Eric drew his gaze off Kai with a noticeable effort, making an awkward face at Sascha. “Well, it was more like he and Jay were complaining about Ivan asking for help after…everything.” His cheeks flushed pink, and he gave Ivan an apologetic shrug before continuing. “And we were already in the area…”
“My pet wanted to play at mobsters,” Wolfe drawled, running a possessive hand over Eric’s shoulder.
“Hey!” Eric’s flush deepened, even as he leaned back into Wolfe, not seeming to notice Wolfe wrapping an arm around Eric’s middle, or the pleased smirk Wolfe made when he did so. “I just thought it’d be interesting. And we’ve helped, right?”
“How did you find him anyway?” Sascha asked.
“He was at the gas station here,” Eric said, almost sheepish. “Jay had snapped a photo of him last time he came to town, so we knew to run him off if we ever saw him. We just…took the opportunity presented to us.”
“And yet Alexei should be under the impression that Sergei still works for me,” Ivan pointed out.
“I told him about the betrayal,” Sascha said, a defiant tilt to his chin. He frowned. “But now I have a mobster tied up in my basement, and I was really trying to avoid that kind of thing here.”
“He won’t be here for long,” Ivan muttered darkly.
Sascha scowled at him. “You arenotkilling a man in my basement!”
If only that were the plan. Ivan would like nothing more than to put an end to this here. But he still needed Sergei to be useful one last time, so the execution would have to wait.
He was supposed to be learning to act without anger getting the better of him, after all.
And then he wouldn’t have Sascha sulking at him for the next three months.
“I’m not killing anyone in your basement,” he conceded, pleased when Sascha’s mouth clamped shut abruptly, as if he hadn’t been expecting Ivan to agree. “We’ll be taking him back to New York with us.”
“Is that wise?” Kai asked. “He’s a known enemy. Wouldn’t it be better to end it now?”
Ivan sneered at him. “Worried for our safety, are you?”
“I don’t wish for Sascha to be inconvenienced more than he already has.”
Before Sascha could add his two cents—whether to confirm his inconvenienced state or deny it—Wolfe interrupted. “Are we done here, then?” he asked in a flat tone, as if the conversation was boring him beyond belief.
Ivan would have been more than happy to let the two go, but it would be stupid of him to turn down the opportunity of two vampires when they were already here.
“I could use you—use yourhelp,” Ivan amended, when Wolfe’s eyes flashed dangerously, “one more time, if you will. A meeting in New York. Since Alexei won’t come himself.”
Wolfe tutted. “We’re on a fishing trip.” He drew his blond mate closer. “For Eric. And I don’t believe there’s any fishing for him in New York.”
Eric tilted his head back to murmur, “I’ve never been to the city though.”
Wolfe eyed him thoughtfully, then pursed his lips into a small smile. “We’ll stay at the most expensive hotel I can find,” he said as if in warning.
Eric grinned at him. “You think I’m going to argue?”
Feeling oddly like a voyeur, Ivan cleared his throat, gaining their attention again. “The meeting won’t be for another two days,” he told them. “That gives you more time to…fish.”
“Very well.” Wolfe unwrapped from around Eric, taking his hand instead. “We’ll be going now. This has already taken up too much of our time.”
He led Eric to the front door without further ado, leaving it to the blond to turn and give them all an apologetic wave.
“I’d be careful there,” Nix murmured after they’d left.
Ivan glanced at him in surprise. Nix had been quiet, yes, but Ivan wouldn’t have thought two vampires would be enough to give the two demons in the room any trouble. “Why?”
Nix’s brow furrowed. “The bloodsucker Wolfe. There’s not much there, emotions-wise. Other than some pretty obsessive adoration for his mate. It’s the one overpowering scent he gives off.” He wrinkled his nose. “Psychopath, I think.”
Ivan shrugged. “I don’t really care one way or another, if they can do what we need them to do.”
