Out for Blood

33. Deacon

Chapter thirty-three

Deacon

We’re alive.

I hold Vasile for a long time as people move around us. Chaya drops a pair of jogging bottoms next to me without breaking her stride, but I pick up the scent of her concern and relief regardless.

Lucien takes Kieran away. Outside, I think, to get fresh air and bandage the mess of his arm. Drew won’t leave. He’s shifted back and is sitting on the floor—he won’t go closer to his father’s body, either. Sam stays next to him, though his attention moves around the room as though he wants to watch over what the others are doing.

Adam doesn’t leave Drew’s side, either. He holds Drew against him, face buried in the side of his throat, speaking quietly. The only mark on him, despite his recent kidnapping, is the blood that covers his knuckles and paints his face.

The others—we’ve lost some wolves. Some vampires. But we’ve lost fewer than Tamesis did. Elle and Njáll take charge of the vampires, taking the injured to the donors who are waiting outside. Chaya and Orion—and the other alphas—have our wolves. Ophelia is on her knees next to Jude, Silas watching closely as she tries to heal the damage a mage apparently caused.

Pris stays with the wolves who’ve been captured or surrendered. She clearly knows some of them, but she doesn’t spare a second glance at Darren’s corpse.

Dante is with the hunters, half an eye on Sam as he discusses what to do with the mages they’ve captured. Enza is here, though I don’t know how, and she follows him as he moves from person to person, face too pale and eyes too wide.

It all… works. And Vasile and I sit in the middle of it, both of us healing, both of us content to simply be.

No one approaches Tamesis. He’s certainly dead, of course. I don’t know if it’s a result of how much blood Kieran forced down his throat, but his flesh seems to cling to the bone, nothing else underneath.

Vasile lifts his head. He’s shaking all over, but I don’t think he realises it. Whatever he did to me, it’s taken it out of him.

“We need to…” He shakes his head. His voice is rough, sounding like it’s scraping against his throat. “We need to grind them up.”

“Grind what up?” I ask. My hand maps a familiar sweep up and down his spine.

“His bones. He can’t come back.”

There’s no fear in his words, only determination, but I know it’s buried somewhere deep down. Why wouldn’t it be? Vasile killed him before, but he came back. Kieran killed him before, but he came back.

This time…

It was all three of them, wasn’t it? I let out a shaky breath and pull Vasile back against me again. Yes, Tamesis died choking on Kieran’s blood—maybe that’s what his mother saw—but Kieran couldn’t do it alone. He needed Drew to hold Tamesis down. He needed Vasile to weaken him.

“It’ll be done,” I promise.

Hale and his beta are dead, which comes as no surprise to me. Neither does the state of Hale’s corpse. Darren… He’s lying not far from Tamesis. Did he fight him?

It doesn’t matter. Right now, the people in my packs are safe and being cared for. All I have to care about is the vampire in my arms.

After a while, I nudge the side of Vasile’s head with my nose. His blinks are slow, lips almost as pale as the rest of his face. He used magic on me, though I don’t know how. He looks hungry, eyes faintly glowing when he turns his head.

“Can you stand?” I don’t want to do this out here. Everyone’s still around us. We’re too exposed.

“Y-Yes.”

He gets to his feet, and I stand, too, my legs shaking. My side is mostly healed but still tender, which is how it’ll stay for a few days. I run a hand over where the wound was, remembering the rough edges, the way blood poured out of me.

I’m covered in it, of course. It’s a pool around us, even as my beating heart moves it through my veins.

Vasile picks up the jogging bottoms and helps me into them. His hands rest on my hips when he’s done, and I lean our foreheads together. “Come on.”

“We need to—”

“A few minutes. Come on.”

He doesn’t argue again. I take his hand and lead him past Tamesis’ body, through the door that I know leads to the back rooms of the club. A couple of hunters are in the hall, checking the rooms, and when I give one a questioning glance, she nods, pointing to a room I assume is empty.

I take Vasile into it and shut the door behind us. He lets out a heavy sigh, rubbing a hand over his face.

“Are you hurt?” I ask.

“No, I—”

“You’re hungry.”

He laughs. It’s not amused. “I think the magic—I think it took some of mine. Or something.”

