Honey snuggled into the warm cocoon of Morgan’s embrace. With her eyes closed, she inhaled his warm masculine scent. She lightly stroked the arm around her.

They’d slept entwined in her double bed. Obviously, a larger bed was not necessary.

They had made love several times. Morgan had clearly planned for the evening’s activities. They exhausted every condom he had stashed in her bag. She huffed in amusement. She hadn’t even noticed he had done that.

She was in love with this man, and he said he loved her. It was scary and thrilling. Everything was about to change in her world. As long as she had Morgan, she thought she could handle anything that came her way.

The smooth even rise and fall of his chest, his breath on her hair, lulled her back to sleep.

Honey woke to a sharp knock on the door. She didn’t want to move. She was much too comfortable. The knock sounded again.

Honey unwrapped herself from Morgan’s protective arms and tossed on a dressing gown.

Jinx stood impatiently on the other side of the door. “Would you let Morgan know he’s expected in the dining room for a meeting at nine.” She turned on her heel and left. She clearly did not approve of having located Morgan in Honey’s room.

“I heard,” Morgan groaned. He picked up his watch from the side table. “Seven-thirty. That’s enough time for a shower and breakfast.” He sat up. He scooped his shorts from the floor and pulled them on.

Honey stood with her arms crossed as she watched him pull his slacks on and slip his long arms through his dress shirt sleeves. Morgan tossed the rest of his clothing items over one arm and picked up his shoes.

Morgan leaned down for a kiss. “Meet you in the breakfast room in half an hour?”Morgan leaned down for a kiss.

“I don’t know where that is, Morgan.” Honey stated dryly, moving her head to the side not letting him kiss her.

“Right,” Morgan exhaled through his nose. “Sorry. I will come back for you in half an hour.” He leaned in and kissed her. “I love you. We’ll move you into my rooms tonight. And I’ll make sure you get a proper tour of the house this afternoon.”

“Morgan, the only door I’ve been through more than once is that one right there. And the only place I know how to get to and from is the bathroom. I am at a distinct disadvantage here, and I really don’t like being woken up by that sneering woman. I just want to be able to get from one place to another without thinking I’m going to get lost and not knowing anyone if I do get lost. It’s annoying, okay.” Her tone was terse.

“I know it is, sweetheart. And I’ve been lousy about it. But I will fix this. I want you to be comfortable here. It’s really not the labyrinth you think it is.”

“I’ll talk to Jinx. She’ll make sure you can get around.”

“No, she won’t. She clearly doesn’t like me. She is being passive-aggressive towards me. She could have told me you were walking JoJo down the aisle yesterday. Instead, she was so cryptic about it. And you didn’t see the look on her face just now. She disapproves of me for having you spend the night in here. It’s my fault you aren’t in your own bed.” Honey felt herself starting to cry. She wiped at her cheek and looked at her wet fingers. “I want you to show me around, not the staff.”

She sat abruptly on the bed.

“Ya’ know, five minutes ago I woke up, in love, in your arms, happy. And now I’m feeling very insecure because I don’t know where I am here without you. I am so out of my league, I almost like you better as a poor construction worker. I can’t keep up with this.” Honey gestured indicating everything. “You live in a house with staff.”

Moran sat, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. “Don’t say that. Come on. We’ll move your stuff now. You can shower there. I won’t leave you. And I will make sure you know where everything is.”

Honey sniffed. “Draw me a map?”

“I’ll draw you a map. I love you. Come on. Throw some clothes on.” Morgan stood and began tossing items into the duffle bag sitting on the side chair. Honey helped him stuff the rest of her belongings in the bag then she followed him down a series of halls.

Honey was surprised when they entered Morgan’s rooms. The living space was a large open floor plan. Columns and an archway divided the living room from the bedroom area. Honey noted the large king-sized bed. She placed her items on one of the brown leather couches.

Honey was amazed. “This is bigger than my whole apartment, and it’s inside of a house.”

Morgan led her into the oversized bath. This was not a bathroom designed for multiple-person use but a spa-like luxury bathroom. A wide counter under a large mirror held only one sink. A large jacuzzi tub occupied one corner. A walk-in shower took over the opposite corner. A half wall protected the toilet from appearing to be in the middle of it all. Morgan leaned into the shower, spinning knobs to start the hot water. “You shower first.” He stood in the doorway and pointed back out towards his living room. “I’ll be in there. Don’t worry. I’m not leaving you alone.” He pointed back out towards his living room.

