Steal the Night (Thieves #5)(52)

Dev shook his head. “It won’t come to that. I realize that this is nothing like the last time we got arrested. Daniel won’t be able to walk in and convince these people to let us go, but he will get you out. No matter what. The rest of us will make do. He knows I don’t mind rotting in jail if it means you’re all right.”

“Well, I do mind,” Terry grumbled.

Dev turned back to the Aussie. “Shouldn’t your Order be storming in to get you back?”

“No, mate. I’m under strict orders to commit suicide if I get taken in. You didn’t give me a chance. By the time I woke up, those pommy bastards had taken my guns. Not that I actually would have. It seems a bit extreme to me.”

I kind of agreed with him on the whole suicide thing, but I didn’t have a chance to delve further. Zack was being brought back in. Zack had turned a nice shade of green and there was no way to miss how he winced as he sat down.

Poor Zack.

“Shit.” Lee cursed as the officer came back for him.

The officer frowned and started to haul Lee up. Then he stopped, his mouth dropping open. “What the hell?”

I turned to try to see what he was talking about.

Every eye in the building focused on a dark-haired man in an immaculate three-piece suit. He wasn’t the tallest man in the room, but there was no doubt he was the most powerful. His face was handsome, with a strong jaw and a Roman nose. He came by the nose honestly. He’d been born in Rome sometime after Christ.

Marcus Vorenus walked into the police station like he owned it. His dark eyes sought me out and he immediately made his way toward me. What happened next was like something out of a horror movie. There’s that moment when the heroine is standing in a hall and one by one the lights start to go off. She runs, but the darkness just chases her. Marcus was the darkness in this scenario. As Marcus made his way down the aisles of detectives’ desks, every human in the room fell where they were standing. They were like puppets that had their strings cut.

“Fuck me,” Terry said, his eyes wide. “That’s a vampire.”

“He’s on our side,” Dev said quietly. He watched Marcus move toward us.

A couple of the officers brought out guns and began to shout for Marcus to stop. Yeah, they went down, too. Marcus turned those dark eyes on them and they slumped to the floor, guns clattering.

Marcus wasn’t the strongest vampire in the world, but his mental powers were something to witness.

“Stop right…” I was sure the officer was going to complete his sentence with “there” but Marcus turned dark eyes at him and he crumpled like a rag doll. I noticed Terry had passed out in his seat.

“Hello, cara,” Marcus said, his deep voice intimate. There was a small smile on his face as he stood before me. “You’ve caused trouble.”

“I got shot if it makes you feel any better,” I offered lamely.

He frowned. “It does not, cara. Are you all right?”

Even as he asked the question, a group of people were walking up behind him. I heard them speaking to each other in rapid-fire Italian. There were two men and two women. They quickly found the keys to our handcuffs and began letting us out.

“I’m not looking forward to pulling the damn bullet out, but I’m alive and apparently I’m not going to be shoved in jail.” I winced as my hands came out of the cuffs.

The minute Dev was let out, he knelt down beside me. “I need to get you to a doctor.”

“We need to get everyone out of here first.” Though I wanted desperately to get the damn bullet out of my shoulder, I needed to make sure Lee and Zack were safe. They’d done their duty. I could handle a little pain if it meant doing mine.

“Let’s go. Hugo is waiting outside with the car. We must hurry. He’s keeping people out of the building, but that will only work for so long. My servants will erase any trace of your arrest from the system.” Marcus began barking orders to his assistants in Italian.

I stood up with Dev’s help. “What did you do to them, Marcus?”

“I told them to sleep and they did,” Marcus replied simply.

“Is there any sign of Daniel yet?” Dev asked. I could tell from the sound of his voice that he wasn’t sure which answer he wanted to hear. I wasn’t either. Daniel wasn’t going to be happy.

Marcus’s dark eyes narrowed. “The king has been informed as to what his royal consorts have been doing in his absence. I managed to contact him when he stopped in New York earlier. I preferred he not hear of your…adventures from the press. I’ve had to work very hard to keep this story quiet.”

Marcus was really good at making me feel like a naughty teenager.

“They started it,” I grumbled because I was really good at sounding like a grumpy teenager.

“Do you have any idea the trouble you have caused your husband, Zoey?” Marcus asked, his voice rising. “You are not on the continent for ten minutes before I have to assemble a cleaning crew. What would have happened if someone had taken pictures? Or video? Do you ever think?”

“Hey,” Dev said and I could see he was ready to take out a little of his previous anger over his not-sexy strip search on Marcus. “You don’t talk to her like that.”

Marcus turned to my husband. “I won’t even go into my displeasure with you, Devinshea. You were tasked with one goal—to get your queen safely to London. You couldn’t even accomplish that. It’s your fault that she was injured and you will be held accountable. Unfortunately I must leave your punishment to Daniel.”