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I gnoring a ghost is a lot more difficult

than you’d think. For starters, walls don’t

hinder their kind, so although I shut the

door in the face of the specter loitering

outside my house, he followed me inside

as if invited. My jaw clenched in

irritation, but I began unloading my

groceries as though I hadn’t noticed. Too

soon, I was done. Being a vampire

married to another vampire meant that my

shopping list was pretty short.

“This is ridiculous. You can’t keep

shunning me forever, Cat, ” the ghost

muttered.

Yeah, ghosts can talk, too. That made

them even harder to ignore. Of course, it

didn’t help that this ghost was also my

uncle. Alive, dead, undead... family had

a way of getting under your skin whether

you wanted them to or not.

Case in point: Despite my vow not to

talk to him, I couldn’t keep from replying.

“Actually, since neither of us is getting

any older, I can do this forever, ” I noted

coolly. “Or until you ante up on everything

you know about the a-hole running our old

team.”

“That’s what I came here to talk to you

about, ” he said.

Surprise and suspicion made my eyes

narrow. For almost three months, my uncle

Don had refused to divulge anything about

my new nemesis, Jason Madigan. Don had

a history with Madigan, a former CIA

operative who’d taken over the secret

government unit I used to work for, but

he’d kept mum on the details even when

his silence meant that Madigan had nearly

gotten me, my husband, and other innocent

people killed. Now he was ready to spill?

Something else had to be going on. Don

was so pathologically secretive that I

hadn’t found out we were related until

four years after I started working for him.

“What happened? ” I asked without

preamble.

He tugged on a gray eyebrow, a habit he

couldn’t break even after losing his

physical body. He also wore his usual suit

and tie despite dying in a hospital gown.

I’d think it was my memories dictating

how Don appeared to me except for the

hundreds of other ghosts I’d met. There

might not be shopping malls in the

afterlife, but residual self-image was

strong enough to make others see ghosts

the way they saw themselves. Don had

been the picture of a perfectly groomed,

sixty-something bureaucrat in life, so

that’s what he looked like in death.

He also hadn’t lost any of the tenacity

behind those gunmetal-colored eyes, the

only physical trait we had in common. My

crimson hair and pale skin came from my

father.

“I’m worried about Tate, Juan, Dave,

and Cooper, ” Don stated. “They haven’t

been home in weeks, and as you know, I

can’t get into the compound to check if

they’re there.”

I didn’t point out that it was Don’s fault

Madigan knew how to ghost-proof a

building. Heavy combinations of weed,

garlic, and burning sage would keep all

but the strongest spooks away. After a

ghost had almost killed Madigan last year,

he’d outfitted our old base with a liberal

supply of all three.

“How long exactly since you’ve seen

them? ”

“Three weeks and four days, ” he

replied. Faults he may have, but Don was

meticulous. “If only one of them was away

that long, I’d assume he was on an

undercover job, but all of them? ”

Yes, that was strange even for members

of a covert Homeland Security branch that

dealt with misbehaving members of

undead society. When I was a member of

the team, the longest undercover job I’d

been on was eleven days. Rogue vampires

and ghouls tended to frequent the same

spots if they were dumb enough to act out

so much that they caught the U.S.

government’s attention.

Still, I wasn’t about to assume the worst

yet. Phone calls were beyond Don’s

capabilities as a ghost, but I had no such

hindrances.

I pulled a cell phone out of my kitchen

drawer, dialing Tate’s number. When I got

his machine, I hung up. If something had

happened and Madigan was responsible,

he’d be checking Tate’s messages. No

need to clue him in that I was sniffing

around.

“No answer, ” I told Don. Then I set that

phone aside and took another cell out of

the drawer, dialing Juan next. After a few

rings, a melodic Spanish voice instructed

me to leave a message. I didn’t, hanging

up and reaching for another phone from

the drawer.

“How many of those do you have? ”

Don muttered, floating over my shoulder.

“Enough to give Madigan a migraine, ” I

said with satisfaction. “If he’s tracing

calls to their phones, he won’t find my

location in any of these, much as he’d love

to know where I am.”

Don didn’t accuse me of being

paranoid. As soon as he’d taken over my

uncle’s old job, Madigan had made it

clear that he had it in for me. I didn’t

know why. I’d been retired from the team

by then, and as far as Madigan knew, there

was no longer anything special about me.

He didn’t know that turning from a half

vampire into a full one had come with

unexpected side effects.

Dave’s phone went straight to voice

mail as well. So did Cooper’s. I

considered trying them at their offices, but

those were inside the compound. Madigan

might have enough taps on those lines to

locate me no matter how I’d arranged for

the cell phone signals to be rerouted.

“Okay, now I’m worried, too, ” I said at

last. “When Bones gets home, we’ll figure

out a way to get a closer look at the

compound.”

Don regarded me soberly. “If Madigan

has done something to them, he’ll expect

you to show up.”

Once again, my jaw clenched. Damn

right I’d show up. Tate, Dave, Juan, and

Cooper weren’t just soldiers I’d fought

alongside for years when I was part of the

team. They were also my friends. If

Madigan was responsible for something

bad happening to them, he’d soon be

sorry.