“I have a better idea. Why don’t you join me?” Honey teased.

“That sounds like a beautiful suggestion, but I’m expected down stairs by nine. That won’t happen if I get into that shower with you this morning.”

* * *

Morgan held her hand all the way down to the kitchen. He made it a point to show Honey exactly where they were in relation to other locations in the house. Before they reached the kitchen, he showed her the breakfast room, a separate non-formal dining area where he usually ate his meals when not on the big table in the kitchen.Connie greeted them as they entered the kitchen. “Good morning, Honey, Morgan.” Honey noticed the frenzied activities of the morning before were gone. The kitchen was still bustling, just not frantic. Connie and a couple of assistants were preparing breakfast food in large trays.

“Breakfast around here is usually whatever you make yourself.” Morgan began explaining. He reached into one of the trays and pulled out a triangle of french toast.

“You can cook in here unless there is some big event or I’ve been requested to make a big meal, like today.” Connie continued for him. “You can’t cook in here if I’m too busy. Or if I have decided you aren’t allowed in my kitchen.”

Morgan chuckled. “Yeah, I was banned for a full year because I ruined a pan.”

“No, you were banned for setting fire to my kitchen and almost burning down the house.”

“It wasn’t that bad,” Morgan grumbled playfully.

“Oh, yes, it was. We had to scrub the walls and ceiling and repaint. Those scorch marks would not come off.”

Honey laughed at their good-natured banter.

“Did you miss the big breakfast on the back patio?” Connie asked. “It’s not as grand as yesterday’s. Not as many guests, but we still have a house full of people.”

“You know I always come into the kitchen first. I don’t go looking for food to be set up.” Morgan snatched another slice of the fried bread and handed it to Honey. “Come on. Let’s go find this food.”

Morgan led Honey out through the kitchen, past the breakfast room, and through sliding glass doors onto the back patio. This was a different patio than the one Honey remembered. This one was clearly set up for outdoor cooking and dining. The large brick grill looked more like an outdoor kitchen than a simple grill. Foil trays of the food from the kitchen were lined up along the grill buffet style. Connie was right. It wasn’t as elaborate as the day before, but there was plenty of food.

Several guests sat around with paper plates on their laps enjoying their breakfasts. Honey noticed a few were wearing sunglasses and nursing large mugs of coffee. She expected they might have partied a little too hard the night before.

After breakfast, Morgan showed Honey how to get from the kitchen to the games room.

Loud groans and cheers from the group surrounding the large screen television grabbed Honey’s attention. A group of teens played a kinetic video game. A camera on the television sensed the players’ movements and translated them into in-game actions. The game intrigued Honey. It looked like fun.

She stood watching the competition. She didn’t realize how physically energetic video games had become. Large yellow letters announced game over. The group groaned as a younger boy danced around excited with his win.

“Want to play? Morgan asked.

“Sure.”

The kid who had lost the last game focused on the television screen with a controller in his hand.

Morgan said behind him. “The lady wants to play. Set her up.”

“The lady can wait her turn,” the kid said. One of his compatriots started slapping him on the shoulder, making him turn around.

“Oh, crap. Sorry,” he said when he saw Morgan. “Yeah, she can play my turn.” His focus on Morgan, he handed Honey the control wand.

“I have no idea what I’m doing,” she admitted to the younger boy she stood next to.

“It’s easy. You move the way it tells you to move.”

Honey read the prompts as they were displayed. The premise of the game seemed easy enough. The execution was an entirely different matter. She felt like a marionette with spastic strings as she tried to mimic the movements of the demented rabbit-like creature on the screen. She was breathless with laughter by the time Game Over displayed.

The boy next to her repeated his victory dance until he caught sight of Morgan. He stopped moving and stared wide-eyed at the taller man. “Sorry” he squeaked, before dropping his controller and backing out of the room.

“What did you do to that kid?” Honey asked as they left the room.

“Went a little alpha on him.”

Honey stopped. “Show me,” she demanded.

She took a step back when Morgan’s face changed. His eyes blazed gold, his brow grew thicker, cheekbones sharper, teeth a little longer. Morgan flashed an angry menacing visage, then his face returned to normal. Morgan’s handsome chiseled features almost looked soft in comparison.

