“Four years is a long time to plan a coup.”

“Not in the life of a vampire.”

Well, damn. Ari kept forgetting their unique point of view. Vampires were bound to see time on a much bigger clock.

“So that’s all you had on him? That he was born in Canada?” No wonder Andreas had hesitated to share his suspicions.

“That, and an uneasy feeling. Now I see other small hints that didn’t mean much at the time. Like his failure to tell you Angela’s companion was a werewolf.”

“Yeah, I remember that one.”

“And his antipathy toward you. His frequent reminders you were a witch, an enemy to vampires, and already involved in two vampire deaths. It was Victor who reported he saw you with Marcus. He said much to poison my opinion of you.” Andreas’s eyes held regret. “I should not have listened.”

“You didn’t know me then.”

“A poor excuse.” Andreas set the first aid kit on his desk. “Victor must have warned the wolves of the raid.”

“Then he tried to talk Ryan out of searching the house. Afraid Gordon or Marcus would expose him.” Ari suddenly put together one of the elusive pieces that had nagged her for days. The tattooed guy from Toronto—she’d seen him talking with Victor in a bar one night. “I think we all missed a lot.”

Andreas grimaced. “Including his befriending of Frederick. I wonder if Victor intended from the beginning to have him murdered. Ironic, is it not? Betrayed by one of our own.”

“Why’d he attack me? And why tonight? I thought he was on a buying trip.”

“I thought so too. The trip was a way to keep him busy while we explored his Canadian activities. He must have figured that out, realized he was about to be exposed, and moved his plans forward.” Andreas’s gaze sought hers. “Removing you was his next step.”

Ari shivered, not so much from his words as from the raw emotion in his eyes. She broke the contact and began gathering the clothes scattered around the room. He watched for a moment before gliding forward. Taking the items from her hands, he tossed them on the couch, and his hands settled on her shoulders. An instant spark of awareness brought her gaze to meet his.

Andreas slid a hand down to touch her injured arm. “I am sorry I was not here to prevent this. I received a message to meet Daron, and I went, thinking Victor was out of town.”

Andreas’s eyes darkened, and Ari’s skin tingled where his hands touched her. Her witch magic hummed with pleasure. Magic or pure attraction, it was heady stuff.

“The minute Daron told me the message was a fake, I knew you were in danger. I called. When you didn’t answer, I feared I was too late.” He moved closer, both hands sliding to her elbows. “It was not a good moment.”

Ari breathed in the masculine, musky scent of him, the allure of his cologne. She titled her head upward in invitation, and Andreas’s mouth closed over hers. Gentle at first, the kiss became deeper and possessive as he pulled her into his arms, pressing their bodies together. Ari let the kiss take her under, full and sweet, a delicious moment. As she teetered on the brink of drowning in sensation, he drew back and gently, but firmly, set her away.

Ari stared at him, pulse pounding. Andreas had been like the forbidden apple, tempting but beyond possibility. Now he’d changed the rules of this game they’d been playing, and she wasn’t sure how to react.

“It is late, and regretfully, this is not the time,” he said. He retreated across the room, putting distance between them.

Why not? Ari wanted to demand. What better time? But something kept her from saying the words. Something that knew he was right.

She watched as he closed the open trap door. Victor’s point of entry. He shoved the file cabinet against the closet door. “Secure locks will be added tomorrow,” he muttered. Still not looking at her, he picked up the splintered door and examined the damage, as if the last five minutes had never happened. But a warm pulse lingered on her lips.

As Ari watched his dark head bend over the door, silent amusement bubbled in her throat. The ever-so-cool Mr. De Luca was acting as if he didn’t trust himself. Probably a good thing, she thought. Deep inside, she was feeling very smug.

Chapter Thirty-Two

Ari threw off the covers. The clock on Andreas’s desk read 6:30. Why hadn’t someone woken her? Barefoot, she padded to the desk, switched on a lamp, and saw the note sticking under the door. It was written in a strong masculine hand. Andreas and the other members of the vampire court were holding an emergency meeting and would be staying at the compound. He suggested she sleep late and take the tunnel. It was signed with a simple A.

Ari’s lips curved. A vampire sleepover. Lucien and Carmella and all the gang. Then it occurred to her what a bad idea that was. She grabbed her clothes, weapons, and pouch of spells and powders, searching under the sofa for a missing shoe. What were the vampires thinking? You don’t put all your big guns under one roof. Not when you anticipated an attack. What kind of strategy was that?

She continued to mumble to herself while tying her sneakers, barely noticing her arm had healed to thin white stripes. Another Guardian ability she took for granted.

