Chapter Thirteen
“ Y vonne was my mother?”
“Get the fuck out of here. You should be out there helping the others defend the place.”
“I want an answer! Did you have her killed?”
Maxim stood, slamming his hands on the table. “Listen—”
The sounds of gun shots sounded closer. “No, you listen. I killed Fletcher and Reef and Chuck and some other vampire. They attacked me and my mate. My very human mate.”
“You fucking piece of treasonous shit! I’m going to kill you.”
“We don’t get to choose our mates. You know this. I wasn’t going to walk away from him. He is the only person who has ever given a shit about me. You never did. I was always just another soldier to you. A means to the end. Another body to help you achieve a goal you would never reach. There are eight billion humans on this planet. A couple million vampires. You think you could defeat them with your tinpot army?”
“I don’t have to explain myself to you. You betrayed all of us! Fucking the enemy? You disgust me. You are not my son, and you never were.”
“No, I’m not.” Max pulled out his gun and shot Maxim. Maxim staggered back, staring at his chest. Max shot him twice more and watched Maxim drop to his knees. He calmly walked around the desk and stared into the eyes of the man who had never been a father to him and shot him straight between the eyes.
Slowly lowering the gun, Max stared at the body of the man who was supposed to be his father, the one who would love and protect him, but never had. He heard the door open and shut but didn’t look away from Maxim.
“Max.”
“Are there more left to fight?” The words were low, barely there.
“We can handle it. Why don’t you go to the hospital and let them treat you.”
“Rex?” Max’s body shook. Rex? Still nothing. Was he even still alive. He lifted his face and looked at Minho, a tear trickling down his cheek. “Is it really over?”
“More or less. Go. We’ll deal with the rest. Gray and Key have already accessed the laptops, and from there, all the systems here. We know everything.”
“I can’t hear him.” Max gently touched the side of his head. “I can’t feel him.”
“He’s sedated, but how can you hear and feel each other if you haven’t mated?”
“We always have. We met when we were so young. Ten.” Max sobbed. “I wanted his birthday party so I pushed him because I couldn’t have one. He invited me to play. He’s always been there for me. Us talking has happened forever. He’s so much better than me, yet he loves me. He’s the only person who sees me. I can’t lose him.”
“You won’t.” Minho tilted his head. “Peter is there. He’ll sit with you while you both wait.”
“He isn’t going to kill me?”
“He might glare at you, but we’ve been talking.”
“Have you?” Max slumped on the floor. He could see the blood pooling around Maxim’s body. “I had never killed anyone before tonight.”
“It’s hard the first time you do it, but you did it to protect Rex.”
“Does the feeling ever go away?” Max lifted his hand, rubbing his chest. Tight, constricted. He struggled to breathe, wanted to vomit.
Wanted to wake up.
“It gets easier in time. We can arrange some counselling for you when you feel up to it.”
“We?”
Minho crouched next to him and took Max’s hand in his own. “Peter likes to remind me that I’m a stepdad, so that means I’m kind of a stepdad to you.”
Max choked, sobbed and bent over. “I don’t know.”
“Let me take you to Peter. I can’t stay. I have to help out here, but you should go. You’ve done enough.”
The room blurred and Max felt someone move him, and next thing he knew he was being hugged. “Let’s get you off the floor.”
Max was there in the room but wasn’t at the same time. He leaned on Peter, who helped him onto a bed, and a doctor appeared and treated his injuries. Or was that re-treat? He couldn’t keep track of the night. “Rex?” he whispered.
“Still in surgery.”
“I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt him. You must hate me.”
“You’re not in my good book. Try and get some rest before Rex’s brother arrives. You’ll need your strength for him. He’s not happy.”
“Don’t leave me.” Max closed his eyes. “I shouldn’t ask.”
A loud sigh. “I need to remember you’re just a kid. Sleep. I’ll be here when you wake up.”
Max let his eyes close, felt a sheet cover his body. A hand touched his hair, followed by another sigh.
He opened his eyes to apologize again but Peter wasn’t there. A man sat near him, glaring daggers at him. When had he entered the room? He tried to sit up, whimpered, then lay back down. Rex . Still nothing.
The door opened and Peter entered, spotting Max awake. “He’s out of surgery. He’s in recovery. They’ll move him into this room when they’re satisfied. You need to stay in for another night or day.”
Max licked his lips and tried to sit up again. Groaning, he pushed himself up, arms trembling, but he managed to slump back on the pillows. His body protested every little move he made like he’d been run over by a truck.
“I can’t believe out of all the vampires in the world, you had to be Rex’s mate.”
“Sammy.” The word sounded weary, and Max watched father and son stare at each other. “Not right now.”
“Rex almost died because of him.”
“I didn’t want him to get hurt. I told him to run.”
“Fuck you.”
“Sammy! If you can’t sit here and keep quiet you can leave. Now isn’t the time. Unless it escaped your notice, Max is also injured, plus he was fighting Maxim last night. He killed his own father, so you keep your mouth shut.”
“You did?”
“Yeah.” Max swallowed. He had done it. He’d killed Maxim. He’d never had that father son connection, but it still hurt. He had no one except Rex now. He’d always had no one except Rex, only now Rex truly was the only person in his life. He hadn’t expected it to hurt when the day finally arrived where he would have to face Maxim, but it did.