“Okay. That’s frightening. You did that to scare him on purpose.”

“Of course, I did. I have a reputation to uphold. Right now, winning a video game is going to rank that kid among his peers. I didn’t want him to think a victory against someone who has never played that system before is going to count. And I particularity didn’t want him to think winning a game against my girl means anything. Think of it as a stop gap measure, preventative ego maintenance.”

“Well whatever you want to call it, it’s scary as hell, and I hope to never be on the receiving end of that face.” She placed her palm against his cheek. “I like this face much better.”

Morgan placed his hand against hers and turned into her hand, kissing her palm.

“Carolyn was telling me they are always in competition,” Honey said tilting her head back towards the game room.

Morgan nodded. “Always. Especially the younger ones. They are continually trying to prove themselves. When they go off to college, it will be about grades, scholarships they don’t need, and school rankings. Once they graduate, they typically let their job status be the competitive ranking. The ones you don’t see competing are either submissive and they don’t really care or they are very dominant and don’t feel the need to compete.”

“So, you weren’t one of the competitive ones?”

“Are you kidding? I was in the middle of it all. Constantly, trying to top the kid next to me. Being dominant as a kid has more to do with self-esteem and ego than actual dominance. Not feeling the need to compete to show your strength doesn’t automatically translate into being a strong adult. It helps, but it’s no guarantee.”

Remi wheeled toward them. “There you are, Morgan. You are expected in the dining room.”

Honey looked at Morgan, a moment of panic crossed her face.

“Miss Gould, I understand you like art.” Remi began. “While Morgan is in his meeting, I thought I would show you the family’s art collection.”

“Go on,” Morgan said. “Remi won’t let you get lost. And he’s right. I think you’ll find our collection interesting. I’ll come find you when I’m done.”

Morgan leaned in and kissed her cheek. “I love you,” he whispered in her ear before turning and disappearing behind a set of large wood doors.

* * *

Morgan closed the dining room doors behind him. He felt like he was segregating his life into time with Honey and everything else. He needed to find balance. He needed to start letting Honey into the rest of his life. That or take her and run away and give it all up. That was an intriguing thought. Definitely, something he could reasonably consider. Turn around right now, go grab Honey and whisk her away from it all. He would definitely be able to spend his time focusing on what was important.

Honey. She had become vital to his very breath, and he wasn’t sure he had made that clear to her yet.

He blinked and focused on the others in the room. This looked like a war council. His gaze slid from Julia to Shane to Joe. Everyone’s face was grim. Not a smile in the bunch. Dante wasn’t happy, but he looked more like he had yet to go to bed from last night’s revelries.

“Are we waiting on anyone else?” Morgan asked.

The consensus in the room was they were all present.

Morgan pulled out the chair closest to him and sat. Julia slid over a hand-written agenda. Take it from Julia to have even an impromptu meeting organized. Morgan looked over the list. Nodding to himself.

“All right. Fill me in.”

Shane nodded to Julia, confirming he was first up on the agenda. “Cyan del Fuego has been more than cooperative. Del Fuegos have taken lead on the entire Lazarus investigation. At this point, we’re providing them support.”

Morgan nodded. “Do we have a solid connection between Lazarus and the gents who picked me up?”

“Nothing we could prove in court, but it’s him.”

“Speaking of court,” Dante groaned. “Those documents from Cyan Group are pretty damaging for your friend Maplecourt. I’ve already identified the offshore account he’s been siphoning funds into. I just need to connect a few dots, then we can hand him over to Cyan with incontestable evidence.”

“Good,” Morgan growled. “Anything else you found out about him? Anything?”

“Give you a reason to eviscerate him before handing his carcass over to Cyan del Fuego?” Dante’s eyebrows lifted above his sunglasses.

“Exactly.”

With a scoff, Dante slid a file across the table to Morgan. “These are old, but I thought you might want to see them. They will make you angry. They certainly pissed me off, and I’m not in love with the girl.”

Morgan opened the folder to a stack of color photographs. Honey, the wind whipping her hair, looked sad, dejected. Walking next to her, a glaring Bryce Maplecourt.

“The guy who took these recognized her and thought he could sell them for one of those where are they now articles. He didn’t.”

