Chapter Five
Malachi
Remaining motionless, eyes shut, I quietly scented the air. The last thing I remembered was the blast to my midsection, yet something nagged at the edge of my mind. Something important, but I couldn’t quite grasp what it was.
The scents were familiar—my empty fireplace, the cold room, and the lingering trace of blood. But the ravenous hunger was gone, which meant I’d fed.
Opening my eyes, I sat up and scanned the room, unsure how I’d gotten to my bedroom. A sting in my arm drew my attention. I curled my lip, ripping out the needle. On the floor, a pile of empty IV bags lay discarded, barely a trace of blood left inside them.
“Kyson!”
Where in the hell was the human?
The scent of cooked meat preceded him as he strode into the room. “You rang?”
Irritation barely contained, I rose slowly from the bed. “How did I get home?”
He frowned. “I brought you here. Your boy called me.”
“What boy ?”
I snapped. “What the hell are you talking about?”
I’d taken countless lovers over my lifetime, too many to remember, yet none had ever held my interest. A few thousand years of battles and an unshakable numbness inside left little that appealed to me anymore. Hunting demons had become my pastime, a way to break the monotony of immortality.
“You were bleeding in Dane’s backseat, and you had him call me.”
How had I ended up in his backseat? I’d fled the fight with Osiris, and then…nothing. A snarl escaped me as the memory refused to surface. I must’ve lost too much blood, delirium taking hold. It was the only explanation that made sense.
“I brought Dane back here when—”
In an instant, I was across the room, forcing my hand not to lock around his throat. “You brought a human into my home?”
No human had ever set foot in Winterhaven before, aside from Kyson.
That’s not what’s really upsetting you. A growl rumbled low in my chest at the thought.
“He stayed by your side until I got there.”
Kyson stared at my chest. “Osiris would’ve had him if I hadn’t brought him with me.”
“Then you should’ve left him to his fate.”
My jaw tightened, fists curling at my sides. “Where is he now?”
He jerked his head to the side. “In the room next to yours. Since no one can use the shimmer to get inside his room, I thought it was the safest place to put him.”
But Dane’s scent would carry through the halls, tempting anyone who caught it. My bedroom and the one next door, as well as Kyson’s, were the only rooms in the castle the shimmer couldn’t be used. It was a safeguard to ensure no one entered without permission. I’d allowed around a dozen or so vampires to live in Winterhaven, but that didn’t mean I trusted them.
Now, what in the hell was I supposed to do with the male? A few possibilities came to mind, ones that would bring us both pleasure, but that same feeling crept back in. The one I’d had across from Dane at the restaurant.
Deep intrigue.
If I were being honest, it had been decades, maybe centuries, since I’d shown interest in anyone, and never beyond the physical. Sex was an indulgence, nothing more than fucking. But…it was the human I’d turned to in my time of need.
“You don’t remember any of it?”
Kyson’s surprise mirrored my own. I’d never lost a piece of my memory before.
Every battle, every enemy I’d slain, remained vivid in my mind, yet I couldn’t recall being in the male’s car. “You had a stomach wound. I could smell burned flesh when I hauled you out of the backseat.”
“Go.”
I dismissed him. The moment he was gone I glanced at the wall near the fireplace. My thoughts drifted to the way those sapphire eyes had slid over me with interest when I had asked if the seat was taken. Hunger had ignited in me to bend him over the table and fuck him until we were both sated.
His skin had been soft under my lips, his pulse tempting me to drink from him during the battle.
But I had also seen the hungry look in his eyes. Not for sex, but for food. The least I could do was make sure he’d eaten when he arrived. At the fireplace, my fingers brushed over the cool stone before I turned the carved gargoyle’s head.
The sound of a click, and then a section of the brick wall popped open, revealing a concealed entrance to the other room.
What are you doing? My fingers curled inward, hesitating as I questioned the need to check on Dane. Humans held no interest for me, except for pleasure. So why was I concerned about the male?
Because I had been impressed with the way he’d kept his head during the battle.
But he’d also fled.
True, but I still wanted to know what happened in the car. Had I tried to feed from him? Was he on the other side of this door, filled with fear?
“Why do I suddenly care about cattle?”
I growled.
