Chapter 17 Francois
Francois
Iwatched Maeve as she ate, the unfamiliar sensation of a smile playing over my lips. There was something indescribable about watching my mate satisfy her hunger in such a safe environment. If only I could have provided for her in this way, but that part was to come.
Surely earlier in the bedroom, her behavior had indicated acceptance of me? Memories of how it had felt to touch her rolled through my mind, and I moved restlessly in my seat, looking for a comfortable position.
“Francois.” I looked away from Maeve as the familiar voice commanded my attention.
Nicolas and Leia stood in the doorway, and Nicolas’s expression was downright murderous, his eyebrows almost touching, his eyes a dull shade of red. He had his hands curled into fists, but he probably had claws more than fingernails, if his face was anything to go by.
He jerked his head in a gesture that clearly meant I should go with him, and I stood, hesitating a little as I looked at Maeve. I didn’t want to leave her. She was almost mine. Maybe. Probably.
I bit my lip as I glanced at Leia.
How could I ever have thought…? I shook my head. That didn’t matter now. I’d been wrong and everything was still as it should be now.
Except I hadn’t bonded with my mate, yet.
“And Sebastian.” Nicolas’s voice was little more than a commanding bark. “In fact, all of you. With me.”
He was only talking to the men, from the glances that were exchanged at the table, and Kyle and Jason both stood with reluctance as Leia glided to the table to take one of their seats.
Leaving Maeve with the women wasn’t so bad, except they could say anything about me—and it would all be justified.
None of my past covered me in glory. Part of me wanted to hear what they said so I could defend myself, but the rest of me didn’t want to hear any of it.
Something about even being near Maeve seemed to balance me.
I could only imagine how much more stable I’d be once we’d properly bonded.
I was already a different being.
“Come on.” Sebastian waited for me in the doorway and gestured down a corridor I hadn’t used before. “We’re wanted in Nic’s office.”
I smiled at Maeve, although she paled slightly as I stepped away.
“Will you be back soon?” Her vice didn’t waver, but it was quiet.
“I hope so, mon ange.” I smiled a smile meant just for her, but Ciara flashed her fangs at me. Being accepted again wouldn’t be easy, and hovering here wasn’t helping my cause. “I need to go see Nicolas.” This time, my smile was apologetic, and I offered a small bow. “Mesdames.”
Then I hurried after Sebastian, trying not to think of Maeve’s wide eyes as I turned from her.
When I entered Nicolas’s office, he was standing behind his desk, his arms folded, and his gaze narrowed on me. “You look well, Francois.” His statement was full of suspicion, and his next question explained why. “Have the Ancients got you on a new drug regime?”
I shook my head.
“Virgin blood?”
I shook my head again.
“So how?”
So much suspicion, and I couldn’t exactly blame him. Sebastian already thought I must be here as a spy for the Ancients, and why would they really think otherwise? I’d never given them any reason to trust me and I’d been abducted before I could truly work for their side.
“I’ve met my mate.” I looked for a spare seat, but the other men had sprawled across them so I remained standing like I’d been summoned to see the principal—or my father.
“I’ve found my mate.” I rubbed a hand over my face.
“I don’t know how it’s working, but she already seems to have some sort of influence on me. I just hope it holds.”
Nicolas narrowed his eyes. It might have been suspicion or out and out disbelief, but he changed the subject rather than pursuing the fact I might now be working for the Ancients. “I want to know everything you found out while you lived with them.”
I snorted. “Lived with them? You make it sound so luxurious.”
Sebastian half-stood. “Watch your tone, Francois.”
I held my hands up and backed the couple of steps to the nearest wall. “No tone,” I said. “I was as much a prisoner as any of the women.”
“And?” Nicolas raised an eyebrow. “What do you know about them?”
“Well.” I broke off on a chuckle. “They certainly don’t want anything to do with a vampire tainted by dead man’s blood.
” Nicolas simply watched me and I shrugged.
“Oui. Hard to believe right? First, they planned to use me in place of my father. But then they realized my blood wasn’t pure enough so they…
je pense…I think…planned to raise him. They told me I needed to find a book he’d stolen from them.
” I paused and Nicolas made a continue motion with his finger. “I found the book.”
“Great. Is it here?” Sebastian nodded to the satchel I’d brought with me from the house, but I shook my head.
“Non. We hid it, but we had to leave it.”
Sebastian scoffed.
“Non,” I said again, firmer this time. What good was even working with these assholes if they didn’t trust me?
“Ask Maeve. She knows where it is.” I brought my palm to my forehead as I remembered.
