18. Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Eighteen
Damyr
I came to with a jolt. One second there was nothing but darkness, the next my eyes flew open, and the world came bursting back into focus.
Oh, no.
No, no, no.
My eyes instantly sought out Benjamin and I breathed a sigh of relief as soon as I saw him. He had his head bent, shoulders arched, and gaze focussed on Byron’s hip bone as he fastidiously tied a suture into his skin.
I hated it. It made my blood boil the way my Benjamin was touching Byron and, judging by the way Byron was grinning at me like a maniac, he knew just how much it was affecting me. It was annoying that Byron was so good at his job, otherwise I’d cut his smug little face off.
“Benjamin,” I said, my voice hoarse. How long had I been out?
He paused for a moment, but he didn’t look at me. His jaw twitched as he clenched his teeth. Fuck, he was mad. Even worse, he knew .
Benjamin knew everything. He must, because I was here. Alive. Breathing. Saved.
“I’ll go,” Byron said wisely as he started to get up.
Benjamin placed his hand on Byron’s chest – his naked chest – and pushed him back against the other sofa. “No. You will lie there until I’ve finished working.”
Pissed Benjamin had my blood pumping in my veins. I gingerly sat up. I was still feeling like I’d been blown apart, which was almost accurate. As soon as I’d arrived at the warehouse, it had exploded again, almost like someone was watching and waiting for me to arrive. Then we’d had to fight our way back out. Whoever had had hired those goons though, needed to hire better. They were shit. They’d only managed to put a bullet in my shoulder because I’d just stepped away from an exploding building. They hadn’t even used silver bullets which meant either they didn’t know about vamps, or they were expendable.
The tension in the room was thick. I could almost feel every harsh, sharp breath leaving Benjamin’s body as he set more sutures into Byron’s wound.
“Benjamin?” I said softly. No answer. “Benja—”
“What?” he snapped, as he spun to face me, eyes blazing fire. “What, Damyr? Are you going to tell me the truth? Or are you going to carry on keeping me in the dark?”
“I’ll tell you the truth, and I’ll answer any question you have.” I might not want to, but we were beyond controlling my wants now. Whether he liked it or not, Benjamin was going to be part of the world that ran beneath the veneer of his own and it was dangerous down here. He needed to know what he was getting involved in, and a selfish part of me hoped that he chose to stay.
He didn’t say anything, just turned back to finished patching up Byron. I watched in silence as he worked, his head bent, blonde curls tumbling forwards. He was so beautiful. The angles of his face were soft, his eyes sharp and that mouth… that mouth of his would be my undoing.
“Done,” he said as he looked back at his work. “Try not to tear your stitches. I’m sure you know this but keep them dry for 48 hours and then see your doctor in about week to take them out.”
“Can’t you do it?” Byron asked as Benjamin placed a dressing on the wound. I had to admit, he’d done a fine job at stitching him back together. Better than our guy ever would.
Benjamin frowned, as if the thought of stepping on someone’s toes professionally pissed him off. “Don’t you have a doctor on staff?”
“Yeah, but he’s not as good as you, little bird,” Byron said as he slipped his shirt back on, flaunting his well-defined abs in front of Benjamin’s face. I was going to skin the guy alive.
I’d never been the jealous type, but every interaction Byron had with Benjamin made my blood fucking boil. “Byron, if you ever want to see your brother again, you’ll leave Benjamin alone.”
His eyes flashed and I knew I’d hit my mark. Byron’s whole world centred around his brother, Bishop. It was an easy mark to pick, and normally I wouldn’t threaten family, but Byron needed to back the fuck off and know I was serious when it came to Benjamin.
“Cold, Damyr,” he said flatly. “I’ll leave, but I’m going to make plans to see Bishop soon.”
“Fine,” I said. I knew this had been on the horizon for a while. Byron liked to torment his brother every few months, and while I didn’t fully understand their dynamic, I knew if he didn’t go, he’d become feral. “Just see me before you leave.”
He nodded, then turned to look at Benjamin. He gently grabbed his hand and brought it to his lips, placing and kiss against Benjamin’s knuckles like some dark prince from a fairy tale. “Thank you, little bird.”
A blush crept up Benjamin’s neck at the gesture, but he managed to stammer out, “You’re welcome.”
Byron left the room, silent as a shadow, leaving Benjamin glaring at me with a mixture of fury, sadness and anxiety sparking in those magnificent green eyes of his. He’d washed the eyeliner off and changed his clothes, which was a shame. He’d looked gorgeous and I’d been looking forward to peeling him out of his corset vest.
“So,” he said as he folded his arms across his chest. “You’re a vampire.”
Okay, so we were going straight to the point. “Yes.”
“And I’m you’re mate.”
Wow, my guys had been busy spilling secrets. “Yes.”
“And you were going to die, rather than tell me?”
Well, when he put it that way… “Yes.”
“Jesus,” he muttered under his breath. “Is this why you kidnapped me?”
“No.” I dragged my hand down my face. This was going to take some explaining, but I didn’t want to put Benjamin in anymore danger than he already was. “I kidnapped you because I thought you might have had something to do with Charlie and the information he stole.”
“But I’d only met the guy that day.”
“I know that now, but at the time I couldn’t risk it.”
He cocked his head to one side. “What did Charlie steal?”
“Everything. He took a copy of my ledgers and gave it to the guy that sent me the corpse.”
Benjamin’s eyebrows shot up. “Shit. Is that why you went to the Council?”
I nodded. “Then the warehouse blew up. I think my mysterious benefactor did that because I buried the body rather than frame Remy Lavaeux.”
“As in the supermodel Remy Lavaeux?” Benjamin’s eyes were wide with shock.
