The kid almost bolted from the room.

Then Quinn turned back to Amaury, who was still kissing his wife. “Amaury!” he shouted. “We are still here. And there’s work to be done.”

His friend released Nina instantly, shrugging and tossing him a sheepish look. “Sure.”

Then he let a seductive look slide over his wife. “Later.”

Nina simply boxed him in the shoulder and left the room, shaking her head. “I’ll be in the kitchen.”

Amaury’s eyes followed the tantalizing sway of her hips, then he twisted his lips into a smile. “Oh, yeah, she wants me.”

Quinn rolled his eyes, noticing that Cain was doing the same. “She’s your mate. Of course she wants you.”

“Yeah, but right now, she really wants me.”

“She’ll have to wait, because I really want you to start securing the house,” Quinn answered in dry tones.

When Cain laughed out loud, Amaury shot him a pissed off glare. “Wait until it hits you, then you won’t be laughing at the rest of us anymore.”

“Out, both, now!” Quinn ordered.

Even before the two had left the room, Quinn’s sensitive ears picked up the sound of the garage door in the back of the house opening. Since the house was build on a slight incline, the backside of the house was lower than the front. The garage was accessible at street level from the back of the house, yet inaccessible from the front, where it lay underground.

“They’re here,” he murmured to himself and headed for the stairs to the basement and garage.

By the time he reached the garage, the car had already pulled in, and the garage door was closed again. Quinn walked up to the convertible, a red BMW. The top was down, and thanks to the unusually sunny weather, that fact would not look suspicious to anybody watching them. Quinn counted on it. It was important that Keegan’s people saw who entered and left the house. A convertible made sure of that.

He rushed to the driver’s side, opening the door before Delilah had a chance to open it herself. She gave him a grateful smile and accepted his hand.

“Thanks for coming so quickly.”

“Goes without saying.”

Portia exited from the passenger side. “At least that gives us something useful to do.”

He smiled at Zane’s mate who despite her young age acted more mature than he’d seen two hundred-year-old vampires behave.

He was about to turn away from the car when he saw a movement on the backseat. His mouth dropped open. “You brought the baby?”

Delilah lifted her daughter out of the car seat. “I talked Samson into it. Nobody will suspect us if we’re traveling with a baby. She’s the perfect distraction.” She planted a soft kiss on Isabelle’s head. “Aren’t you?”

Quinn lifted his hands in capitulation. “If Samson is okay with that . . . .”

“Not to worry,” Portia added, exchanging a wicked grin with Delilah. “He’ll get over it. I’m riding along for protection. Even if the other side sets anybody on our tail and tries to attack us, they can only use humans during daytime. They won’t know what hit them when they try to attack us. They’re not gonna know that I’m part vampire.”

“And Zane agreed to that?” Quinn asked doubtfully.

“He did,” a muffled voice came from the direction of the trunk. “And now he’d like to get out of this prison.”

“Oops, sorry, baby,” Portia said hastily and hurried to the trunk, opening it.

Zane peeled his long figure out from the tight interior, stretching as soon as he stood.

“I wasn’t expecting you.”

“I figured you could use an extra pair of hands.”

“Always appreciated.”

Suddenly, Delilah seemed to remember something and dug into her pocket. “Here’s the phone you asked for. Thomas rigged it. The only person who can text or call back to this phone is the one you contact with it. Otherwise, it’s untraceable.”

“Thanks.” Quinn took it and stuffed it into his pocket.

Pleased that things were running right on schedule, Quinn led the new arrivals upstairs, filling them in on their tasks while they waited for Wesley and Blake to get ready.

They didn’t have to wait long.

Rose had done an amazing job, making the two look indeed very similar from afar. Even at close range the similarities were striking. The clothing was the easy part. They both wore jeans and red T-shirts.

“You look a lot taller, Wes,” Quinn commented, wondering how Rose had achieved that.