“He hit you.”

I nodded.

“I don’t care if he’s too damaged to have kept his conscience. He is a dead man.”

“Between you, me, my parents, and the AAM, you’re probably right. I think I broke his wrist, maybe his nose.”

“Good,” he said, then looked me over. “Come sit down. I can feel your pain from here.” He led me to the sofa, and I used his arm to lever myself down to it.

“What else hurts?”

“I’m sore, but mostly my shoulder. I landed on it again. That’s the worst of it. Are you okay?”

“Scrapes,” he said, and worry filled his eyes. “I don’t know how he got past us. Then he sent two friends to play with me, and I couldn’t get up here fast enough.”

“Friends from the AAM?”

“Yeah. I recognized them from the Grove.”

“Assholes,” I muttered. “Are they down?”

“Down, but not dead. I left them to check on you. They may have gotten away.”

“Doesn’t matter,” I said, shaking my head and leaning into him, nearly crying from the relief of it, but there’d been too much near crying these last few days. “We’re okay.”

“I’m sorry,” he said again.

“Don’t be. He didn’t get past you.”

Connor pulled back. “He was in here. Either he was invisible, or he got past me.”

“Neither, and both,” I said, and Connor’s brow furrowed. “He was in the loft, waiting for me. He used glamour. He’s got quite a bit of skill—can convince people they’re seeing exactly what they expect to see.”

“Like an empty apartment.”

“Like that,” I agreed. “Con, he didn’t mention Miranda. He took credit for you, for Blake. But not for her.” I didn’t mention that she’d reported me to the AAM. I’d take that up with her directly.

He was quiet for a moment. “She did it to herself, or had someone do it. To blame vampires? To get the Pack’s sympathies? Mine?”

“Possibly all of the above.”

He swore bitterly. “She put heat on you.”

“It doesn’t matter. You know the truth, and you’ll tell your family. That’s enough for me.”

He pressed a kiss to my forehead, then rose. Wordlessly, he went to the kitchen, opened drawers until he found a bank of clean tea towels, filled one with ice from the freezer.

While he worked, a black cat slunk out of the hallway, padded toward the couch, sat down in front of it, and looked at me.

“You were supposed to be guarding the place,” I told her.

She just blinked.

“Did you know he was in here? Did you let him in here? Unlock the door in hopes he’d give you treats?” I shifted and accidentally tweaked my shoulder, winced at the pain.

To my great surprise, she padded toward me, bumped her head against my leg.

Connor came back, ice pack in hand, and looked down at the cat. “Well. That’s a change of mood.”

“She’s touching me voluntarily,” I whispered, afraid to move and send her scampering. “She must be relieved I’m alive to feed her.”

“She’s not the only one,” he said and sat beside me. Carefully, delicately, he pressed the towel to my cheekbone while the cat trotted off to her water bowl.

“Levi’s damaged,” I said. “Seriously deranged. He believed we were going to have some kind of romantic love affair, and you got in the way. And he seriously hates shifters.”

“Yeah, I got that from the notes. Fuck me, Elisa.”

“Okay,” I said, nodding. “But we’ll have to clean up first.”

He laughed, pressed the gentlest kiss to my temple. Then turned his head to look at the damage done. The broken chair, the overturned table, the slashed wall. “She is going to have a fit.”

“Lulu or the cat?”

“Yes. We should make vampires wear fucking bear bells.”

“I—what?”

“Bear bells, so the vampires make noise when they move around.” He used two fingers to mimic little walking legs. “That way, the glamour wouldn’t work.”

“The bears don’t wear the bells,” I said, lips curving. “People wear bells so the bears know they’re coming.”

“Oh,” he said. “I guess I got that backward.”

No guessing about it; he’d said it to make me laugh.

“I let the monster fight him.”

His brows lifted with pleasure, with interest. “Did you?”

I nodded. “We’ve been . . . trying to work together.”

Saying that aloud helped settle something inside me, and I wasn’t sure if the ease was from me, or from it.

“Wise of both of you,” Connor said. “And advantageous.” He leaned in, pressed a soft kiss to my lips. “Just make sure you stay in charge.”

“Am and will,” I said, and I looked toward the windows. “He probably wouldn’t go back to the hotel. Not now. Let’s go talk to Clive. We have things to discuss.”

