Claire shifted toward him slightly. “I have an idea.”

She was so close, and the booth afforded a very private environment. Even the immediate acoustics would allow for conversation.

His gaze shifted to her full lips. He had an idea as well, but he was pretty sure hers was different. “And what’s that?”

“Well, these chains have thrown us together in an unexpected way. So, how about we tell each other something, and not necessarily of a serious nature, that we’ve never told anyone else.”

His lips curved. “Only if you go first.”

She nodded. “I think that would be fair.” She glanced around the club, no doubt thinking.

The music from the band shifted to a quicker beat, livelier. He sipped his whiskey, waiting.

Finally she turned back to him and smiled. “I once dreamed of becoming an astronaut.”

He sputtered over his drink. “Seriously?”

She set her elbow on the table and settled her cheek in her palm. “Well, not exactly. I was ten, I think, and had gotten a book with all these incredible pictures of our galaxy. But when I learned that all I’d ever do as an astronaut was travel in a circle around the earth, I gave up my quest then and there.”

He set his tumbler down. “I think I know exactly what you mean. The reality simply did not live up to the fantasy.”

“Very true. One of the hardest lessons about life, I think.”

He held her gaze for a long moment. Claire wasn’t a simple woman. She had thoughts behind her thoughts. He liked that about her.

Maybe it was the whiskey easing through his veins, or maybe the trusting light in Claire’s eye, but he decided to offer his own never-before-mentioned experience, something no one knew about him. “I have a thing for puppies.”

“What?”

“No judgment please. I just do. I’ve never had a pet, but once when I was young and Daniel had left the compound for a few days, one of the servants had brought in a puppy, maybe ten weeks old. I’d never seen one before—Daniel hated everything that resembled normalcy—and I used to sneak away to play with him. I made up a braided cloth toy and I must have thrown that thing a thousand times, all in secret, of course.”

“Why in secret?”

He turned his tumbler in his hand. “Because if Daniel knew that I cared about the dog…” He didn’t finish the sentence.

“That bastard,” she muttered, sipping her mojito. But she met his gaze again. “What kind of puppy was it?”

“A golden retriever.”

“Does your kind keep pets, generally?”

“Sure, just not in a place like The Erotic Passage.”

She laughed. “No, I suppose not. So what happened to the puppy?”

“He lived deep in the cavern system until he died of old age.”

“Daniel never found out?”

“It wasn’t that. I chose to ignore the dog, to keep him safe. I think it might have been one of the hardest things I’d ever done.”

Claire drew close and put her hand on his back. “I’m glad I’m here, Lucian. And I really do hope that I can help in a meaningful way.”

“You already have.”

She was so close and she smelled so good. Her blood tempted him; her eyes, her lips, the swell of her breasts.

When she didn’t pull away, but instead continued to stare into his eyes, he didn’t mistake the invitation, but he debated for a moment what he should do.

Finally he leaned toward her and met her lips with his own, offering a soft kiss that had her moving into him just little, returning the pressure.

When he drew back, she lifted her glass. “Here’s to puppies everywhere.”

He lifted his tumbler. “And to the universe waiting to be discovered by young girls.”

He clinked her glass and they both drank.

Then his phone rang. After he fished it from his pocket, Rumy’s voice came on the line. “You need to get back here. I’ve got news.”

“We’ll be right there.”

After paying the bill, he took Claire back to their room where Rumy waited for them, pacing once more.

Lucian could feel that he was revved up. “What’s going on?”

“I’ve just received top-notch information that there’s an extinction weapon hidden somewhere here in the Como system.”

Back at the beige room, Claire found it difficult to process what Rumy was saying, in part because only a few moments before she’d been listening to music, enjoying a drink, and kissing a vampire.

But apparently, the agitation cycle had decided to start up again. She worked to refocus her thoughts away from Lucian, puppies, and her almost-date to once more pursuing the extinction weapon. “And you’re sure this isn’t some kind of prank?”

Rumy shook his head. “No, this is solid information. You have to remember, I have a spy network more powerful than your CIA.”

Claire believed him, yet something didn’t feel right. “If you have this information, isn’t there a strong possibility that Daniel will as well?”

“If he doesn’t have it now, he soon will.” Lucian held Claire’s gaze. “Would you be willing to see if we can track it together?”

“Of course.” Could they truly form a tracking pair? She’d soon find out.

For some reason, her words stopped Lucian. He stared at her unblinking for a long moment.

“What is it?”

Finally he gave himself a shake, but what she felt from the chains was a strong sense of disbelief.

At that, her lips curved. “Should I be offended that you’ve thought so little of me? I told you I would help you, but it appears you didn’t believe me.”

“I’ll admit I’m surprised. I thought by now, after all that you’ve been through back at Daniel’s cavern system and even here”—he waved toward the bed, referring to the recent feeding—“you might want to take off and frankly, I wouldn’t blame you.”

“I won’t say the thought hasn’t crossed my mind, especially given the numbers that Rumy so recently shared with me. But I want to be here, to do what I can. And yes, I realize that the odds are against my friend still being alive. Still, maybe once we’ve followed this current lead, we can use the same tracking ability to find Zoey.”

“Absolutely.” He took her hand once more. “Again, I’m so sorry Claire, about all of this.”

She looked into his eyes and believed him. The more she knew about Lucian, the more she saw him as someone very heroic in his world. He wasn’t anything like she’d expected, on any level, starting with his sheer size. But he was a good man, one she could trust.

Yet he was also a vampire, something she needed to remember. It wouldn’t do any good to get attached to the man, not when her heart still lived in Santa Fe, with her mom and dad and her two younger brothers, where she’d been building a life as a social worker and trying to make a difference in her community. For the past two years, she’d envisioned returning home—and that dream, more than anything else, had kept her alive and moving forward despite her captivity.

She nodded several times, drawing her hand out of his clasp. “I think we should get changed, then figure out how to track this weapon.”

CHAPTER 3

Lucian watched the auburn-haired human gather up her clothes and disappear into the bathroom. He was stunned at her resolve. She’d already been through so much and had only recently learned that her friend was probably dead, but she still wanted to help. Where had so much essential courage come from?

He liked Claire—that’s what he decided in this moment. From the beginning he’d felt her strength, despite the fact that she looked physically fragile with her pale skin, and the tender compassion that she displayed as her most basic quality. This was a woman who could go the distance.

A woman he’d just kissed.

But he couldn’t think about that right now, or how much the experience had warmed his heart. They had a job to do.

He changed into his battle leathers once more, with a long-sleeved T-shirt. He shifted his attention to this thing called a tracking ability, something the blood-chains were supposed to have created between them. He’d never done anything like this before.