He leans against the edge of the desk—we’re in one of the offices—and I can’t help myself. I crowd into his space, nudging until he parts his legs, and I can step between them.

“Deacon,” Vasile murmurs. His voice breaks on my name, and I sigh, taking his face in my hands.

“What happened? I thought—”

“Lazarus.”

“What?” I shake my head. “But he’s dead.”

“He is now,” Vasile says. He leans his cheek into my palm. “The night the clan was attacked, he called me. Said he’d faked his own death, and I knew he was involved in something to do with all this, but I thought if I went, I’d get answers.”

“Vasile…”

“I know. It was stupid at best. But I needed to know. So I left, and when I met him, he told me that he was working with Tamesis. He’d had some of the fae blood, and he—He killed me.”

My hands shake. Vasile’s own hands are clutching the edge of the desk, his knuckles white.

“I felt it,” I whisper. “Why didn’t you come back?”

“Because I knew you did. I knew you left. And I knew that Tamesis would come after you as soon as he realised you were out there on your own.”

I can’t argue with that—I hadn’t even been thinking about it at the time—but anger floods me anyway.

“So you came back to life and didn’t tell anyone?”

“I came back to life and had the bond between me and Tamesis reignited.”

Shock slackens my grip, but Vasile doesn’t make a sound as my hands fall from his face. “They lied—”

“They didn’t all know,” Vasile says. “But I made them promise. I needed Tamesis’ attention on me. Deacon, if anything had happened to you… How was I supposed to survive that?”

“The same way I did!”

I jerk away from him, pacing only metres away—because, despite myself, I can’t be far from him right now. “You had a pack lie to me. You went after him on your own. You—”

“I did,” Vasile says, and I stop. He crosses his arms over his chest, jaw set, chin raised. “And if I could do it differently, Deacon, I would. But there’s no possible universe where I would have risked you. Not one.”

“You can’t make that choice for both of us.”

“You’re telling me you’re different?” He narrows his eyes. “Ask your wolf. Dig deep. Tell me you’re not as fucked up over me as I am over you, and I might just believe you.”

My wolf growls. He’s weak—I’m weak, still healing as I am—but angry. At me. At the truth of it.

Did I run partly because I knew Tamesis would come after me? Because, with Vasile gone, the only thing I had left to protect were the packs?

Did I make the same choice he did?

“How… how are you alive?”

“Fae blood,” Vasile says. “It’s how I was brought back, and then I was given more tonight. Without it, you—”

I’d be dead. I nod and hesitate only for a second before I move close to him again. Vasile’s back stiffens when I wrap my arms around him, but he relaxes when I press my face into his hair, trembling all over.

“I am sorry,” he says against my bare chest. “I needed to talk to him, too. I needed to finish this my way.”

“And did you?”

“What?”

“Finish it your way?”

His laugh is surprised, and I lean back so I can look down into his face. “Absolutely fucking not. Kieran finished it in the end. The way his mother saw it, I suppose.”

“Is that…”

“I wish he hadn’t had to go through it,” Vasile says. “But it’s done. He’s gone. It’s over.”

I hug him close again and he lets out a contented breath, leaning against me. I breathe in his scent, relaxing at the way both our scents are filling this small room. It feels safe.

Except…

“You’re starving.”

“I’ll—” His throat works. “I’ll feed when I get back.”

Oh, fuck. “Jamal…”

Vasile jerks his head up, and his expression twists at what he sees on my face. “Oh. Oh, no. That poor boy.”

He needs to feed. And Moreau said he only ever has one donor at a time, so how will he pick a new one, especially when the other vampires will undoubtedly need to feed, too?

“Feed from me.”

“What?” Pain crosses Vasile’s face, betrayal in his eyes as he tries to lean backwards, out of my grip. “Deacon!”

“You can—”

“If you wanted to kill me, you could just—”

“I can’t hurt you!”

He stops, snapping his mouth shut. “What?”

“I-I can’t… A wolf can’t…” I remember the soft glow of streetlamps. The sound of the river. Vasile twisting away from me.