“They’re arrogant,” she grumbled, bouncing to her feet. “That’s what it is.” But Ari knew the real problem was the vampires were solitary hunters. Troop strategy was foreign to them. And the wolves would be watching for a mistake just like this. She raced out the door, her cell phone already dialing to warn the team. They might be called on to demonstrate all their skills today.

When Ari arrived at the compound, it was quiet. The kind of quiet referred to as the calm before the storm. The team worked in silence, scanning the cameras for trouble. Weapons were laid out on desks and tables. They’d already absorbed the news of Victor’s treachery, understood his intimate knowledge of the compound, and that the dreaded map of the inner chambers was probably in the hands of the wolves. Determination hung thick in the room. The way to the vampires was through them.

“With Victor dead, is there a chance the wolves will give up and go home?” Benny asked her.

Ari shrugged, knowing Benny’s question was just nerves talking. “Doubt if they know he’s dead. They’ll think he’s sleeping like the other vamps. I’m more worried they already had a plan and were waiting for the right moment.”

Benny plopped in a chair. “Yeah, that’s what I thought you’d say.”

* * *

Just before noon, the whump, whump, whump of a helicopter and an explosion on the roof announced the assault. Plaster and debris rained from the ceiling, and thick, black smoke filled the air. Ari dove for cover behind the TV. Mike upended the table and crouched behind it with an assault rifle. The smoke bomb continued to pour a heavy veil around them. Ari heard gunfire from the other room, returned from above. Then thumping and scrambling as feet hit the floor. The combatants were coming through the roof. Mike fired a couple rounds, but the smoke was too dense to identify the targets. A strong odor of werewolf confirmed the arrival of Sheila and her pack of assassins.

The smoke residue stung Ari eyes, temporarily blinding her. She released a powder from her magical pouch and the smoke thinned around her. Snarls and growls seemed to come from every direction. Ari glimpsed a furry hand, but wasn’t sure whether it was friend or foe. A human form appeared in the haze carrying an Uzi, but combat was too close for him to use it effectively. Ari lunged forward, knocking his feet out from under him as she delivered two sharp jabs to his face and throat. He bucked her off, swinging the weapon around like a hammer and clipping her shoulder. He scrambled away. She threw a binding spell, but he vanished into the smoke.

A furry body crashed into her left side. Ari staggered and whirled to land a sidekick on the wolf’s hindquarters. As the creature turned to swipe with its claws, Ari caught a good whiff of its scent. The same scent that had been all over Yana. Ari’s blood pumped with the realization she’d finally come face-to-face with Sheila. The she-wolf’s claws raked across Ari’s waist, ripping her shirt and tearing away her belt. The dagger and bag of potions skidded across the floor. A gun exploded near Ari’s ear and blood splattered her face, blinding her, as Sheila yelped and rolled away. Mike yanked Ari behind the table.

Ari took a deep breath. The sweet, metallic smell of blood saturated the air. She wiped her face, removing a layer of blood and bits of fur. Sheila would heal her injuries, but Mike’s bullet had given the she-wolf something to think about.

A gray wolf face loomed over the table. Ari hit him between the eyes with witch fire. The face exploded in flames. Let him try to heal that.

The ventilation system kicked in, and the heavy smoke drifted toward the vents. Ari saw dark shadows to go with the various screams, growls, and loud blasts from the guns. She finally located the rest of her team. Lilith was in the surveillance room, firing from behind a computer desk that partially blocked the door. Russell, transformed into a small but muscular lion, was locked in a biting, clawing struggle with a large, dark-brown wolf. Ari figured Russell’s greater agility would win that fight. Mike had traded the rifle for a handgun. All of her team members were armed with silver bullets. After that brief second of assessment, Ari went to Benny’s aid. He had shifted into lion form but was outnumbered by three wolves who had trapped him in a corner. She blasted two of them with three stuns, at least temporarily evening the fight.

Two more smoke bombs exploded, obscuring the scene again, and she heard more wolves drop from the roof. Ari crept forward, stepping over two bodies on the floor. When she reached the wall, she spotted human forms directly ahead, one with an Uzi. They were running their hands over the knotty pine wall. Damn, damn, damn. Ari fired into the smoky haze with two more stunners, hoping to stop them before they found the latch. With her magic level now low and needing to regenerate, she was forced to retreat, leaping over the table to avoid the return fire from the Uzi. She nudged Mike. Although the smoke was still too thick to aim, he fired blindly in the direction of the secret passage. Ari heard an anguished yelp. She pulled the derringer from her ankle holster and started forward again.