Chapter Twenty-Four
Vladimir
“We’ve found something,” Asher says, voice tight. “You need to get over here.”
“Where are you?”
“Approach Road, near the park. Fuck. Quinn, he’s heading in there. Can Grant track my phone?”
I look at Grant. He must be able to hear the conversation, and sure enough, he nods.
“We will be there in a few minutes. Be careful.”
Grant has his phone in his hand, but we begin walking before he even opens the app to track Asher’s phone.
He takes the lead as we turn a corner. I do not like that, but there is little to be done about it; the situation we are walking into may well be dangerous, but Asher, Quinn, and Rachel are likely to be in more danger than the rest of us.
“What do you think they’ve found?” Margot asks.
“Something related to Eirian, most likely,” I reply. “If they had found Jakob, he would have said.”
We are silent after that until we reach the park. There, I tug Grant behind me, and though he glares at me, he goes easily enough. “Tell me where to go.”
He directs us through the park, but at some point, using his phone becomes pointless; we are too close. I can feel the edges of Asher’s blessing, but only just. Grant tugs on my sleeve, and soon we find them, lingering near a small copse of trees.
“What have you found?” I murmur but then wonder why I asked because I can feel it.
Eirian’s magic. Only Eirian is not the one wielding it. Asher tilts his head, and I glance around one of the thick tree trunks.
The bodyguard. He prowls through the shadows, clearly hunting. He has not sensed us yet, though perhaps because Eirian has given him far more of a blessing than the Huntsman ever gave us. It must be overwhelming.
“Found him a few streets back,” Asher whispers, lips to my ear. “She’s given him too much. I don’t think he knows what he’s doing.”
“What do we do?”
“Capture him. Didn’t like the chances with just my blessing. Grant…”
I clench my teeth. He is powerful. He is capable.
I do not want him to get hurt.
“Very well. Approach?”
“Surround him. Keep Rachel and Margot here. He’ll kill them.”
I nod. Logical. Simple. I lean over to Margot. “Stay here.”
She frowns but nods, not arguing, and I see Rachel do the same with Asher.
There is no doubt that, even without being able to feel fae magic, they still know that something is very wrong.
Some animal sense they cannot outrun. I signal for Grant to follow me and he does.
We slip one way as Asher and Quinn slip the other.
Surrounding the bodyguard is simple enough. He paces in a rough circle, muttering to himself. He does not appear to be in his right mind at all. What is Eirian’s goal here? Foolhardy of her to give him so much magic. She must have had some idea this would happen.
“Do not let him pass,” I whisper to Grant. His magic surrounds us, keeping us from the bodyguard’s view and, I believe, his senses.
“What are you going to do?”
“Capture him.”
Grant squeezes my hand, but when I move away, he lets me go. Quinn slips into position further down, and Asher is opposite Grant, more or less, ready to catch the bodyguard should he decide to run.
He realises we’re there far too late. My blessing is already snaking out towards him when he raises his head, sniffing the air as though locating prey. Only we are not the prey here.
My blessing wraps around his legs, tugging swiftly enough that the bodyguard stumbles and falls. He catches himself on his hands, but Asher’s magic appears to be feeling obedient for a change. It wraps around his arms and pulls them sharply behind his back.
The bodyguard roars. The magic inside him, Eirian’s magic, cuts like choppy waves, trying to throw us off.
For a moment, it almost works. Asher lets out a grunt of surprise, his blessing quivering in his grip.
I widen my stance, ready to run in and finish this physically.
If he is not conscious, it will be harder for him to fight.
Shifted, Quinn pads out of the shadows, a low growl rumbling through him.
The bodyguard’s eyes widen, and he twists in the grip of Asher’s and my blessings, but before he can pull away and try to run, Grant strikes.
His magic is like a well-aimed arrow and it hits the bodyguard in the chest, travelling through him in a shockwave.
He slumps to one side. He is not dead. I know that. Simply unconscious, and that is what we need.
Asher lets out a breath. “Good job, pup,” he says, and I do not know whether he is talking to Quinn or Grant, but I do not care.
Grant grins at me when I look at him, pride shining in his dark eyes. Oh, he should be proud. He did not put himself in danger and he finished this quickly, assisting even when I gave him no room to.
He needs to be rewarded for that. I shall reward him for that.
However, for now, we must focus on the task at hand, which is the unconscious vampire before us. Asher rubs a hand over the back of his hair. “What are we going to do with him?”
Quinn sits by his mate’s side, still shifted. Margot and Rachel eye both Quinn and the bodyguard warily as they approach.
“Do you think we can take him back to the hotel?” Grant asks. He pulls a face. “Not like there’s much room to keep him there, but we can make it work.”
“Is your room any bigger than theirs?” Magot asks Asher, who shakes his head. “Yeah, that’s not gonna work.”
Rachel shakes her head, too, when Margot looks at her. “No.”
“Rach—”
“No. I mean it. That’s not happening.”
“Do you have a better idea? Not like there are a lot of places to choose from.”
“You want a vampire in our flat?”
