Steal the Night (Thieves #5)(148)

I doubted he would leave me alone for any length of time, but I didn’t argue with my husband. “You’re talking to Declan again?”

“Well, I’m only using four letter words when speaking to him, but considering the fact that before I was using vulgar gestures, I believe he counts it as progress,” Dev explained with a grin. “Now, my goddess, our time is limited. I have to report news of your fertile state to my mother soon but before I go, I have a package to deliver.”

I laughed from deep in my soul because I knew just what package he wanted to give me.

“And I have to do it twice,” he continued with a sweetly decadent look on his face. “I promised I would deliver Daniel’s love to you as well.”

I threw my arms around him, ready to receive all the love they had to give me.





Hours later, Dev looked deeply into my eyes and I knew it was killing him to leave me.

“Mother will keep the negotiations open until tomorrow night,” Dev explained. “These things take time and Marini knows that, but he also knows that there will be no alliance without the safety of our children secured. Despite what Trent thinks, I believe he needs the alliance enough that he will leave you be.”

“I’ll try to stay out of his way as much as possible. I’ll change the stones tomorrow. He won’t know the difference until it’s too late.” I hugged Dev’s broad chest, not wanting to be separated even one more night. “Is Danny well? Has he recovered? He must have gone through all the reserve blood supply. Has he gotten over the withdrawal yet?”

I couldn’t stand the thought of Daniel coming in at less than full strength. He hadn’t had companion blood. It could make a difference.

Dev shook his head. “He’s fine, Zoey. His heart is healed and he’s been taking regular companion blood thanks to your little present.”

“My present?”

“Yes, Rose. We were shocked when she called Daniel’s cell phone and told us to pick her up. She said you had sent her to feed Daniel while you were gone,” Dev explained.

I bet she was also the one who had called my father down on my husbands’ heads. I would thank her for that the next time I saw her. I would never think of her as a mouse again. “I’m glad that worked out.”

“We need to go, Dev,” Zack said. “Marcus is out and he’s in pretty pitiful shape. He needs blood in a bad way.”

Dev kissed me, a promise of things to come. “I love you, Zoey. Always and forever.”

I nodded, my throat choked with emotion as I watched him leave.

“Are you feeling all right, Your Highness?” Trent asked, looking me over seriously. He’d seen me cry a whole lot in our brief acquaintance.

“I’m fine. Amazing, actually,” I said to the burly wolf. He was a rough-looking customer to be so very concerned about a small female. I’d discovered the softest hearts were sometimes found in the roughest bodies. I missed Lee so much. “And it’s Zoey, please.”

Trent nodded and I finally got a real smile out of him. “All right then, Zoey.”

Neil walked back in the room and he threw his arms happily around me. “It’s going to be over tomorrow, Z. I can’t wait. I want to go home so bad.”

“Hey, it ain’t done yet.” Trent didn’t seem like a guy who counted his chickens early. “We gotta switch those stones and we gotta do it so Marini isn’t suspicious. If he thinks he’s been tricked, he’ll run and then we’ll never hear the end of him.”

“Well, I doubt he’ll be giving me the keys to his office tonight,” I said, being realistic. I would be lucky if he didn’t show up to beat the crap out of me again. “So I’m going to need a couple of things from you, Trent.”

The three of us put our heads together and worked out a plan. I went to bed but barely slept because I knew by that time tomorrow, it would all be over.





Chapter Thirty-Six





My hands worked quickly against the lock on the door to Louis’s apartments. It was early in the afternoon so only the human slaves were up and about doing their work. There would be a contingent of supernatural guards, but they were mostly stationed at the perimeters of the complex, waiting for Daniel to try something.

As I held my improvised pick and tension wrench, I wished I had tried to find Louis Marini’s daytime resting place. It would have been a satisfying end to our relationship to shove a stake through his sleeping body and sweep up his ashes to give to Daniel as a trophy.

“What’s taking so long, Z?” Neil’s gaze went to Trent, who was keeping watch on the hallway.

I pulled my hands away. They were cramping and this was work that required an enormous amount of dexterity. Had I known I was going to be kidnapped, I would most certainly have brought my own set of picks. As it was, Trent had procured a heavy wire hanger Neil had bent and worked over to make a decent tension wrench. I used a nail file to blunt the tip of a large safety pin to improvise a pick. They were inferior tools and I was slightly out of practice.

“Do you want to try it?” I asked Neil, irritated. I was doing my best, damn it.

“No, I want you to hurry,” Neil replied, just as irritated with me.

We were all on edge, the joy of last night turning into the anxiety of being so close to the exit. If something was going to go wrong, now would be the time for it to happen.