CHAPTER NINETEEN || THIERRY
T he wolf woke just after dawn.
He came into the living room wearing nothing more than his underwear and a sleep-glazed expression. Then he froze.
“You’re still here,” he said, staring at me.
“Yes.”
I was curled on the couch, clutching a mug of tea that had long since gone cold. For the last two hours, I’d been staring out the window, watching night lighten into day, forcing myself not to think about why I was still here.
“Uh—” He scratched the back of his neck, clearly at a loss. “Um. That’s… err—”
He broke off, settling for staring at me like he had no idea what to do next.
Poor guy. Clearly, he hadn’t expected me to stay. That made two of us. But now that we were both thoroughly off our track, it somehow seemed easier. For me, at least.
“Go brush your teeth,” I suggested, narrowing my eyes. “Unless you enjoy having your breath smell like vomit.”
He blinked, rapid-fire.
“Um. Is this how you express care?”
That didn’t dignify a response. I deadpanned, “Are you saying you enjoy having your breath smell foul?”
Oddly, he relaxed. “Only for you, darling,” he shot back.
Some bit of tension in me eased. If he could trade barbs, he wasn’t as bad off as I’d feared.
“Then go do something about it, wolf.”
He rolled his eyes but disappeared into the bathroom.
With shaky hands, I set my mug on the coffee table. Relief that he was more or less okay crashed through me, even though I tried not to feel it. I shouldn’t have cared how he felt. I should have been glad he was suffering.
But I wasn’t.
Because what he’d seen last night had wrecked him.
And it had forced me to admit—albeit grudgingly—that maybe everything I’d seen from him so far added up to someone very different than my maker could ever be.
Jeremy wasn’t some cold, unfeeling asshole who did what he wanted at others’ expense.
He was capable of love. And of suffering for it.
When Jeremy returned, I could smell the mint from his toothpaste.
Propping himself against the doorframe, a small smile on his lips, he looked invitingly masculine.
It would have been so easy to touch him. To feel the way he shivered against me. Memory rushed in of our first night. When he got into it, Jeremy was primal. Animalistic.
Even though it was a terrible idea, my cock began to harden at the memory.
“Teeth are brushed,” he said, his voice husky enough that he had to have caught where my thoughts had gone. “Any other commands you’d like to lob in my direction?”
I had several. None of them was a good idea. Instead, I asked, “Who was the man in the dreamscape last night?”
Jeremy sucked in a breath like I’d punched him.
Guilt flashed through me. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
I shot to my feet, hands up in a placating gesture, my usual defenses disarmed. “You should know, I’m a piss-poor agony aunt.”
“No. It’s okay.” He grimaced. “The man we saw last night was my mate. Ian.”
About a million emotions—all of them better left unspoken—crashed over me.
“You’re mated?” I let out a shuddering breath. Vampires don’t need to breathe, but we still do, especially when hit in the chest with a battering ram. “I figured, because of how you behaved with James. And with me—”
“No. I was mated.”
The finality was impossible to miss.
“Oh.”
“Yeah,” he said, swallowing hard. “He died.”
“It was that creature?” The words slipped out before I could stop them. “It was that…” I trailed off, unable to even find words. “That thing ?”
Jeremy nodded, looking sharply away. The even cadence of his heartbeat sped up.
“That was what killed him? Was that actually real? It couldn’t have been, right?”
I realized—too late—that demanding answers now wasn’t kind. But how the hell was I supposed to know the right thing? I had never been kind. That was for people like Nathaniel, Ethan, or Rico.
Jeremy paled. When his gaze met mine, his eyes were haunted and a thousand miles deep. “No, Thierry. It was very real. We were seeing a memory, imprinted on the dreamscape. I’m sure of it.”
That hung between us. I knew monsters existed—creatures from myth and legend were real—but in the same way I knew black holes existed.
Distant. Harmless to me. Michael and Danny had sometimes encountered strange and deadly things in their time as hunters, but I’d never understood what it was like to stand face-to-face with an unnatural, predatory creature you couldn’t possibly reason with.
A being that was completely alien and hungry.
“It doesn’t get easier,” Jeremy said, obviously catching at least the tone of my thoughts, if not every single word.
“Each time I see something like that, it’s just as bad as the first time.
Wolves can sense them. We’re sensitive to the flow of spiritual energies, and their unnaturalness is like a beacon for us. ”
It was unkind to make him talk about this, wasn’t it? I wasn’t sure how I felt about him anymore—I needed time to process that—but I wasn’t willing to be cruel .
“Do you want me to go?”
His brows slammed together. “No!”
I blinked, startled by his vehemence.
“I’m surprised you stayed,” he said. “But I guess I wasn’t expecting you to ask questions.” He gave me a rueful smile. “Though, given what I know about you now, maybe I shouldn’t be surprised that you’re still here.”
“I stayed because you needed me,” I said flatly, as though that explained anything.
It didn’t.
“You hate my guts,” he reminded me, his gaze intent, as if he could peel my secrets away.
“Oh, I’m aware,” I shot back, even though it wasn’t true anymore.
I rose, my sudden anger carrying me. Did he really still think that? I didn’t hate him. I might want to clobber him over the head, but that wasn’t anything new.
I crossed the room in a blur.
Then I got right up in his space, seething. If I hated him, I wouldn’t have cared enough to stay. Or to save his life. Or to be worried now.
