Luther shook his head in disbelief. “Oh my God, you’re actually crazy. I mean, bat-shit crazy! Do you have any idea what you’re doing? This kind of stuff can get you killed. Hell, it’ll get us both killed.”

“It won’t. Because you will keep us safe. You survived twenty years in a vampire prison. Can’t have been a cake walk.”

No, it hadn’t been easy. But right now he almost wished he were back inside and wouldn’t have to deal with crap like this.

“I’m sure you know how to protect yourself. Do it, or Samson will be hunting you.”

He scoffed. “Do you know what I was in prison for?”

“Attempted murder.”

“So you know. And still you won’t back down. What makes you think I’m not going to kill you before you can set Scanguards on my ass?”

“If you’d wanted to kill me, you would have done so already.” Then her eyes drifted lower and settled on his crotch. “And because you still have a hard on. My guess is you’d rather get into my pants than kill me. So I figure I’m safe as long as I don’t let you fuck me.”

Luther balled his hands into fists, fuming at her successful attempt at manipulating him. He let out a growl.

“Get in the fucking car! I’ll drive.”

“Of course you will,” Katie answered sweetly. “I guess you won’t be needing directions?”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “And not another word out of your mouth until we’re out of the city, or I’ll be tempted to toss you over the Bay Bridge.”

12

Almost three hours later, Katie watched as Luther closed the entry door to a single family home and turned back to her.

“You can’t be serious. This is breaking and entering,” she whispered.

“The place is empty.” He jerked his thumb over his left shoulder, indicating the foyer. “Mail’s piling up. These people are probably on a cruise or beach vacation over the holidays.”

“You can’t know that. They could be back any moment.”

Luther marched into the living area. “No Christmas tree in sight. In this neighborhood, everybody has a Christmas tree—unless they’re not around over the holidays. All the shutters are closed, and the cars are in the garage. We’re safe here for today.”

Katie shook her head. “Why did we have to stop anyway? We’re nearly there.”

Luther rolled his eyes, tossing her an impatient glare. “Let me put it in words you’ll understand: ‘cause I don’t want the sun to fry my ass. We need to wait for nightfall to get into the prison.”

“We can’t waste time. You could stay in the car. It’s got blackout windows, just like all of Scanguards’ cars. You just tell me who to talk to. There must be guards there to let us in during the day.”

Suddenly he chuckled. “Let us in?”

“What’s so funny?”

Luther shook his head. “You really think we’re just gonna ring the doorbell and ask them to let us in? I spent twenty years in there. I have enemies. If the guards find out that I disclosed the location of the prison to an outsider, they’ll lock me up for another twenty.” He scoffed. “And once they figure out what your scent is, they’ll shoot you on sight. They don’t exactly like witches.”

“You said I don’t smell much like a witch.”

“It’s faint, yeah, but given enough time, they’d figure it out. You can’t just walk in there and expect to come out unscathed.”

Katie’s heart started to pound in her chest, constricting at the realization that finding out who’d written those letters wasn’t quite as simple as she’d hoped. “But then how are we gonna get the information we need? How will we find the guy?”

“Don’t worry your pretty little brain with that. I’ll go in. You’ll be staying here, waiting for me.”

Katie braced her hands on her hips, glaring at him. This big bully was going to leave her behind? “That wasn’t the deal. I’m coming with you. Do you really think you can just drop me here and expect me to wait like some submissive little woman who doesn’t have two brain cells to rub together?”

He walked toward her until the tip of his boots almost touched her shoes. “Yes, that’s exactly what I’m expecting. Though the word submissive doesn’t exactly come to mind when I think of you.”

Katie pulled in a breath of air. “Oh yeah, then what comes to mind? Go ahead, just say it. You’ve been holding it in during the entire car ride.” And she was sick of his brooding and the silence that had made the drive feel longer than the almost three hours it had taken them to reach the foothills.