“Yes,” I replied, a little bit annoyed at the breathy way he’d said Remy’s name. “But I spent too long building the partnership with the Council, just to throw it away on the whim of some maniac.”
“Why would someone frame Remy? Why target you? Has the rest of the Council received any threats?” he asked as he leant forward, his curiosity seeming to outweigh his anger.
“No, no other threats. Only me.” Now that he’d mentioned it, that did make it feel entirely too personal. It was my ledger that was stolen, the body of a man I thought I’d killed was dumped at my door, and it was my warehouse that was destroyed. Although that was a result of my unwillingness to capitulate to some asshole’s demands. Perhaps someone from my past was catching up with me, but who?
“Smells like revenge to me,” Benjamin said and I frowned at him. “If it was a play for power, he’d be going after everyone, the fact that it’s only you, Damyr, suggests that it’s a personal vendetta.”
He was right, and deep down, I think I already knew that. The burning question though, was who could it possibly be?
There were so many people from my past who could have a reason for going after me. You didn’t become the head of a criminal organisation by making friends.
“Why didn’t you tell me, Damyr?”
“About what?”
“About everything,” he said irritably. “About vampires and me being your mate. I mean, what does that even mean? How are vampires real? What else is real, huh? Demons? Angels? Jesus fucking Christ!”
“I don’t know about Jesus, but I’ve met a demon before.”
He shot me an angry glare. Right. Probably best not to make a joke. He jumped up from his chair and started pacing, one hand on his hip, the other running through his hair until his curls were flying in all directions.
I stood up and walked over to him, halting his pacing. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, Benjamin. I wanted too, but with everything else going on, I didn’t want to put you in more danger.”
“So you kept me in the dark instead,” he growled. “I’m not a child, Damyr. I’m perfectly capable of handling myself and—”
I cupped his face in my hands, interrupting his angry tirade. “I know you are, baby. You’re strong and resilient, beautiful and light. I didn’t want to drag you into my world of darkness, Benjamin. You deserve better than that.”
“But you didn’t give me the choice, Damyr. You decided you knew better, that dying was better ,” he spat as tears filled his eyes. “I thought you’d died, and I didn’t understand why that had me so twisted up inside. You didn’t even give me a chance to understand.”
Pain lanced my heart as I watched him fall apart. He’d been feeling the connection between us, even though he was human, and I’d pushed him away. “I’m sorry. I should have told you, but I also didn’t want to lose you.”
“You’re an idiot,” he said with a sniffle.
I wrapped my hand in his hair and pulled him into my chest. I needed to feel him close to me, to let his touch to ground me. “I know. I just thought you’d run away if I told you everything and that terrified me more than anything.”
He pulled back and looked up at me, tears clinging to his lashes like tiny diamonds. “I might not have believed Vlad at first, but then Byron took away all my doubts. Maybe this way was better. If you’d told me, I might have run.”
“One thing I know for certain,” I said as I brushed my thumbs against his cheeks, “is that I would never have let you run far.”
He scoffed, but there was a hint of a smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. “You’re so full of yourself, Damyr.”
I shrugged. “Comes with the territory of being the boss.”
Benjamin ran his hands down my chest and over where the shrapnel had ripped my abdomen open. I’d nearly been eviscerated with that wound.
“Are you really okay?” he asked, worry furrowing his brow.
“Yes, I’m really okay. Because of you.”
“How does that even work? I mean, Byron said you couldn’t feed from anyone but me. Is that true?”
I took a deep breath and pulled him towards the sofa. The one I hadn’t bled all over. “Why don’t we sit? We will be more comfortable, and you can ask me anything. I’ll answer what I can, but some secrets might not be mine to share.”
“Damyr,” he growled in warning.
“Benjamin,” I said as I pulled him onto my lap, tucking his head under my chin. “Ask anything about me, or vampires in general, but I won’t answer questions on the men in my family, if that’s okay?”
“That’s fair,” he replied as he settled himself comfortably. A waft of my body wash hit my nose and a primal rumble vibrated though my chest. “Damyr?”
“I just like the way my scent smells on you. Makes me feel… possessive.” I tightened my arms around him and held him closer. “But, to answer your earlier question, no. I can’t feed from anyone but you.”
“So what have you been doing since finding me?”
I didn’t answer straight away.
He lifted his head from my chest and fixed me with a hard stare. “Damyr?”
“I, um, haven’t been feeding.”
“What?” he shrieked, and it was adorable that he cared so much.
“Well, I can go a week without feeding and it had only been a couple of days. I really was trying to find a way of telling you everything.”
“You’re ridiculous,” he said as he rolled his eyes before curling back up on my lap. “What is a mate? I’m guessing it’s not just another word for buddy.”
“No,” I said with a chuckle. “It means that you’re my other half. A perfect match for me, and I am for you. It means we belong together, for eternity.”
He swallowed. “Eternity?”
It was a daunting word, eternity. It meant forever, for always, and the only way to break a mate bond is with death. “Don’t worry about that for now. Let’s just take some time to learn about each other and we can go from there.”
“Okay,” he replied with a quick nod and a deep breath. “Wait, how old are you?”
“I was turned at about thirty but I was born in 1525.”
“Holy fuck. You’re 500 years old?” Disbelief had his jaw dropping and his eyes blowing wide.
“500 this year.”
“I can’t even begin to comprehend the things you’ve seen. The people you’ve met.”
His eyes met mine and they were full of wonder and brimming over with questions.
“I’ve certainly met a few, but they all pale in comparison to you, Benjamin.”
He practically melted in my arms. “You say the nicest things.”
“Only to you.” Then I pressed a soft kiss against his lips and marvelled in how lucky I was. Benjamin knew my secrets, had risked his own life to save mine, and here he was, sat on my lap, kissing me back. I’d never felt this way. Not even when I had thought I’d been in love before.