Vail’s mind was reeling as he made his way back through the dark city streets. Just a few hours ago, he had thought he would be spending his night out at the Crest family’s summer house, feeding on Victoria’s blood and returning to the Hygrace manor with his cravings fully satisfied. He hadn’t expected to be led far from her home into the basement of a crazed Saint and nearly shot. He pinched the bridge of his nose in bewilderment. What had happened since their last meeting to cause this? Who was the man who’d arranged it? Where had he even come from? As far as he knew, they had been completely alone every time they visited the lodge. He’d never caught so much as a whiff of anyone else near the property.

With his guard still raised, Vail’s eyes flicked between the alleys he passed by. As confusing as it was, he had a hard time believing it was just a fluke that the Saint had used Victoria to bait him into that trap. The timing was too precise to have been a coincidence too. Somehow, the hunter must have found out about their little arrangement and decided to use it to his advantage. The only question that remained was [i]how much[/i] he knew.

Vail was fairly certain the Saint had discovered when and why they were meeting, but it was still unclear as to whether the man knew who he was. He was aware of the gray area his deal with Victoria fell in. On one hand, he hadn’t killed her or caused her any serious harm—he’d even agreed to help free her from her Wynter fiancé—but on the other, he had technically broken the truce between the Hygraces and the Crests by touching her at all. The ceasefire had already been hanging by a thread since Lord Alexander’s death. If the surviving members of their family found out, he was sure that what remained of their contract would be terminated, and his clan would no longer receive special treatment from the members of the Order who had still been honoring it.

He sighed. It was too late to change what had happened now. The most he could hope for was that the man who’d tried to trap him didn’t realize he was a Hygrace, and that Victoria wouldn’t tell him.

Thinking about Lady Crest again, he wondered how involved she had been in the Saint’s scheme. It was hard to tell, since she [i]looked[/i] like she had been held against her will. He didn’t know many women who would agree to be tied to a chair and lie face down on the filthy floor of a basement. However, Victoria wasn’t like most women.  He’d caught her talking with members of the Order before, and she even claimed that she wanted to find out more about her father’s life. Perhaps tonight was just an example of the person she was trying to become, following in her father’s footsteps as a vampire slayer.

He clenched his jaw. If she really had been deceiving him this whole time, she’d been doing a good job of it, but he didn’t want to believe it. Every time he replayed the memory of their nights alone in the summer house, all he could think about were the sound of her girlish giggles and the smell of her heightened pheromones. No matter which way he looked at it, she seemed to have enjoyed his touch. The Saint must have forced her to participate in his brutal plans.

Gingerly, Vail lifted his hand to his injured shoulder to check the severity of his wound. Luckily, it was minor. With the protection of his coat between his skin and the silver he’d rammed his body against, he just had a few small burns. He supposed the pain he’d felt initially had just been worsened because it had taken him by surprise. With plenty of rest, he would recover within a day or two.

Hearing a noise off to his left, Vail tensed, ready to break into a sprint if he found that he’d been followed. Instead, a mouse scurried across the cobblestone in a nearby alley, and he relaxed again. He was already close to the front gate of the Hygrace manor. The hunter wouldn’t have followed him this far. The man had probably stayed behind with Victoria.

Deciding he was safe, he finally let his guard drop as he passed through the wrought iron barrier. After such a stressful night, he was ready to get some much needed sleep. He would decide how to handle this unexpected turn of events tomorrow.