CHAPTER EIGHT || JEREMY
“ W hat, pray tell, do you think you’re doing?
” The vampire—who the king had called Thierry—demanded when I followed him out of the council chambers and into the courtyard.
He rounded on me, pale blue eyes narrowing, his lips twisting into a sneer.
Then, without waiting for an answer, he added, “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll turn around, go back inside, and stay the hell away from me. ”
I blinked at him, caught off guard by the sheer vitriol. “If we’re working together, we ought to—”
“No. We don’t need to do anything at all. Because there is no ‘we.’” He threw air quotes around the word. “And there will never be a ‘we.’”
“There sure as shit was a ‘we’ the night we met,” I shot back, anger and confusion flaring.
He darted forward, grabbed me by the neck, and lifted me clean off my feet. Smaller and slighter or not, his grip was like iron, and he showed zero signs of effort at holding a fully grown man.
“Don’t believe for even a moment that I won’t snap your neck if you so much as think about touching me again.”
His grip tightened. Black spots speckled my vision. I tried to breathe and couldn’t. My lungs burned.
Still, the wolf in me didn’t feel a flicker of fear.
Foolish creature.
Thierry dropped me abruptly. If I had been human, I’d have fallen flat on my ass, but my reflexes kicked in and I dropped into a low crouch.
I stayed there a beat, throat throbbing, staring up at him and trying to figure out what the hell his problem was.
Was this because he knew I was a wolf now?
But c’mon. He’d met a naked man in the woods under a nearly full moon—what else would I have been?
Or was it because he didn’t like sleeping with people once he knew their name?
Was he worried I’d tell someone? Or that I’d get attached and want more than he could give?
Wolves do jump into relationships fast. When we know, we know.
But if that was his worry, he could relax.
Sure, Thierry was painfully, heart-wrenchingly gorgeous, but what was under all that dangerous beauty?
Probably an icy void where his emotions ought to be.
Instead, there was probably just violence. And inhuman hunger.
“Don’t worry, vampire,” I growled, straightening. My body’s healing abilities were already erasing the ache in my neck. “I prefer my men with a pulse.”
His expression went colder, eyes flashing. As if I’d just confirmed his worst suspicions.
“If you go near James, I will flay you alive,” he said, his voice low and deadly. “I will take you apart with excruciating slowness, piece by—”
“What are you talking about?” I cut in.
He blinked.
“When you said you like your men with a pulse, I assumed you were—”
“You thought I was talking about James.” That made sense, sort of. But why the hell would he care what happened to the human? Mystified, I added, “I wasn’t.”
Thierry’s lips pressed shut. His frown deepened. He stared at me like he was reading my soul—or, more likely, my heartbeat.
“You will accompany me because I have no other choice,” he said at last. “But you will not miss a single opportunity to stay silent around me, if you have even the least bit of intelligence.”
I snorted. I could keep silent just fine. I had managed it for a month straight, despite sharing dreams with him every night.
Then my stomach lurched as I realized, all over again, just how bad this really was.
I’d seen the shock in Thierry’s face when the young warlock described last night’s dream to the council. The abandoned town. The ocean of blood. Thierry standing just out of reach. Word for word, it had been the same dream I’d had the night before.
And that was because we were having mate dreams.
When wolves find their true mates, the bond runs deep and fast. We can always find them.
Over time, we sense their emotions, wants, and needs.
It’s meant to help us provide for them. With Thierry, I’d probably only ever sense his thirst for blood, which I wasn’t about to satisfy.
But most importantly, from the first meeting, wolves share a dreamscape with their destined mate.
No one knows why. It hadn’t happened with Ian. But it had with the vampire.
Which meant it was undeniable, wasn’t it? Thierry was the one. The only one. And we’d find each other in our dreams every single time we slept, for the rest of our lives.
I tried to wrap my head around that and couldn’t.
When I stayed silent too long, Thierry sighed. “We will leave at midnight.”
I frowned at him, though I was grateful he had spoken. “In four hours? Why not sooner?”
“Since you’re clearly slow, I’ll rephrase. I will leave in four hours, which gives me adequate time to prepare. You can go whenever you like.”
“The California border is six hours away. That puts us in Rookwood at sunrise.”
“You’re an asshole, but perhaps not as dumb as you look.”
The jab confused me—why would he think that? The only reason I could guess was James. But why should he care? Surely he’d done worse. After all, how many of his victims willingly offered up their necks so he could satisfy his thirst for fresh blood?
Before I could call him on it, he added, “And if you’re not at Nathaniel’s bar in exactly four hours, I’ll leave without you. And I’ll gladly tell the king you didn’t cooperate. Then you and your pack can fend for yourselves.”
“Fine. I’ll pick you up at midnight and we’ll drive down together.”
“Hardly. We will take two vehicles,” he said with a curl of his lip. “I’m certain your car smells like wet dog and desperation. I’m not subjecting myself to that.”
“Fuck you.”
“If this is the peak of your vocabulary, perhaps it’s best you don’t speak at all.”
“And about Rookwood?” I pressed. Maybe it was salt in the wound or a last-ditch effort to see if he really was as bad as he seemed.
We had shared the same dream last night—even if he didn’t know that yet.
Was he going to tell me about it? Or say anything remotely human about why he had immediately agreed to go?
Thierry just stared, as though waiting for a punch line. When none came: “What about it?”
“You volunteered to go alone.”
“Your observation skills are impeccable.”
“The town might be wiped out. Everyone might be dead. That’s what we might be walking into.”
