Chapter Five #2
Henrik didn’t speak. He hissed — literally hissed, like a snake, sprinkling spittle over my face.
“Henrik.” Bene locked eyes with the vampire, but his voice shook. So, shit. He was scared too. For me? For himself?
The closer Bene came, the more tightly Henrik squeezed my throat.
“Leave us. Now,” Henrik barked at Bene. His fangs had fully extended by then, slurring his words.
Oh God, oh God, oh God…
“You don’t want to do this,” Bene warned.
Henrik licked his lips. “Oh yes, I do.”
I lifted my right foot, calculating the distance to his groin. I went for his shin instead, slamming with all my might. But Henrik was so far gone, he barely grunted.
“How are you going to explain this to Gordon?” Bene tried next.
“To hell with Gordon!” Henrik roared.
Bene shook his head, desperate for some next angle to try. Then he gritted his teeth and murmured, “What would Katarina say?”
Whoever Katarina was, I loved her, because her name made Henrik go perfectly still. He kept on squeezing my throat, but the red of his eyes went from intense points to wider, fainter pools.
“Katarina has nothing to do with this.”
“Katarina would say let her go,” Bene whispered.
Henrik’s throat bobbed, and his grip loosened enough for me to suck in a breath. He stared at me, then at his own hand — the one choking me. With a grimace, he pushed me away, and I tumbled into Bene.
The lion shifter shoved me back, stepping between Henrik and me. I banged my knee and shoulder in the process, but I’d never appreciated him more.
Roux burst in as I crumpled to my knees, gasping for breath.
“What’s going on?”
Bene shot Henrik a dark look. “Someone has gone too long between feedings.”
“Dammit, Henrik,” Roux cursed.
To his credit, he glanced at me, but only for a split second. Apparently, alive and gasping tallied up to perfectly fine in his book. The look he shot me said, Get up — and toughen up.
He probably expected me to jump up and yell, Yes, sir! too, but it was all I could do to rise shakily to my feet.
Henrik bared his teeth at Roux, but his fangs receded to half length. Still half too long for my taste, though. A moment later, he straightened his white button-down shirt — the one that would have been splattered with my blood if Bene hadn’t come along — and strode out the door.
I stared, then gaped at the others. “Where is he going?”
Bene traded weary looks with Roux. “Heading out to find what he needs.”
“What?” I shrieked, putting two and two together. “Where?”
A door slammed downstairs, and Bene shrugged. “Not Auberre. Somewhere with some nightlife, I guess.”
My eyes bugged out. “And you’re just going to let him go?”
Uh, yes, their blank looks replied.
“And kill an innocent person somewhere?” I protested.
“Probably not kill. Well, hopefully,” Bene tried.
“Ideally, he’ll go to Delphine,” Roux sighed.
I blanched. Ideal in whose world?
A car revved, then peeled out of the driveway.
I fumbled for my phone, shocked and mortified. “I have to warn her…”
Roux closed a big, warm hand over mine in a firm but surprisingly gentle move.
“Delphine will be all right.”
I stared. All right — with a thirsty vampire speeding toward her door?
I thought of the hours Henrik would drive to reach her. The “rest stops” he might take along the way. Then I stared at Bene and Roux, who had no such qualms. They’d come to my rescue, and I was grateful, but I was disgusted too.
I thought of the cold shoulder they’d given me. The secrecy. The ugly deeds in their pasts.
And just like that, I’d had it.
“You know what?” I barked. “That’s it. You’re out of here.”
Bene put up his hands, much as he had with Henrik. “Now, Mina…”
I shook my head. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back, and that camel was me.
“I want you out of here — all of you. Now.”
“Now?” Roux protested.
My mind raced, and a stray thought clicked in out of nowhere. “Henrik is out starting now. You two have until the third weekend in October.”
Bene tilted his head, once again proving more astute than I thought. “What’s happening in the third weekend in October?”
I stamped a foot. “You’re moving out and never coming back.”
Right in time for the police championships I’d just decided to host, dammit, though I didn’t say that.
Bene looked hurt. Roux, alarmed.
“You know what this means for us?” the tiger shifter asked in a husky voice.
I stiffened. Yes, I knew. Any one of them screwing up reflected on the entire group, and the precarious deal they’d struck with Gordon — the deal securing them second chances and a fresh start in life — was under threat.
Well, I stood to lose too. I’d found a contractor to start work on the roof soon, and to pay for it, I needed the money Gordon paid to board his team here. Still, wasn’t my life worth more than the roof?
I cleared my throat, but damn. My voice was still all husky. “I’ll put in a good word for you two with Gordon. But I’ll also explain why I don’t want you here. Any of you.”
My soul wept, because that meant Marius too. But what choice did I have? Bit by bit, these men had nudged me over to the dark side, and I needed to claw my way back to the light.
My heart bled as their eyes pleaded with me. But I had to hold firm. They weren’t fifth graders, but the principle was the same. If I caved in now, all discipline would be lost — and in this case, discipline could mean my life.
“Sure,” Roux scoffed. “Put in a good word with Gordon.” He gestured to my phone, daring me.
I huffed. “I will. But in person, not with a call.”
Roux snorted. “What, the next time you’re in Paris?”
I practically bared my teeth at him. “Today. I’m leaving now.”
Roux’s eyes went wide, and even Bene did a double take.
“You’re going to Paris? Now?”
I nodded firmly. My second spontaneous decision in five minutes, but yes.
“Yes, I am,” I said, summoning the resolve to walk out the door.
It was time to take control of my life, I told myself. But at that moment, it felt more like I was tearing it apart.