Morgan slowly sorted through the photos. Honey and Maplecourt were arguing. The progression of images laid out the events like a storyboard. The last few shots were of Maplecourt hitting Honey. Morgan crushed the last image in his fist. It showed Honey cowering before raised fists seconds before they would hit her.

“The photographer said he could have sold these, but he kept them in case Honey ever needed them. Then when she just disappeared, he hoped she had gotten away from the guy.”

“And he kept these?”

“Yeah. He’s got something against men who hit women. He said if these could damn the man in the photos, I could have them for free.”

“It’s damning enough for me.” Morgan breathed heavily through his nose. He itched to show Maplecourt what it would feel like to be on the receiving end of a pummeling.

Morgan closed his eyes to refocus. He looked down at the agenda. The next topic read ‘Smith.’

“Remi left with Honey. Does that mean he found out nothing on our Smith?” Morgan asked.

Julia pushed a piece of paper over to him. “Here’s Remi’s report. It looks like this Smith used to be a Kawasaki. They had some falling out apparently over a woman and money.”

“Isn’t that what it’s always about?” Joe scoffed.

“His family had been keeping tabs on him but lost track of him about five years ago They were appreciative that we reported a sighting. Apparently, they wanted to bring him back in. We didn’t tell them of his premature demise. From what Remi wrote, its sounds like they hinted at him being a fugitive and not some prodigal son.”

“And if this Smith was a fugitive that would have given Lazarus leverage against him.”

“It had to be pretty good leverage.”

“We’ll never know.”

Shane cocked an eyebrow at Morgan. Morgan coolly eyed him back. “Him or me. I chose me.”

“Anyway—” Julia cut in “—from what Remi reported, the Kawasakis are open to working with us if vampires are involved.”

“If vampires are involved and we start creating alliances with other families, that’s really going to look like we are making strategic maneuvers for some kind of war,” Dante interjected.

“That’s why we have to be smart about this. We have to find out exactly what’s going on.” Morgan responded.

“Isn’t that what your friend in Santa Maria said? Us making nice with the Aventines would have been reason enough to piss Lazarus off?”

“She also said it could be a gambit of his to distract the Del Fuego coven from his real intentions. We aren’t the target. We’re a tool. It’s in our best interest to build strategic alliances with other wolves, especially regionally, and to formalize our relationship with the local bloodsuckers,” Shane announced.

Everyone stopped and stared at him. “I’m not saying I will like it. I’m saying it’s the smart political move. Look, if Lazarus is somehow actually back from the dead, there are going to be as many unhappy bloodsuckers as wolves out there. Enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Shane looked around at everyone as they continued to stare at him. “Hey, not all bloodsuckers are bad. I will deny that if you try to quote me on it.”

“We need some talented negotiators and natural ambassadors,” Julia said.

“Speaking of ambassadors, how are relations going with Aventine?” Dante waggled his eyebrows at Julia. She shot him a loaded glare.

“Actually, having Aventine with us on this is going to be very beneficial. Roman is a very skillful negotiator and has a growing reputation that’s almost the polar opposite of his father’s. While his father hasn’t stepped down officially, he hasn’t taken an active interest in their business or family since his wife got sick. We can use him to our benefit. Besides Carolyn, is about to deliver, and she would be the person we have best suited for that role.”

Morgan nodded his head. “We need calm wolves with business know-how for negotiating with vampires. Let’s give that to Remi. He’ll know who would be best suited for this kind of job. Heck, if we have to train someone for the job of vampire ambassador, he’ll know who we need to groom.”

Julia leaned forward to address the group again. “Now about establishing connections with other families. Remi opened the door for me with the Kawasakis, and I’ve had promising email correspondence with a family out of South Africa and some other more local families. Now that we have this DNA evidence situation, this outreach initiative needs to be stepped up.” She rapped her knuckles on the table. “We need to find out who we have north of us. See if the Nevada group will talk. They like to pretend they don’t exist. What’s our end game? I think it’s changed. Before it was a matter of being formally aware and acknowledging each other, but now I think we need to consider spearheading the foundation of some kind of alliance.”

“That’s exactly what needs to happen. We also have to find and bring in all our Smiths. At least, make them aware that this now exists,” Morgan added.

