The helicopter arrived an hour after sunset the following day, landing in a nearby clearing to the north of Broadmoor. The first one off the aircraft was a beast of a man in a black tank top that showed off his tattooed biceps and cargo pants with pockets that made his muscular thighs look like tree trunks.

“That’s Zeph,” Mateo yelled above the sound of the rotors. “Irritating as fuck sometimes, but a total stand-up guy. Best partner I’ve ever worked with.”

Zeph smiled broadly as he jogged over to where they stood at the edge of the trees, clapped Mateo on the back, then surprised Selena by giving her a giant bear hug. “So you’re the woman who’s been under Mateo’s skin all this time.”

She felt the blood rise to her cheeks.

Mateo shot her a look that said, see what I mean? “I still can’t believe you did all this on such short notice,” he told the man. “I owe you, brother.”

“Of course,” Zeph said. “If a dude can’t count on his friend to drop everything and put a squad together to capture some bad guys, who can he count on?”

Zeph introduced them to his sister, Brenna, and her fiancé, Finn, the pilot.

Chestnut-brown eyes sparkling with mischief, Finn gave Selena a fist bump. “A fellow human and sweetblood. Niiiice. Glad to know we’re not the only crazy ones here.”

Pretending to be offended, Brenna shoved him playfully, then turned to Selena. “I hope you don’t mind that I came. I’m not a Guardian, so I won’t be going with them on the raid. Thought maybe you’d like some company.”

Or maybe Mateo didn’t want to leave her alone while all this went down. Selena smiled. It would be nice to talk to another woman, one who was a part of Mateo’s world. She liked them already.

Zeph wrapped a muscular arm around his sister’s shoulders and gave her a hearty shake. “Admit it, sis. You came cuz you missed your baby brother.”

Brenna poked him in the ribs, hard, and he jumped away from her, holding his side and laughing.

Mateo rolled his eyes. “What was it like growing up with this guy?”

“Just like you’d imagine,” Brenna answered, tucking a lock of flaxen hair behind one ear. “A nightmare. A complete and utter nightmare.”

Finn, who was absently playing with a chain he’d pulled from his pocket, snorted.

“I’ll have you know,” Zeph said, “that she used to drag me to the shops and I had to pretend to be her boyfriend. You know, hold her hand and shit. Thought it would increase her social cred if people thought she was dating a total stud.”

Brenna made a sound of exasperation. “You’re such a narcissist. See what I had to put up with, you guys?”

Zeph winked. “Notice how she didn’t call me a liar?”

Selena then met the other two Guardians. Roxy was about the same height she was, with dark blond hair and beautiful golden eyes. The woman pulled the neck of her shirt down, exposing an infinity tattoo with a rose. “I’m your resident dakai expert.”

“No shit,” Mateo said, giving a low whistle.

Roxy nodded. “I worked undercover in a sect back east. I’ve thought about having it removed—Santiago hates it—but I figured it might come in handy sometime.”

Kip was the most reserved one in the group, and from what Selena could tell, the youngest. His smile was genuine but guarded, and after quickly shaking her hand, he moved away and stayed off to the side.

On the walk back to the mansion, Selena was surprised when her phone beeped. She didn’t know there was any coverage up here. It was a missed call from her dad. Hanging back from the group, she hit redial. He wasn’t into long phone conversations, so she knew this would be quick.

“Hey, Dad.”

“Where are you? I stopped by the kitchen, but you weren’t there. And I stopped by your house. Marcella wants me to order a cake for her nephew’s birthday.”

Irritation pricked at the back of her neck. The woman couldn’t contact Selena herself? In addition to all the handyman projects she was having him do around her house, she was now having Selena’s father do her errands too? It ticked her off that her father was so smitten by this woman that he couldn’t see how he was being taken advantage of. He was a smart, intelligent man. Couldn’t he see what was going on? Love could be blind sometimes, she thought, then laughed inwardly at the irony. After all, she was the one who had fallen for a vampire.

“I…ran into an old friend.” She hesitated, deciding whether to say anything more. She couldn’t exactly tell him the truth, nor did she have time for a lengthy explanation of half-truths that would satisfy him.

