Chapter 23
Jade
Pain was the first thing I noticed. Not sharp, more like a dull, persistent throb that pulsed behind my eyes and down into my jaw. I groaned softly and tried to lift a hand to my head, only to realize I couldn’t quite manage it—because I was being held.
Strong arms wrapped around me, cool and solid and unmistakably familiar.
My lashes fluttered open, and Luther’s face swam into focus above me, icy gray eyes fixed on mine with an intensity that made my breath hitch.
“You’re awake,” he said, voice rough. “Good. Don’t move.
” He spoke in sharp, clipped words, as if he couldn’t bring himself to be eloquent the way he usually was.
I’d never seen him look this worried or so disheveled, his black hair messy around his face and something smudged along his cheekbone.
“The thing,” I rasped, as memory crashed back in fragments of shadows, claws, and rage.
“It attacked the shelves, Luther, it…” It hadn’t been after me at all, and that was probably what had saved me.
It had tossed me aside like I was a rag doll, and I’d hit my head on the edge of a shelf, but I was pretty sure I’d seen it go after a particular row of books on purpose.
“It’s gone,” he said firmly, tightening his hold just a fraction.
“You’re safe. I swear to you, Jade, nothing like that will ever touch you again.
I will always protect you.” There was something in his voice that made my chest ache.
I realized it was because nobody had ever said something like that to me, and so fervently.
Luther always sounded so calmly assured, so collected, but this was a promise edged with fear.
I swallowed, still a little foggy, and nodded.
“I know,” I murmured, feeling a rush of warm affection.
In his arms, I did feel safe. He had me half in his lap, cradling me against his chest, and I felt surrounded, protected.
“I know your secret,” I whispered, my voice just a hint of a whisper against his silky shirt. “You’re actually a good man, Luther.”
There was a beat of silence, and, with interest, I watched goosebumps rise along his throat and fade again.
This is a secret? Belfry’s voice chimed brightly in my head, loud and so present that I flinched.
I have been saying this for centuries. He’s practically a marshmallow.
I couldn’t help it, I giggled. The sound soft and surprised.
A marshmallow? That’s what Belfry thought?
I would never go that far. I just knew that Luther had a strong core of nobility, a protective streak a mile wide, and, for some unfathomable reason, he’d fixated on me.
The truth was, I liked it, but he didn’t like my giggle over his purported softness.
“Jade,” Luther said sternly, as if my giggle had offended him, it probably had.
“Hush.” I immediately opened my mouth to protest being told to shut up, but there was this slight curve to his lips.
He was smiling, and it was leeching the worried tension out of his expression.
I will not! Belfry all but shouted, a fiercely indignant denial from where he was hanging from Luther’s shoulder. His claws were digging into the shirt, causing little rips, but I don’t think either of them noticed.
“And you, Belfry,” Luther said, turning glacial eyes from me to the bat riding on his shirt, “shut up.” Belfry did, his fanged mouth snapping once as a final protest, but he remained silent, his gaze, like Luther’s, returning to me, both united in their worry and care.
I blinked, then winced as my head protested.
It was beginning to ache more, and I very much wanted to go to bed and sleep for a while.
What I’d seen today was the cherry on top, and I vowed I’d do better at dealing with it all once I no longer felt like my head was splitting in two.
I’d really struck that shelf hard, and when I reached up to touch my temple, I found a goose egg forming there of an impressive size. “Ow,” I said with a wince.
“Hush, darling,” Luther said, more gently now. “Let Arden do his work.” He curled his fingers around my wrist and drew my hand away to press it against his chest. “Do not touch it; it will soon feel much better.”
I let his voice soothe me for a moment, but then my eyes popped back open. “Arden?” I echoed. I had been so out of it I’d only been aware of Belfry and Luther, of the warm, solid arms around me and the pain in my head. Only now that he mentioned it did I notice the other man kneeling beside us.
He was broad-shouldered, solid in a way that suggested strength without menace. A worn leather biker jacket creaked as he shifted, and his pale gray—no, silver—hair fell into his eyes when he smiled at me, soft, kind, almost shy. “Hey,” he said simply, and laid a hand on my shoulder.
