“You seem in a good mood,” he ventured.

“I"ve made an executive decision. I refuse to overinflate the situation. If they"re the all-powerful Council, how long will I really have to be around them? I wouldn"t think this validation would take more than fifteen or twenty minutes, unless it"s like some Catholic ritual that can take hours. And then anyone would go insane during it.”

“Spoken like a true lapsed Catholic,” Daegan said dryly.

Gideon thought it was amazing, how many people she could be. She had a playful side, a temptress face, and sometimes she acted like an outright girlfriend. Or friend. Then, in a heartbeat, she could become the cool, tantalizing Mistress or the scary, out-of-control vampire, calling up a wariness in him as well as a need to protect, watch out for her.

Much as he hated to admit it, Daegan had been right to let her know about Gideon"s decision to join them for this, sooner rather than later. Despite Brian"s injections, she"d had three seizures in the couple of days before they packed up to go to the Council. Getting it out of her system had probably helped. She"d tried in various ways to talk Gideon out of going, but maybe Daegan had asked her to ease up on that as well, because she hadn"t mentioned it in the last twenty-four hours. Good. Her failure to dissuade him just upset her more, and Gideon wasn"t budging on it, especially knowing that she needed his physical presence to keep that blood and those voices under control.

“Sir, we"re about three hours to landing.” The pilot"s voice came through the intercom. As Daegan acknowledged the information, Anwyn sighed, stretched and rose to her knees over Gideon. She gave him a seductive, I"ll-fuck-your-brains-out-later smile he was sure was intended to fog his wits. Of course, it was possible it was a façade. She was getting better at smoke-screening her emotions, if not blocking him entirely. He wondered if she was burying her worries farther beneath the surface than he could reach to help reassure him.

The thought of her wasting time to protect his sensibilities made him scowl, but he admitted he was wound up about as tight as he could get right now. On top of his emotional shit storm and despite his determination to be here, he had a strong aversion to walking into the stronghold of some of the most powerful vampires in existence. He"d brought all of his weapons, including his flamethrower and a crate of incendiary grenades, but Daegan had made it clear he"d have to leave pretty much everything but a couple favorite knives on the plane.

When he argued he would be helpless to defend Anwyn, Daegan of course reminded him sharply that was his job. Gideon was merely the meal on legs. Her anchor. Ballast.

Self-pity didn"t sit well right now, so he took his seat again and frowned out the window, hating the gut-gripping anticipation. He wanted to go kill something. When things hurt or ached too badly, that always helped, at least temporarily.

“You look like a dour toad over there. Tell me one thing you do like about the Council.” Anwyn settled back on her lounge, cocking a brow in his direction. “The power of positive thinking, you know.”

“I"m positive they can"t be trusted,” he retorted mildly. Indulging himself and pleasing her, he tracked the way she folded her attractive legs on the cushions. It was simply impossible for a male mind not to imagine them bare and wrapped around his hips. She gave him a speculative look, moistening her lips.

“He"s never actually met the Council. Not formally.” Daegan"s attention was back on his paper. “When he and his army of hunters tried to blow them up at the last Gathering, they didn"t stop for introductions. Rather rude. It"s a double-edged sword that I wasn"t tracking you then,” he added. “I could have alerted the Council of the plot against them before that group of vampires created such destruction. And maybe saved some of your far-too-gullible hunters.” Gideon shifted into a more combative stance in the chair and leveled a dagger look at the vampire. “Come to think about it, there is one thing I like about the Council. They don"t whine or launch sentimental revenge raids when a human takes them out. They live by survival of the fittest. If a human can take you out, you didn"t deserve to make it. I do appreciate that kind of misguided sense of superiority.”

“I don"t doubt that,” Daegan observed. “Considering if they did have a sentimental desire for revenge, you"d have been hunted down and killed a dozen times over, in a variety of painful and creative ways.”

“See? I do appreciate that. In a very positive way.” Gideon gave him a gimlet eye. “I"d expect you to be happy about that as well, since you seem into the whole justice-versus-vengeance thing. How do you define the difference, Obi-Wan?”

Unexpectedly, Daegan didn"t volley with a wiseass comment. Instead he set the paper aside and leaned forward, giving him a direct look, an even tone. “There is justice, and there is nature, Gideon. A being who kills another for sustenance, that is nature. A being who kills more than they need to kill, because of the pleasure of it, that is wrong. That is when justice or karma comes in. Justice is premeditated. Karma is Nature"s way of handling it, because Nature always retaliates against excess, though not always in the time or fashion we wish.” He considered Gideon with his shrewd look. “Sometimes a man may become the hand of justice through his vengeance, because of a wrongdoing against him or those he loves. That"s a precarious decision for the soul, though. If vengeance is ruling the heart, it"s best to let karma take care of the wrongdoer, even if you take the necessary steps to ensure the evil doesn"t happen again.”