“A wolf can’t hurt their mate,” he says, understanding, then shakes his head again. “But, Deacon, we’re not… The bond—”

I kiss him. I want it to be gentle, but it isn’t; it’s hard and unyielding, and Vasile makes a broken, pained sound when I grip the back of his neck. He opens his mouth, though, kissing me back almost desperately, and when our tongues meet, our mating bond flares to life between us.

Vasile gasps into my mouth. I hold him in place, still kissing him, still desperately chasing the taste of him. He clutches at my hips, dragging me even closer, and we’re both making broken sounds, but neither of us wants to stop.

I need to breathe, though, so I drag my mouth away and press our foreheads together. Vasile looks at me, blinking too fast.

“I—You—”

“You did want it, right?” Shit. I should have asked, but—

Vasile growls and kisses me again, wrapping his legs around my hips. He bites my lower lip hard enough that I yelp, then moan, and one hand works its way down my spine, under the waistband of my borrowed jogging bottoms.

“Mine,” he growls between kisses. “Mine, mine, mine .”

The word lands with every beat of my heart and I push forward, shoving Vasile back onto the desk. He pulls me down with him, dragging me over him. I kiss his mouth, his jaw, his throat—

Fuck.

“Feed. You need to feed.”

Vasile’s eyes still glow, dropping to my throat before they dart away. Our bond is fresh but stronger than it’s ever been. I feel his trepidation. He trusts me, but…

I can’t blame him. He’s just seen a vampire die from ingesting werewolf blood. I kiss his cheek. “I promise, Vas. I promise it’ll help.”

He looks up into my face, then lets out a heavy breath.

“All right.” He reaches for my arm, but I make a dismissive sound and tilt my head to one side. It exposes my throat, and he must be able to hear the way my pulse picks up at the thought of that.

I haven’t given someone this weakness—this submission, not the feeding—in centuries. Not since I was a pup. And I feel Vasile understand it, his wonder and affection as he leans in, running his lips over my skin.

“My wonderful wolf,” he murmurs. His tongue darts out and I shiver. “It won’t hurt.”

I snort. “Liar.”

He doesn’t respond to that. He kisses the spot he’s apparently chosen and before I can say anything else, his fangs sink into my skin.

He’s right.

It doesn’t hurt.

Our bond pulses with every mouthful of blood Vasile takes. I shut my eyes, holding him close, and I fancy I can see it, some golden light that ties the two of us together.

If I could mate him tonight, I’d do it. I already know I have to wait; we need time to deal with the aftermath of… all of this.

Vasile’s hunger recedes, his scent turning healthier, but he still pulls back sooner than I’d like. He licks over the wound he’s left and then kisses it again, and there’s an ache, sure, but it goes away quickly.

“And how do you feel?” I ask, nuzzling the side of his face.

He lets out a quick breath. “Good. Deacon—”

I meet his mouth, kiss him deeply. He clings to me just as much as I do to him, and I know we have elsewhere to be, but there’s a large part of me that wants to drag Vasile back to our pack house, to lock him in my bedroom until we’ve made up for all the time we’ve lost.

Vasile pulls back, gently nipping my lower lip. “We can’t.”

I raise my eyebrows. Can he read my mind now? “What?”

“Whatever you’re thinking.” His smile is soft, and he runs his thumb over my lower lip. “We can’t. Not yet.”

“Later?”

“Later.”

He trembles when I kiss his cheek, moving up towards his eye. He closes them and I kiss each eyelid, careful to be gentle, and he grips my forearms, holding me still.

I stroke my thumbs over his cheekbones again and then let go. Vasile whimpers, holding me tighter.

“Don’t go,” he whispers. A reflex. A need.

“Vas.” I can scent Orion in the hallway. Keeping watch, most likely, making sure that we’re safe even when we’re lost to each other.

He’s a reminder, too, that I have to go back. My mind is already working again, now that I know my mate is as safe and healthy as he can be. I need to check on Kieran and his pack. I need to ensure all my alphas are whole and see what their packs need, too.

“I know.” Vasile flashes me a faint smile. “I know, I just—”

He lets go of me and moves as though to turn his face away, but I catch his chin before he can. “I’ll come to you,” I promise, the words urgent so he’ll know I mean them. As if he can’t feel it. “I promise. As soon as I can.”