Warmth spread instantly from his touch, flowing through my skull like sunlight breaking through clouds.
The ache retreated, then vanished entirely.
I sucked in a surprised breath. “Oh,” I said.
“That’s… wow. They should figure out how to bottle that.
” It was amazing, better than a painkiller, and when I reached for the bump again, I discovered it was gone.
“I told you it’s freaky when you’re not expecting it!
” a woman said cheerfully nearby. I recognized that voice; it had to be Gwen.
“I went through it once myself,” she continued.
“Arden works miracles.” There had to be far more people here than I’d realized, and now that my head felt just fine, I was ready to process all that.
I turned my head carefully and finally took stock of the room.
The secret library looked like a battlefield: shelves lay toppled and splintered, books were strewn everywhere, and pages fluttered weakly in a barely-there draft.
Luther held me in his arms where he was kneeling on the floor, keeping me away from the wreckage nearby.
Belfry perched on his shoulder like a jeweled gargoyle.
Near the stairs stood Gwen and Jackson, she with her hands clasped tight, and, to my shock, he with wings half-furled behind his back and amber eyes sharp with vigilance.
Yup, wings. I decided I was going to roll with that and not comment.
Clearly, he was not a vampire but something else entirely, something beastly.
On the floor a few feet away sat a man in a rumpled pinstriped suit, one hand pressed to a bleeding gash on his forehead.
He looked more annoyed than hurt. He was also completely unfamiliar, and unlike Arden, who had apparently healed me with a touch, he did not seem friendly.
There was an angry cast to his eyes; hostile, a bit like a cornered animal.
At the center of it all stood Grandma Liz.
She had her hands on her hips, her long skirts swirling around her ankles on the same unseen breeze that made the torn papers flutter.
Her bangles made a clinking noise when she shifted her weight from foot to foot.
Her gray curls were as immaculate as ever, but with a hint of wildness that the colorful scarf tying them back could not contain.
“Well,” she said briskly, surveying the destruction. “This is a right mess. At least the ugly thing’s gone for now, so I say everyone goes home. We can regroup in the morning.” No one argued.
Arden rose smoothly and crossed to the injured man, pressing two fingers to his temple.
The blood vanished like snow under the sun, and the man blinked, startled, but maybe not as surprised as I’d been.
Then the tall, motorcycle-jacket-wearing but gentle healer walked past Gwen and Jackson and left without a word.
There was nothing but silence then, and yet no one seemed ready to leave, despite Liz’s instructions and the lack of protests.
Liz hovered; Gwen and Jackson stared grimly at the destruction in the library; and the pin-striped, angry guy glared at nothing in particular as he rose and tried to straighten out his wrinkled clothes.
Then Luther lifted my chin and kissed me.
Hard. The world narrowed to him, cool lips, fierce intent, hands trembling just slightly where they held me.
When he pulled back, his forehead rested against mine.
“I thought I was too late,” he said hoarsely.
“Never do that to me again,” he instructed fiercely, as if I had any say in when or whether I got attacked by horribly twisted, blackened tree creatures.
“And where,” he continued sharply, “was your bracelet?” He reached into his coat and held up the small black box I had left on the library table.
I winced guiltily, because it had to have cost a fortune, and I had left it lying about as if it were a cheap trinket.
He pulled it free from the box, and the delicate gold links and beautiful jade droplets glimmered.
In the light of the hidden library, I thought I could see golden, ethereal symbols glowing just beneath the surface of each stone.
“It has protection spells,” he said, then slid it onto my wrist before I could stop him.
Truthfully, a few protection spells sounded good right about now.
The cool metal settled against my skin, and suddenly my ribs tingled, moonlight-bright beneath my clothes.
Oh. Right, that damn mating mark. It was responding a little, and I felt the heat of it.
When I looked down, I imagined you could even see it through the pale fabric of my shirt.
Right, how could I forget about the “eternal vows I didn’t know we were making” part?
“You...” I started, heart slamming, fear and weakness giving way to a surge of anger.
“Luther, you should have told me.” I gestured rather helplessly down at my ribs, but rather than look apologetic, he seemed pleased.