“Yeah, well, Bones and I had a couple

months of relative quiet. Guess it’s time to

liven things up again.”

M y cat Helsing jumped down from my

lap the same time that the air became

charged with tiny invisible currents.

Emotions rolled over my subconscious.

Not my own, but almost as familiar to me.

Moments later, I heard the crunch of tires

on snow. By the time the car door shut,

Helsing was at the door, his long black

tail twitching with anticipation.

I stayed where I was. One cat waiting at

the door was enough, thanks. With a

whoosh of frigid air, my husband came

inside. Snow coated Bones, making him

look like he’d been dusted with powdered

sugar. He stamped his feet to dislodge the

flakes from his boots, causing Helsing to

jump away with a hiss.

“Clearly he thinks you should pet him

first and deal with the snow later, ” I said.

Eyes so dark they were nearly black

met mine. Once they did, my amusement

turned into primal female appreciation.

Bones’s cheeks were flushed, and the

color accented his flawless skin, chiseled

features, and sensually full mouth. Then he

took his coat off, revealing an indigo shirt

that clung to his muscles as if reveling in

them. Black jeans were snug in all the

right places, highlighting a taut stomach,

strong thighs, and an ass that could double

as a work of art. By the time I drew my

gaze back up to his face, his slight smile

had turned into a knowing grin. More

emotions enveloped my subconscious

while his scent—a rich mixture of spices,

musk, and burnt sugar—filled the room.

“Missed me already, Kitten? ”

I didn’t know how he managed to make

the question sound indecent, yet he did. I

would’ve said the English accent helped,

but his best friends were English and their

voices never turned my insides to jelly.

“Yes, ” I replied, rising and coming

over to him.

He watched me, not moving when I

slowly slid my hands up to lace them

behind his neck. I had to stand on tiptoe to

do it, but that was okay. It brought us

closer, and the hard feel of his body was

almost as intoxicating as the swirls of

desire that curled around my emotions. I

loved that I could sense his emotions as

though they were my own. If I’d realized

that was one of the perks of him changing

me into a full vampire, I might have

upgraded my half-breed status years ago.

Then his head lowered, but before his lips

brushed mine, I turned away.

“Not until you say you missed me, too, ”

I teased.

In reply, he picked me up, his grip all

too easily subduing my mock struggles.

Smooth leather met my back as he set me

onto the couch, his body a barricade I

didn’t want to dislodge. His hands settled

around my face, holding me with

possessiveness as green filled up his

irises and fangs slid out of his teeth.

My own fangs lengthened in response,

pressing against lips that I parted in

anticipation. His head bent, but he only

brushed his mouth over mine with a

fleeting caress before chuckling.

“Two can play at teasing, luv.”

I began to struggle in earnest, which

only made his laughter deepen. My high

kill count had earned me the nickname of

the Red Reaper in the undead world, but

even before Bones’s startling new

powers, I hadn’t been able to best him.

All my thrashing did was to rub him

against me in the most erotic way—which

was why I kept doing it.

The zipper on my hoodie went all the

way down without his hands moving from

my head. My clothes accounted for most

of his practice with his fledgling

telekinesis. Then the front clasp on my bra

opened, baring the majority of my breasts.

His laughter changed to a growl that sent

delicious tingles through me, hardening my

nipples. But when the buttons popped

open on his indigo shirt, its color

reminded me of Tate’s eyes—and the

news I needed to tell him.

“Something’s up, ” I said in a gasp.

White teeth flashed before Bones

lowered his mouth to my chest. “How

cliché, but true nonetheless.”

The baser part of me whispered that I

could postpone this talk for an hour or so,

but concern for my friends slapped that

down. I gave myself a mental shake and

grabbed a handful of Bones’s dark brown

curls, pulling his head up.

“I’m serious. Don came by and relayed

some potentially disturbing information.”

It seemed to take a second for the

words to penetrate, but then his brows

rose. “After all this time, he finally told

you what he’s been hiding about

Madigan? ”

“No, he didn’t, ” I said, shaking my head

for real this time. “He wanted to let me

know that Tate and the others haven’t been

home in over three weeks. I tried their

cells and only got voice mails. Actually,

that distracted me from pushing Don about

his past with Madigan.”

Bones snorted, the brief puff of air

landing in the sensitive valley between my

breasts. “Clever sod knew it would. I

doubt it was an accident that he gave you

this information while I was out.”

Now that concern for my friends wasn’t

foremost in my mind, I doubted it was an

accident, too. Don had been by my house

enough to know that Bones left for a

couple hours every few days to feed. I

didn’t go with him since my nutritional

needs lay elsewhere. Inwardly I cursed.

Finding out if my friends were okay was

still of paramount importance, but so was

discovering what Don knew about

Madigan. It must be monumental for my

uncle to keep it under wraps even when

we didn’t speak for months as a result.

After all, I wasn’t just the only family Don

had left—as a vampire, I was also one of

the few people who could see him in his

new ghostly state.

“We’ll deal with my uncle later, ” I

said, pushing Bones away with a sigh of

regret. “Right now, we need to find a way

into my old compound that doesn’t involve

both of us ending up in a vampire jail

cell.”