Katie shifted from behind the tall wooden shipping box, its crossbeams awkwardly poking into her back. 

She had been reclining against them for the past three hours, but was able to adjust her stance now that the world around her had finally fallen into darkness. 

Tucked between a metal shed and old shipping crates in the center of the town's western dock, her body crouched under a black tarp, hidden and waiting at the rendezvous point for the meeting of two smaller mafia vampire families, the Katrithan and the Bregdarn. 

 According to her sources, the two smaller mafia groups were meeting to broker a blood transfer deal on the city's western docks, which are owned by the Katrithans. The two families weren't known for their violent crimes, but instead for under-the-table white-collar dealings, and since this was one of the rare times the two were working together, the police had to be there to pick up any dirt they could on either family.

 The risk of the stakeout was low, but the men would no doubt be carrying weapons, and prepared to defend themselves from each other... 

....or a snooping investigator... which meant Katie still had to be mindful not to blow her cover. 

Katie didn't mind steakouts; they were far better than sitting at her desk filling out paperwork. And, sitting in the silence of the dock, with the rhythmic crash of the waves around her, she had ample time to reflect on the research she had been focusing on over the past week.

Her research on marking colors had come up empty so far. Nowhere could she find a single vampire mafia family that could produce color markings other than red, leaving her to feel a bit stupid for having believed Connor Darven in the first place. It was now clear that the marks on the bodyguard's neck were something more than a tattoo.

Leading Katie back to her initial question: why did Connor mark her?  

And why was he being so defensive about it?

Katie let out a low sigh, checking her watch for the time. The meeting should have started thirty minutes ago, but, of course, knowing these families, neither wanted to be seen as weaker by showing up first.

Which meant more waiting.

And, more wondering.

Almost ten minutes later, low voices finally hummed behind some of the shipping containers, interrupting Katie's looping thoughts as her mind immediately switched gears. Quickly, she shifted in her position, careful not to rustle the tarp as she methodically folded it beside herself, shuffling to the box's corner to peer over the edge, and scanning the open area to catch sight of where the two men were meeting.

Two middle-aged, robust men, one with thinning blond hair, and the other with thick curly black hair striped with gray, stood bout fifty feet down the dock. The two men shook hands as they exchanged pleasantries, their faces pulled into fake smiles, their eyes never leaving each other. Their attention never wavered from the gaze of the other, as if one glance away might cost them a bullet in the chest. 

Katie carefully pulled out her phone, ready to record any bits of information to help in any cases being brought against them, when a slight breeze fluttered against her back.

"Well, if it's not little Miss Nosy."

Katie's blood ran cold, adrenaline shooting through her veins at the sound of Connor Darven's whispered voice, his breath warm and taunting against her ear.

Katie quickly shrank away from the man as he loomed over her, her back pressing into the metal wall of the port building behind her as she shrank from his crooked smile.

"Uh oh!" He hummed, glancing between the two men still focused on each other, before his deep brown eyes found hers with a mischievous twinkle. "Busted."

"What—" 

The light from the port's lighthouse approached the two of them, the beam slowly skimming over the box Katie now lay hiding behind, and forcing Connor to swiftly lower himself beside her before the light could expose him.

He pulled in closer to her, letting out a small, nervous breath as he watched the beam continue over them, the smell of aftershave and cigarettes wafting towards her as they had the day of the gala.

"What are you doing here?" Katie hissed, the large man pressing himself closer to her to hide himself behind the box as well. "This is a deal between the Katrithan and Bregdarn Families, why are you—"

"Well, maybe because I'm nosy too." Connor interupted with a raised brow, "You think only the police want to get dirt on all the Vampire families? We want dirt on each other, too, you know."

Katie gave him an exasperated glare, the Vampire Heir's presence in her stakeout spot forcing her to be pressed against the rusty shed wall behind her, while Connor stole her viewpoint for spying on the transaction.

"Well, get behind your own box then," Katie grunted, "why are you bothering me?"

"Because you got the best view."

"Well, you snooze, you lose."

Connor snorted, with an amused smirk twitching at his lips. His dark eyes were roaming over her from where she was dejectedly crumpled up against the metal wall.

"Yeah, sure looks like it." He murmured while he crouched where she once sat, peering around the corner of the boxes as she had moments before.

Letting out a frustrated grunt, Katie had to hold herself back from kicking the man into view of the two rival gangs in hopes they would use him as target practice.

But she knew that if that became the case, she wouldn't be able to flee in time before she found herself riddled with bullets as well.

And since there were both vampire families, she knew that these bullets were sure to be silver.

Which wouldn't kill her, but it would mean another lengthy recovery.

And, once more, waking up to Liam's heartbroken look at her bedside. 

She didn't feel ready to put herself in that situation again.

"At least tell me what happens," Katie murmured dejectedly, her eyes narrow as she glared at him in the darkness.

Connor smirked, glancing at her before continuing to watch from her precious viewpoint, his face quickly filling with surprise, and he let out a hushed gasp.

"They-They are kissing?!"

