her answer.

“I really want to see my parents. I miss them,” she said.

Oliver choked back the disappointment, knowing that within a few hours she would be gone. “Of course, I understand.”

“About the other women . . . ”

“What about them?”

“Will they remember what happened to them?”

Oliver looked up, shaking his head. “We can’t allow them to keep those memories. They might promise today never to breathe a single word about vampires, but under pressure, they’ll tell their families, their friends. They’ll want to explain things to them. But our secrets must be kept.”

“I understand. What about me? The memories you and I made?” Her big eyes looked at him, affection and trust shining back at him.

He swallowed hard. His next words were the most difficult ones he’d ever had to utter. “When you leave here, I’ll have to make sure you won’t remember anything.”

“What if you got on that plane with me? Just for a week or two.”

His heart suddenly beat a hundred miles a minute. “You want me to come with you?”

She stretched her hand out to clasp his. “I know that logistically it’ll be tricky to hide from my parents that you’re a vampire, but I’m sure we can figure something out.”

He sat up and leaned closer to her. “You want me to meet your parents?”

“I can’t guarantee that they’ll take to you immediately. They’re a little old fashioned, and me bringing home a Caucasian boyfriend might be tough to swallow at first, but I figured since they’ll be so happy to know that I’m alive, they’ll probably—”

“Boyfriend?” he cut her off. “You want to introduce me as your boyfriend?”

“And as the man who saved me, of course, that too.”

He pulled her hand to his lips and kissed her fingertips. “Tell me something before I agree to this: are you planning on dumping this boyfriend after those two weeks, or can he hope to stick around for a while longer?”

Ursula’s lids lowered halfway. “I was hoping to come back to San Francisco for something longer term. Maybe finish my studies here . . . ”

“How long?”

“Can we maybe discuss this in a year or two and see how we’re doing by then?”

Oliver pulled her onto his lap and brought his mouth to hers. “That’s definitely doable.”

“Does that mean I get to keep my memories?”

“I can do better than that: I’ll help you make new ones.” He kissed her softly, then felt her pull away.

“There’s something else.”

He brushed a stand of hair behind her ear. “Yes?”

“I want your friend Maya to do that blood test on me.”

Her words rang in his ears, making him virtually dizzy with excitement. “Are you sure?”

Instead of an answer, she kissed him.

The clearing of a throat interrupted them. Oliver drew his head back to see who was disturbing his pleasant interlude with Ursula.

Thomas rolled his eyes as he entered, followed by half of Scanguards, Oliver’s sire included. “Don’t mind us, we’re just here to watch the operation go down.” He pointed to the big monitor on the wall.

Ursula scrambled off Oliver’s lap, her cheeks bright red. Quickly, Oliver scooted his chair closer to the table so his lower half was hidden beneath it. If his colleagues saw his hard-on, they would tease him for the rest of his life.