Page 42 of Dozer

I met his gaze, and that can be dangerous with vampires, but I was tired of looking at his cheeks and forehead. “What do you have in mind?”

Three and a half days with her in my custody, eighty-four hours, to be returned to you without a single mark on her. She won’t remember even a second of it, but she will smell of Bran’s blood when she’s returned to you. We will come to your home and retrieve her while you aren’t present, so she will have no subconscious cellular memory of you handing her over to us. We will return her in the same manner.

Meaning they could inflict horrible tortures on her, and Bran’s blood would heal her. When I didn’t respond right away, he said,Add another day and a half, and I’ll remove one of the favors you owe me as well.

My wolf wanted me to refuse him, but the truth is, five days of solid fifteen-hour shifts would give me some more time at home with her. Add to that, not having to share her ever again? The vampire had given me a deal I couldn’t easily refuse.

I didn’t want to loan her to either vampire, but I also didn’t want to have to share her with Marco every month for years to come. Honestly, as deals go, it wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t great, either. Still, this would keep her safe from the Concilio,andwould keep me from having to share her with him again.

And she’d never find out about it, so she’d never have to deal with the trauma of it. Humans are rarely okay with thesurvival-of-the-fittest rules in the supernatural community, but she signed her rights away knowing I could loan her out so long as I trust whoever I lend her to — and I absolutely trust both Bran and Marco to abide by their word when it comes to this kind of deal, agreed to in black and white with no grey areas.

I kept my face clear of my thoughts, though that didn’t much matter because the motherfucker could read my mind.Your guarantee she’ll be returned whole, with no emotional trauma, and with no damage to her relationship with me?

Absolutely. Yes.

I know what Bran does to people.

On my honor, I will completely overwrite her memory of her time with him. This will remove a favor I owe him, plus it will get him involved to help with the Concilio, should they take issue with your human slave.

Indentured servant.

He tilted his head, and I made a quick decision — this was best for both of us. Throw in one blood donation from him in the future, to heal Daisy should she ever be injured badly enough to need it, and we have a deal.

Let’s make it three donations, since you live a dangerous life.

I didn’t expect him to offer more than I asked, but no way was I going to turn it down. I offered my hand, he shook it, and then he looked around. “Gen is looking for possible locations for our proposed joint venture.”

“I’m not likely to hear much about that until it’s close to coming up for a vote,” I told him. “I feel it’s a positive, having our club go into business with you, if we can find a suitable location.”

I’d told him I wouldn’t go against my oaths to my club to fulfill any of the debts I owed him, but this didn’t come into play for that, because I saw no reason, under the circumstances, to vote against us owning a legit hotel that happened to have onefloor set aside for high-dollar whores. A whole different clientele than we currently serviced. The MC would manage it during daylight hours; the coterie would do so once the sun was down.

I have need of the services of a non-pack wolf who doesn’t belong to a Strigorii vampire to act as a feed-and-fuck for a female Lugat vampire. She isn’t interested in your ass so she’s fine with it being off limits, but she quite enjoys CBT. For four hours with her, I’ll trade one of the large favors you owe me.

Ah, that was why he offered more than I asked earlier. Buttering me up to accept this favor.

Zero repercussions? No political minefields you aren’t sharing?

My jet will take you to Massachusetts for this, and then a limo will drive you to her and then back to the jet. We’ll have plenty of raw meat of your choosing on the plane, so you canchangeand eat on the way home. You’ll be away from Chattanooga less than sixteen hours. They will be told your name is Mike, which is close enough to your middle name to come off as the truth. The vampire recently provided blood to save someone important to me. Since I’m no longer master of the territory, it wouldn’t be prudent to send someone oathed to me at this time.He shrugged.Keeping the peace at home means staying away from pack wolves, even the ones oathed outside of this territory.

I would’ve gladly agreed to this to keep Daisy from having to be gone for five days, but that deal was already set. Be careful when bargaining with vampires, for they’ve had centuries to perfect the art.

One favor without the CBT, two favors with, which will put us even.

One and a half favors, meaning you’ll only owe me one more small favor.

Four hours of torture is a helluva long time, so I said,Two hours with the Lugat, away from Chattanooga less than fourteen hours.

Done. Julian will have someone pick you up from the Rolling Thunder Bar and Restaurant at eight in the evening on Tuesday. Be waiting in the parking lot and get into the limo when it arrives. Someone will retrieve your Daisy the same evening. We’ll return you to the same place once the plane delivers you back to the Chattanooga airport. You’ll come and go from our private hangar. No record of you leaving town.

He offered his hand, I shook it, he walked across the room and talked to Slick a few moments, and he left.

Chapter 34

Dozer

I finished my shift and went to the clubhouse, because Brain was manning the control room that evening. I told him everything. All of it. In person, so there was no way anyone else heard. I knew he’d tell Duke, and that was fine, but I needed to run through it with Brain alone, all at once.

Brain walked to one of the storage safes, opened it, leafed through some boxes, and pulled one out. He put it into a signal blocking bag and handed me the whole thing. “Burner phone, purchased and programmed in Delaware. Top off the charge on the plane, but don’t turn it on for the first time until the plane lands. The number programmed for James will route to a voice mailbox. I’ll get a text a few seconds after you leave a message. Actual texts will take a few minutes to make it to me. You shouldn’t need it, but better safe than sorry. Turn it off and put it back in the bag once the plane takes off. We are not the dominant club in the area, so nothing to point to you being with us. I’d recommend you purchase new clothing. Something dressy, and the proper shoes, too. Silk boxers, expensive socks. Business haircut, and clean-shaven. Trim your pubes, but don’t shave them. You know how to blend as a normal.”

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