“Welcome to Oregon.” The queen pushed a bushel of white tulips into Brenna’s hand. “My sister cross-bred them in the lab. Smell.”
“Thanks, Emma.” Brenna buried her nose in the sweet scent of flowers. How odd to see Emma outside a lab. A former human, she’d worked as a geneticist until discovering the existence of the Kurjans and going on the run. Dage had rescued her, and they’d fallen in love and mated. The queen often joked that she’d mated a vampire just to get access to their amazing laboratories and machinery.
Though she glowed whenever the king smiled at her.
Brenna glanced behind her at the empty room. “I’d bet anything I don’t have a vase.”
Emma laughed and tugged Brenna outside. “That’s okay. Bring them to the lab, and I’ll find a beaker.”
Brenna sighed. “Don’t tell me. You want to run tests.” The queen usually wore a lab coat and had syringes in her hand.
“I do.” Emma’s deep blue eyes sparkled. “I’m supposed to share your results with the doctors in Ireland, but I’ll keep them private if you wish.” She shoved her black hair off her forehead and glanced at Brenna’s sweater. “Oops. We should’ve grabbed you a coat. Oregon winters aren’t freezing, but they do get chilly.”
Brenna glanced at Emma’s thin shirt. “You’re not wearing a coat.”
Emma eyed her shirt. “I guess I forgot.” She shrugged.
They walked by manicured lawns until they reached a massive log building. Emma led her inside. “We have a rec room, conference rooms, offices, a huge gym, and several laboratories in this building. When we’re not underground in the mountain, which has more of the same, then we’re here.” She wound past a room holding several pool tables to a pristine lab. “Have a seat on the exam table, and I’ll draw blood.”
Brenna followed the command.
The air shifted, becoming heavy. Dage Kayrs filled the doorway.
As kings went, Dage had presence . . . and power. Sizzling silver eyes and dark hair, the king was something to look at. He smiled and stepped inside to reach for the flowers to shove in a beaker. “Welcome to the family, Brenna.”
Brenna forced a smile. Truth be told, the king had always seemed a bit scary to her. Anybody with so much power should be watched. Of course, Jase had gathered quite a bit of power, too. “Thank you.”
He tugged on Emma’s hair. “I told you to put a coat on before heading outside. There’s a storm coming.”
Emma rolled her eyes and approached Brenna, syringe in hand. “There’s always a storm coming.”
“Good point.” The king leaned back against a granite counter as Emma took blood. “How soon will we know if the mating has improved Brenna’s health?”
“A couple of hours.” Emma finished drawing blood and pressed a cotton ball to the wound. “So, Brenna, the Coven Nine has been rather secretive about any witches infected with Virus-27. Do you suppose you could get me data?”
Brenna’s lungs heated, and she glanced at the king. He lifted an eyebrow in a “you’re on your own” expression. She sighed. “To be honest, I’ve been more concerned with the poisoning from the planekite than with Virus-27, since planekite is dangerous only to witches. Anybody could use the damn stuff against us if the truth got out that it’s like poison to us. A weird little mineral found in Russia, and it can kill us. In comparison, while all witches are susceptible to Virus-27, we’ve managed to avoid exposure for the most part.”
“I know, but if the virus goes airborne, there is no avoiding it.” Emma focused on Brenna.
“The Nine has chosen to keep our data private, as you know.” A choice Brenna disagreed with. The virus was created by an evil vampire race to infect the chromosomal pairs of vampire mates in such a way that the mate became human again . . . maybe. The chromosomes unraveled and might keep going. Any formerly human vampire mate—or any witch—was susceptible to the virus because the bug attacked the twenty-seventh chromosomal pair. Vampires, Kurjans, and demons were all safe from the virus because they had more than thirty chromosomal pairs. Kurjan mates were susceptible to the illness, too, but the Kurjans didn’t seem to care. “I’m sorry about the secrecy.”
Emma huffed. “Can you tell me anything?”
“The virus progresses in witches the same as in vampire mates, and we’re no closer to a cure than you are.” Which was pretty much all the information there was, frankly. Brenna hopped off the table.
Dage stepped to the side. “Where’s Jase?”
“Working out.” Brenna edged toward the door.
“That’s a new one,” the king muttered. He sighed. “The demons have increased the bounty on your head by another five billion—if you’re taken by the winter solstice. Apparently they believe the Pagurus myth.”
Brenna stopped. “You know about the comet?”
“Sure. There may be something to it, maybe not.” He shrugged and focused on Emma. “Why does everyone always forget I’m the king?”
Emma snorted. “You wish.”
Their easy banter made Brenna’s chest hurt. Did she have a chance of finding such closeness with Jase? The image of his kill wall wavered through her mind.
Probably not.
Jase’s shoulders strained as he lifted himself arm-over-arm up the thin rope. It was good to be home in his own gym. Well, if one could call the revamped metal shop a gym. Rough and dirty, the area suited him well.
Weapons lined one wall, and fighting dummies perched in front of them.
Swinging his legs up, he used his ankles to grab the rope, hanging upside down. With a quick twist of his torso, he threw the metal disk across the room and decapitated two of the dummies.
“Now, that’s illegal,” a low voice rumbled from the doorway.
Jase turned his head to find two of his brothers inside his gym. “So turn me in.” He crawled down the rope headfirst until reaching the dirt floor. A quick flip and he faced his brothers. “What?”
Conn and Talen stood shoulder to shoulder in leather jackets—both soldiers, both deadly.
“The Degoller Star has been banned for three centuries. Any particular reason you’re training with forbidden weaponry?” Talen asked calmly, his golden gaze on the headless mannequins. He held another jacket by the collar.
Jase shrugged. “The very reason the Degoller has been banned is why I want to use it.” Beheading killed all immortals, which was why they’d agreed years ago to ban the disk that so easily cut off their heads if thrown correctly. “Are you going to rat me out to Dage?”
Conn snorted. “Talen is the strategic leader of the Realm, and I’m the highest ranked soldier. What makes you think we need Dage to arrest your ass?” The tone remained congenial, but irritation shone through his green eyes.
Interesting. Had two of his older brothers decided to stop tiptoeing around him? “So try it.”
Conn stepped forward, and Talen grabbed his shoulder.
Talen shook his head. “We want to go for a drink and celebrate your mating.”
Jase paused. “Where?”
“Biker bar—a couple of counties over. We could take the new motorcycles.” A dimple flashed in Talen’s cheek. “That is, if you think you can keep up.” He threw the leather jacket at Jase. “Dage, Kane, and Max are all tied up with business. The three of us are the fun ones, anyway.”
Part of him wanted to refuse. Hanging with his brothers, acting like everything was all right, was the second-to-the-last thing he wanted to do. The first thing was hurting them. If he refused, he would. Sure, they’d be pissed. That he could handle, but disappointing everyone all the time churned his gut. He caught the jacket midair. “All right. Let’s see the new bikes.”
The two-hour ride took approximately forty minutes at the speed they traveled. The wind, the air, the speed all rushed through Jase, making him feel alive. He’d forgotten how that felt. Finally arriving at the hole-in-the-wall bar, they stomped inside and commandeered a table in the back. Conn ordered four bottles of silver tequila, which the waitress delivered before pouring shot glasses of the shimmering liquid.
Jase lifted an eyebrow. “I take it we’re getting drunk.”
Talen held up his glass. “You take it right.”
They all followed suit. Conn cleared his throat. “To pretty Brenna Dunne. We’ll kill all the demons before we
