“And any one of those soldiers could have drugged Bastien while he was disabling and restraining the one or two or ten men that would have satisfied you,” Melanie again defended Bastien, who squeezed the hell out of her hand. “We had no idea they were there until they shot me.”

“If he had time to kill them, he had time to knock them out,” Chris maintained.

“I agree,” Marcus said.

Seth turned to Bastien. “He has a point. Next time maim and disarm them. Don’t kill them.”

Bastien nodded, face grim.

Melanie felt guilty because he wouldn’t be in this position if she hadn’t been shot. And he looked as if he were mentally kicking himself in the ass.

“I think Bastien should be removed from duty,” Chris announced. “I don’t think he should be allowed to hunt anymore. And I want him banned from network premises forthwith.”

The pronouncement spawned many looks of surprise, but no protests.

Melanie’s temper roused. “You can’t do that. Cliff and Joe need him.”

“He should have thought of that before he plowed through my men again.”

Seth groaned. “Damn it, Sebastien. What did you do this time?”

“They wouldn’t let me see Dr. Lipton,” Bastien bit out. “And if Richart hadn’t come to my defense, Chris would have had me chained up in the holding room as soon as we arrived at the network.”

Melanie gaped at Chris. “You tried to chain him up again?”

“Yes,” he said unrepentantly.

“For what?”

“He killed all of those human soldiers in a fit of rage. I wasn’t going to take the chance that he would harm my men.”

Stanislov looked around. “I don’t see how one action would necessarily follow the other.”

Richart nodded. “I objected. I thought Chris overreacted.”

Melanie looked around the table. “Okay. Maybe everyone else here already knows the answer to this or maybe they’re just too polite to ask. Or maybe they just don’t give a damn. But I have to know . . .” She returned her gaze to Chris. “Why do you have such a bug up your butt about Sebastien?”

A few of the immortals—namely the French immortals—coughed to cover laughs.

Bastien’s head jerked around. “Melanie—”

“No. I want to know.”

Chris’s brows drew down. “Melanie?” he repeated, catching Bastien’s more casual address.

“Well?” she persisted. “Why do you dislike him so much? I understand why Roland, Sarah, and Marcus do. Bastien tried to kill them. And I know why they do.” She motioned to the other immortals present. “They’re pissed because he killed their friend Ewen.” She paused. “And, by the way, while you’re busy hating and condemning him for that, you might ask yourselves why David and Seth aren’t. They’re the wisest men in this room and neither one of them seem to have a problem with Bastien.”

Seth held up a finger.

“Except for his mouth,” she amended.

Seth smiled and dropped his hand. “Thank you.”

“I mean, did it ever occur to any of you that there might be a reason for that? That maybe Bastien killed Ewen in self-defense? That maybe Ewen mistook Bastien for a vampire and attacked him, leaving him no choice but to fight to the death?”

“How did you know that?” Bastien demanded and looked at Seth. “Did you tell her that? I told you to stay out of my head.”

“I didn’t tell her.”

Again Bastien asked Melanie, “How did you know that?”

She shrugged. “What other reason would you have to kill him?”

“Because Bastien’s a prick?” Roland suggested.

Melanie rolled her eyes. “You’re biased.”

“And you aren’t?” he posed.

Étienne’s eyes widened. “Merde. It’s true. Ewen attacked him.”

Marcus straightened. “Bastien must have given him reason.”

“He was draining a woman,” Lisette said.

“Stay out of my head,” Bastien growled at the French siblings.

“Then Ewen was in the right,” Marcus proclaimed.

Chris nodded. “He can’t be trusted.”

“Bullshit!” Tanner blurted. “Bastien doesn’t kill anyone who doesn’t deserve it.”

“His vampire followers did,” Chris said.

“Vince, Cliff, and Joe didn’t,” Melanie denied.

Tanner nodded. “And Bastien had no way of knowing about the ones who did.”

“If he couldn’t control them, he should have killed them.”

“You’re just pissed because he managed to get past you and all of your men and kidnap Sarah, taking her right out from under your noses.”

Heavy silence took the room.

Really? Was that it? Was that the bug, so to speak?

Melanie studied Chris’s reddening face and decided, yes, that was definitely the bug.