“This DNA situation,” Julia said, “has us concerned on two fronts. We need to be able to access the database information so we can keep our information safe, and we need to start educating, not just the Smiths, but other branches of the family.” She pointed at Dante and Joe. “That’s what I’ve got these bozos working on.”

“I resemble that remark,” Dante smirked.

“Seriously, though,” Joe interjected. “We’ve been working on filling out the family tree with Remi, Dante’s mom, and Nan as much as either of us can get out of her. We have missing branches. So far I have confirmed and traced back everyone who has been through the school. Fortunately, that’s not a lot, and their genealogy lines are clean. We’re compiling a list of who and when family lines seem to have broken or ended. The plan is to contract PIs and lawyers for remote groundwork as needed, and pound the pavement for whatever is left.”

Dante continued. “Fortunately, someone started keeping really tight records a few years back and made sure they passed that task on through the years. Julia asked me to start organizing our methods into easily followable chunks. I’m guessing that’s so we can share a step-by-step process with others as we build alliances?”

“Exactly,” Julia interjected. “I want us to be able to show to other families, in good faith, that we are serious about information sharing and containment. Just as Aventine shared the discovery with us, we need to share our processes with others.”

“Yeah, I’ve got a contact at Aventine Industries.” Dante pulled a notepad from his back pocket, and flipped it open. “Winters. Dallas Winters. Apparently, he’s doing the same kind of thing as Joe and I. We are supposed to get together at some point and compare notes on our processes—what’s working and what’s not.”

“Good.” Morgan turned toward Julia. “Now how is our attempt at acquiring labs and getting a hold of database information progressing?”

“I’m stalled. I have a list of labs we can be ready to move on, but the board won’t budge until they hear your recommendation as CEO.”

“Do you have the list for me to look at?” Morgan asked.

“I emailed them to you, but I can get you printouts after we’re done here.”

“Good. That’ll work. We need to get moving on that. Anything else?”

“Yes. I’m jumping into this genome information business as hard and as fast as I can. I’ve got a list of conferences a mile long that I need to analyze to see which one will get us up to speed fastest, as well as which ones I need to attend and where.”

“Is it time to spin this into a new company or are we good keeping it under the umbrella of Truria?” Morgan asked.

Julia pursed her lips. “My thoughts are that it stays under Truria for now. I want to acquire existing companies and bring them in, not start from scratch. I have no plans to become the head of a genomics company, but I do need to know enough to ensure we have the right people on the board and running those operations.”

“Have we gotten anything from Aventine on this?”

“They are closing on SeaQuence, that lab you visited. Also working on an outreach program,” Julia pointed vaguely at Dante and Joe again, as she flipped through a yellow legal pad covered in her handwritten notes. “They’re already on that. Lab acquisition and just learning more regarding the whole genomics thing.” She flipped to another page. “Yes. Your driver, the one you said was shot. He doesn’t exist. There are no records of a car being sent for you. No missing person report. Nothing. The receptionist at the lab doesn’t keep those kinds of records, and my note here says she just doesn’t remember. And I quote ‘People go in and out all day. You can’t expect me to remember them all.’ A real quality witness with that one.”

“Nothing?” Morgan asked incredulously.

“Nothing. And, no attempts or threats against Roman Aventine.”

“It might have been an isolated incident. Maybe. With two of Lazarus’s flunkies out of the picture, maybe it’s thrown him off his game.”

Morgan nodded. He wadded up the paper agenda in front of him. “Anything else?”

Shane nodded to him. “What’s your status right now?”

“Honestly?” Morgan asked.

“Honestly.”

“I’m not sure. I feel like I’ve dropped the ball on a few things. Ever since I met Honey, I feel like I’m messing things up with her.”

Shane chuckled. “She’s your mate isn’t she? That’s what’s throwing you off.”

Morgan sighed. “She is. Now to not scare her off. My first priority is to wrap up this project in Monterey. I can step away and not be on location; however, I am actively looking for a place down there. I’ll have to work remote for the time being.” Morgan stood, indicating he was done with the meeting. “I still want us all on a security alert. Julia, you have active bodyguards?”

She rolled her eyes and nodded.

“Good. Make sure you don’t ditch them.” Honey was his priority at the moment, but his family was his life. He couldn’t be there to protect everyone at the same time. He had to trust each one of them to do what they did best—take care of themselves and get the job done.