Lisa Renee Jones by Hot Vampire Touch Read Free Book Online Page B

fine here.”
    “It involves Nico, Cass.”
    Her brows dipped, and he could feel the tension curl inside her. “What involves Nico?” she asked. 
    “Please,” he urged. “Just come sit with me so I can show you.”
    She hesitated and then moved to sit next to him, clearly careful not to touch him, and curling her legs to the side in what appeared to be an effort to keep her skirt down. “I’m listening.”
    Troy hesitated a moment, steeling himself for Cassie’s reaction, before loading a reel of pictures to the screen. The first one was of Nico sitting at a table in a bar across from another man, or rather a wolf. One Troy hated, and had hunted, for the best part of the year. The next photo was Nico talking with Andres in an alley. Several more photos of the two wolves followed.
    Troy waited for a reaction from Cassie, some spike of discomfort that would tell him she was involved in something he didn’t want her to be involved with. Equally as worried about her reaction to him accusing her brother of the same. “Do you know this man?” he prompted.
    “Not personally,” she said, her attention shifting from the picture. “But I know who he is. His name is Andres. He’s a new leader in the Rebel movement though no one knows exactly where he came from. He’s an unknown in the society.”
    He was relieved that she acknowledged knowing Andres, that he smelled no lie. His wolf nose was an asset he’d never had with Sarah, but he didn’t understand why others didn’t smell her deceit if they weren’t in on it with her. “Why was Nico meeting with Andres? Why, Cass?”
    Her gaze riveted to his. “I get where this is going. You think Nico is conspiring with the Rebels?” She laughed, without humor. “He’s not. My brother is as dedicated to the Society as they come. If he was with Andres he was trying to negotiate peace.”
    “And he didn’t tell you?”
    “Nico is an Alpha Wolf, Troy. You should know from working with The Society that an Alpha doesn’t go around asking permission and reporting back details on everything they do. He had a reason and a good one. And for the record, of course, he kept me from testing. Of course, protected me. That’s what the males of the Society do and why females are rarely in The Guard. They protect their women. Nico did everything in his power to keep me out of The Guard.”
    And Nico was fiercely protective of Cassie which was why he’d feared she would be involved in anything he was. But instead of clinging to that fear, he felt his gut twist with guilt. Nico had protected Cassie but he had not. He wanted the doubt gone, he wanted it gone tonight.
    “Andres is not just a Rebel,” he said, watching her closely. “He’s a Red wolf.”
    “That’s impossible,” she dismissed. “Red wolves are like rabid dogs. They don’t think. They just kill.”
    “Andres isn’t just any Red wolf,” he said. “He’s smart and cunning and he can partially shift at will. I’ve seen him throw a clawed hand in battle and in a flash it’s back to a human form again.”
    “That’s impossible,” she said, her eyes going wide.
    “So is a vampire turning into whatever the hell I’ve become. It has to be a mutation of the Red Virus and it can’t be as contagious as the original strain or we’d see more like Andres and myself.”
    “Maybe they exist but we don’t know?” Cassie asked.
    “We both know that’s a stretch. Reds are nothing if not bold and in your face.”
    “A new breed that is cunning,” she quickly countered. “Isn’t that the point?”
    “It’s possible,” he said, “But I have my doubts. Andres attacked Evan’s wife while she was human and almost killed her,” he said. “When Evan converted her, she didn’t become what I am. If anything, this new mutation, if that’s what it is, is less contagious rather than more so.”
    Her eyes narrowed. “And the medical team at Vampire Nation has come up with nothing?”
    “When I was first