“It’s tragic, but it happens.” His cold smile sharpened. “Don’t pretend you actually care.”
“I asked you first.”
“This is a job we must do. Nothing more.”
Then, before I could answer, he blurred from sight, gone in a rush of speed, leaving me staring after him.
My heart sank. He was exactly as bad as I’d feared.
Being mated to a vampire at all was a colossal screw-up on the universe’s end. But being mated to Thierry, who was as icy, callous, and dangerous as the worst of them?
Yeah. This was bad. Very bad.
* * *
“I don’t know if I like this, Jer,” Reed said, four hours later. “The way that vampire was staring at you in the council room… it was like he hated you.”
“I’ll be fine,” I muttered, giving the frosted glass windows of the bar a sideways glance.
It was ballsy of the vampire king to have his headquarters planted right next to apartment buildings that probably mostly housed humans, in the heart of Capitol Hill.
After all, how did they dispose of all the bodies?
In theory, Seattle was supposed to be safe, but I didn’t buy that for a second.
In a city with a thousand vampires, one of them was bound to slip up sooner or later, no matter how inconvenient that made things for the king.
“Just go to the commune and wait for me. I’ll be back in a few days, most likely. ”
Lindsey frowned. “You seem… different.”
“Not sure why,” I lied, not meeting her gaze. I hadn’t told them Thierry was my true mate. Or that we’d already gotten to know each other in the biblical sense. Somehow, that just hadn’t rolled off the tongue. “I have a job to go do now. That’s all.”
“Which you don’t seem nearly as upset about as you ought to be,” she said, still studying me. “Given that you just spent a year living in the woods to avoid people.”
“The tact,” Reed said dryly. “It burns. Didn’t they teach you bedside manner at animal-doctor school?”
Lindsey ignored him. “Just don’t do anything stupid. Or reckless.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
“And come back in one piece.”
“Sure thing,” I replied, feeling a flash of annoyance. The days when I needed coddling were long gone. To prove it, I gave Reed a meaningful look. “Nothing has changed. You know that, right? When I return…”
I let that trail off, but Reed’s expression darkened, and he looked away sharply, so I knew he caught my meaning. When I returned, our deal still stood. He was challenging me for alpha.
He swallowed hard. “You’re a fucking bastard, Jer. You know that?”
“Quite right,” Thierry said suddenly, having approached so silently he might’ve materialized out of thin air.
Reed and Lindsey both startled. The vampire just smiled coldly.
“Do tell, what’s the big bad wolf done now?
Has he been hunting more unsuspecting human men?
Capitol Hill certainly has no shortage of those. ”
When no one answered, he sighed. “Are you ready to go?” Then he paused, nodding at Reed and Lindsey, before narrowing his eyes at me. “And it goes without saying, you’re not bringing the other wolves.”
“What, you don’t want witnesses?” Reed demanded.
Thierry smirked. “No. I don’t want collateral damage.”
Shaking my head at his thinly veiled threat, I said, “Yeah. I’m ready. And it’s just going to be us. Lindsey and Reed are going back to the commune.”
“Delightful,” he replied, his tone suggesting the opposite. “Feel free to take as many wrong turns as you like on the way to Rookwood. I trust you know how to use the GPS on your phone? If, that is, you have a phone?”
I bristled, but he wasn’t far from wrong. I’d only bought a new one earlier today, before the council session. Lindsey had insisted on a way to reach me that didn’t involve hiking through miles of forest.
“We’re werewolves,” Lindsey told him flatly, arching a brow. “Not Amish.”
“Splendid.” Thierry’s smile was wide and every bit as cold as the rest of him. “Then I won’t have to worry about driving slowly.” His gaze flicked to me, and I could have sworn I saw a flash of fury in his eyes. “I’m looking forward to having you all to myself.”
With that, he turned on his heel and strolled to a shiny black sedan parallel parked across the street. He popped the trunk, tossed in his duffel, then slid behind the wheel without a backward glance.
“Huh. On second thought,” Reed said, watching him thoughtfully, “I might not have anything to worry about. Seems pretty likely he’ll rip your throat out the first chance he gets. I probably won’t have to challenge you.”
Thierry rolled down his window. “You know, Jeremy, it’s far easier to drive once you’re actually in the vehicle. And the faster we get this over with, the quicker I can be rid of you for good.”
“Why does everything coming out of his mouth sound like a death threat?” Lindsey asked.
“It’s not all about you, pal,” I murmured under my breath.
“Don’t be daft,” Thierry called coldly, looking right at me. He was fifteen feet away, with no way he could’ve heard that. But then he added, “Of course it is. I always get exactly what I want. No matter who or what gets in my way.”
Without waiting for my reply, he turned the key and sped off.
“Reed might be right,” Lindsey said, watching his taillights. “Not all vampires are jerks, but he sure as hell is.” She glanced over, met my gaze, and frowned. “He’s giving off major would-leave-you-in-a-ditch vibes. Be careful around him.”
“That’s the plan,” I sighed. I pulled open the door to my SUV and climbed in. Then I rolled down my window. “Call me if the bleeds start.”
Lindsey gave me a sharp nod. They stepped back. I put the car in drive and followed Thierry.
Any half-hearted hopes I’d had that Thierry was different from what the pack had always taught about vampires were crumbling fast. Lindsey might be right. Maybe not all vampires were cold-blooded, unfeeling monsters.
But Thierry? Yeah. I was pretty sure he was.
Though, maybe that was for the best. Because true mate or not, there was no way in hell I was ever falling for him.