“So when the Council sends you to lop off heads, I guess you go meditate on a mountain about it, or some shit like that.”

“Something like that. I"ve told you before, I"m not their yard dog.” Daegan lifted a brow, his dark eyes cooling, a warning. “It"s more appropriate to think of me as a consultant.” Gideon snorted. “Really? I was thinking more of a Disney hero. Birds will be chirping on your shoulder in a few minutes. Or doing something else.”

Daegan made a noncommittal noise, turned his attention to Anwyn. “You should feed before we land, cher. Would you like Gideon to mix his blood with your choice of wine? I know you like your white zinfandel.”

“A vampire who doesn"t go for red wine.” Gideon cleared his throat, pushing off the unwelcome mood that Daegan had just set, instead going for the inexplicable anticipation and simple arousal that always came to him when she had to feed. There was an intimacy to it that Gideon liked, though he didn"t care to admit it. “Didn"t you tell her that was poor etiquette?” Anwyn rose and moved back to Gideon, sliding easily into his lap. She slipped her hand into the open collar of his dress shirt, opening a button deftly to stroke the light mat of hair and muscles beneath. “I prefer to have my wine as dessert.”

Gideon was caught by her blue-green eyes, penetrating and seeing so much. “We"re going to be okay.” She put a slim hand to his jaw. “Stop baiting him. Relax, and don"t worry so much.”

“Stop worrying about me,” he responded, deciding not to comment on her other observation.

“Only if you"ll stop worrying about me,” she said.

Gideon glanced up at Daegan, who met his gaze briefly before turning his attention to pouring his own drink from the bar. “This is dangerous, Anwyn,” Gideon said quietly. “I"m not scared of much, but I"m scared to death something is going to happen to you.”

“I"ve nothing to fear. I"m with the two most dangerous males I know. Well, after James, that is. I"m pretty sure he could kick both your asses.” At his snort, she leaned in, pressed her lips to his neck, letting him feel the teasing prick of her fangs. “You know, you never flinch,” she breathed against his flesh. “Only that first time. You accept this, what I need from you.” He slid his arm around her back, providing her support as the scrape angled down into his cock. “Yeah.”

“I"ll make you a deal. If you decide to bolt, so will I. We can become fugitives together.” He closed his eyes, pressed his forehead against her shoulder. “Don"t tempt me, Mistress.” And he meant it fervently. “You need to be accepted into this world. I"m going to stand behind you, make sure that happens. Three paces back, eyes down, my lips kissing your ass, yada yada yada.”

“Well, the last part sounds pleasant.” But she suppressed a sigh. Gideon pushed her hair off her shoulder, gathering it in the small of her back to keep it out of her way as her fangs sank deep, and she began to feed. Trying to keep his mind off the arousal her bloodtaking always seemed perversely to stir, Gideon turned his gaze to Daegan. “So you"ve studiously avoided telling us which Council member you think sold you out. You might want to make us aware of that.”

“It is my issue to address. But I wasn"t deliberately withholding information. I"m fairly certain it was Lord Stephen or Lady Barbra. Perhaps both.”

“Steve and Barb? Sounds like a couple who should be sipping cocktails in the suburbs.”

“They are new Council members. Made vampires.” At Gideon"s raised brow, Daegan curled his lip. “Yes, I know. The older Council members thought it would be useful to have an advocacy position for approved made vampires.”

“Strange, since the Council"s about as autocratic as you can get. I thought they slapped a moratorium on making vampires after the revolt at the Gathering.”

“They did. But they are trying to smooth things with the existing ones. Too few vampires overall to completely marginalize made vampires. Bedfellows, politics and all that.” Gideon considered that, tracing Anwyn"s spine with his knuckles, but grimaced as she rubbed her soft ass against his thighs and groin, teasing him. When amusement crossed Daegan"s gaze, he scowled. “Being the first made vamps to sit on Council, you"d think Steve and Barb would watch their ps and qs to make sure they keep the spot.”

“Hmm. You might avoid calling them that when you meet them.” Taking up his tumbler of whiskey, Daegan brought him a bottle of beer. Pulling up an ottoman, he sat on it, splaying his knees around one of Gideon"s planted feet, and ran his hand down Anwyn"s back, stroking her