“Where was that?”
“In Chicago.”
Even though they’d lived in San Francisco at the time Katie had been stolen from them, the vampire could have easily traveled anywhere with her. The police search within California had come up with nothing at the time. And Haven’s later investigations once he was old enough to look for her himself, had been just as fruitless.
“You don’t know who your family was?”
The girl shook her head. “DNA was in its infancy back then. The staff at the orphanage thought that my mother might have been a teenager who’d gotten pregnant and that the man who dropped me off was her married lover.”
Next to him, Wesley took a tentative step toward Kimberly. A moment later, Haven felt his brother’s hand on his arm. “Could it be?” his brother asked, giving him a hopeful glance.
Haven made sure the wall around his heart was firmly in place, except for the few cracks that had started appearing. He shoved that nagging little detail to the back of his mind, refusing to acknowledge it. “Let’s not get our hopes up. This could be a wild-goose chase.”
“I don’t think so,” Yvette interrupted. When he tried to contradict her, she held up her hand. “Just listen before you dismiss this. When I met you all individually, I knew you were human. I was alone in the car with Kimberly when we drove to the party. Her scent was human. No doubt in my mind. And then you—” She looked at him. “When we spoke at the party, your scent was human.”
Haven felt his face and neck heat. They’d done more than just speak at the party. They’d practically sniffed each other out. The knowledge that she’d inhaled his scent and made a note of what he’d smelled like, excited him when he knew it shouldn’t matter. He cleared his throat, trying to push away his errant thoughts. “And?”
Yvette pointed at Wesley. “Same with Wesley, but less so, because when we first came in contact, you guys were here too, you and Kimberly. He still smelled human, but something was a little different. I didn’t take notice much, because I wasn’t in best form.”
Haven gave her a surprised look and noticed how she flinched as if she hadn’t wanted to reveal her weakness. So she had been hungry, just like he’d thought. “When you need blood badly, it affects your senses?”
“Of course not.”
He could see the lie roll off her pretty lips like too much ‘70s lip gloss.
“I’d only just come around from the poison you used to knock me out. My sense of smell was off.”
“Maybe it’s still off,” Wes scoffed.
Yvette turned her scowl on him. “I’m fully recovered.” Her gaze drifted back to Haven, more specifically to his neck, and he recognized that she was thinking of his blood.
Haven suppressed the shiver that tried to race traitorously through his body at her glance, but he couldn’t control his pounding heart. Unable to say anything for fear everybody would hear the sudden arousal in his voice, he was grateful when Wes asked the next question.
“So, let’s just assume your nose is doing its job, then what does it mean? Why would we suddenly all be smelling like witches? Maybe the witch’s smell is just rubbing off on us, and it’s confusing you.”
His brother could have a point. Maybe a vampire’s senses could get confused just like a human’s. Nobody was infallible. Hell, if a vampire could pass out from loss of blood, maybe they were a lot more vulnerable than he’d always assumed. And when he’d watched over Yvette while she’d been unconscious after giving him her blood, he’d sensed a vulnerability about her that she didn’t show when awake. Well, there was actually a moment when she had been without defenses while awake: when he’d kissed her into submission. He’d felt her melt into his embrace, her moans urging him on to take her. The wall around her had been down then.
“What do you think, Hav?” his brother asked. “Hav!”
He jolted out of his reverie. Shit, how long had he spaced out? “Uh, yeah, well.”
Wes gave him a strange look, then continued, “See, even my brother agrees. It has something to do with what the witch did to our heads.”
“No,” Yvette objected. “It’s the fact that the three of you are together. Almost as if together, you’re witches, apart you’re not.”
“Ludicrous!” Wes huffed. He raked his hand through his hair.
Something with Yvette’s words connected. “Hold it, Wes. I think there’s something there.” Haven looked at his brother and willed him to listen.