“Of course.” Roman shook her hand, smiling. “I’d be happy to.”
“This way.” Gregori motioned for Abigail and Charles to follow him. Hopefully they could get out of the way before all hell broke loose.
“Dad, go inside the office,” Shanna said behind them. “Mom doesn’t want to see you right now.”
“But I have a right—” Sean objected.
“She figured it out, Dad!” Shanna interrupted him. “She knows what you did to her.”
“Impossible,” Sean replied. “I’ve always had complete control of her mind.”
Abigail stopped to listen.
“Come on.” Gregori reached for her arm.
“Back off,” Charles growled.
“He was controlling his wife’s mind?” Abigail whispered. “Is he a vampire?”
Gregori winced. “Sean has always had a lot of psychic power. That’s why he’s head of the Stake-Out team. He can resist any sort of mind control. Now, let’s move on.” He led them farther down the hall.
“You’re no longer in control of your wife.” Roman’s angry voice echoed down the hall. “The control was probably broken when you went into a vampire coma.”
Charles halted.
“Dammit!” Sean shouted. “This is all your fault, Roman!”
“How can you say that?” Shanna fussed at him. “He saved your life!”
“You call this
“He’s a vampire?” Charles asked softly.
Gregori sighed. “He was mortally wounded in battle about a week ago. Shanna begged her husband to transform him. It was the only way to save his life at the time.”
“You can save someone’s life by transforming him?” Abigail asked.
Gregori squeezed the stress ball in his pocket. He shouldn’t have let Abigail and that damned Charles come here. They were learning too much. He could practically see the wheels turning in her mind. Was she considering having her own mother transformed?
“Sean is here?” a woman shrieked in the foyer. “He told me he was out of the country. That filthy liar! Where is he?”
“Mom, calm down!” Caitlyn told her.
Shanna ran toward the foyer. “Mom!”
Abigail followed, so Gregori and Charles went after her. They stopped at the entrance to the foyer.
“Shanna?” A middle-aged woman stared at Shanna, then burst into tears. “My baby! It’s been so long!”
“Mom!” Shanna hugged her, then Caitlyn joined in the embrace.
Darlene Whelan touched Shanna’s face. “Look at you. You’re so beautiful. I missed you so much.”
Shanna’s eyes glimmered with tears. “You’re back now, Mom. We have you back.”
They continued to hug each other and weep. Gregori glanced over at Abigail and found her watching with tears in her eyes. Hopefully no one would notice that Shanna’s tears were tinted pink.
Darlene wiped her face, then clenched her fists. “I know what he did to me. That control-freak bastard! I can hardly remember the last fifteen years. He stole them from me!”
“I know you’re angry, Mom,” Caitlyn said. “I was angry, too, when I found out what he did to you.”
Darlene gritted her teeth. “Anger doesn’t begin to describe how I feel. If I ever see him, I’m going to kill him!”
“Mom—” Shanna began.
“I have my bags in the car,” Darlene announced. “I’m leaving him. I was hoping I could stay with one of—” Her mouth dropped open. “Caitlyn, you’re pregnant?”
She patted her swollen belly. “Yes, with twins.”
“I have two children myself,” Shanna added.
“Oh my.” Darlene went pale. “I didn’t realize you two were married.” She frowned. “You are married, aren’t you?”
“Yes.” Shanna grinned. “I know the perfect place for you to stay. You can see your grandchildren every day.”
“Oh. Oh my.” Tears ran down Darlene’s face. “That would be wonderful.”
“Come.” Shanna wrapped an arm around her mother’s shoulders. “Let me introduce you to my husband.”
Gregori, Abigail, and Charles moved to the side to let the three women pass. Roman, Angus, and Emma were still waiting in the hallway in front of the security office.
“Does the mother know about Roman?” Abigail whispered to Gregori.
He shook his head.
“Oh brother,” she murmured. “She’s in for more drama tonight.”
“Yep,” Gregori agreed. Not only would Darlene Whelan find out her daughter was married to a vampire, but her daughter had recently become one as well. And her other daughter, Caitlyn, was now a were-panther and expecting kittens.
The security office door opened and Sean jumped out.
“Darlene! Don’t leave me!”
“You bastard!” Darlene charged down the hall. Her daughters grabbed her to slow her down.
“Darlene, I only did it because I love you!” Sean shouted.
“The devil take it.” Angus shoved Sean back into the office. “Doona come out until ye know how to treat a woman.”
“But she’s going to leave me!” Sean bellowed.
“And ye deserve it.” Angus shut the door in his face.
“Never a dull moment around here,” Gregori muttered. “Come on, I’ll show you around.” He led Abigail across the foyer and through some double doors into another hallway.
She walked beside him with Charles trailing behind. “Sean Whelan was using mind control on his wife?”
Gregori nodded. “He sent Shanna away as a teenager when he discovered he couldn’t control her.”
Abigail shuddered. “No wonder his wife is so angry. If someone messed with my mind, I’d want to kill him, too.”
He glanced back at Charles, then lowered his voice. “For the record, I think what Sean did was unconscionable. It’s not how you treat someone you love.”
She didn’t answer, but he noticed her hands were clenched. “Here.” He handed her the stress ball. “These seem to help.”
She accepted the ball and gave it a squeeze. “What do you have to be stressed about? Can’t you live forever?”
“We’re not immortal. We can die. And we see people die.”
She nodded and dropped the ball into her raincoat pocket. “I think that would be the worst part of being a vampire—watching your mortal friends and family die.”
She grew quiet until they arrived at Laszlo’s laboratory. Laszlo invited them in with a shy smile.
“Amazing.” She looked around, her eyes wide. “Tell me what you’re working on.”
“Of course.” Laszlo launched into a long monologue that made no sense to Gregori at all, but Abigail was nodding and agreeing.
Laszlo was clearly delighted to have someone who understood what he was doing. Charles stood by the door, silent and watching. Gregori ended up standing nearby, silent and watching, too, because he couldn’t understand what the hell they were talking about. Whatever it was, it certainly had Laszlo excited for he was twirling the buttons on his new lab coat. Abigail seemed excited, too. She was talking fast, her hands were gesturing, her eyes gleaming.
Gregori sighed. He was doomed. She was way too smart for him. Way too alive for him. Way too forbidden for him.
She mentioned some plants she wanted to find in the Yunnan province of China, and one of Laszlo’s buttons