“Even better, ask Maeve what the spell says. Her memory is so good that she’d been able to remember it to share with Kayla in case we can use it.
She memorized nearly the whole fucking book. ”
“She what?” Nicolas looked properly interested for the first time.
I nodded. “You heard me. Maeve is pretty much a walking black magic spell book right now, mes amis.”
“And Maeve is…?” But Nicolas sounded too casual to not already know.
“My mate.” I was short, fierce, in my reply. If anyone threatened that, they’d feel the full force of my wrath. My madness would come rushing back in a heartbeat.
“You need to invoke your mate bond. It will get rid of your sickness immediately and should give you a power boost.” Every word from Nicolas was a royal command, and I narrowly prevented myself from rolling my eyes.
Wasn’t that what I’d been trying to do for years? I hadn’t succeeded… Of course I hadn’t succeeded. None of those women had been my true mate, but I hadn’t known what I was doing.
Clutching at straws—that had been what I was fucking doing.
“Bien. I know about the sickness part. At least I’ve always hoped my mate will cure the sickness with her blood, but I think you’re wrong about the power boost. Maeve is simply a human who has found out about the supernatural world.
She doesn’t have any power to offer.” Part of me wanted to keep her out of our world.
She was an innocent and didn’t belong here.
It had always been a dangerous existence but more so now that the Ancients had risen. As much as I wanted her by my side, I wanted to protect her and keep her safe.
Nicolas nodded. “You’re wrong.”
Some of my self-control slipped. I’d done so fucking much for these people who had overthrown my family, and they didn’t even appreciate it.
“We both know Leia was human, and you wanted her, too. You wanted her for yourself, and what was that for, if not to boost your power and cure your failings?” It was the first time Nicolas had spoken to me so harshly, and even though I might have deserved it from him the past, I didn’t deserve his derision now.
“You will not—” My voice boomed around the small office as I pushed myself from the wall.
standing at my full height as the tension strained at the skin of my face and my fangs ached in my gums. “You will not talk to me that way in the club I used to own, the city I used to rule. My mate is more than a power boost. She is to be protected at all costs.” I launched myself forward and swiped the laptop from the desk opposite me.
It crashed to the floor and Kyle leaped from his seat.
He grabbed me in a tight hold, walking backward as he wrangled me farther away from the king.
“Francois.” Jason stood as well, a hand out in front of him. “Francois. Calm down. Being this angry won’t help anyone. When is the last time you fed?”
I shook my head. I didn’t care about feeding. I only cared about Maeve.
Sebastian looked at Nicolas. “Want me to get Kayla? We can get some blood in him. See if he calms down?”
Nicolas shook his head. “This is beyond anonymous virgin blood and doses of Kayla’s antidote for the dead man’s blood addiction now.
The only thing that will work now that Francois’s body has recognized his mate is invoking the bond.
” He looked at me. “Which should be done immediately to help save us all.”
“Bon.” I sneered, not meaning anything was good at all.
“I don’t see how you think my mating will help keep everyone safe, Ni-co-las.
” I separated out the syllables and almost sang them at him in the way I had when we were nothing more than children and I’d wanted to annoy him.
“But I don’t see how me completing the bond with my mate will help your situation at all. ”
Nicolas threw his hands up, his frustration evident.
“Because we’re in this together, Francois.
We’re each made more powerful as another one of us gains power.
It’s about the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.
You’re with us, Francois, and you’re one of us.
” He glanced just to the side of me and nodded.
“You can let him go, Kyle. We need to discuss how we can defeat the Ancients.”
“We can’t do that yet.” My voice was a growl as I rubbed my hand over the areas Kyle had pinned me.
He was a strong bastard. “We need to get Maeve to Kayla first so they can discuss the spells Maeve has memorized. She needs to write them down or recite them to me so I can write them down. I think the clue is in those.”
“Okay.” Nic nodded. “That’s step one of the plan, then.” He gestured to Sebastian. “Make sure Kayla’s room is stocked up and ready to go tomorrow. See if there’s anything she needs from the shop. I can send someone out there to get it.”
“Can I go?” The desire to get back to Maeve was an itch on my skin that wouldn’t be relieved.
Meeting in the office just to decide to meet with Kayla tomorrow was a waste of my time, and why I’d never had this kind of bureaucracy when I ran things.
It had been so much easier to only rely on myself.
But I couldn’t ignore the fact it was nice to have so many others to turn to.
I could see the benefit in having a group with the same objective. And the safety in numbers.
“You can go,” Nicolas agreed. “But think about your mate bond.”
I didn’t even deign to look at him. What the hell else did he think I fucking thought about?