He nods, and our bond flexes. He knows I will. I lean in and brush our lips together one last time, and when I step back, he smiles.

“Go, Deacon. I’ll see you soon.”

It takes every speck of effort in me to turn my back on Vasile and walk out of that office. Orion is leaning against the opposite wall. He’s wearing a T-shirt and jogging bottoms, but there’s a fresh pink line, a claw mark, up his arm and shoulder.

“I’m fine, alpha,” he says. His eyes dart past me, to the door. “Are you?”

“Yes. We need one of the vampires here, just—”

“I’ve got it.” He starts moving and I follow him down the hall, my mind working.

The bond shifts before it settles, and as we walk back into the club proper, I let out another heavy breath. Vasile is there.

I can feel him.

I’ll come back to him soon.

A week later, and I haven’t had time to see Vasile at all. Between sorting out our packs, trying to relocate what’s left of Kieran’s father’s, organise funerals… It’s been hectic at best, and Chaya or Orion have been physically escorting me from my office when they think I need to sleep.

They’re not wrong to do it, but still.

Now, I’m sitting across from Chaya and Val—one of the wolves we first captured. She wants to return to her home, as do many of the surviving members of their pack, but I’m loath to let them go alone.

“I spoke with the others,” she says. She keeps her eyes trained on my desk. “We’re happy to have a few other wolves up there with us—we should have somewhere for them to stay. We just—We’d prefer to have a choice as to who it might be.”

I nod, exchanging a look with Chaya. We’ve already discussed it, and I’ve spoken to the rest of my own pack, too. I’d not send anyone else. Not even Kieran and Drew, if they asked for it.

Not that they have. The wolves are going to take Darren’s body back north with them, bury him next to his mate. Kieran’s already said he won’t go, though Lucien offered to accompany him, and Val said they’d hold the ceremony at night, so the vampires could attend.

Drew is on the fence about it. I don’t think he’ll go, either, though he’s more likely to visit in time.

“That’s perfectly reasonable,” I say. “There are several members of my pack who have volunteered, including Chaya.”

Val looks at her, surprised. I’m less so. Chaya needs time away, too, and looking out for this pack will give her something to focus on.

Orion’s been bitchy about it ever since she mentioned it. Not that he doesn’t want her to go. He’s going to miss her.

“We—That would be great,” Val says, flushing when she looks at me.

“There’ll be a few other wolves, too. The two of you can discuss it, as well as when you’d like to leave.”

“By the end of the week, I think,” Val replies. “The full moon is less than two weeks away, and we still need to get everything ready; if Drew decides to come…”

She trails off, and I think she knows just as well as I do how unlikely that is.

“We’ll send up any wolves who have decided to stay down here but still wish to show their respects,” I reply. “And there’ll be some coming over the next few weeks to retrieve their things.”

“We’ll help,” Val says quickly. She swallows hard. “We’ll help them with that.”

Chaya gets to her feet, and they both say their goodbyes before they leave my office, presumably to discuss the other wolves who will go with them. I rub my temples. I can’t imagine what a blow it must have been to have their alpha turn on them the way Kieran’s father did. To have their pack torn apart as a result…

Someone knocks on the door. I breathe in deep and sigh again when I pick up Moreau’s scent.

Only Moreau’s.

I’d blame my wolves, but he’s a sneaky little fucker when he wants to be.

“Come in.”

He grins at me when he enters, then drops into one of the seats opposite my desk. He looks well; he had some minor injuries when we were done but nothing life-threatening.

Even if he had, I suspect he’d be fine.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“I thought I should let you know I’ll be leaving for a while.”

I freeze. “Leaving? Why?”

Moreau shrugs. “There are other matters that require my attention. Nothing urgent, but… I should look into them. I’ll be leaving some people behind.”

“Oh?”

“Well, Jeremiah and Paxton are refusing to leave London for the time being.” He sighs. “They’re furious that they weren’t here, and they’re worried for the boys.”

Their boys, in some ways. “Anyone else?”

Moreau gives me a wan smile. “Someone on you. Someone on the crai.” He holds up his hands when I begin to protest. “Just in case. It won’t be for long. I just don’t want to risk either of you.”

I sigh, sitting back in my chair. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“Do you have… help wherever you’re going?”

