Rogue Darkness by Dianne Duvall

“No,” Sean and Nicole quickly denied.

Aidan grinned. “I’ll just dump him the day I take over.”

Nick shook his head, his frustration palpable. “This is about me. Not Becca. They want me, so I should do it. I fucked up when I killed Reed. I won’t make the same mistake twice. There’s too much at stake.”

“Actually,” Chris said, “I think Aidan should do it.” When Nick opened his mouth to fire back a response, Chris held up a hand. “For a different reason. He’s a telepath. He wouldn’t have to wait for them to capture him and cart him off to wherever they intend to do their research so we can find out what we need to know. He can pluck the information straight from their minds when they attack and instantly convey it to Seth.”

Seth visually consulted David.

David nodded. “I agree. If those who attempt to capture him lack the information we need, Aidan can allow them to take him and provide us with live updates. The more of this group that he encounters, the more minds he can scour, which should lead us to the man in charge.”

“We have a course of action then,” Seth said. “Aidan, I want you and Dana to stay with Nick, Kayla, and Becca in my castle in England so you can have as much time with Becca as you need.”

Becca slid Aidan a look of dread. “This is going to be so weird.”

He grinned. “At least you know the man impersonating you won’t run around killing people or kidnapping gifted ones whilst in your guise.”

The teenager stared at him. “What?”

Laughing, Aidan shook his head. “It’s a long story. I’ll tell it to you in England.”

“Nicole?” Seth asked. “Are you sure you’re willing to risk posing as Becca in the interim?”

“Yes.” She studied the somber faces around her. “It’s not like I’m hoping to get captured or anything. One brush with death is enough for me, thank you. But I don’t want whoever is behind this to think Becca and her family have gone into hiding. Roubal didn’t know about vampires. This buyer does. What if greed isn’t his only motivation? What if he’s sick or dying? If he’s as desperate as Roubal was and thinks he’s lost his one shot at getting his hands on a genuine immortal, who’s to say he won’t start infecting himself and others with the virus and hope they’ll be able to beat back the madness later on?”

Damn it. She would have to make a valid point.

Marcus groaned. “The last thing we need is another vampire uprising. We’re still trying to stamp out the leftovers from the last one.”

“Plus,” Nicole added, “I trust Sean to protect me. And I can always restrict my movements at night to reduce the risk and buy some time for Aidan to replace me.”

Sean took her hand beneath the table and rested it on his thigh. “I’ll have her back,” he vowed. “Becca, your dorm is coed, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“Are guys allowed to stay in girls’ rooms overnight?”

“Only if she doesn’t have a roommate. And you have to get permission from the RA first.”

Kayla arched a brow. “And you know this how, young lady?”

Becca rolled her eyes. “My former roommate wanted her A-hole boyfriend to spend the night, but the RA nixed it.”

Sean issued a decisive nod. “Then I’m staying in the dorm with her.”

Chris drew a small notepad and pencil from his pocket and started jotting down notes. “I’ll take care of it. I may need your help with that, Seth.”

“Call me if you do.”

Fortunately, mind control didn’t cause brain damage. Erasing all traces of it would, but Seth needn’t do that for this.

Melanie again held up a finger. “If you’d like a little extra protection, I can implant a tracking device that will allow us to locate Nicole if she’s captured.”

Sean frowned. “Won’t they find that if they scan her?”

“Would they scan her?” Zach asked. “We’ve only seen vampires thus far and don’t seem to be dealing with the kind of tech-savvy mercenaries we’ve faced in the past.”

Kayla swiveled in her seat to address Nick’s Second. “Did Roubal’s goons scan us when they took us, Oliver? You woke up before I did.”

“I don’t know. I was still unconscious when we got there.”

“Oh.” Facing the table once more, she gave an apologetic shrug. “Sorry.”

Bastien draped an arm across the back of Melanie’s chair. “Could you put the tracker somewhere they wouldn’t expect to find it?”

Sean bristled. “She could stick it up your ass. They wouldn’t find it there.”

Laughter erupted.

Unoffended, Bastien grinned. “I didn’t mean someplace intimate. I meant somewhere they might miss it.”

Melanie tilted her head to one side. “I could put it in her wrist, the one she wears her smartwatch on. If they run a scanner across it, they’ll assume the signal is coming from the watch. I doubt they’ll scan her wrist again after removing it.”

Chris pointed at her. “That’s not a bad idea. I think that’ll work.”

Sean tightened his hold on Nicole’s hand. “I still go where she goes.”