CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN || JEREMY
I knew from the look on my vampire’s face that something was very wrong. Fear flashed in his eyes— real fear—that made my wolf whine low in my chest. His mask wobbled for an instant, just long enough for me to know her words had shaken him.
Godric, Thierry thought. I knew it all along. The reflection in the window, the dream—it wasn’t coincidence. He’s here. He’s circling me. He did this.
Then his strange electric-blue eyes—my favorite shade now, like topaz lit from within—met mine, and the mask of nonchalance slid neatly back into place. At the same moment, a wall slammed down between us, blocking his thoughts completely.
“How odd,” he said aloud, managing to sound bored. “Though I’m sure my bloodline is rather robust and widespread. Perhaps it’s not so unusual that a vampire related to me did this.”
Smooth. Practiced. A lie.
“I saw you,” Quinn said suddenly, turning to Thierry. “During the spell. I saw faces—lots of them—going past me, one after another. I saw yours, and I saw someone else who looked just like you. Except he was wearing a black leather jacket. He was with a middle-aged man. And he was—”
Quinn broke off, grimacing.
“Right,” Thierry said coolly, without missing a beat. “We don’t know what those visions mean.”
“Don’t we?” Simone demanded, giving him a sharp, disbelieving look. “They are clearly other members of your bloodline. You have seen them, and so has Quinn.”
“Magnus,” Quinn breathed, fear edging his voice. “And Godric. He was looking right at me. Like he knew I was there.”
“They’re both dead and have been for centuries. You were seeing ghosts,” Thierry snapped. “And it’s time for you to go back to the dungeon. Playtime is over.”
I stared at him. If I hadn’t heard his thoughts about Godric, I’d have believed him. Thierry was a very good liar when he wanted to be.
The others seemed to buy it. Worse, they let him change the subject.
Poppy sighed, then nodded. “I guess it makes sense not to push the envelope. We should take him back downstairs and revisit this tomorrow.”
“Absolutely not! The young one is doing well!” Sadie snapped, scandalized.
She shot a narrow-eyed glare that bounced between Thierry and Poppy.
“We must know how quickly his humanity reasserts itself—especially if this spell will spread through his entire bloodline. Our next test is how he fares in a room filled with humans.”
Quinn’s eyes widened. He stepped back and bumped into Derek, who caught him by the shoulders. “Uh. Ha.” His voice climbed in alarm. “That’s—err, no? Can we not do that?”
From across the room, the college-aged human—Jason—sighed. He’d been silent through the whole exchange, and I’d almost forgotten he was there.
“I have to get to work,” he said glumly. He shot Quinn a wounded look, as though disappointed the vampire hadn’t tried to kill him. “But definitely invite me back if you do decide to push the envelope.”
With that, he stood and then left.
“Maybe we could have two or three other humans in the room next time,” Derek suggested. “And fewer chaperones.”
Sadie sighed, frowning at him—but Derek was one of the few she seemed to like. She pursed her lips, then nodded. “Fine. Tomorrow’s test, then. But very soon, we must know the boundaries. That will inform our strategy with the others.”
Quinn gave Derek a wobbly smile. “I guess this is goodbye. But we can hang out tomorrow.” He shot Sadie a sharp look. “Right? Tomorrow?”
She nodded.
“Fuck that,” Derek said. “I’m staying with you tonight.”
Quinn’s whole face lit up. “Really?”
“No. That is pushing the envelope,” Sadie said flatly, fixing Quinn with a warning look. “You don’t know enough about your abilities yet. You might try to forge a bond with him through feeding, and not know how to stop. You could kill him.”
“He probably wouldn’t be able to do that,” Poppy mused.
“We can’t chance it,” Sadie said, wary now for the first time. She cast Derek a nervous glance. “Not with his life. Not yet. They must be supervised.”
“What happened to ‘we have to know what the boundaries are’?” Poppy demanded.
“I wouldn’t feed on him,” Quinn said. Then he winced, giving Derek a sheepish look. “But… we might want to take things slow. This is all new to me. I don’t know what I can do yet. What if I vamp out and hurt you?”
“Then I’ll sleep right outside the dungeon door,” Derek said firmly. He gave Sadie a hard look. “Get me a cot and a pillow. Because there’s no way in hell I’m leaving him to go through this alone.”
While they argued, Thierry quietly slipped away.
I glanced up and caught him leaving through the back entrance.
Simone met my gaze, suspicion sharp in her eyes. And I understood that she knew Thierry was lying too, even if the others didn’t. Maybe it was some weird elder-vampire-goddess mind-reading power. Or maybe she just knew him that well.
Still holding my gaze, she raised her eyebrows. A question, clear as day: Are you going after him?
I gave her a sharp nod and slipped away.
“Naturally, we can set Derek up with a cot and whatever else he requires,” Simone cut in as I reached the door. “But the question is, do we need someone in the dungeon with Quinn to keep him from breaking out of it?”
I grinned at that, pulling open the door. Simone was covering for us, distracting the others to give us privacy. I slipped into the hallway after Thierry.
He was in trouble, and he knew it. Whoever this Godric was, he wasn’t nearly as dead as Thierry claimed. And he was someone my mate feared—which meant he was dangerous. And he was after my vampire.