“Max.”
Max looked at Peter, who gave him a sad smile. “Not an easy thing you did, taking Maxim’s life.”
Max looked away, shrugging. “It had to be done. He’d never stop. He’d always try to find a way to destroy lives. Him and the ones who follow him. None can be left alive. They will never stop.” He knew he sounded tired, weary, because he was. He was done with it all. He wanted an easy life with Rex, doing normal things. Going out for a meal, a walk in the park at night. Maybe a vacation somewhere.
Was he still dreaming? Was he really free? Whenever he moved, or even breathed, he knew he’d done it. Rex would be safe now and they—
There was a knock on the door and a nurse came in, whispered something to Peter, and Peter got up and left. Something about Rex. Max tried to sit up but his body wasn’t having any of it, but he still tried.
“You have stitches in your back.”
Max froze. “I do?”
“Yeah. You don’t remember them treating you last night when you came back?”
“I do but I… stitches?”
“I don’t like you.”
“I never would have guessed.” Max carefully lay back on the pillows, his skin damp with sweat, and chose to ignore Sammy. Once he and Rex were mated…ugh. They’d be family. Just great. No, he wasn’t going to think like that. Sammy had a right to be angry with him. He had put Rex in danger, and he’d almost died.
The door opened and Peter stuck his head inside. “They’re moving him in here now.”
Max watched Rex’s bed being wheeled in, the machines that monitored him beeping softly. When they positioned him and put the brakes on the bed, Max saw him. Pale, shadows under his eyes, wires and drips everywhere, but he was alive.
Rex.
He didn’t answer. Of course he wouldn’t, but Max couldn’t help but reach out to him. Seeing him lying there so pale and still made Max turn away. He’d done that. Maybe he should stay away from Rex.
“Tell me about this cabin you both have.”
“What?”
Peter pulled a chair up next to Rex’s bed. “You two have a place. A cabin. I want all the details.”
“We found it by accident when we were walking through the woods one night.”
“You came into our house or near to it and picked him up, then teleported you both to the woods.”
“I had a weapon,” Max muttered defensively.
“You’re a vampire. I imagine it isn’t that hard to take a human on if you needed to.” Peter folded his arms over his chest. “So, you found a cabin.”
“Why the interest?”
“How many times did he lie to me? When he said he was studying for tests or doing assignments, he was with you.”
“He still did them. He’s been teaching me as well. Maxim only thought I should be able to read and write and have enough math skill to help plan attacks.” Max shrugged. “I knew nothing about history or geography. He deemed them unnecessary. Rex and I would go the cabin, and he would teach me.”
“Among other things.”
Max sucked his lips in. Nodded. “Cooking?”
Peter snorted. “How old were you?” Max opened his mouth then shut it. “Two teenagers alone in their own cabin, and mates?” Peter arched an eyebrow.
“Fourteen.”
Peter inhaled, his chest expanding. “Well, that’s young.”
“Damn, beat me, too.”
“Sammy…” Peter shot him a look. “Let me deal with one of you at a time. Fourteen? Please tell me you knew what you were doing.”
Max licked his lips and moved the sheet around. He heard the sigh. “We do now.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be having this conversation with my son when he is able to. So, you have your own place where you can both go and spend time together.”
“I’ve seen Rex maybe three times in the last couple of months. I was always busy doing something for Maxim. He would leave your house and I would take us to the cabin.” Max licked his lips. “It’s nice. We did it up, made it our home. I made sure we had security in place. It was how we detected movement. We have cameras and motion detectors set up around the perimeter of the cabin.” Max furrowed his brow. “It gave us some warning.”
“I see.”
“I told him to run and hide. To try and call or something while I kept them away from him. I didn’t know there was four of them. One was in the cabin, and I made Rex run. I kept telling him to run.”
“You should have come to me.”
“Would you have believed two kids?”
“I guess when you showed me your fangs I would have. I did with Minho, but you wouldn’t have known that then.” Peter exhaled heavily, then reached out and touched Rex’s hand. “I can’t tell you to stay away, and he wouldn’t want you to stay away either. If I told him to leave you, he would walk. It’s clear how bonded you are, even though you haven’t mated. You talk telepathically. You sense each other. The process is already underway.” Peter stared at Max. “I want to tell you to never come anywhere near him again. He’s here because of the stupidity you both showed. You should have come to me.”
“Hindsight is a wonderful thing,” Minho drawled from the door. “Neither of us was in their position and they couldn’t have known how you and Diane would have reacted. They were young and stupid but didn’t know any better.”
Peter raised his hand. “Thank you for your input but I need to deal with this.”
“As Rex’s actual parent?”
Peter glanced over his shoulder at Minho. “I don’t mean it like that.”
“You do and I understand, but as a vampire I can tell you Max and Rex would have been terrified to tell you and Diane. Max especially. What if you hadn’t accepted what they’d told you? What would have happened to Max? We can sit here and discuss it, but it won’t change what’s happened. Rex will need both of you as he recovers.”
“You know sometimes you really piss me off with how reasonable you are.”
Minho smiled softly. “I know.”
Max watched them, knowing they were talking silently together.
“Go to sleep, Max. There’s nothing you can do right now.” Max watched them for a few more minutes then watched Rex until he fell asleep.