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Brunswick!" The man was flushed and obviously agitated. "Louise Ascot just told me that you've actually brought half a dozen soulless vampires to Port Henry! What are you thinking?"
    "Now, Father," Brunswick caught the priest by the shoulders and turned him back the way he'd come. "There's no call getting all upset over this. Everything's fine."
    "Fine?" the man exclaimed, drawing to a halt and turning on him with disbelief. "There is nothing fine about this, Theodore Brunswick. Elvi's one thing, she's a good God-fearing woman even if she doesn't have a soul anymore, but bringing in six more of these beasts?"
    "Father, this is neither the time nor the place," Brunswick said firmly, urging him to continue walking. "If you want to talk to me about this, drop by my office in the morning. This is Owen's birthday celebration and I won't have you ruining it for him."
    "Owen?" The man looked startled. "Oh, please tell me he isn't going to let Elvi bite him? What if he turns into one too? I won't lose another soul of one of my parishioners. There was nothing we could do about Elvi, but Owen's just a boy. He's…"
    Victor watched with eyes that were silver ice chips as Brunswick finally urged the man out of the restaurant. There was nothing he hated more than the clergy. It was the church that had condoned his wife's being burnt at the stake. If he could have he would have slaughtered the whole lot of them at the time. But his brother Lucian wouldn't let him. Three hundred years later, Victor's gut still burned at the sight of clergy… any clergy. He hated them all.
    "Sorry about that," Brunswick murmured, pausing at the table on his way back. "Father O'Flaherty is excitable, but harmless," he assured them, then nodded and turned away. "I'll be right back."
    He rushed off to the back of the restaurant, disappearing through a beaded arch on the right side of the back wall. It presumably led to the kitchens. He'd barely gone when Harper returned and claimed his seat.
    "Well," DJ said with feigned good cheer, "maybe now we'll finally get to see this Elvi."
    "Thank God," Edward said in bored tones. "Then I can read the woman and leave. I hate small towns."
    "If you're so sure she won't be your lifemate, why not just leave now?" Victor suggested, and received a scathing look for his trouble.
    "I'm not a fool, Argeneau. I'll wait and read her just to be sure rather than waste this long, dull journey."
    Victor shrugged with disinterest. The man annoyed him, but hopefully, he wouldn't have to put up with him for long if he couldn't read Elvi.
    "Speaking of fools," Edward murmured, spearing Victor with a gaze. "You don't expect us to believe that you are here looking for a lifemate?"
    Victor was aware of the way DJ stiffened beside him, as well as the fact that the other men were now peering at him with new interest. Alessandro's eyebrows were raised in question. Harper's expression, however, held a tinge of concern. He, as well as the other men, knew Victor was one of the enforcers for the council and was no doubt now considering that if he wasn't there to find a lifemate, he must be there on council business.
    "Well, Argeneau?" Edward prompted.
    Victor turned an irritated glance toward him, but Brunswick's return prevented his putting the immortal in his place for daring to question him.
    "How are we doing here?" Brunswick asked as he settled at the table, then without waiting for an answer, said, "The girls are here and Mabel will be out in just a minute."
    "Who is Mabel?" Alessandro asked with confusion. "I am here to meet the Elvi, not Mabel."
    "Yes, yes," Brunswick said quickly. "But Mabel is the one in charge of this whole week."
    "I thought Elvi was the one in charge." Harper was frowning. "She arranged things with me; the e-mails, the invitation, the directions…"
    " Si . Me also," Alessandro agreed.
    "And I." Edward's eyes narrowed on the police captain. It seemed obvious to Victor he was reading his mind and—judging by his