Chapter Eighteen
Gard shot Rayne a questioning look as he sighted a banner emblazoned with Sarayne. A tall athletic male held it up, his shoulder length blond hair partially obscured by a black fedora hat. His mate met his gaze and shrugged, a frown creasing her forehead. “I’ve never seen him before.”
Gard’s protective instincts automatically kicked in, as no one out of their inner circle knew Rayne’s birth name. “Stay here.” He strode towards the other male without waiting to see if his mate would obey. He knew she wouldn’t so he was determined to get to the male before she did. He could scent the vampire as he neared; the blond was a healthy age for one of the European covens.
The other male smiled a lopsided grin as the Ancient approached him. His demeanour appeared relaxed though Gard could detect the subtle alertness in his stance. The vampire was no fool; he was prepared for trouble though he was probably reasonably certain there wouldn’t be any. They were in the middle of an airport surrounded by thousands of humans.
“You don’t look much like a Sarayne,” he grinned. “Before you’re tempted to forget where we are, Caleb gave me the name. He said if that didn’t settle you down then to tell you Callain and Anakatrine would be most displeased if you felt inclined to detach my head.” He spoke low enough that only Gard and Rayne, who had caught up with her mate, could hear.
“I’m Sarayne, though most people just call me Rayne. And you are?”
“Joshua. I am at your service and kind of relieved to see you didn’t bring Demetri with you...not that this impressive gentleman isn’t enough to send a shiver down most vampires’ spines.”
His acknowledgement of Gard’s dominance level was enough to soothe some of the Ancient’s suspicion. His mentioning of Callain and Anakatrine did the rest of the trick. Gard relaxed, running quickly through his mind what Caleb had told him of his friend. Though not commonly known in Europe, Joshua was in fact a coven leader and one of Caleb’s oldest friends. The Ancient trusted him implicitly and had urged Gard to do the same. Joshua had also helped save Pietro’s life so that was another mark in his favour. The crowning point was Demetri had vouched for the vampire...that was nothing short of a miracle.
“Can you take us to where Pietro was found?” he asked with little preamble. The sooner they found out what they could, the sooner they could get home to their son.
Rayne rolled her eyes though there was a smile on her face. “This is Gard, my mate. You’ll have to excuse his manners, travelling makes him a tad surly.”
“Spoken by the woman who slept the entire flight,” Gard chuckled, dropping a quick kiss on the top of her head. “You do know you won’t sleep tonight with the time difference.”
“Then I guess you’ll just have to entertain me then,” she retorted, turning her gaze back to their escort. “Would it be better if we found accommodation first, Joshua?”
“I figured you would want to be under the radar as much as possible so I’ve cleared out one of my safe houses for your use. Whoever you’re looking for appears to be employing some younglings as lookouts. We spotted three newly created vampires hanging around the terminals here. I sent some of my people off to lead them a merry dance. I presume there will be more hanging around the main hotel district and various bed and breakfast establishments.”
“We came in on a private jet. If someone is keeping watch, it won’t be hard for them to get the flight list,” Gard growled, unsettled by the news.
Joshua nodded his agreement. “This is why we need to hustle and get you stashed into the safe house before that happens. By the time they access the flight list you’ll be ghosts and it will make it harder for them to pick up your trail.” He turned and headed out of the airport, crossing a road to lead them into the parking garage. When he stopped at a beat-up van with peeling paintwork and plenty of rust on display, Gard quirked an eyebrow at him in question.
