Instead of walnut brown, Lisa’s leather attire was more caramel in tone, and while Angelique’s boots reached the woman’s knees, Lisa’s laced-up-the-front pair flared at the top to fit over her knees. But the one difference Bennett was having a hard time prying her eyes away from was the cut of Lisa’s jacket. Slightly more endowed than Angelique, the cropped garment was snug against Lisa’s torso, and with the angled zipper fastened, rising above the V-collar of the jacket were the swells of Lisa’s breasts. Bennett swallowed hard. Damn.

Lisa wasn’t the only one finding it difficult to hide her amusement at Bennett’s open-mouthed gawk, and Max broke the silence when he cleared his throat. “What do you mean we don’t need to worry about the forest? What have you done?”

It took a split-second for Max’s words to find her, and when they did, Bennett quickly got back on track. “I’ve taken care of it,” she said, walking to the desk. “So, all we need to do is focus on the front.”

Max peered at Bennett as she approached, and when he saw the gleam in her eye, Max knew exactly what she had done. It was a line that had never been stepped over before, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

***

“Damn it, Bennett, stop being so bloody stubborn. If this is to work, all of you must be at your very best, and you can’t do that without feeding. I know it, and they know it,” Max yelled, waving his arms about. “And you know it.”

In order to be at their best, all five women needed to feed before they made their way to Napoleon’s, and while Max had asked Victor to gather guardians to do the deed, Victor knew there were none to gather. The few staff and guardians at the house were but a skeleton crew, and having already supplied what they could to some of Max’s coven a few hours earlier, there was no more to give for at least another day. There were, however, other people in the house willing to lend a vein, and Finn, Gus, Cathleen, Fallon, and Kenna were all standing in the great hall with their sleeves rolled up, ready to do just that.

“Absolutely not,” Bennett barked. “I will take my chances as is. I will not feed on any of them. They are my friends, Max, and those two girls are only seventeen, for Christ’s sake.”

“I’m not sure if you know this, but the legal age to donate blood without a parent’s consent is seventeen,” Kenna said, stepping forward. “And I have their consent, so this is like doubly okay.”

“It is not okay, Kenna, and if you think for one minute I’m going to let anyone—”

“Oh, my goodness,” Cathleen said, throwing up her hands. “Stop being so melodramatic, Bennett.”