Chapter 24
Rook
Kylie sits barefoot on a kitchen chair. Her hair rests on her shoulders in adorable, messy waves, and she’s wearing one of my shirts like it belongs to her.
She takes a bite of eggs and hums, eyes closing in appreciation. “Okay,” she says. “This is unfair. You shouldn’t be able to cook this good when you don’t even eat the freaking food.”
I smile and walk over to put a freshly cooked piece of bacon on her plate. “And just think, you haven’t even tried the bacon.”
She takes a bite, and a little moan escapes her lips. “Totally unfair, Rook.”
Sunlight slips through the cabin windows in pale gold bands, catching on the edge of the table and the cast-iron pan on the stove. Mornings out here in our wilderness cabin are quiet in a way that only makes you feel peace.
Before Kylie, I would often come here by myself just to feel something. Before her, before our bond, I didn’t feel much of anything besides annoyance. Irritation. And a lot of times, total apathy.
But she’s changed all of it. Turned my world on its fucking head. She makes me feel like I’m finally living.
“Baby, I think you’re looking at it the wrong way.” I toss a wink at her over my shoulder. “I mean, you have your own personal vampire chef now.”
“Yeah, okay.” I look over my shoulder to find her grinning around a mouthful of eggs. “Maybe it’s not so unfair.”
I laugh, and I can’t stop myself from walking back over to her and leaning down to press a kiss to her lips. She tastes like coffee and salt and morning, and the feeling that rolls through me is so intense it may as well be a living, breathing entity.
I’d burn the world for her without hesitation.
There’s no undoing what we’ve done. When fated mates consummate, it locks. It binds. It’s permanent. The elites can’t breed her now. They can’t even use her blood for pleasure or power or strength.
If they’d try to drink from her, they’d risk their own death.
The past few days, Kane and Cal have been rotating watch and moving in the shadows. They stayed local to listen and track and try to gauge retaliation.
To the elites, I took something that didn’t belong to me. And worse—I made sure it can never belong to them.
Last update Cal gave me was yesterday evening. He said he’s definitely heard shit—threats, posturing—but there are no actual plan in place yet.
But to me, that doesn’t mean safety. The elites won’t just forget about this. Not a fucking chance. Right now, they’re calculating. They’re figuring out their next move.
Bottom line, they want me dead. And they probably want Cal and Kane dead too.
To them, Kylie isn’t an asset anymore. So if they still tried to get her, it would be to kill her.
Just like they did with her own mother. And that realization is a dark, dark thought.
It’s so dark that I make a concerted effort not to let it sit in my head.
Because of our bond, Kylie can read my thoughts just like I can hers.
And the last thing I want to do is scare her.
“Hey…” She reaches up, fingers curling into my shirt, tugging me closer. “Where’d you go?”
I shake my head. “Nowhere for you to be concerned about.”
She quirks an eyebrow. “You’re hiding something from me.”
I don’t lie, but I don’t confirm either.
“Rook,” she says, her gaze searching mine the entire time. “You’re actively keeping me out of your mind.”
“Yeah, I am,” I admit. “But it’s because there’s some shit I don’t want to fill your head with.”
She examines my face for a long moment, and I can actually feel her trying to get inside my thoughts.
Don’t keep stuff from me, Rook, her mind whispers inside my own. Whatever is happening, we’re in this together.
I know, baby. I know. But just trust me on this, okay? Right now, I don’t want you thinking about this shit.
Is this about the elites? The ones who want to kill you.
I nod.
Promise to tell me eventually?
I hesitate, but when she narrows her eyes, I nod. Anyone else, and I wouldn’t have any issues lying to them. Keeping shit from them. I would tell myself it’s for their own good, and that would be that.
But with Kylie? It goes against everything to lie to her.
“More than love you, baby,” I tell her, and a soft smile crests her lips.
“More than love you too.” She rises to her feet and gets on her tippy-toes to press a soft kiss to my jaw.
But I can’t stop myself from taking it further.
Without hesitation, I lift her into my arms—her legs wrapped around my waist—and I kiss her. I back her toward the counter, resting her ass on the top of it, and my hands settle at her hips as I deepen our kiss.
The pulse between us explodes, and that kiss turns into a frantic mess of lips and tongue and teeth and hands.
“Rook,” she breathes.
I rest my forehead against hers. “Tell me to stop.”
She doesn’t.
She slides her hands into my hair, and her mouth finds mine again. I deepen the kiss, every instinct urging me forward, the world narrowing down to this—her warmth, her trust, the certainty pounding through me.
And I’m about to have my wicked way with her right here on the kitchen counter when the sounds of footsteps echo inside my ears.
My head snaps up, every sense flaring.
