Blake, Abby - Vampires' Witness [PUP Squad Alpha 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) by Abby Blake Page A

smell trace amounts of your human blood on them, but with you no longer being human, the case would balance solely on Thomas’s testimony—a situation we try to avoid if at all possible. We might be trusted operatives, but that doesn’t guarantee we’ll always be believed.” She shook her head, and he took that as her rejecting the second option. “Our third option is to find someone from the club that night who saw you leave with your attackers. The trouble with that is no one else seems to have witnessed the attack, so they’d only be testifying that you left the club with them. We have no laws against compelling humans, so we really only have the fact that they were in the general area when the attack took place—circumstantial evidence at best.”
    Samuel turned on the shower, adjusted the temperature, and dragged Skye under the warm water with him. He started washing her down, apparently trying to distract her, but the woman proved just how stubborn she was by holding his hands away and turning to face him.
    “Why don’t you want me to do this? What harm can come to me if I identify my attackers?”
    Samuel smiled softly, but it was obvious by his expression that he was both proud and afraid for her in that moment.
    “I just wish we had a proper interview room so that you wouldn’t have to come face-to-face with the men who stole your human life. I want to protect you from that. You’ve been through enough already.”
    Skye reached up to touch his cheek, her concern for him obvious. “I’m not a delicate flower. In many ways I need to do this. I could never forgive myself if someone else got killed because I was too scared to do the right thing.”
    Samuel pulled her into a crushing embrace, the raw emotion almost too private for Benjamin to witness. “We will be right beside you,” he said quietly. “We won’t let them anywhere near you.”
    “I believe you,” she said with a soft smile.

Chapter Five

    Samuel held Skye’s hand tightly in his own, unprepared for the fear that coursed through him. Dangerous situations had always thrilled him, gotten his adrenaline pumping, but when it was Skye’s safety at risk, he was shaking like a leaf in a tornado. It was difficult to comprehend how important she’d become to him so quickly.
    He heard the confident, cultured voice of the man he assumed was the missing doctor, but judging by his words, it was even clearer now that he knew nothing about the Ruling Body or the dictates all paranormals were required to live by. He was currently threatening legal action for false detention despite the fact that paranormals had no such system of compensation and had no need to answer to the human one.
    “Skye,” Benjamin said in a soothing tone. “Are these the men who attacked you?”
    “Yes,” she said, trying valiantly to hide the shudder that being so close to these men evoked. Samuel truly wished he’d been able to save her this trauma, but it was also interesting to see her strength of character. Her voice was clear, her eyes wide open, and her gaze holding theirs unflinchingly.
    “Good enough for me,” Alex said with a wink just for Skye. “Now we can get down to the fun part of the evening.”
    “F–Fun p–part?” the younger of the two men asked. Judging by the man’s painfully thin frame, he was probably a drug addict before he’d been bitten. The transformation basically froze a person’s build and physique at the point of change, so even if he was stronger than he looked, thanks to his vampire status, his outward appearance would never change from that of a gaunt, malnourished drug addict.
    “Sure,” Thomas said in his most friendly voice, “now that we know we’ve got the right vamps we can move on to the information gathering phase.” He picked up a small letter opener that appeared to be made of silver.
    Samuel almost laughed when he realized that his team had secured the two vampires to their chairs with silver chains. They were