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with zombies I can run to get away from them.”
    “Not if you’re surrounded,” he muttered. “Kimber, I don’t think you—”
    “Just stop, please. It’s not only that your commune buddies would like to sink their fangs into me. It’s also that there are so many of them.” She gestured toward the back of the apartment. “I lived alone, before the Outbreak. Now I have at least two, sometimes three people around me all the time. I can’t go anywhere to get some alone time and still feel relatively safe, except for the bathroom, and it’s freezing in there right now, so spending more time in the bathroom than necessary really isn’t an option.” She picked at the arm of the chair. “It’s making me crazy. Moving in with you would exacerbate that tenfold.”
    Duncan could understand her desire for solitude. He preferred being alone most of the time, and his quarters allowed that. “The difference is that I have three bedrooms, a den, a private walled-in patio, and twenty-four-seven security that patrols the grounds to make sure no zombies get into the compound.” He saw a slight wavering in her eyes and pressed his advantage. “You could have your own bed. Your own room.” Never mind that he’d prefer she share his bed. For now he wanted to get her where she’d be safe. At least, saf er .
    None of the vampires at the enclave would dare cross him, not if they wanted to continue to exist. As Maddalene’s second in command, he had nearly as much authority as she did. In many matters he did have as much authority as she. No one doubted he was the alpha dog. A few had challenged him over the years, but he’d put them down.
    He leaned forward. “What you need to remember is this: you’re important to Maddalene. The last thing she wants is for you to come to harm. Anyone who touches you wouldn’t live past dawn.”
    She pursed her lips. “That’s great, Duncan. But I’d be dead, too, wouldn’t I? So it’s hardly a comfort to know that my killer would pay with his life. I’d rather know that some sort of preventive measures are in place.” She stared at him. “Are there any?”
    He scowled. “Short of wrapping you up in chain mail…no. There aren’t.” While he recognized that she had a point, it was galling that she wouldn’t trust him to take care of her. Galling and…hurtful. That surprised him. He didn’t want to look at the emotion too closely, so he pushed it to the side.
    “Then I’m not moving in with you.”
    He heard the bathroom door open, and Natalie walked down the hallway, dressed in a floor-length flannel robe, rubbing a towel on her hair. “Just so you know,” she said with a glance at Kimber, “there’s no more hot water. Hey, Duncan,” she added, looking at him. “How are you?”
    She at least seemed happy to see him.
    “I’m fine, thanks.” He motioned toward Kimber. “Just trying to get your roommate here to see reason.” He wasn’t above using her friend against her if it advanced his position.
    “Still trying to get us to move into the viper pit, huh?” Natalie stood with her back to the stove.
    “Yes, he is,” Kimber said. “And I’ve already told him no thanks.”
    “Hmm. Well, for what it’s worth, I agree with you. Sorry, Duncan.” She walked past the dining room, tossing the damp towel on the back of one of the chairs on her way to the small kitchen. “I’m going to start on dinner, such as it is.” She paused and looked at Kimber. “I’m going to need to light a couple more candles so I can see what the hell I’m doing, all right?”
    “Sure. You want some help?”
    “No, I’m good.”
    Kimber watched Natalie putter around in the kitchen for a few seconds before she turned her attention back to Duncan. She pulled her feet up and sat cross-legged, hunching over with her elbows on her knees. Looking at Duncan, she muttered, “Anyway, going back to what we were talking about, I don’t get why you care so much.”
    It was a question