“A purpose, yeah, don’t we all need that?” Luther mused. He’d had a purpose once. He’d worked for Scanguards, protected people, helped the innocent. It had made him feel good about himself. He needed something like this again, something to live for, and something to die for.

“It’s good to have direction in life,” Wes agreed. “When Haven was a vampire hunter, I was just drifting, always getting in trouble somewhere. He had to bail me out so many times I started wondering when he’d get sick of it and would let me rot. But he never gave up on me.”

“It’s good to see that you all stick together.” And it was good to know that Katie had two brothers she could rely on. Two men who cared about her and whose shoulders she could cry on if she needed to. Even as that thought went through his mind, Luther wanted to be that shoulder. Or better yet, he wanted that Katie would never have to cry again.

“You do care about her, don’t you?” Wesley suddenly asked.

Luther met Wesley’s intense gaze. “I wish I didn’t.” And if Wesley could see that, could Katie see it, too? Did she, too, suspect that his feelings for her ran deeper than just a casual physical relationship?

40

Pleased with her work, Katie led Roxanne down to the living room, where Luther and Wesley were waiting.

“Here she is,” she said and stretched her arms out like a presenter on a TV show introducing a special guest.

Roxanne stepped into the living room and turned on her own axis. “What do you think?”

Both men looked at her with open mouths and wide eyes.

The transformation was perfect. Roxanne’s hair was now styled in the same fashion as Katie’s, hanging in soft curls over her shoulders. She wore identical clothes, which thanks to Katie’s extensive wardrobe had not been a problem at all. Her closet carried many duplicate outfits, a habit she’d acquired during her time in Hollywood. With two inch heels, Roxanne was now the exact same height as Katie, and a little bit of padding in Roxanne’s bra had boosted her cup size from a C to a D.

But the biggest change was visible in Roxanne’s face. Colored contacts Blake had quickly sourced from the large vault below Scanguards HQ, which carried everything from fake mustaches to silver bullets, had turned Roxanne’s grey eyes into stunning emeralds.

Professional stage make-up had changed the height of her cheekbones and plumped up her lips to make them as full as Katie’s. A slightly darker foundation made Roxanne’s skin color match Katie’s. With a kohl pencil, Katie had redrawn Roxanne’s eyebrows and shaped them so they were identical to her own. Roxanne’s nose was longer than Katie’s, but with the creative use of different powders and blushes, it now appeared shorter.

“Wow.” Luther let out a stunned breath. “The resemblance is uncanny.”

“Yeah,” Wesley added. “That’s totally creepy.” He looked Roxanne up and down. “You look like Katie. And that’s totally weirding me out.”

Katie suppressed a smirk. She’d noticed how Wes had looked at Roxanne earlier. Apparently her brother had a crush on the sexy vampire vixen.

“As long as Roxanne doesn’t have to talk, I think we’ll be fine,” Katie said. “I’m afraid we didn’t have time to work on her accent.”

“I’ve lived in this country for over three decades. I doubt even a whole semester of elocution lessons would get rid of my accent, dear,” Roxanne said.

“I find your accent charming,” Wes replied. “Don’t ever lose that.”

Roxanne didn’t verbally reply to Wesley’s comment, though her lips lifted into a soft smile. “I guess now the waiting begins.”

Luther nodded. “I just checked in with Blake. They haven’t heard back from Forrester yet. We still have a few hours until the exchange.”

Katie sought Luther’s eyes. “Do you, uh, could you, maybe…” She felt awkward trying to ask Luther in front of the others. “There’s something…” She motioned to the ceiling, indicating the upper floor.

Finally Luther seemed to understand. “Oh, yes, of course, there’s something we’ll need to take care of. Uh, excuse us.”

As Katie turned she caught Wesley’s eye roll. But to his credit, her brother didn’t make a snarky comment, though he knew what this was about: she wanted to be alone with Luther.

Because this would be their last time.

Luther didn’t speak, didn’t even take her hand as they climbed the stairs and walked down the corridor to her bedroom. She entered ahead of him and sensed him following her. When the door snapped shut a moment later, she just stood there in the middle of the room, not moving, not turning around.