No way in hell would I let him get to Thierry. Even if I had to lay down my life to protect him, that’s exactly what I’d do.
* * *
“How did I know you would follow me?” Thierry asked when I caught up with him in the alley between the buildings. He stopped dead, his back still to me, but shot a dark look over his shoulder. “You’re like a bad penny.”
“I’ve been called worse.”
“Go home,” Thierry said softly. “This was fun while it lasted, but I need you to leave now.”
I expected him to say that, but it still landed like a physical blow.
“No.”
He turned, his eyes widening with disbelief. “No?”
I locked eyes with him. “How’s this? Hell no.”
“Jeremy, leave town,” Thierry said it quietly, but I flinched anyway. “It’s what I want. It’s what I need from you.”
I swallowed hard. The urge to turn and walk away was startlingly strong—the urge to give him anything he wanted or needed felt woven into every fiber of me.
“We have nothing in common,” Thierry said, not meeting my eyes. “You were fine for a quick lay. And I won’t deny you were an amusing diversion. But I’m done with that now.”
“Stop it,” I ground out, anger sparking. “I know what you’re doing. You’re scared of Godric, and you’re trying to push me away.”
“Godric is dead.”
“Stop lying to me!”
“I don’t want you here,” Thierry said, his voice ragged. “Go back to your pack. They’re your people, not me!” His voice grew thicker, and he tried to raise his gaze but didn’t quite manage it. “And for the sake of all that’s holy, go be their bloody alpha, you twat! Stop running away from them.”
“Thierry—”
His eyes went wide, finally meeting mine. “No, Jeremy, don’t fucking say it.”
“I thought you couldn’t read my mind until we sealed the blood bond?”
“I said it before and I meant it: your thoughts are alarmingly easy to read, even without telepathy.”
“Look, I have to say it, and you need to hear it.”
He swallowed, his eyes suddenly glassy, but he held my gaze. “Don’t you get it, you stupid wolf? If anything happened to you, it would crush me. I don’t know how I’d get through the day, much less an eternity.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“You won’t be,” Thierry said firmly. And I could suddenly feel his fear again, leaking through the bond between us. “Even in your wolf form, you’re no match for him, Jeremy. I’m no match for him. Godric is twice my age.”
“Sic Simone and Poppy on him, then! Between the two of them, they could probably overturn heaven and hell if they wanted to.” I gestured at him. “But pushing everyone away the moment things get scary—that’s just dumb.”
“Says the wolf who ran away from his pack for a year.”
Direct hit. It was like being punched in the chest. But he wasn’t wrong. I had turned my back on them. I had been selfish. I hadn’t given a thought to what would happen to them—only that I couldn’t face them.
And the truth didn’t sting as much as it should have. Maybe I needed Thierry’s honesty. Or maybe I just needed him, period: soft and strong, brutal and kind, savage and gentle. I needed the whole Thierry package.
“I chose wrong, too,” I admitted. “But you’re a better man than I am. You always have been.”
“Jeremy, I’m asking you to leave town. This has gotten too dangerous. That’s the truth of it. Godric destroyed Rookwood. He destroyed Quinn’s life and the lives of everyone else in that town. I have to end him.”
“Not alone.”
He shook his head slowly. I wasn’t surprised by his next words.
“I can’t put you or anyone else in danger. It’s not right.”
“That’s not a choice you get to make for any of us.”
“Jeremy—”
“Thierry, I’m in love with you. And I’m not leaving.”
The mask fell, and the walls between us crumbled.
I could feel the way my words hit home, even as his expression turned stricken.
Beneath the surface was a torrent of emotion—memories of my arms around him in flight, the way my scent stirred his fondest recollections, how I was somehow always both familiar and unexpected.
“You’re a bastard, Jeremy,” Thierry whispered, voice hoarse, eyes glassy. “This wasn’t the time, nor the place.”
“This was exactly the right time,” I countered.
I took a step closer. Then another. Until I was within arm’s reach. Thierry looked on the edge of breaking, but if he didn’t know by now he could fall apart with me and still be safe, he hadn’t been paying attention. Because there was nothing I wouldn’t do for him.
When I pulled him into my arms, Thierry collapsed against me. He shuddered, words thick and strange when he said, “I can’t be the cause of your death, too.”
“You won’t be,” I told him simply, kissing the top of his head, reveling in the feel of him warm and solid against me. “He’s not going to lay a finger on you, either. Because we’re going to kill this murderous bastard. We’re going to kill him dead. Together.”
My vampire swallowed. At last, he nodded. “Very well.”
“We’ll have Poppy cast a locator spell. Or I could call Daniel. We’d have the element of surprise if we—”
“No. That can be a problem for tomorrow,” Thierry said softly. “For the rest of the day, I just want—”
He broke off.
“What? I’ll give you anything, you know that.”
He chuckled, and the sound sent a warm flare through my chest. “You know what? I do know that. How very odd for me.” Then he paused.
“I think I just want to pretend there are no towns filled with vampires, no spells, no ancient enemies waiting in the wings. Just for a little while. I think I want to lie in bed with you for the day.”
I smiled, kissing his hair again, my arms secure around him. “You know what? I think we can make that happen.”