“Oh? Who is that?”

But she couldn’t flat-out lie to her father, either. “Mateo. He’s back in town for a few days, so I’m…up at Broadmoor right now.”

Silence.

Had the call been dropped? “Dad?”

“I’m still here,” he said, his tone flat.

“I knew you probably wouldn’t be happy to hear that.”

Mateo, who’d been walking ten to fifteen feet in front of her, turned around. “Everything okay?” he mouthed, a concerned expression on his face.

She nodded, gave him a thumb’s up. He smiled and turned back around.

Her father exhaled slowly on the other end of the line. “I’m just…surprised, that’s all.”

“Yeah, I can imagine. But we’ve had some really good talks.” Now wasn’t that the understatement of the year, she thought as she ducked under a low branch.

There was another long stretch of silence—a pregnant pause, if ever there was one—before her father spoke again. “Honey, I’m only going to say this once, because it’s your life, and I can’t live it for you. I respect the choices you make for yourself. But are you sure he’s not just going to break your heart again? He put you through hell the last time.”

She thought about it for a moment. No, she couldn’t say with any certainty that her heart wouldn’t get broken again. But at least she knew the truth now. Four years ago, Mateo hadn’t left because he didn’t love her. He’d left because he did. “Dad, I appreciate your concern, but I’m a big girl, okay? So when does Marcella need that cake?”

Back at the mansion, the group gathered in the sitting room, and Selena told them what she knew about the research facility. How to get there. The surrounding area. The layout of the building—what little she’d seen of it.

“It was always Ms. Karza waiting for me in the lobby,” she said. “No one else. She tasted the samples there, and that’s where I delivered the food for their events. Never to a kitchen or a conference room. Citing security clearance issues, she said her employees would set up the food themselves.”

“There wasn’t even a receptionist?” Zeph dwarfed the piano bench he was sitting on, making it look more delicate than it was.

Selena shook her head. “I never saw anyone else, actually. Wait. I take that back. The first time I catered one of their events, I did see a few people. Three women walked across the back of the lobby, behind where Ms. Karza was standing, but that was it. I never saw anyone else.”

Roxy leaned forward in her seat and steepled her fingers. “Do you happen to remember what they were wearing?”

Selena had to think for a moment. It had been several months. “White smock-like robes. I assumed they were some sort of lab coats since it was a research facility.”

“That’s what they wear to a purification ceremony,” Roxy said. “They do them at every full moon.”

“Purification ceremony?” Selena asked, not sure she really wanted to know.

“It’s a blood ritual they perform to break their fast. They celebrate with food and drink afterward.” Something about Roxy reminded her of a college professor who was passionate about what she was teaching.

“Yeah, Selena’s food,” Zeph said. “Bitches.”

“And her blood,” Mateo added through gritted teeth.

My blood. Selena swallowed nervously and rubbed her throat as she tried to make sense of it all.

Roxy nodded. “It would appear so.”

Kip cleared his throat, breaking his silence. “You don’t think DBs found her and came to her house at night? Or took her back to their den? That’s what they usually do.”

“I didn’t detect any DB scent at her house,” Mateo said. “They didn’t come for her there.”

“I’m confused, though,” Selena said. “If they took my blood here, how did it get on the black market in New Orleans?”

“I suspect this particular sect is working with Darkbloods,” Roxy answered. “Unusual, but not unheard of. The DB network is more extensive than the Agency likes to admit.”

“Yeah, and it helps that the Agency is so fucking corrupt in New Orleans,” Mateo said with contempt. “The DBs down there are selling blood that comes from everywhere.”

Zeph nodded at Mateo’s assessment, “Unfortunate, but true.”

“Got blood you can’t sell on y’alls home turf?” Mateo said in a fake Southern accent. “Come here and we’ll sell it for ya.”

Selena’s throat went dry. That confirmed it then. She’d been an unwitting blood donor for a cult’s macabre ceremonies, not once, but several times.

Mateo cursed and put a protective arm around her. “I’m going to fix this, Selena. It’s never going to happen to you again. Never.”

She just hoped that Mateo was right.