He stayed by your side until Kyson arrived. I dismissed the thought with a wave of my hand, refusing to let a human crawl under my skin. I was Malachi Winterhaven. I’d ruled kingdoms, destroyed enemies on battlefields, and caused many to tremble at the mere mention of my name.
Anyone who crossed me never lived to tell the tale.
Bah! A human meant nothing to me.
Pushing open the section of wall leading into the other room, I stepped inside. My gaze immediately found Dane sprawled on the floor, his eyes closed.
Lowering to one knee, I frowned, wondering if he had hurt himself.
“Even though I’m a guest, it’s still polite to knock first.”
A smirk tugged at my mouth. “What, pray tell, are you doing down there?”
My hand hovered before I pulled back, the urge to touch him biting harder than I was willing to admit.
“I, pray tell, am contemplating why a twenty-ounce soda costs almost as much as a six-pack.”
He cracked his eyes open, and my breath caught at the way the light danced across those sapphire irises. I cleared my throat, looking away, but damn if my gaze didn’t stray right back to him.
One of his brows lifted. “You look a hell of a lot better. How many maidens did you drain?”
“An entire village of them.”
I stood, stepping back as Dane’s scent hit me again. My body was responding in ways I didn’t care to acknowledge.
It would be so easy to coax him into my bed.
But something held me back. Perhaps it was the memory of how innocent he’d appeared when I’d approached him. Or his sharp wit during the battle. His scent. Those beguiling eyes, and even now, the way his body shifted as he rose from the floor, irritation flickering in his gaze.
I found myself inexplicably drawn to all of it.
“Now that you’re awake, am I allowed to join your super-secret club?” he asked.
“Pardon?”
My brows knitted together.
“Kyson said I wasn’t allowed to know anything”—he waved a hand vaguely—“but this place is too strange not to ask questions.”
It was surprising Kyson hadn’t spilled everything, given how much he despised me. Hell, I wouldn’t have been shocked if he’d thrown in my underwear size for good measure.
“Why were you trying to pry?”
I snarled.
Dane didn’t move, though his gaze sharpened, locking onto mine as if weighing the danger in my presence. “If you think I was prying, you’ve got it all wrong. I’m just trying to figure out how I ended up in the middle of… whatever the hell this is.”
A shadow passed over me at his words. The human wasn’t wrong. He’d been thrust into a world he shouldn’t have seen, let alone survived. Yet here he was, unscathed and steady under my scrutiny. It was almost impressive.
Leaning against the wall, I folded my arms, studying him.
His gaze shifted, trailing over the room before snapping back to me. “Seriously? Nothing? You’re just going to stand there like a brooding statue?”
“Brooding?”
My lips twitched, causing me to wonder how this male nearly made me smile twice now. “I prefer observant.”
Dane sighed, clearly frustrated. “Fine. Be observant. But I’ve got questions, and I think you owe me at least one answer.”
“Do I?”
My brow arched as I straightened, then took a slow step toward him. The air between us thickened, and I didn’t miss the way his body tensed. “What exactly do I owe you, human?”
He swallowed as a flicker of unease wiped away his bravado. “I don’t know… gratitude? I dragged your ass here, didn’t I?”
There was heat in his voice, a challenge that made my fangs ache. Beneath his irritation was fear, carefully masked but not entirely hidden. That spark of vulnerability sent a pulse of intrigue through me, the kind I hadn’t felt in centuries.
“You think that gives you leverage?”
He flinched slightly. “No,”
he admitted, his voice quieter now. “But I could’ve left you to die.”
The truth in his words settled uncomfortably inside me. I should have been annoyed at his audacity, but instead, I found myself studying him closer—the determined set of his jaw, the way he refused to break eye contact despite the tension thrumming between us.
“Why didn’t you?”
My voice dropped, taking on a softer edge.
For a moment, Dane just glanced at me, the fight glinting in his eyes as if he was weighing whether or not to answer. “Maybe I’m just a sucker for lost causes,”
he said finally, the faintest quirk of his lips betraying the sarcasm he used as armor.
I didn’t smile. “You should be careful what lost cause you help.”
His gaze hardened. “And you should be careful about assuming I’m afraid of you.”
Bold. The human had nerve. Closing the distance between us, I lowered my voice to a near whisper. “I don’t need to assume.”