* * *

* * *

We took turns cleaning up the loft and cleaning up in the bathroom, and sending messages.

Connor sent a warning to the Pack, in case Levi found his way there again. He also sent a message to Alexei, to keep him updated. I did the same for Lulu, then sent a message to my parents, told them we’d come by the House when we could, but to stay on high alert until Levi was found. I asked they relay the update to Nicole personally. I also had the inkling of an idea, and asked my parents to talk to Johnson, the guard who’d been injured when Clive had come to Cadogan House. He might be able to give us a little window.

I called Theo en route to the Portman Grand.

“Levi confessed to killing Blake and attacking Connor,” I told him. “Two of Clive’s vampires helped him.”

There was a moment of stunned silence. “And how do you know this?”

“He was waiting for me in the loft. He can hide himself with glamour.”

“Jesus, Lis. Are you all right?”

“Banged up, but I’ll heal.” I was getting sick of saying that. “We’re going to the Portman Grand. I want to have some words with Clive.”

“You think he knew?”

“That Levi killed Blake? Probably not. But that his brother is a threat? Yeah, I think he did know.”

“I’ll meet you at the hotel,” he said. “Don’t do anything rash, Lis. And don’t make more trouble for yourself.”

“Oh, the trouble won’t be for me,” I assured him. “But I’ll be the one to end this.”

* * *

* * *

Theo beat us to the hotel; we found him waiting in the lobby, surveying the luxury. “Posh,” he said when we reached him. The Portman Grand was one of the finest hotels in Chicago and probably the most expensive. Marble and wood and gold, with towering ceilings and the cool, quiet, rarefied air of luxury.

“Vampires,” Connor and I said together.

“That word covers a lot of ground,” Theo noted.

“Same for ‘shifters,’” I said. “If you need to talk about fighting or carousing or anything involving motorcycles. Do you know which rooms they’re in?” I asked Theo.

“Clive’s in thirty-two eleven. Levi has the room next door. Staff confirmed Levi left three hours ago, hasn’t been back. His room’s been cleaned since then.”

So we’d been right about that. He was running, but not back to the hotel. Not back to his brother.

“Did Gwen talk to Clive?”

“Briefly,” Theo said. “Asked where Levi was, got no answer. Said he was wanted for questioning in Blake’s death, in Connor’s attack. Still got no answer.”

“What was her sense?” Connor asked.

“That he was surprised by the allegations, but not the violence.” He looked back at the door, put on what I thought of as his “grown-up” face. “We don’t have warrants,” he said. “We can ask questions, and they can refuse.”

I started to argue, but Theo held up a hand.

“Trespassing won’t get his brother off the streets, and fighting with the AAM isn’t going to help your case.”

“I’m angry that you’re right.”

“You should be used to that by now. Gwen’s working with the state’s attorney, and we’ll get Levi. We’ll get the ones who helped him, and if Clive knew about it, we’ll get him, too. I’m asking for a little trust, which I know probably feels unfair. But I’m asking for it anyway.”

I nodded, and he looked at Connor. “You going to be able to maintain?”

“As much as I need to,” Connor said. Which I knew wasn’t agreement, but a reminder that he’d do exactly what he believed he needed to do. Nothing more, nothing less.

* * *

* * *

I got a response from Cadogan House as we rode up to the thirty-second floor, then walked to the room Theo had identified. Since this was my mission, I pounded a fist on the door.

It opened a moment later, and I didn’t waste any time. “Clive. Now.”

The female vamp who answered looked me up, down again, gave Theo and Connor the same treatment. Then settled that arrogant gaze on my face again. “Are you here to surrender?”

“No. We’re here to discuss his brother’s attack on me.” I held up my wrists, the bruises now vibrant.

Something flared in her eyes. Knowledge, I thought. And a little bit of fear. “A moment,” she said and closed the door in our faces.

“She knows something,” Connor murmured.

“She absolutely does,” I agreed. “Maybe she was the target of his friendship before me.”

The door opened again. “You may enter if you hand over your weapons.”

I snorted. “I’m not handing over my blade, and Theo is authorized to carry his weapon on duty. We’re searching for Levi, and if we find him first, Clive might not like it. He has five seconds to decide whether to talk to us.” I smiled politely. “Five. Four. Three.”