I jolt. The offer—unvoiced though it may be—is unexpected.
“Just for long enough for”—Margot flaps a hand in our direction—“whatever, you know. We wanted to end this. We’ve been trying to end this. We can’t give up now.”
“That’s our home.”
“And we will keep it safe,” I say.
Rachel gives me a venomous look all the same. I doubt she likes me much more than she likes Grant right now; in fact, perhaps far less, considering all she knows of me is that I turned her beloved cousin into a vampire.
“We’re doing this,” Margot says and looks at me and Asher. “Come on. We can take him to our place.”
Rachel glares at Margot but doesn’t comment as Asher and I lift the bodyguard between us. Quinn shifts back, making Rachel let out a little shout of surprise, and dresses quickly as they both look away.
“All good?” Asher murmurs, and Quinn nods.
He and Grant fall in just behind the two of us, the women up front as they lead us to their home. They argue in low tones the entire way, and when we arrive, I shift the bodyguard’s right arm onto Quinn’s shoulder.
Asher gives me a questioning look. “We will be up in a moment,” I reply.
He nods. The sky is not yet light, but I can feel the pull of the sun as dawn approaches. Grant pauses when I grasp his wrist, tilting his head up to look at me.
I wait until the door has closed and I can hear footsteps on the stairs before I kiss him. He wraps one arm around my neck and kisses me back, and desire and affection echo between us.
“Mm,” Grant hums when our mouths part. “What was that for?”
“You are magnificent.”
He flushes, eyes going wide with delight, and I curl one arm around his waist, pulling him closer. “Well, that’s… Thank you?”
I chuckle and kiss him again. It would be nothing at all to take things further, even out in the open and exposed as we are. Grant would let me. He would allow me anything I asked for.
I tear my mouth from his at that thought because we have more pressing matters to attend to than getting lost in one another. There will be time for that later. I will demand it.
For now… “Do not let her upset you,” I say, knowing the command is fruitless by the way Grant’s lips twist into a wry smile. It is a smile with his mouth only, and I do not like that at all. “Try not to, at least.”
Grant sighs. He digs his fingers in at the base of my scalp and I bite back a groan. “It’s not that easy.”
“I know.”
“She’s right to be angry, too. I would be if I were in her place.”
“Not for this long.”
“You don’t know how long I can hold a grudge.”
“Really? Because you appear to hold no grudge against me, despite the fact that I…” I clear my throat. Do I want to bring this up? Yes. I want no doubts. “That I never told you about the bond between us.”
Grant leans back to study my face. “Are you sorry about that?”
“Yes.” Desperately so, and I think he can hear it.
“I was angry with you because I couldn’t understand why you’d do it,” Grant says slowly, apparently choosing each word with care. “I didn’t know why you wanted to keep me that close when it seemed like I meant nothing to you beyond being your turn.”
“You were never just that.”
“You didn’t tell me. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because…” I sigh. “Because I did not wish for you to say you returned affection you did not feel. I needed you close because I needed—I need—to protect you. And I wanted all of you. Every touch, every smile, every breath—”
Grant’s breath hitches now. He has gone still in my hold, but he is not pulling away.
“I wanted you to feel the same for me, but I wished for you to be certain of it, not dazzled by the fact that I turned you.”
He presses his lips together. Is he hiding a smile? Is he angry? I feel nothing from him through our bond, though I am not pushing hard.
“And you thought the best way for me to work through whatever complicated feelings I might have about you—feelings you had no idea about, by the way—was to keep me all to yourself instead of, say, letting me meet other people and form relationships and work it all out that way?”
“You met Jeremiah and Paxton.” Even to my ears, my tone is petulant.
“Hmm.”
“The Huntsman. Asher.”
“Oh, yeah. So many super approachable men. How did I ever cope?” His tone is dry, and this time, the corner of his mouth twitches.
“Grant…”
“You were a dick about it, Vlad,” Grant says, and I flinch, but he doesn’t let me go. Doesn’t let me retreat. “But I didn’t push, either. I figured you just saw me as a child and I didn’t know how to fix that. Neither of us was good at communicating, I guess.”
“You thought—I never—”
“I didn’t ask. Neither did you. It’s done.” He leans up and ghosts a kiss over my lips. “We’re here now. That’s what’s important, isn’t it?”
I lower my head to press my face against his throat. “Yes,” I murmur. “That is the most important.”
“Good. We can hash the rest out later. But for the record, I’m pretty sure I was more frustrated than angry. I’m happy for you to keep me close now.”
“I want you to have your friendships. They are good for you. I cannot be that selfish.”
Grant chuckles. He shifts so he can see my face again. “Fine. But I want you to have yours, too.” He sticks out his lower lip. “How am I supposed to go out and have fun when all I’m thinking about is how you’re wasting away at home without me?”
I huff, and he laughs again, and the next kiss we share is slow, a promise of what is yet to come.
“All right,” I say. “I will make some friends.”
Grant tugs on my hand, leading me over to the door. “Let’s start here, shall we?”