Dane’s breath hitched, the tension between us crackling like static. He didn’t move back, though, holding his ground even as his pulse quickened, the sound beating steadily in my ears.
It was maddening.
Forcing myself to take a step away, I slid my hands into the pockets of my slacks. “Kyson should never have brought you here.”
My tone was neutral. “You don’t belong in my world.”
“No argument there,”
he muttered. “So tell me how to get out of this place.”
It was tempting to tell him to run, to let him disappear into whatever corner of the world he thought would keep him safe. But Osiris wouldn’t stop hunting him, and deep down, we both knew it.
“You’ll stay,”
I said firmly, ignoring the flicker of surprise in his expression.
Suspicion darkened his eyes as he narrowed them. “What do you want from me?”
The question lingered in the air, even as my gaze dropped to his neck for a fleeting moment.
“I don’t want anything from you,”
I said, more to myself than to him.
But the lie tasted bitter on my tongue.
* * * *
A faint knock sounded on my bedroom door. Before I could respond, it swung open. Giovanni entered, my brother’s sharp blue gaze cutting through the dim light of the room before landing squarely on me. “Your ability to keep secrets needs polishing.”
I stood from the chair where I’d been sitting, my gaze sliding to the concealed door for a brief second. Giovanni’s appearance wasn’t a coincidence.
“What are you talking about?”
The question slid smoothly from my lips, even as my muscles readied for a possible fight.
His nostrils flared slightly. “Don’t insult me, Malachi. I can smell the human you’re hiding.”
He took a step closer, his dress shoes clicking softly against the stone floor. “Under our roof.”
Keeping my expression neutral required every ounce of control. “You’re mistaken.”
“Am I?”
His smile was humorless. “Funny thing about humans. They don’t exactly blend in. Not in Winterhaven.”
“There’s no human here.”
The growl came short and raw. “You must be imagining things.”
“Imagining things…”
He repeated the words as if weighing them. “So I’m imagining the scent of a human, am I?”
His eyes narrowed as he crossed the room, stopping in front of me. “What’s going on, Malachi? First vampire strays and now a human?”
I pressed my lips together, my nostrils flaring. If he had been anyone else, his throat would’ve been ripped out for his tone. “You’ve made your point, Giovanni. Now leave.”
Instead of retreating, he leaned closer, his voice dropping. “This isn’t like you, Malachi. Bringing a human here, hiding them?”
His gaze sharpened further, cutting into me. “This will not end well.”
He was starting to really piss me off. “Do you doubt my ability to manage my own affairs?”
“Your affairs, no. But your judgment right now is questionable.”
The weight of his words settled between us. Giovanni wasn’t wrong. Kyson should have never brought Dane into Winterhaven. It had been reckless, but the alternative would have left him vulnerable to Osiris. Regardless of what I told Kyson about leaving Dane to his fate, no one deserved a demon’s sadism.
“Whatever you think you smell, leave it be.”
My voice hardened. “I don’t need your concern.”
“You never have.”
he snarled. “But you don’t get to dismiss me, Malachi. Not when it’s this serious.”
Trust was a luxury I couldn’t afford with Giovanni. Our parents had been the most brutal vampires to ever exist. Not only had they savagely beaten any soft feelings out of us, but they’d also pitted brother against brother. When someone despised the very air you breathed, especially a sibling, trust was the last thing given.
But the more he pressed, the closer he would come to the truth, and that was something I couldn’t allow. Dane had been right. He never asked to be here, but since I was forcing him to stay, it was my duty to protect him.
“Focus on your own affairs,”
I finally said, stepping past him toward the door. “Let me deal with mine.”
“Malachi.”
His voice stopped me short. “If that human becomes a threat to Winterhaven, you’ll have to make a choice.”
The faintest growl rose in my throat, but I didn’t turn around. Instead, I opened the door, the cool air of the corridor brushing against my skin. “You heard me.”
Without responding, he walked out. I shut the door firmly behind him before glancing at the wall that concealed the entrance to Dane’s room. The human was dangerous in a way I hadn’t expected. Not because of what he was, but because of what he stirred inside me—questions, conflict, and an ache that I hadn’t felt before. Winterhaven was no place for Dane, but for now, it was the only place I could keep him safe.