The Scientific Method: A Vampire Queen Novel (Vampire Queen Series Book 10) by Joey W. Hill Page B

and emotions were almost impossible to read, faces often as smooth as a blank slate. Which meant when their expressions were readable, it was deliberate. He saw a clear missive from Mason's.
    They serve us, so when it matters, we need to be there for them .
    It was a message so at odds with how things had been even five years ago. Everything he'd been experiencing — the nightmares, his interaction with Jacob, what he saw in Debra's mind — was telling him it was time for a vital paradigm shift.
    What had Jacob said? Practice what you preach?
    As he turned to take his leave, his gaze passed over the male in question, standing behind Lyssa's chair. Jacob's blue eyes flickered with approbation, Brian supposed about his decision to go to Tennessee. Not that he needed a human's approval, but Brian gave the man a nod.
    Taking Debra's arm because she looked a little rooted in place, he gave her a nudge toward the door. She jerked into motion, but he could feel she was nonplused as she followed him back to the lab. He heard the flood of thoughts in her head. What just happened? How did he know? Would Jacob have...no, Jacob wouldn't betray my confidence. So he was...listening?
    Once in the lab, Brian took a seat on the rolling stool he favored and turned to where she stood uncertainly in the center of the floor. She'd been on firm footing in front of three of the most powerful vampires in the world, yet she felt on quicksand with her own Master. He could fix that. Or enjoy the benefits of keeping her off balance.
    "Come here," he said, reaching out a hand.
    She came, further bemused by how he grasped her wrist and tugged her between his spread knees.
    "Yes, I listened to your mind," he said. He saw how the stern set to his mouth put her on alert. Good . "As far as Jacob betraying your confidence, I agree, he's a good friend who wouldn't do that. But since when do you feel you have the right to keep any secrets from your Master?"
    She set her jaw. "I wasn't trying to keep secrets. I just don't want you to have to worry about things like that."
    "Like my servant's wellbeing?"
    She looked away. "I serve you, my lord. Not the other way around."
    When he probed, he discovered she'd literally built a wall around those feelings, thick as the scar on a badly mended heart, protecting an area he hadn't visited in quite a while. The woman who'd been willing to go into a rogue vampire lair, risking torture and death, was terrified of taking this step again, when he'd set her back on her heels so harshly last time. That wall was in the center of those dark places he'd waded through the day before, like a castle with a poisoned moat, affecting everything around it, making the despair grow.
    As a result of that realization, he had to rein back his compulsion to hammer at that wall, bring it down. It didn't take a scientist to realize that wasn't the best approach. She'd built it over time; it would take time to bring it down, draw out the poison, so her heart could beat and feel freely again.
    So he was going to do something he rarely did. Let his feelings lead him. Standing in a room with the world's most powerful vampires, seeing how most of them felt about their own servants, he felt a new, refreshing determination to try something different from what he'd been raised to do.
    "You serve me very well, Debra. Your generosity of spirit and submission run so deep, you make it entirely possible for your Master to be a bastard of the first order."
    Her gaze snapped up to him. "My lord —"
    He shook his head, stopping her. "We'll deal with the generosity of spirit later. The submission has been a bit of an unfilled well of late, hasn't it?"
    Her brow knitted. Curving his hands over her hips, then sliding down to grip her lovely backside, he brought her even closer. As he kneaded, enjoying the pleasure of fondling his servant and how she responded to his touch, he spoke in her mind.
    When I spanked you yesterday, your mind opened up. I've been