"What?" Katie hushed, pushing him down, forcing his face against the wooden box so she could get a look. 

However, when Katie finally managed to peer over the boxes, her face fell upon discovering that the two men had disappeared without a trace. 

Three hours of stakeout... wasted. 

Without Katie being able to record any of their meeting or even spotting where they had gone. 

This time, she did kick Connor out from behind the box, with an extra kick to the ribs for good measure. 

"You asshole." She hissed, "I lost them."

"We both lost them," Connor muttered back, rubbing at his side as if she had kicked him harder than she had. " I might have been able to see where they had gone if you hadn't distracted me—"

"Oh, I distracted you." Katie snarled, quickly pulling out her phone as she angrily typed a message to Sam.

I lost them. Any sights of them from your location?

A second passed before Sam responded

They are switching vans. We will have to follow both to see what was inside.

Katie cursed under her breath.

Run the plates. We will follow the Bregdarn van in a few minutes. Get Henderson to trail the Katrithan.

"Who are you texting?" Connor teased, "Your boyfriend? Going to be hard to explain you were caught at night with—"

Katie quickly got to her feet, ignoring him, and deliberately stepped on his ankle as she hurried past, causing him to curse and let out a loud hiss of pain as he scrambled after her.

In a flash, she was pressed against the metal shed wall, Katie's heart leaping to her throat when Conner's arm pressed across her chest as he glared down at her.

"Actually," he hissed, his gaze hardening, "Miss Nosy, the truth is, I was here because I got a last-minute invite into this deal myself, but one of them thought they heard a rat, and I offered to take care of it for them."

With his free hand, he brought up her chin and tilted it, his eyes bouncing between her mark as his jaw twitched.

"You shouldn't be leaving without thanking me. Would have been big trouble should they have seen this marking of yours—"

Katie kneed him in the groin, causing the taller man to crumble as she pushed past him, sweeping down and pulling him back up by the collar to push his crumpled form into the wall as he had done to her mere moments before.

"Don't ever corner me like that again," Katie spat, her arms trembling with adrenaline and anger. "I should be thanking you for saving me? Why? You just insinuated that my mark put me in danger here, and yet you are the one who marked me in the first place—"

"Says you," Connor bit back, pushing her off of him.

"Says me?" Katie scoffed.

"Yes," He grunted, shaking his head, refusing to say more, as his dark brown eyes trailed over her before he quickly turned and started down the pier.

"What?" Katie scoffed, "Are you saying you didn't mark me?" 

"No."

"No, what?"  she snapped, following after him. "Should I believe that a heir of the Bregdarn or Katrithan was there at your family's warehouse and decided to save my life instead?"

"No. I never said that."

"But you just said you didn't mark me—"

"I didn't say that either."

In the next moment, all the frustration over losing the two vampire groups, along with her frustration over becoming a marked vampire by a man who refused to give her answers, Katie lost her composure. With an angered yell, she swung her leg out, striking Connor's calf and causing the heir to trip, nearly stumbling to the ground before catching himself on a nearby crate.

"Will you stop trying to hurt me?" Connor shouted, the irritation in his eyes mirroring her own.

"Will you give me one fucking clear answer on anything?" Katie countered. "I went on a wild goose chase about marking colors, and now you are acting like it wasn't you who marked me! But if that is so, then who did? What, is there another heir that—"

In an instant, Connor was on her again. This time, his forearm pressed against her neck as her back was once more forced against the shed wall. 

"Fine, you want a straightforward answer, Katie?" He growled, his eyes dark as they bounced between hers. "All descendants of a Vampire King can mark. Not just the heir." 

Katie blinked at him, his seemingly honest answer shocking her. As a moment of silence passed between them, Connor reluctantly loosened his hold around her neck, his eyes scanning her, as if worried about having harmed her, before the man let out a short breath and turned on his heel, continuing the rest of the way down the dock.

Katie rubbed her neck, watching in silence as he slipped into the night.  Her neck wasn't sore, which surprised Katie; the pressure had been firm, yet gentle despite the frustration burning behind his eyes.

She held back from following after him, needing a moment to process what the Darven's heir had admitted before making her way back to Sam's van.

All Vampire Kings descendants could mark.

Not just the heir.

But in the Darven family, there was only Connor and his younger sister, Grace.

Was he referring to the mark on the guard?

 Was he answering her question about the colors?

 Or, who marked her?

Katie spat onto the ground beside her.

Of course, more fucking questions, and not answers. 

Connor might very well be lying about this 'answer' too, but this response might lead Katie to someone else in the Darven family whose ' answers' could prove to be more forthcoming.

Connor's sister was a bit of a recluse, living a lavish lifestyle away from the prying eyes of the press. This still earned her praise for her minimal, off-the-grid lifestyle in comparison to her brother.

Pulling her phone back out, Katie sent Sam one last message.

Remind me to get a background check on Grace Darven tomorrow. We might need to head to the Darven house to check in with her later this week.

Three dots immediately arose, but it took a while for Sam to finally respond, and when she finally did, the message was only one word.

We?!