Stupid, idiotic, moronic —
He kissed me.
Good God, his lips were warm. And shameless. His tongue met mine without guile. He took what he wanted, and I let him. Maybe I was shameless too—because I wanted him to.
My mouth parted, and my cock hardened. His arms wrapped around my waist, his hands palming both my ass cheeks, dragging a needy sound from me.
I cupped his face with one hand, sliding the other up his back, marveling at his warmth and solidity. The lean strength under his skin. The rough chest hair scraping my shirt, making me want it off. All of it off. No barriers.
“Thierry,” he breathed, pulling from my mouth to kiss my throat like a vampire preparing to bite.
My cock jerked. Another soft moan escaped my lips. His bare skin was so warm, so good. I almost couldn’t believe I’d tried to talk myself out of this—out of Jeremy, who felt like the missing piece I’d searched for nearly a thousand years.
I shimmied out of my velvet jacket, tossing it aside as his kisses moved lower.
He grabbed my belt. My lips parted in anticipation. I couldn’t remember why this was a bad idea. Only that it felt good and natural to have him touching me. And I didn’t want him to stop.
The apartment door flew open.
We froze like teenagers caught in the act.
His instincts kicked in first. He shoved himself in front of me, shielding me from the vampire in the doorway.
My first thought: Godric.
He’d found me.
Of course he had. And Jeremy was now in terrible danger.
“Poppy has arrived, so we’re ready to begin with the vampire you brought with you,” Simone said mildly, eyebrows raised at our states of undress. “Though I suppose I could tell her to wait an hour.” She smirked. “I ought to have listened before barging in. I wouldn’t have interrupted if I’d known.”
“No,” I said immediately. “I was just leaving. And Jeremy was about to get dressed.”
Her gaze swept him, lingering on the obvious evidence he hadn’t, in fact, been about to dress at all. “Oh, was he now?”
Jeremy’s ears reddened. “Um. Yeah. Sure.” He sucked in a shaky breath. “Thierry and I—”
“Are done,” I said firmly, relief and frustration warring.
Jeremy sighed. “Yeah, I guess we are. For now.”
I just pointed to the bedroom. It would be far better for both of us if he dressed immediately.
“I can come back later,” Simone offered. “The others will wait. I can make up an excuse.”
“Stop meddling.”
“Your request will be taken under advisement,” she said solemnly. Then, “I can’t believe Pierce knew before I did.”
I rubbed my temples. “He told you?”
“Technically, Sadie told Nathaniel. He told Pierce. Pierce told everyone else.” She pursed her lips.
“Poppy is infuriated, by the way. You let her think her spell didn’t work, so she spent nearly a month revising it.
On principle, I ought to be rather cross with you.
” Then she brightened. “But there’s a large difference between knowing someone is your mate and taking real steps to solidify that bond. No one else knows about that yet.”
I went rigid. “Don’t you dare. Don’t tell anyone.”
“I’m your dirty little secret now?” Jeremy asked, reappearing dressed, shooting me a bemused look. “Careful. My feelings will be hurt.”
“I like him,” Simone offered. She met his gaze and added, “It’s possible you’re quicker than you seem. Thierry needs that.”
“I’m not sure if that’s a compliment,” Jeremy replied. “But worse things have been said about me.” He flashed some side-eye in my direction. “Recently, even.”
I sighed, ignoring him, and retrieved my jacket from the floor, brushing off lint before putting it back on, my body rigid with tension.
Between sexual frustration, my justified outrage at Simone, and the weirdness of having them both in the same room and on the same page, I was half-ready to call in a bomb threat and flee the country.
“Don’t mind Thierry. He’s actually lovely, once you get to know him. Out of all of us, he might have the best heart,” Simone told him. “Even if he keeps it hidden. He still always does the right thing.”
“You know what?” Jeremy’s grin broke wide, eyes dancing as they met mine. The bastard looked adorable. Some of the tension I felt subsided immediately, to my own dismay. He added, “I think you might be right about that.”
I scowled, trying to cling to the last scraps of my irritation with him. But it was hard when he was grinning like that, guileless in his amusement. Even if it was at my expense.
“Marvelous,” Simone said, watching our exchange. A small smile flitted across her lips and her dark eyes were mischievous. “But we can discuss this later. For now, we’re needed next door.”
“Perhaps you ought to stay here,” I said, flashing Jeremy a syrupy-sweet smile. “Pierce can be quite unreasonable where James is concerned.”
“No, you should come as well,” Simone said to him flatly. “Thierry may need you if Poppy’s spell doesn’t work.”
She let that hang, and Jeremy went tense beside me. I didn’t have to look to know the barest hint he might be needed for emotional support would galvanize him—let alone being told outright.
“I hate everything,” I muttered, brushing past Simone and leading the way out without looking back.
Though I didn’t want to admit it, even to myself, I felt relieved that Jeremy was coming. We were about to see if Poppy’s spell was a true solution. We were about to repeat the experiment that my foreseeable future—and perhaps even my eternity—hinged on.
And if it failed… if Poppy’s spell worked on me but no one else—what then?
I hadn’t let myself consider that. But now Simone had dumped it in my lap, I was grateful she’d told him to come.
Even though it was the most dangerous thing of all, it didn’t make it less true: with Jeremy beside me, for the first time in centuries, I didn’t feel quite so alone.