Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
Rocco
I had to get Selena out of here before Enzo hunted us down. The bastard was ruthless—a pit bull in a tailored suit who locked his jaws around a target and never let go. Once Angelo pointed him in a direction, Enzo didn’t stop until the job was done.
No exceptions.
No mercy.
No second chances.
And right now, Angelo had pointed him at us.
Shit. I should have left her in the damn office. Should have knocked her out again and walked away before she became collateral in a war she never signed up for. But I hadn’t. Because some selfish, desperate part of me couldn’t stand the thought of leaving her behind. Not again.
That selfishness was going to get her killed.
My phone rang again. I nearly hurled it into the bayou, but the name on the screen stopped me cold.
Valentin.
I answered with a growl. “What?”
“Are you fucking insane?” Valentin’s voice was low, clipped—the voice of a man trying very hard not to shout. I could hear movement in the background. A car engine. He was already on the move.
“I don’t have time for this.”
“Yeah, you do.” A beat of silence, heavy with barely contained fury. “Dimitri called. Angelo and Enzo are on the fucking rampage. Half the French Quarter is on lockdown. You need a place to hide.”
My stomach dropped. Lockdown meant Angelo wasn’t just angry. He was scorched-earth angry. The kind of angry that left bodies in its wake.
“Where?”
“Meet us at The Pontchartrain Pines Lodge.” Valentin’s voice steadied, shifting from fury to cold precision. “Drive the speed limit. Don’t stop for anything. And Rocco—don’t do anything else stupid between now and when you get there.”
The line went dead.
Selena clasped my arm, her fingers digging in hard enough to leave marks. Her hand was shaking. “Who was that?”
“Valentin.”
She frowned, confusion cutting through the fear on her face. “Valentin Dragan? Why—”
“Selena.” I gripped her shoulders and locked eyes with her. There was no time to explain the web of alliances and debts and dangerous offers that had led us here. No time for anything except survival. “Stay close and don’t stop running.”
The color drained from her face. I watched her process it—the fear, the anger, the bitter understanding settling into her features like frost spreading across glass. She now knew how deep the hole I’d dragged her into really was.
“I don’t have a choice, do I?”
The question was quiet. Controlled. But underneath it was a blade aimed right at my chest.
“No.” I held her gaze, refusing to flinch from the accusation in her eyes. “You don’t.”
Hurt, fury, resignation—all of it swept through her eyes in the space of a single breath. Then she lifted her chin, squared her shoulders, and pulled her arm free of my grip.
“Then stop wasting time and move.”
Selena and I transformed into bats and flew into the morning sky as fast as we could. Warm wind and dampness brushed over me.
My mind raced faster than my wings.
Who took the fucking shard?
Who told Angelo I sold it on the black market?
That was impossible. When would I have time to do that? I’d been with Selena the whole night. First at the party, then running through the bayou with her unconscious over my shoulder, then on the houseboat where we’d—
I shoved the memory aside. Now wasn’t the time.
Someone had set me up. Someone who knew exactly where the shard would be, exactly when to take it, and exactly how to make it look like I’d betrayed Angelo.
Steve Dupont had fed Angelo the lie. But this wasn’t Steve. The guy I knew was loyal to his sister, loyal to the family. Framing me for stealing a shard and selling it on the black market—that wasn’t his play. Someone was using him.
And more importantly—what would happen to my mother now?
The deal had been simple. Steal the shard, save her life. But if Angelo thought I’d double-crossed him...
Fuck.
My chest tightened with a fear I hadn’t felt since the night I’d hurt her. The night the demon had used my hands to—
No. Focus.
I glanced at the small bat flying beside me. Selena. She’d gotten tangled up in this mess because of me. Because I’d bitten her. Kidnapped her. Dragged her into my nightmare.
And now Angelo would be after her too.
If anything happened to her—if he hurt her because of what I’d done—I’d never forgive myself. I’d already destroyed my mother. I couldn’t destroy Selena too.
I had to keep her safe. No matter what it cost me.
Just as we passed into a cloud, a black limousine barreled down the road below, kicking up dust in its wake.
Enzo.
It had to be.
And if he caught us, we were both dead.
Valentin had said for us to meet them at The Pontchartrain Pines Lodge on the north shore. It was far enough from the houseboat. But I wasn’t a fool. Angelo would be on our trail soon. He had spies everywhere.
We landed in a grove of palm trees near the Lodge and shifted back into our human forms.