“Actually,” Bastien said slowly, “he’s pissed because, while I stole Sarah right out from under his nose, I broke that nose and shattered several bones in his face, knocking him unconscious before he could get off a single shot or give a shout out to warn the rest of his men.”

Ooh. That was . . . That was not good.

Chris’s face turned positively purple.

Sarah cleared her throat. “If it helps, I didn’t see Bastien coming either.”

Darnell grinned. “Yeah, but you managed to shoot him twice and stab him in the ass.”

Laughter erupted.

Seth held his hands up. “All right. All right. Settle down. We’re all glad Sarah stabbed Bastien in the ass.”

More chuckles.

“Chris,” Seth commanded, “you’re just going to have to get over Bastien hitting you in the face, because it’s interfering in your work. Follow Sarah’s example and move on. As for the network . . . tell your men to give Bastien some space and he’ll stop kicking their asses. I want Cliff and Joe to continue to have access to him. They’re doing us a favor and pretty much voluntarily incarcerated themselves to do it. They need the break and whatever happiness and contentment he can bring them.”

Though that didn’t go over well, Chris made no objections.

It was Seth. How could one oppose his edicts?

Seth turned to Bastien. “Bastien, I need you to do your part as well. Stop antagonizing everyone and show a little more patience if you run into interference at the network. Instead of injuring the men who work there and who help us, pick up your phone and give me or David a call. If you can’t reach us, call Richart. He wisely teleported you out of there tonight before the situation could escalate. If necessary, he can do so again.”

Bastien nodded.

“David, have you anything to add?”

David said nothing for a moment, his handsome ebony face thoughtful. Melanie had never encountered anyone with such dark skin before. It was beautiful. As flawless as a supermodel’s. Yet somehow remained masculine.

“Everyone here must be mindful of the situation that brought us here tonight,” he said in his deep, honeyed voice. “Though Richart, Bastien, and Dr. Lipton were at UNC for quite some time, they were unaware of the soldiers’ presence until those soldiers made their presence known. I wonder, Chris, if the network might provide the immortals and their Seconds with some kind of thermal imaging binoculars or scopes that would allow them to see the heat signatures of soldiers who may otherwise escape their notice upon initial inspection.”

Chris reached into his jacket and drew out one of his ever-present notebooks and a short, stubby pencil. “Done.”

Melanie had seen him scribbling in similar notebooks so often she wondered if he didn’t have a roomful of them somewhere.

As Chris made notes on the memo pad, he raised his eyes and met Bastien’s. “Would that have helped you tonight?”

Melanie held her breath.

Chris could have asked Richart instead and avoided conversing with his nemesis. Was this a sort of peace offering?

“Before tonight I wouldn’t have thought such necessary,” Bastien replied slowly, “but, yes. Thermal imaging would have revealed at least a few of them. Those who were concealed by shadows and foliage even our eyes couldn’t penetrate.”

Richart nodded. “When I returned to UNC, I was surprised to see just how many had escaped our attention.”

“Good.” Chris made a few more notes. “Something else to have in our arsenal then. I’ll have them in the hands of every immortal and every Second in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia by nightfall tomorrow. We don’t know how much territory these guys are covering.”

Maybe this was a truce. That would be such a relief.

Melanie patted Bastien’s knee under the table.

Bastien caught her hand and held it against his thigh.

“Stay alert,” Seth commanded. “This is the second time they’ve managed to surprise us. Let us ensure it doesn’t happen again.”

Chapter 10

As the meeting concluded, Bastien released Melanie’s hand and rose.

Beside them, Richart vanished as Melanie scooted her chair back and stood.

Tanner circled the table. “Do you want me to accompany you tomorrow night when you meet with the vamp?”

“No. I’d rather you stay here.” Where it was safe. And where he could rub elbows with David and Darnell. Those two could befriend a badger. If they liked Tanner, they would do their damnedest to ensure everyone else did, too.

Just look how they were constantly pushing Bastien on the others.

“Only if you call me before and after your meeting.”

“Of course.”

Tanner clapped him on the shoulder, then headed into the kitchen.

As the other attendees left the table and milled around, some dropping onto the living room sofas and others venturing downstairs, Sheldon sidled up to Bastien. “So.” He cleared his throat and looked around furtively. “I thought I’d hang around here today. See what’s doin’.”