Behind him, a Mario Bros. game had been paused on the Nintendo.

“From the look on your face, I’m guessing things didn’t go well,” he said, his deep voice echoing off the walls.

“Neriya is dead.”

Hunter’s jaw clenched. “Shit.”

“Word of the day,” Riker muttered.

“What about the human?” Hunter’s nonuse of Nicole’s name was intentional, Riker was sure, but he didn’t take the bait.

“She’s with Grant. She grabbed some files from the Daedalus lab before we burned the building down.”

One dark eyebrow cocked. “And she allowed you to do that?”

“It was her idea.” God, she’d been magnificent.

Calm and efficient. She was a warrior, as full of heart as any vampire Riker had fought side-by-side with in battle. Which brought him to the next subject. “But there’s a complication.”

“Of course there is.”

“Her bastard of a brother forced me to try to turn her with my blood. He immunized her against it, but it was a test dose.”

Hunter’s gaze raked Riker from head to toe, as if trying to assess how Riker felt about this news. He wished his leader luck, because he wasn’t sure about it himself.

“So you’re saying she could turn.”

“Yeah.” Riker eyed the wet bar, wondering how many bottles of whiskey he could drink before Hunter stopped him. “There’s more.”

Hunter held up his hand. “Wait.” Swiftly, he moved to the bar and splashed two fingers of bourbon into a glass. “You look like you need this.”

Riker took the glass gratefully. For a long moment, he stared into the amber liquid, letting the colors swirl around inside the glass. Finally, he put the glass to his lips, inhaled, and downed the contents.

The burn numbed him pleasantly, but it wasn’t going to last.

“We freed a male. Young. Scared. Hasn’t ever been outside the lab. He was afraid of the damned trees.”

“Did you bring him here?”

“Yup. Straight to the Island of Misfit Toys.” Suddenly exhausted, Riker scrubbed his hand over his face. “When Terese died . . . f**k, I assumed the baby was dead, too. He wasn’t. The humans delivered him and raised him in that lab.” Saying it out loud made the liquor sour in his gut.

Hunter wasn’t one to go slack-jawed, but with his stunned stare and slightly parted lips, he came close. “Are you telling me that the male you rescued is your son?”

No one but Nicole knew the real story, that Terese had been impregnated by someone other than Riker.

He’d always planned to raise the boy as his own, so there was never any point in telling anyone the truth when Terese was alive. Then, after she died, it seemed wrong to cast even more shadows on an already dark situation. No one needed to know what happened to

Terese—she wouldn’t welcome the pity.

“Riker? Buddy?” Hunter prompted, and Riker cleared his throat.

“Yeah,” he croaked. “He’s mine.” Just because

Terese was dead didn’t mean that Riker’s promise was no longer valid.

“How do you want to handle it?”

Great question. How did you deal with a twenty year-old son you didn’t know you had and who had clearly gone through a lifetime of cruelty and neglect?

Bastien was like a puppy-mill dog that had never been outside its cage to play or socialize and knew nothing but the people who abused it.

“I’d like him to stay with me, but I don’t think it’s a good idea. I think it’ll be too much for him. I was hoping he could stay in the nursery with Morena.”

“The nursery? Isn’t he an adult?”

“He’s twenty, but I doubt he was given an education in either human or vampire life. All he knew was a cage inside a lab. He’s going to need a slow, nonthreatening introduction to our world, like Morena did with

Lucy. He seems to have bonded with Nicole, so she might be able to help him adjust.”

“Nicole.” Hunter said her name with a distinct wariness. “Do you really want her around your son? It was her company that did all of this to him.”

“Nicole isn’t the enemy.” Riker ignored Hunter’s dubious snort and poured himself another drink. “She saved my life, Hunt. She volunteered to be turned into a vampire in order to save Neriya’s life—”

“Which didn’t go so well, did it?”

“Not because of Nicole.” Riker threw back the shot he’d poured and filled the glass again. “It was her idea to break into the lab to save Neriya, and it was her idea to destroy the lab. She turned against her brother and fought to free us all.”

“So what are you saying? That you’re fine with having a human running around loose in our home? That you’re totally okay with everything she’s done for Daedalus?” Hunter regarded Riker with shrewd eyes.

“Are you thinking with your dick?”

Riker breathed deeply in an attempt to keep from lashing out at his leader. “When have you ever known me to think with my dick?”

“Isn’t that what you were doing in her quarters yesterday?”

If he’d been thinking with his dick, he’d have been able to finish what they’d started instead of backing off like some kind of traumatized idiot.

“What we were doing is none of your business.”

As silent and fast as a serpent, Hunter uncoiled in a lethal blur, backing Riker against the wall with a hand around his throat. “Everything that happens inside these walls is my business. You get that, right?”

Oh, hey, he was still holding his glass all nice and proper. Didn’t lose a drop. Very deliberately, he put the glass to his lips and drank, even though Hunter was so in his face that the bottom of the glass brushed his nose.

When Riker had downed the last drop, he ground out, “And you get that I have followed every order you’ve given me, without question, for the last twenty years, right? Have I ever screwed up or given you reason to doubt my judgment?”

Hunter idly tapped his thumb on Riker’s throat.

“How did we get from me asking the questions to you asking?”

“Maybe I didn’t like your question.” Brittle tension winged through the air between them, and yeah, this could go critical real fast.

“Maybe I don’t like your attitude.” Hunter paused, letting the tension stew a little before pushing away.

“If this is what f**king a human does to you, then you need to get back to eating them instead.”

“With Nicole, I can do both,” Riker said, knowing it was stupid to poke a vampire with a stick but doing it anyway.

