‘Fiancée,’ Claire said. She wasn’t sure why she felt compelled to say it now, of all times and places, but she was. Shane turned his head and stared at her, and the surprise (and pleasure) in his face made her smile. ‘Hey, you asked me, remember? And I said yes? Months ago. I just thought it might be time to get on with saying it.’

‘Fiancée,’ Shane repeated. ‘As in, I’m going to marry her.’

‘Yeah?’ Pete asked. ‘Congrats. When?’

‘We haven’t talked about that yet,’ Claire said. ‘Soon?’

‘Soon,’ Shane agreed. Their fingers twined together, and he moved closer to her on the couch. ‘Of course, it could be a jailhouse romance if we’re not careful. And that would suck. We already did that a whole bunch, early on. Me in a cell, you outside …’

‘Well, for variety, maybe it’d be me in the cell this time, and you out there figuring out how to get me free. Although I’m just afraid that you might do something crazy to make that happen.’

‘It might involve illegal activity, yeah,’ Shane said. ‘I wouldn’t even mind ending up in jail with you, but they’d probably separate us. And that wouldn’t be what I had in mind. I guess our only option is to stay out of the cage, then.’

‘I think it’s a goal,’ she agreed. ‘Did you hear anything at all from Jesse, Pete?’

‘I got a text, she said she was following a lead. That was it. I’m hoping she’ll end up here soon … she usually just drops in without notice. Vampires aren’t real respecters of personal privacy, seems like.’

The washer dinged to let them know the cycle was done, and Claire quickly rose and took care of loading the wet sheets into the dryer. It seemed like the least she could do. Pete and Shane didn’t chat. It wasn’t like Shane and Michael, who had an easy, almost unconscious connection that neither of them really had to think about much; Shane had to read Pete, try to figure out what he really meant and felt. Maybe that connection would develop, over time, but for now, Pete just seemed a little guarded, a little wary.

Maybe that was just his default setting.

There was a knock on the front door, and Pete headed for it. Shane got up, too, frowning. ‘That was too quick for pizza,’ he said. Pete nodded without pausing; he had a baseball bat hidden in the shadows near the doorway, and he grabbed the length of wood on his way. Then he checked the peephole.