Night Unbound [Claiming series, #1]

- 12 -

"I need to think. There has to be another way."

"If you can come up with one, fine. But I've been doing a lot of thinking while you slept, and I can't see any other way."

Everyone remained still and silent for several seconds, then Mackenzie shocked them all by hurling a pencil across the room. Asher's eyes snapped open.

"This stinks," she said. "This reeks." Then she jabbed a finger at Asher. "I told you, you needed to teach us all. I told you."

"Yes. You did."

"You should have let me call Father Dan."

"Maybe so. Maybe so." Then he turned and went back into his office, determined to find a different solution from the one Julie was proposing. She didn't know the risks. She couldn't begin to understand the risks.

He suspected she was behind the mini revolution taking place out there. Mackenzie would never dream up such a scheme, and Jay, for all he always wanted to get involved, rarely came up with a new idea of his own that made any real sense.

No, Julie was the force behind this storm. And that was troubling indeed.

"Jay!"

The young man materialized instantly in the doorway.

"Come in and shut the door."

Jay hastened to obey. "I swear it wasn't my idea, man," he said immediately. "But I think she's right."

"I know it wasn't your idea."

"Oh." Then young man looked relieved. Then, "How can you know it wasn't my idea?"

"Trust me, you don't want to know."

"Oh." Jay shifted, clearly unsure how to take that. "So what do you want me to do?"

"Do you smell it around her?"

Jay's blond brows both lifted. "No way, man. If I did, I'd be all over it."

"Pay attention. Keep sensing."

"I can do that."

Moments later, Asher sat alone again. Had he been mortal, he was sure he would have been sweating with fear.

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When Asher didn't emerge from his office for a while after sending Jay out, Julie decided to go face the lion in his lair. She couldn't stand being on edge, couldn't stand the thought he might be angry with her, could tolerate even less being away from him.

But they had to solve this somehow.

He looked up when she opened the door and stepped in. "Go away," he growled. "I need to think."

"Are you mad at me?"

"I said I needed to think!" He thundered the words, and it was all she could do not to quail. But she stood her ground, anyway. This was the vampire who had bitten a pillow last night rather than give in to his overwhelming desire to bite her. He didn't frighten her anymore. Not at all.

"No," she answered sharply. "You listen to me, Archer Peres. We're all in this mess now. You can't just come hide in here and make decisions for all of us."

"None of you truly understands what we're up against. Damn it, Julie, I need time and space to figure this out."

"I've got a pretty good idea what we're up against. Enough to know that thing is going to use me against you, whether today, tomorrow or next month."