My legs buckled. I grabbed a tree trunk to steady myself, scanning the shadows between the palms. No sign of Enzo. Not yet. But out here, with no wards, no walls, and Selena barely recovered from the blood loss—we were exposed. Two targets standing in the open.
The Lodge had a beachfront, and people were already sitting out on beach chairs, soaking up the morning sun.
There weren’t many—a handful of tourists, a couple with a toddler, an old man reading a newspaper—but enough to notice two vampires who looked like they’d walked straight out of a crime scene.
Selena’s hair fell around her shoulders in wild tangles. She looked conspicuous in that black gown, wrinkled and askew from everything we’d done. My appearance was no different. Still in this damn tuxedo, stained with blood—hers and mine.
I might as well wave my arms and signal to Angelo we were over here.
I pulled out my phone.
Valentin answered on the first ring. “Where are you?”
I glanced around nervously, scanning the tree line, the beach, the parking lot. Hoping no one was following us. “Outside the Lodge.”
“We’re on the third floor. Got a balcony that faces the lake. Rose is out there now.”
I ended the call and shoved the phone back in my pocket. “Third floor. Balcony facing the lake.”
Selena nodded, her eyes wide but determined. She trusted me. After everything I’d done to her, she still trusted me.
I didn’t deserve it.
We transformed again, our bodies shrinking and shifting into the familiar shape of bats. Selena followed my lead as we rose above the palm trees and circled the Lodge.
It was easy to find the balcony. Rose sat on a lounge chair, her blonde hair catching the morning light. She was sipping from a ceramic mug, looking calm as ever—like two fugitives landing on her balcony was just another Sunday.
There was a time when seeing her would have made my chest ache. When I’d convinced myself she was the one, not the mate the fates had chosen for me. Looking at her now, I felt nothing but relief. She was a friend. Maybe the only one I had left.
We touched down on the warm concrete and transformed back.
Rose didn’t even flinch. She just looked us up and down, taking in the blood-stained tuxedo, the ruined gown, the wild hair and desperate eyes.
“Well,” she said dryly. “You two look like hell.”
Valentin slid open the patio door. “Come in here. Quick.”
He had on a leather jacket, no shirt, and a pair of jeans—like he’d thrown on whatever was closest when he got the call.
His dark hair was longer than mine, falling past his shoulders in loose waves.
He was Dimitri’s brother and had the same smile and the same sharp cheekbones—though Valentin’s eyes held more warmth.
More compassion. Less of the cold calculation I’d seen in Dimitri.
He was the man who had won Rose’s heart. He’d been labeled a traitor once... not that it was true. The vampire world had turned its back on him, whispered his name like a curse, treated him like he was something to be scraped off the bottom of their shoes.
Just like me.
Maybe that’s why he’d agreed to help. He knew what it felt like to be hunted for something you didn’t do.
Selena and I stepped inside, and the cool air conditioning hit my skin like a slap.
The room was nicer than I expected—an open living room with a plush couch, a glass coffee table, a small kitchen tucked against the far wall, and a dining table near the window with a view of the lake.
A hallway branched off to the right, two bedroom doors facing each other across the narrow corridor.
The curtains were drawn halfway, letting in strips of golden morning light.
It was a safe house. Comfortable, anonymous, forgettable. Exactly the kind of place Valentin would have set up—somewhere no one would think to look twice.
Rose followed us inside, sliding the patio door shut behind her.
She set her mug on the counter and leaned against the kitchenette, her arms crossed.
Her eyes moved between Selena and me. We must have looked like hell—barely standing, clothes wrecked, smelling like bayou water and blood, the exhaustion carved into our faces.
I waited for the questions. The accusations. The what the hell did you do?
But Rose just let out a slow breath and said, “Sit down. Both of you. You look like you’re about to collapse.”
Valentin grabbed some blood packets out of a small refrigerator then put them in a microwave. “Tell me—did you steal it?”
The question hit me like a slap. I wanted to lunge at him, to snarl that I wasn’t a thief—but I was, wasn’t I? That’s exactly what I’d done. The anger died in my throat, replaced by something bitter and small.
“Yes.” He didn’t have to say what “it” was.
Selena and I glanced at each other. Her eyes held a question—how much do we tell them?
Everything. We had to tell them everything. They were the only allies we had left.
“Yes. I did.” The words tasted like crap in my mouth. “Selena had nothing to do with it. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”