“Simone, I’ve only known her a couple of days.”

“Sometimes it only takes one.” She watched his expression carefully so he made certain there was nothing for her to see.

The truth was, he did feel connected to Renee. On some level even he didn’t understand. And if he didn’t understand it, he could hardly explain it to someone else. Not that confiding in Simone would be his first choice in any event. They were friends—close friends—and he trusted her, but her people would always come first. That made her a bad person to confide in. Then again, she was the closest friend he had. If he couldn’t turn to her, then who could he turn to?

Feeling suddenly bereft, Rafe turned from her and walked to the floor-to-ceiling glass wall that looked out onto the city. It was such a vast cityscape encompassing so many lives, and yet even though he was standing in the middle of millions of people he still felt alone. Lonely. He hadn’t felt that way last night while in the company of a beautiful, strong-willed blonde, however. He had felt easy. Relaxed. He had, for a short time, forgotten about the pressures of his life and the import of things to come. Then it had all changed and his life had come crashing down on them.

“I don’t know how I feel,” he lied to her. Partly lied. There was definitely something there, but he didn’t know what. He should turn his back and leave it at that. Relationships between vampires and humans were fairly doomed from the start. First, they needed committee permission to carry on the liaison; second, there was no escaping the stigma that came with essentially dating your food. To many vampires, having a love affair with a human was akin to a human having a love affair with a cow…or a stalk of broccoli. Rafe didn’t feel that way. He assigned much more depth to humans. Both good and bad. For instance, a cow would never start a charitable organization to take care of homeless cows. A stalk of broccoli wouldn’t murder another stalk of broccoli.

“Perhaps you should not see her again,” Simone said. “At least not until the committee has vetted her.”

“I can’t do that. She is out there, unprotected without me. Surely you can see why it would be wrong of me to leave her to her own devices.”

“Perhaps. Perhaps we should send someone else to watch over her.”

“I’ve already arranged for someone to watch over her during the day, Fallon. But she doesn’t know about him yet. I’m not certain she would trust him. She trusts me. I’ll take over during the night.”

“And you don’t trust anyone else to do this for you? What about Halo?”

Rafe scoffed. “Halo would try to bed her in a heartbeat. He goes after anything female. He might protect her, but he’d use her at the same time.”

“Rafe, be careful,” Simone warned gently. “You’re sticking your neck out for a woman you hardly know.”

“She says she won’t tell anyone about us and I believe her.”

“It doesn’t matter whether or not you believe her. It matters if the committee believes her.”

“When will you tell them?”

“As soon as you leave my office. Unless you prefer to do it?”

“I do. I won’t be tattled on like an errant schoolboy. I am capable of owning up to my own actions.”

“Very well. I will trust you to do it after we meet with Danton.”

Simone left her desk and walked into her bathroom. She came out a short time later fully dressed in a smart business suit and blouse. She had let down her hair and it now floated freely about her shoulders and down her back. She was a beautiful woman. Sharp witted and well-grounded. Yet she too was alone in the world. Perhaps even lonelier than he was because she had the lives of the vampire nation in her hands.

Danton arrived moments later and they sat down close to the windows where Rafe had been standing. Danton was tall and had a commanding presence even when he was seated.

“Danton, we need to be updated on these attacks against lawful vampires,” Simone said. “Also, were you aware that food sources are being threatened as well?”

“I was not aware of that, no. I will look into it immediately.”

“Vampires should be told to surreptitiously check on the well-being of all recent food sources,” Rafe said. “I will get the message out.”

“Leave that to me,” Simone said. “It will carry more import if it comes directly from the queen. Danton, have you any idea where these attacks are coming from?”

“I do actually.”

“Where?” Rafe demanded to know.

“From a phant named Killean. He is in charge of the phant gangs down along the waterfronts. Word is he is organizing a coup on behalf of Draz while all of the representatives of the city-states are here to witness it. Draz is aspiring high, perhaps because he has been in control of the phants of this region for so long. Killean does have numbers on his side. Almost every phant in those parts of the city are under his purview. It used to be that he was content to just run drugs and traffic in humans, to be the king of his own little phant world, but something has changed and he is planning on making a big move. Taking out our food sources could be just a first step in weakening us.”

“You must do something about him. Do you know where to find him?”

“That’s just it. He’s constantly on the move, his location always kept secret except to his inner circle. I have tried to get close to him, believe me. But you know we can’t send in a lawful vampire undercover. The minute they are forced to feed from an impure food source to prove themselves trustworthy is the moment they will be lost, making all our efforts worth nothing and coming at too high a cost.”

Rafe clenched and unclenched his fists in agitation. There had to be a way. He knew that even he could not protect Renee every minute of every day indefinitely, no matter how many people he assigned to her.

“What of the humans he surrounds himself with? Could you potentially put someone on him that way?”

“There are precious few humans who know who and what we are. And those who do know understand how dangerous the phants are. They also know a phant can use hypno on them and extract the truth from them.”

“Unless a hypno suggestion from a stronger vampire is used to cover over the truth,” Simone said.

“It would have to be a damn strong vampire. I wouldn’t risk anyone unless it was the strongest of us.”