“Could I ask what your ward’s name is?” Gregor requested.

She looked back to him and finally spoke, “I would prefer to be asking the questions, if you don’t mind.”

Gregor threw out a hand invitingly. “Please.”

“Are there others like you right now in Serpentine Bay?” she asked.

Gregor answered immediately, “We have those with us to attend to necessary matters, but they’re all human. The only immortal beings with our party are Yuri, who you may have guessed is a vampire, Lucien, Callum, and Sonia.”

She looked swiftly to Sonia, then back to Gregor when he continued speaking.

“We are well aware your ward will be able to sense us and we didn’t want to have a retinue of vampires in Serpentine Bay causing him alarm. Callum, who commands the wolves, has agreed with this and is also here without any of his people.”

She nodded once and pressed, “No others?”

“I believe that the others discovered the hard way they were woefully unprepared to successfully complete their mission and they’ve retreated. Yuri, Lucien, Callum, and myself have moved extensively and frequently through Serpentine Bay since we arrived, including this morning, and we’ve sensed no others like us.”

“And what precisely is their mission?” she asked.

“I’m afraid, Mrs. Jin, that what I’m sure you already know is the truth. They wish to see an…” Gregor paused, then finished, “end to your ward and/or his mate.”

“Why?”

Gregor drew in breath through his nose and his tone gentled considerably when he replied, “It’s your ward’s right to know this, Mrs. Jin. I mean you no disrespect, but it’s also his right to share it with you once he knows it. Or not, as he wishes.”

“This is not going to happen that way,” Mrs. Jin returned. “It will be me who decides if I wish to share what’s happening with my…” She paused, as if struggling, before she said, “ward.”

“If you allow him up from his underground cell long enough to learn,” Yuri put in smoothly, the words said with no inflection, but they were still ugly.

“Yuri,” Gregor spoke quietly but sharply.

“I know your play, Father, but you know I don’t agree with it due to the fact that this woman keeps her vampire in a pit under a Dumpster, shameful and hidden away,” Yuri bit back.

Lucien tensed in preparation to take care of Yuri so he couldn’t fuck this up, and he felt Callum do the same.

However, they both looked back to Mrs. Jin when they heard her soft laughter.

“Yes,” she said softly, mirth still in her expression. “My sons tease him often about his preference for space. Mostly my youngest. However, that is what my eldest son prefers.” Her gaze sharpened on Gregor. “And I’ll correct you, albeit belatedly. He is not my ward. He is my son.”