“I’m going to give you a day to cool off. Settle in with your son. And get your head out of your ass. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

“I’m not killing her.” Riker locked gazes with Hunter as he opened the door. “And I won’t let you do it, either.”

He slammed the door behind him, shutting out the male who had picked up the pieces of Riker that had been broken after Terese died.

-----------------------------

Nicole had never enjoyed a shower as much as she was loving the one she was taking right now.

For the first time in not just days but months, maybe even years, she was able to relax and just let the hot water sluice over her body, washing away dirt, blood, sweat, stress, and fear. All that remained was gratitude that she was alive and that Riker had gotten the son he’d been so desperate for.

There was something tragic in watching Bastien, so timid and afraid, jump at everything as she and Riker had walked him to Grant’s lab. But the second he stepped inside, it was as if he had arrived home.

Riker had clearly been rattled, so she’d promised to watch after Bastien while he met with Hunter.

Mostly, all she’d had to do was stay with Bastien while he wandered around the lab, touching equipment like they were old friends. It had broken her heart.

Food had arrived a short time later, and she’d left Bastien to eat while she and Grant went through the bag filled with files and meds, which included the drugs she needed to manage her medical condition.

They’d also discussed both Bastien and her own experience at the Daedalus facility. Grant hadn’t appeared concerned that the vaccine she’d been given would fail, but then, to him, turning into a vampire could only be a good thing. Nevertheless, he’d taken blood, saliva, and cell samples for study.

Nicole just tried not to think about it. She’d know within twenty-four hours if the vaccine didn’t work, and at that point . . . she didn’t know. Ever since Boris nearly ripped her throat out with his teeth, her second-greatest fear had always been that she’d be bitten by another vampire. Her greatest fear was that she’d be turned into one.

She thought about Riker sinking his fangs into her.

Thought about him doing it again. And crazily, the idea excited her instead of repulsing her. Would turning intoa vampire truly be so bad? Especially now that she had  no desire ever to see anyone involved with Daedalus again, let alone her brother? She had nothing to return to in the human world, so how bad would it be to turn into a completely different person? A different species?

She let herself digest the idea as she dried off and headed for the bedroom, but a knock on the door stopped her in her tracks.

“Nicole?” Riker’s muffled voice came from the other side.

“Um, yeah . . . one second.” She hastily wrapped the towel around herself and cracked the door open.

Riker stood on the other side, also freshly showered and changed into jeans and a black sweatshirt. His damp hair, darker blond than when it was dry, stood up in spiky chunks that made her want to smooth them with her fingers, if for no other reason than to have an excuse to touch him.

“Can I come in?”

His hesitation was a new thing, and it highlighted the change in their relationship. Before, he’d barged into the room as if he owned it, and now he was asking to come in. She wondered what he’d say if she refused.

“Please.” She backed up, allowing him to enter.

“There’s only one guard outside now,” she said, as she closed the door behind him. “Guess I’ve earned a little leeway, huh?”

It was meant to be a joke, but Riker’s expression grew serious. “You’ll earn more,” he said. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

“Oh.” Apparently, it was time to discuss her future.

“Should I be worried that someone wants something to happen to me?”

“No.”

She fisted the towel more tightly around her. “That wasn’t a very convincing answer.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

Too bad, because her life was on the line. “What do you want—”

With a great surge, Riker backed her against the wall. He didn’t touch her. He caged her in with one hand on either side of her head, holding his body away from hers. He might not have been doing anything sexual, but intense hunger burned in his eyes.

“I can feel you running through my veins,” he said.

“I can taste you on my tongue and smell your sweet spice. But more than that, I can’t stop thinking about you and the way you gave yourself over to me in the lab. The way you sacrificed yourself to save Neriya.”

He swallowed. “The way you handled my son.”

She licked her lips, and his gaze dropped to her mouth. Kiss me, she thought. Kiss me, and make me feel safe here.

When he lowered his head in agonizingly slow motion, she nearly wept with both relief and impatience.

Then his lips were on hers, warm and soft, and so very gentle. A wonderfully shivery sensation spread through her insides as he licked and nibbled, alternating light pressure with firm kisses.

Oh, but he was amazing at this. He blew away the memory of every man she’d ever kissed. Hell, no one could compare to him. Ever.

Moaning, she opened to him. His kiss grew fiercer in response, but he still remained tamely away from her, the space between them nothing but empty air.

“Riker,” she said against his lips, “I don’t want this to be like last time. I need you to be all in.”

He lifted his head and pegged her with those silver blades he called eyes. The hesitation in them made her heart sink. “I’m sorry. I can’t promise you anything.”

She jerked, lanced by his words. Sudden anger helped soothe the cut, and she shoved him hard enough that he had to step back. “Of course you can’t.”

“Dammit, Nicole.” He closed in on her again, but she ducked out of the cage he tried to trap her in. “I came here to thank you for everything you’ve done for me, my clan, and my son.”

“Wait . . . so . . . this is about gratitude? You want to pay me back with sex?”

His cheeks reddened, and she knew she’d hit the nail on the head. “No.”

“Too bad,” she said, surprising even herself. But dammit, she was tired of having no control over her life and feeling like she was blowing in the wind. If he wanted to thank her with sex, who was she to refuse?

“I want an orgasm.”

His mouth fell open. Closed. When she dropped the towel and stood in front of him, buck naked, his mouth fell open again.

“Go ahead and thank me,” she said.

“Nicole . . .” The warning in his tone should have been a clue, but she was beyond comprehending subtle signals. Or maybe she just didn’t care anymore.

She coyly circled her belly button with a finger, loving how his gaze latched on as she trailed her hand upward. Heat scorched her where he looked, and she took a very long time stroking her way up her abdomen, to the full swell of her breast, and finally, to her nipple.