Her body made a soft thump when I threw her back against the wall of the elevator, my fingers wrapped around her throat.
Now I had her attention.
Getting my face within an
inch of hers, close enough I could smell the fear coming off her, I said, “Maybe I do want that. Maybe you’re the next best thing I have right now. ” When I released her, she scuttled out of my reach, touching her neck.
“You’re insane. No one has ever—”
“I don’t care what anyone else has or hasn’t done, Ingrid. I care what Sig has done. Now, I’ll ask you one more time. Get. Him. On. The. Phone. ”
The elevator door slid open on our floor, and Maxime was waiting. “Tribunal Lea—”
“No. None of that right now, please. If I hear the words Tribunal Leader one more time tonight, I’m going to snap. Call me Secret or call me nothing, but those are your only two options. ”
Maxime gave Holden a helpless glance, to which my vampire consort shrugged. “I once called her Queen of the Bitches, but I think she’d frown upon that becoming commonplace. ”
The valet looked appalled. “I… Secret?”
“Yes?”
“Can I get you anything?”
“A glass of blood, my sword and some privacy. ” I was deadpan when I said it, but for some reason Holden snorted.
“Here. ” Ingrid’s voice was downright frosty as she handed me her cellphone.
“Did you tell him what I did?” I asked.
“I don’t need to tell him things like that. When something happens to me, he knows. ”
I snatched the phone from her hand, and knowing Sig was on the other end, I dispensed with any niceties. “You have a lot of explaining to do. ”
“If you believe it is necessary for me to explain myself to you, you are sorely misunderstanding the dynamics of our relationship. ”
I walked ahead of the others and into my suite. Holden and Maxime were close behind, but I went into my bedroom and shut the doors, wanting the illusion of privacy for this conversation.
“I can’t believe you sent me in here without any forewarning. I think you’re the perfect person for the job,” I said, repeating what he’d told me before I left. “Well, fuck you. You might have mentioned you thought that because the missing vampire was my goddamn father. ” The plastic casing around the phone cracked, and I had to calm myself before the whole damned thing shattered in my hand.
“Are you quite finished?” he asked after a period of silence.
“No. ”
“Will you allow me to say something?”
“Could I stop you if I wanted to?”
“No. ”
“Then go ahead. ” I sat on the end of my luxurious bed, the satin bedspread rustling under me. The faint aroma of night-blooming jasmine filled the room, but since I couldn’t see any flowers around me I assumed it must be coming from the foyer.
“What, precisely, is it that bothers you most about this? Is it that you were unprepared to meet your father, or is it discovering—through Sutherland—you and I have a deeper connection than you previously believed?”
His question had me stumped. I still didn’t fully grasp what Sig was to me through this new development, and that set my internal compass spinning.
“What are we?”
“Is that it, then? That’s what has you so upset?”