The Immortal Hunter - Argeneau Series - Book 11 Page 0,1

lives in ten years to prevent their catching on to the fact that she wasn't aging. That decision was the reason she was presently upstairs being grilled by Lucian while Mortimer went slowly crazy, waiting to find out what his future held.

If Lucian decided that her not becoming one of them was fine and she posed no threat to their people, the two could be together. However, if he decided otherwise, Sam would either have to agree to the turn, or her memory would be wiped and she would not remember ever meeting the man presently pacing a hole into Decker's basement carpet. Mortimer, however, would be left remembering everything, a love found and lost… and he would never again be able to go near her for fear of bringing back memories of their time together. It was a hell of a thing to have to go through, and Decker sincerely hoped he was never faced with such a situation.

A low sound of frustration brought his eyes open again. Mortimer had stopped pacing and was now eyeing the stairs grimly. Afraid the man had reached the end of his tether and was about to do something he would later regret, Decker tried to distract him by asking, "What's this I hear about a new enforcer headquarters and you possibly running it?"

Mortimer tore his eyes from the ceiling and shrugged. "Now that Lucian has met his life mate, he's finding it inconvenient to have us using his house as a home base when we're working in the area. He decided a proper headquarters was the solution and has arranged for the purchase of a house not far from his place on the outskirts of Toronto. He offered the job of running it to me when he got here."

Decker nodded, pretending he hadn't overheard the entire conversation earlier. He then commented, "It will allow you to stay close to Sam."

"Yes." Mortimer sighed, and then frowned and added bitterly, "If we're allowed to be together."

Decker grunted, mentally kicking himself for not realizing this conversation would lead right back to Sam and what was going on upstairs. He was trying to come up with something else to talk about when he heard the sound of a chair scraping across the hardwood floor overhead. It was followed by the soft pad of footsteps. "It sounds like they're done talking."

"Thank God," Mortimer muttered, but Decker couldn't help but note that he didn't appear relieved. If anything, the man was growing even tenser as he waited to hear his future.

Decker looked toward the stairs, watching as first Sam and then Lucian came into view. He didn't bother looking to his uncle, who was always stone-faced and hard to read. Instead he focused on Sam, but she was as expressionless as the man behind her, a result of being a lawyer, he supposed. A poker face probably came in handy there, he thought, and read her mind. What he found was a muddle of both anger and relief. It seemed Lucian had been his usual heavy-handed self, telling Sam point-blank the punishment would be death should she ever betray their people and give their presence away. But he'd agreed to allow her to be Mortimer's life mate without turning.

Decker also found that Lucian had managed to convince her to give notice at her law firm and come to work for the enforcers. Decker found that surprising because he knew that until meeting Mortimer, her career at the prestigious law firm had been the focal point of her life. It seemed, however, she'd realized these last two weeks that she didn't care for the fact that it had almost taken over her whole life, and while she wasn't ready to give up her sisters, she was willing to give up her present position to find the time to make a life with Mortimer. It had helped that Lucian had told her there were a lot of legal issues that needed tending when they hunted down and exterminated rogues. People could not just disappear in today's paper-plagued world. Not even immortals.

"Sam's agreed to work for us," Lucian announced as he stepped off the stairs. "She'll do what she can to help you organize the enforcer headquarters, and handle any legal matters that come up on the job."

Decker didn't miss the relief that flashed across Mortimer's face as he hurried to Sam and slipped his arm around her waist to draw her to his side. Engrossed in each other, neither paid