He gathered me more tightly in his arms, and I found myself in his lap, right there on that cool stone library floor.
Footsteps hurried away, but I only had eyes for the cool gray of his. One by one, everyone gave us privacy with suspicious speed, and then, we were alone.
He smiled, warm, full of a possessive confidence that made my belly twist with heat in response.
It wasn’t fair; it really wasn’t. It was safer, easier when I thought he didn’t like me.
Knowing how far from the truth that was, it was daunting, a little terrifying.
If I didn’t protest this “mating” business, I’d find myself falling off a cliff, and I wasn’t sure if I was ready to fall.
“But I asked,” he said softly. “I told you there was no going back, my darling mate. You are mine now, and I am yours. That is how the bond works.”
“I...” I searched for my usual sharp retort, but my thoughts tangled.
These were feelings too big and too life-altering to make right after an attack so terrifying it could have been part of a horror movie.
“That was a heat-of-the-moment question!” I pointed out.
“How was I supposed to know how serious it was?”
He stood, lifting me effortlessly into his arms, and I felt like I was floating.
“No,” he said firmly, his eyes growing stern when he saw the rebellious expression on my face.
“Enough. This was enough upheaval for one day. You rest first, and then we’ll talk.
” I sighed, surrendering as he carried me up the stairs into the main library.
My head rested against his shoulder, his scent grounding me.
For the first time since arriving in Hillcrest Hollow, I truly relaxed.
Fine, he had a point, and I rather liked how protective he was acting now. I felt cared for, safe.
The stairs led us back into the main library, and I was surprised to discover bright daylight streaming in through the windows.
It wasn’t even afternoon yet, but it felt like hours had passed, it felt like it should have been night.
This place looked normal now, familiar. Lowering my eyes to my wrist, I admired the bracelet.
“Would it have protected me from… that?” I asked quietly.
There was nobody but us in here too, and I was grateful that everyone was thoughtful enough to recognize when the conversation had turned private.
Normally, I would have been better at filtering that until the moment was right; I blamed my reactivity on the heat of the moment and the fear that still clung to my skin.
That thing, it was terrifying, and I was so damn lucky it hadn’t been after me.
“I don’t know,” Luther admitted, with a bleakness that did not help to ease my nerves. He sat in a chair by the main table, settling me securely in his lap, arms wrapped tight. Only then did I feel how shaken he was, how carefully he held me, like I might vanish if he loosened his grip.
“What was it?” I asked, even though I sensed that he would rather not talk about this.
There was something in his gaze that told me he might tell me to wait again, until after I’d rested.
My expression grew firm. No, I wanted to know.
I needed to know this right now. He’d already turned my world on its head with his talking bat, his vampirism, and this supposed eternal mating bond.
“There was a prison here once, in Hillcrest Hollow,” he said quietly after a short hesitation, but I also saw the begrudging respect appear.
“It supposedly held something ancient and evil. We didn’t know what it was, only that it was sealed away.
We think it escaped last summer. Slowly, it’s begun to stir trouble.
We only recently learned its name.” He met my eyes, and I saw in them the worry and the apology.
He hated that, by being here with him, I’d gotten involved in this. “We think it’s called a Galamut.”
I straightened as much as I could in his arms, resolve firming my spine. Finally, something to grab hold of in this rapidly spinning, irrevocably changed world. “Then we need to research this thing, find out how we can get rid of it. Lucky for you, that’s one of my specialties.”
He laughed, but there was no humor in it.
“Sure, that seems like a good plan for tomorrow,” he said, kissing me softly.
“Today, you rest up and I’ll take care of you.
” I wouldn’t say no to that, and I was definitely not going to take off the bracelet.
If I’d known it wasn’t just an extravagant gift but protection, I wouldn’t have been so stubborn about it.
He carried me through the back door of the library, across the yard, into the General Store, and up to his apartment.
He didn’t put me down until we reached his bed.
“I am going to pamper you,” he murmured.
“Spoil you terribly. But first…” His gaze heated.
“I must know if you wore the lingerie I’ve been picturing all morning. ”
I smiled, all too willing to let him distract me for a little while. “Well, come and find out…” I drawled.