Kylie stiffens. “What—”
“Stay here,” I murmur, already turning toward the door.
But when it opens, Calloway steps inside like he owns the place—which, to be fair, he does. His gaze flicks from the table to Kylie on the counter to me standing far too close.
“Thought I’d check in to see how it’s going.” A slow smile spreads across his face. “Clearly, it’s going well.”
I roll my eyes. “You have horrible timing.”
Kylie snorts.
And Cal pulls out a chair and sits at the table. “Still nothing major on the radar. Our names are being dragged through the mud. A lot of death threats, but no organized movement yet. I’m confident we’re safe here for now.”
I nod. “Where’s Kane?”
Cal shrugs. “Should be here shortly. There’s one more thing he said he needed to check on.”
The morning moves forward after that. Kylie finishes her breakfast. Cal gives me more updates about what Holland and the other gofers are currently plotting and scheming.
And for the most part, everything feels good.
Until a few hours later, that is.
The door slams open, and Kane bursts in with a woman slung over his shoulder.
Holy fuck.
She’s thrashing in his grip, her arms flailing and legs kicking. Her mouth is wide open in a scream that never makes it past her lips, eyes wild with terror and fury.
“What the fuck?” I snap.
Cal is already on his feet. “Holy shit, Kane!”
“She’s fine,” Kane says, breathless but controlled. “I mean, she’s real fucking pissed at me, but she’s fine. She’s safe.”
Kylie’s eyes are wide as she looks between Kane and me and the unknown woman on Kane’s shoulder. I don’t hesitate to stand up and move across the room to wrap my arm around Kylie’s shoulders. Her body shakes with concern.
“Who is she?” Cal asks, and Kane has to adjust his grip as the woman fights harder against him.
“Her name is Blair.”
Blair’s eyes meet mine—panic bleeding into disbelief—and something hits me like static.
Her thoughts. I can hear them. They’re disjointed and fragmented and fear tangled up with expectation. She’s thinking about elites and vampires and shouting that she’s going to kill Kane. And her mind is filled with names that belong to very fucking powerful people.
I freeze. “Kane, why do you have her?”
“I had to,” he says. “I had to save her.”
Blair tries to scream again, but still, nothing comes out of her mouth. And when I look at Kane again, I’m certain her silenced screams have something to do with him. He’s controlling them. How, I don’t know, but he is.
“She thought she was being chosen,” Kane adds. “Thought it was an honor. A fucking privilege. She was just going to walk into the viper’s fucking den willingly. She has no idea what they were planning to do to her.”
“Fuck me.” Cal sighs. “You met her at the preview, didn’t you?”
“What preview?” I question, but both of them ignore me.
Kane just stays silent and Cal looks enraged.
“I can’t believe you fucking kept this from me, Kane,” Cal snaps, but Kane doesn’t back down as Blair continues to thrash her body on his shoulder.
“She didn’t know the truth, Cal! She thinks it’s some kind of fucking fairy tale! Her goddamn mother was helping her shop for fucking clothes!” Kane shouts, his eyes wild with unnamed things. “I couldn’t not step in. I couldn’t not save her. I had to. I fucking had to.”
But the more he speaks, the more I see the look in his eyes, the more I start to realize.
“Fuck, Kane,” I mutter. “Fucking fuck.”
“She thinks she knows,” he continues. “But she has no fucking clue. I couldn’t let her go there. I had to stop it.”
“You’re locked in,” I whisper, and Cal’s face whips to mine. “This isn’t just any woman, Cal. This is her.” His fated mate.
“Oh fuck.” Cal’s eyes go wide, and he looks back at Kane. “Oh fuck, fuck, fuck, Kane. Do not tell me this is what I think it is. Please, do not fucking tell me.”
“Cal, you remember when you asked Rook if it was immediate with Kylie?” Kane questions, but it’s clearly rhetorical by the certainty in his green eyes. His mouth curves into something between awe and dread. “Well, I can confirm that it is, in fact, immediate.”
Silence crashes down around us, and the air instantly feels heavier.
This isn’t just about me anymore.
This isn’t just about Kylie.
As Blair bucks silently over Kane’s shoulder and Cal’s hearing stretches outward, straining for threats that haven’t arrived yet, I understand with brutal clarity.
Something major has shifted. And the pattern is accelerating.
The change occurs when male vampires turn twenty-eight. Only then are their bodies ready to find their fated mates.
But Kane isn’t twenty-eight yet.
However, he just kidnapped a woman who has very clear ties to some of the most powerful men in the world because he didn’t have any other option.
Because of the bond.
Holy fuck. The shitstorm I thought I’d created by taking Kylie has just strengthened tenfold.
This isn’t the end; it’s just the beginning…