Page 9 of You Only Love Twice
"Ava and Jack are in the laboratory downstairs, tinkering with Jack's next project," Charlie said promptly. "Ingrid's reading a book, and I'm not certain where the baroness is."
"Probably avoiding Malloryn," Byrnes muttered sotto voce.
"I beg your pardon?" Malloryn shot him a sharp look.
"Nothing." Innocent did not become Byrnes.
"Tsk, tsk," Gemma chided, filling the sudden tense silence in a rush. The duke was getting married within a week, and betting odds had reached fever pitch as to whether he was going to get the bride to the altar or not. But not all the Rogues were enjoying the lead-up to Malloryn's wedding. "If I were the ladies, I know where I'd be."
She waggled her eyebrows suggestively.
Everybody suddenly reached for their shirts.
"Herbert, can you fetch the baroness?" Malloryn threw over his shoulder. "Tell her to be in my study in five minutes, then send for tea."
"At once, sir." Herbert vanished.
"Perhaps you can solve a problem for us, Your Grace," Charlie called.
"Yes?"
"Let's say the three of us were discussing who the most dangerous rogue in the Company of Rogues is," Charlie said, with an impish smile as he hauled his shirt over his head. "Now Kincaid is a blue blood and Byrnes isdhampir, it's upset the ranking a little. We're trying to sort out who fits where."
Malloryn blinked. "Who fits where on what? A scale of which one of us is the Most Dangerous Rogue in the Company of Rogues?"
Men. Gemma rolled her eyes, though she couldn't help looking to Malloryn to see what his answer would be.
He abhorred wasting time, but she'd seen him start to warm to the rest of the Rogues in the past couple of months. Sometimes he needed a bit of lighthearted banter in his life.
"I already know the answer to that question," he replied, slapping the file he'd been carrying on the table. "I don't need to guess."
"My vote's for Byrnes," Charlie explained. "Presuming all goes wrong and Byrnes loses control of his innerdhampir, I think he's the most dangerous. He's faster than us now, and stronger. Impervious to most wounds."
"My vote"—Kincaid crossed his arms over his chest—"is you. You destroyed Charlie and me in the ring last month. Barely even broke a bloody sweat. I think you could handle Byrnes."
"The question isn't, can I handle him." Malloryn snorted. "If Byrnes ever slipped his leash, then I wouldn't go after him myself. It's a ridiculous assumption."
A Malloryn answer to a T.
"And you're all looking at this all wrong," Gemma added, unscrewing the lid on the flask of blood at her hip. "All three of you look at strength literally. You should be thinking of strengthsandweaknesses. Vulnerabilities. You're asking who the most dangerous Rogue is; not who the strongest one is. So sorry, Kincaid, you're out of the running."
The man could probably lift a carriage by himself, and with his mech arm a single blow from him could smash ribs, but he was nowhere near the top ofherlist.
"Byrnes isn't, either. He has a ruthless edge Kincaid lacks, but we have a major trump card against him. If Byrnes gives in to his dark side, then Malloryn would send Ingrid in to bring him down," Gemma replied, sipping her blood. "Byrnes has three major weaknesses; his wife, sunlight, and the Black Vein serum. If you want to take him down without damage, you send in Ingrid to bring him to his knees. He's physically incapable of hurting his wife, and she'll have motivation enough to bring him down any way she can—except dead. If you want him dead, then you take a sniper dartgun and sit in wait where he'll least expect it, and use the serum against him. If you want to escape him, you'd better hope the sun is shining brightly, thanks to his newly acquireddhampirweaknesses."
Or you created an ultraviolet incandescent illuminator to use against him, but nobody technically needed to know about that—and Jack hadn't quite gotten the prototype she'd requested right yet.
Because Byrnes wasn't the onlydhampirout there.
Just the only one who was working on their side.
"But where does everyone else fit?" Kincaid demanded.
Because the size of ones balls is important.
"Easy. From least dangerous to most dangerous; Ava, Jack, Kincaid, Charlie, Isabella, Byrnes, Ingrid, Herbert—for you're all forgetting dear Herbert—and then Malloryn at the top," she replied.
"Herbert?" Kincaid blurted. "The butler?"
