Emma paused. “Oh. Yeah, well . . . prepare yourself because it’s an odd one. When a Kayrs male finds his mate, a brand appears on his hand that transfers during sex. She ends up immortal afterward, which is awesome. The brand? Not so much. Archaic, if you ask me.” Emma tugged her T-shirt to the side and turned toward the wall. “See?”
A beautiful, raised black tattoo spread over the queen’s shoulder. An elegant K sat in the middle of a stunning Celtic knot. “It’s beautiful,” Amber breathed.
Emma settled her shirt back in place. “Maybe so, but branding is still archaic.” She tugged Amber farther down the hallway. “The marking is only a part of a mating, a huge part. But don’t worry, your physiology is probably just fine.”
Amber’s brain reeled. Why hadn’t the brand appeared on Kane’s hand? She didn’t want to be mated, but hey, shouldn’t the brand have appeared since she and Kane had sex? Wasn’t she good enough? Geez. “That’s a relief to hear. Are you sure?”
“Not really.” Emma shoved open a large door to a spacious lab complete with examination table. “The vamps I’m related to are mostly mated, and Jase has been kidnapped, so I don’t get to test many women who’ve, you know, done a vamp.”
“What about Kane? I mean, he’s not mated.” She shouldn’t have asked that, darn it. But she held her breath and waited for Emma to respond.
“No, but the guy is seriously discreet. I mean, I wouldn’t even know about you and Kane if Dage hadn’t spilled the beans.” Irritation had Emma’s fine lips pursing. “Though my sister and I have talked about Kane—he is always so detail-oriented, he’s probably, well, you know. Thorough.” She lifted an eyebrow.
Amber slid her arm free of Emma’s, heat climbing into her face. “Um, yes. Very thorough.”
Emma nodded in satisfaction. “I figured. Well, that’s good.”
Amber eyed the smooth paper on the examination table. “Well, okay—blood then?”
“Yes.” Emma turned toward a dark granite counter holding several quiet machines and grabbed a syringe from a small tray.
“So, you’re a doctor?” Amber sat on the paper, rolling up her sleeves and crossing her ankles, swinging them slightly.
“Yeah—in genetics.”
Figured. Everybody in the Realm world was seriously educated. Even Janie could go to medical school if she wanted. Amber fought a sigh.
The door opened and Dage stalked inside. Graceful and smooth, the king of the vampires nevertheless hinted at a danger that made Amber’s legs stop swinging. Who were these people?
He sighed. “Emma. We wanted to ease Amber into helping us.” Wrapping a broad hand around Emma’s nape, he drew her close for a quick kiss on the lips. Drawing back, his eyes darkened to deep silver. “I believe I told you to take a quick break and get some rest.”
A small smile lingered on the queen’s lips as he drew away. She approached Amber and swabbed her elbow with alcohol. “There’s no easing when it comes to the Kayrs family, you know that. I’ll rest when we find Jase, just like you.”
“You’ll rest today, either on your own or with help, love.” The king’s voice lowered to a tone of pure danger.
Amber’s breath caught in her throat. Her heartbeat picked up.
Emma rolled her eyes. “Don’t you have an entire universe to go rule?”
Was the woman daft? That was not a man you messed with. Amber tensed in case she needed to jump from the table. Then the king threw back his head and laughed, causing her to freeze in place.
“Yes.” He grinned, the smile turning him almost charming. “But it’s so much more fun to rule you.”
Amber cut her eyes to Emma. The king was as bad as Kane. “Are they all like that?”
“If you mean obstinate, stubborn, and over-the-top dominant, then yeah. Vampires are all like that.” Emma pressed the needle in, humming while blood filled the vial. “Of course, I guess they have their good points, too.”
“That’s nice to hear,” the king grumbled.
The door swept open and Janie hurried inside. “Uncle Dage, there’s a problem with the wolves.”
Kane entered on her heels. “You are not already taking Amber’s blood, damn it.”
Emma removed the needle and pressed a cotton swab on the wound. “Yep. Just finished.”
Kane growled low.
The room froze. Or rather, the people in the room froze.
Janie huffed out a breath. “Did you just growl?”
Amber frowned. “He always growls.”
“No, he doesn’t,” Janie said.
Amber wrinkled her brow as everyone turned to stare at Kane. Well, everyone except Emma, who was studying Amber with delighted interest sparking her blue eyes.
CHAPTER 13
Kane tried to shrug Dage’s hand off his shoulder, barely keeping from growling again when he failed. Sure, he could knock his brother on his ass, but what would that accomplish? So he tromped through the sparkling underground corridors to Dage’s private study.
The small room sported several chairs around a sofa table. No desk for the king—he preferred an informal setting. No paintings adorned the walls, no feminine touches hinted Dage had let Emma mess with the room. Only family was allowed in the underground study—well, family and Max. But Max was family.
Once inside, Dage released him and pressed a button next to the door. A full screen instantly covered the far wall, and seconds later, Terrent Vilks filled the screen.
Kane nodded. “How’s Hilde Freebird?”
“She’s a pain in the ass.” Terrent tied his thick hair back from his scowling face. “The doctors reduced the extreme swelling in her brain, thus healing the concussion. She had a hairline fracture along her skull, and they applied laser treatments to heal it, though it’ll take a couple more days. Yet somehow from a hospital bed, she’s managed to organize a boycott on the delivery of my favorite fruit. Something about pesticides.” The wolf growled low. “I’m immortal. Pesticides don’t hurt me.”
“When will she be fit to travel?” Kane asked mildly.
“Three days—I tried for two, but the doctors vetoed me.” Terrent rubbed the scruff covering his rugged jaw. “She’s doing her chants every day, and I can’t get a sense she’s enhanced. Quite the talent she has. Any luck with the daughter finding Jase?”
“We’ll conduct tests soon,” Dage said.
“I’ll conduct tests, and she’s not doing anything until she’s ready,” Kane countered, his voice lowering.
Both of Terrent’s dark eyebrows rose. “Interesting. I’ll let you two deal with that. For now, we have a problem with the inoculation of wolf shifters.”
Kane breathed out hard. “I don’t have time for a problem.” He’d invented an immunization for all shifters against Virus-27, which had turned them from shifters to pure animalistic werewolves . . . with no way to turn back. Personally, he’d had to take down shifters he’d once considered friends after they’d been infected. He’d been ecstatic when discovering the cure for shifters, and hoped to take that and find a cure for vampire mates and witches, thus rendering the virus moot. Hopefully before the damn thing went airborne. “We’ve been inoculating shifters for two solid years without problems—we should be about done.”
Terrent shook his head. “There’s evidence the inoculation isn’t working.”
“Bullshit.” There was no doubt the cure worked. Kane stepped closer to the camera.
Terrent’s eyes flared black. “Let me rephrase that. I believe, based on tests of the immunization, that someone has tampered with the concoction and made several of our vials useless.”
Kane rubbed both hands over his face. “Who would do that?” He shook his head. “Okay. If someone got close enough to the vials to tamper with them, it’s someone close to you. The Kurjans have a mole in your organization.”