“There are always people on me, believe it or not,” Moreau replies. “I ought to let you know, too, that Helene is stepping down as the head of the Council. A few of the Council members will be changing, actually.”

“Oh?”

Moreau shrugs. “The hunters aren’t happy with how this situation was handled. In truth, I think some of them haven’t been happy for a while. Helene can read the writing on the wall. If she doesn’t leave, she’ll be pushed, and things could get violent.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Well, luckily, it won’t come to that. They’ll hold elections in a couple of months. Still have a lot to sort out, fill the gaps that—” He cuts himself off. “Well. You know. Keep an eye out. You’ll likely have someone new to deal with.”

“Hope they’re as charming as you,” I mutter, and Moreau chuckles. “Who do you think it’ll be?”

“Probably one of the old guard to lead,” he replies, “but I’m confident Naomi will finally earn her place among them. So, you know, there’ll be at least one friendly face.”

I’m not at all surprised by that. Moreau took her under his wing from the moment she was recruited. She’ll run the Council one day. I have no doubt.

“I also came to give you this,” Moreau says. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small black velvet bag.

I frown and round the desk to take it from him. When I open it, Vasile’s signet ring tips out onto my palm. “I—”

“I did go and talk to him first,” he says, “but I thought you might prefer to give this back yourself.”

“Thank you.”

I turn the ring over in my hand. It looks the same as it did when I gave it to Vasile one hundred years ago. The carving of a wolf—of my wolf, his wolf—is picture-perfect.

I jerk my head up when I realise Moreau’s talking again. “Sorry, I—”

He laughs. “Don’t worry about it. Frankly, I’m surprised you’re focusing on anything at all right now.”

“I’m not a pup.”

“I didn’t say you were. But it’s difficult enough to be away from those we love at the best of times. After everything that’s happened? I’m impressed, Deacon. And I hope you both find the time to see each other soon.”

I nod. I know Moreau is going chasing after… something, but he needs the time to heal, too. He’s been hunting Tamesis just as long as we have, and although he should have told us sooner, I know he was trying to carry the burden for the three of us.

His expression darkens briefly, and I frown. “We took care of Tamesis,” he says. “After everything. Just as Vasile asked.”

“I thought the vampires…”

“No. Vasile asked me to do it. He didn’t want Tamesis near the clan, even in death.”

“I—” I swallow. Perhaps I should have done it, but I’m simply glad it’s over, and though the ghost of Tamesis remains, he cannot hurt my mate again. “Thank you. I mean it.”

Moreau’s smile is faint. “I know you do.”

He gets to his feet, and I put Vasile’s ring back in the bag before I shove it in my pocket. “Let me see you out.”

We walk back through the pack house, my wolves moving to and fro around us. Noah is at the door, and he opens it when we approach, stepping silently aside.

Moreau pauses at the threshold. I look past him and see an astonishingly attractive man standing on the street. He doesn’t even spare me a glance. All his attention is focused on Moreau in a way that seems protective and dangerous in equal measure.

I breathe in deep.

Fae.

Somehow, the scent is vaguely familiar to me.

Moreau glances back at him, then offers me a smile. “Don’t worry, Deacon,” he says. “Everything works out in the end.”

It’s a lie, but a gentle one, so I nod.

“Come by whenever you’re back,” I say.

“If I can, I will,” Moreau says. He shakes my hand before he makes his way down to the street.

They don’t touch, but the fae—glamoured to look human, though I’m certain even any human who set eyes on him would know there is something other about him—moves into Moreau’s space. He murmurs something I can’t make out from this distance, eyes dark and concerned.

Moreau’s right. There’s no point in worrying.

Noah clears his throat behind me. I frown at him, and he holds out a folded piece of paper. “This was delivered not long after Hunter Moreau arrived.”

I take it from his hand, and my heart picks up at the edge of Vasile’s scent.

“He told me to wait with it until you were done.”

“Will you let Orion know that I’ll be gone for the evening?”

“Of course, alpha.” Noah pulls out his phone and I unfold the paper in my hands.

Deacon,

A week is far too long. Meet me in the woods behind the pack house. I have something for you.

Yours,

Vasile.