Page 117 of Red Rooster

“That runs in the family, huh?”

“I guess so.”

“It’s annoying as shit.”

She smiled. “Duly noted.”

His hand moved up from her shoulder, slid into place at the back of her neck. She couldn’t get over howwarmhe was. Anyone in literature who had ever called vampires the undead had been badly misinformed. They were very much alive, maybe even more so than mortals, with pulses, and heartbeats, and body heat. They were just…undying, she guessed.

Lanny stroked the nape of her neck with careful fingertips, like he was still learning his new strength, and pulled her in.

She went willingly, lips already parted in anticipation when he kissed her. The kiss was careful, too, but sweet. His tongue–

“Am I interrupting?” someone asked, and Trina had heard that voice enough times now to know the Romanian accent straight away.

She pulled back from Lanny with a wry smile, hand still resting over his heart. “Hi, Val.”

Lanny, by contrast, jerked like he’d been shocked, eyes popping wide. “Jesus, what–? Is that–? Aw, fuck.”

Valerian stood in the grass at the foot of the stairs, arms loosely folded, chuckling quietly. “Good evening, detectives.”

“Fuck,” Lanny said again, angry this time.

“Oh,” Valerian said, his show of innocence so theatrically false it almost made Trina want to smile. She hadn’t learned much about this prince, but she knew for damn sure that he was a showman. “Were you going to? And I…oh. How inopportune of me. I can just go over there and wait.” He pointed off into the night. “I’ll just leave you–”

“Val,” Trina said. “What’s up? You’ve got intel?”

He rolled his shoulders, sable cloak settling with a little flutter that was somehow royal. Alexei held himself like royalty, but it was an imitation of things he’d seen his father do decades before; the movements of a child who’d been told he was special, and destined for great things. Val carried himself like someone who’d had toprovehe was royalty – most likely again and again.

“Indeed I do,” he said, more serious now. “I have…” He made a face. “An ally, it would seem. She’s told me what she can about the facility.”

“Okay, great.” Trina fished her phone from her pocket. “Will your voice show up if I record it? I want to be able to play this back for the others.”

“I haven’t the faintest idea.”

“Well, let’s try it, and–”

“He is here, you know.”

She froze, thumb hovering over the Record button on the app.

“Sasha,” Val explained. “I scented another wolf, and, well, I obviously can’t see him. Or visit him, strangely enough. They must be lining his cell with silver so I can’t get through.”

Trina swallowed. “Cell?”

“One can only assume.” He shrugged. “Annabel has said she would try to speak with him. If they’ll allow it.”

“Okay, that’s…” Her heart was pounding, she realized. Lanny laid a comforting hand on her thigh, patted it, before he got to his feet. “What do you think they want with him?”

Val tilted his head side to side. “I don’t know, exactly. I can guess. The Institute seems to think my brother holds the keys to everything from cancer research to prosthetic limb technology. Wolves and vampires are inextricably linked. I can think of all sorts of reasons for wanting to study a wolf – and a rather infamous one at that.”

During his speech, Lanny had moved down the steps and now stood beside the prince. When Val stopped talking, Lanny chopped a hand through him. The projection jumped and flickered like an old newsreel, before settling again, the image closing in smoke-like tendrils until it once again looked like a corporeal man stood at the base of the stairs.

Val turned his head and shot Lanny a withering look. “Really?”

“I just wanted to be sure,” Lanny said, shrugging, unbothered by the other’s glare.

Trina tapped her nails against her phone case. “Alright. How about that intel now?”