But right now, for him, there were none. It was an awesome sort of realization. It put her up very high in his esteem and could very well bias him in the future. He had to be more cautious of being swept away by her—didn’t he? Wasn’t he the one who should be sweeping her away? Was he? Did she feel the same exhilarating fear and excitement that he did every time he looked at her?

“We’re going to be fine,” she said. “No one’s going to be wiping my memory today. You’ll see. We’ll be fine.”

He wasn’t sure if she was trying to reassure him…or herself.

Chapter 16

Rafe was silent for most of the ride back to the vampire center, but it was okay because Renee had threaded her fingers through his and was holding his hand on top of the gearshift. It helped him feel connected to her. Like they were in this thing together, which he supposed they were. The solidarity went beyond just their own individual well-being. It included whatever it was that was developing between them. Whatever it was that they wanted to keep between them. They may not know the exact nature of their relationship, but they knew enough to know it was not something they wanted to lose.

Rafe parked in his designated spot in the underground lot. He then alighted and took Renee with him to the elevator.

“This entire building is owned and occupied by the lawful vampires of New York City,” he told her.

“Does every e-vamp in New York live here?”

“No. This is mostly the higher echelon. There are others in the city and in the outlying suburbs and off on the other side of the state in Buffalo, but this is the place to be if you are a vampire living in New York. We offer food, shelter, and an occupation. Vampires have a zero unemployment rate. Those who don’t work do so by choice, not because there is a lack of jobs being offered.”

The elevator opened and he keyed his card again and chose his floor.

“Not every e-vamp has access to every floor. I do, but many don’t. It is to protect the queen and those in higher government positions. I can name the handful of vampires that have access to every floor. We live here as well as work here, so the highest floors are the private residences of the queen and others like me. The queen’s apartment takes up the entire top floor.”

“The whole floor?” She was astounded. “That’s an enormous amount of square footage in this city. That apartment must be worth millions!”

“Yes, it is. But she is queen and she deserves it. It is no small task, ruling over all of the vampire nation.”

“I can imagine. You’ll have to tell me all about your government.”

“You will learn a great deal about it if…” He trailed off. He didn’t need to finish the sentence. A chill walked down her spine. This meeting was critical. Not only to her safety, but for Rafe’s peace of mind. And for her own. She couldn’t escape the idea that no amount of hypnotism could ever fully erase him and her knowledge of him and his people. But perhaps it was very naive of her to think so. Very arrogant.

In truth she had very little idea of whom and what she was dealing with. She did know he had used hypnotism on her once already, and had used it again to help her remember what he had made her forget. It was a very powerful tool and he had employed it quite adeptly. There were bound to be those who were even better at it than he was. And if she failed this test, she was sure to meet them.

She reached out for his hand again, anxiously weaving their fingers together and holding on tightly to him. She should have written something down somewhere. A letter to herself explaining all that was happening so even if she did get hypnotized she would be made aware again. Anything to keep her from walking around in the world in ignorance.

But in good faith she had not done so. Committing something like that to paper, where anyone could find it, would be putting his race in jeopardy and she had promised not to do that. In fact, that was what this was. It was a test to see if she was capable of keeping such an enormous secret. It was a test to see if she respected it and them.

The elevator ride was long enough to allow her nerves to run amok. By the time the elevator doors opened she was as anxious as she had been when she’d had to pass her exams at the academy. Everything had been on the line then. Everything was on the line now.

“Promise me something,” she said as they walked toward a pair of large double doors.

“Of course,” he said.

“Promise me you won’t let me die because of my ignorance. If I fail this and they take my memory I won’t know that I need to protect myself. You don’t have to be obvious about it or anything, just…promise you’ll keep me from dying a senseless death.”

“I would never let anything happen to you. Even if they order me to stay away from you, I will make sure you are protected. I would even risk their wrath and their punishment to see to it myself.”

“Okay,” she said, exhaling a shaking breath. “Okay. I believe you.”

“But that’s not what’s going to happen,” he said firmly.

He stopped in front of the door and turned her to face him. He wrapped his free hand around the side of her neck and tipped her head back with the stroke of his thumb. He lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her with aching poignancy. The kiss was his way of telling her he would be there for her no matter what. She could feel it radiating off him, comforting her.

He lifted from her mouth a fraction of an inch and looked into her eyes. “We’re going to be all right. You’ll be stellar.”

“I hope so,” she whispered.

Rafe moved away from her and keyed his card into the door. The lock unlatched with a click and he pushed the door open.

When they walked into the room the committee members were standing in different places holding conversations either with one another or on their phones. Some of them were speaking in languages completely foreign to Renee. There were five of them in all, one of whom was dark skinned. This surprised Renee. For some reason she hadn’t thought vampires would have races like humans did. She assumed their origins were in a single place, a single evolutionary thread. In a way, she was glad to see there was diversity amongst the vampires. It meant that they were more like humans than she had thought. They had differences. They had to overcome those differences in order to work together. If they were able to do that, then maybe they were able to accept a human into their ranks and into their secret world.