Chapter 29 #2
She relaxed her grip and slid her hand up his neck, playing with the long ends of his hair.
“I don’t think Loloma would be quite so protective of you if she knew.
But I’ll save you the tough relationship conversation.
” Her hand tightened on his hair, and she yanked him closer to her chest, her eyes locking on Tressa.
“Either you let me kill him without fuss, and trust me when I say that is the smart decision, or I kill you both. I would rather you not select that option, but it is your choice. Either way, I cannot suffer him to live with the knowledge in his head.”
“I’d like to suggest a third option if you don’t mind,” a deep male voice shouted from above them, and they all glanced up to see Saiden and Derrick crouched on the eaves of the church.
In a flash, they both leapt from the roof to land beside Tressa. Ethan’s eyes flared even wider as they darted between her two cousins, and any joy she felt at their arrival was smothered by the level of betrayal that bloomed across his face.
“Ah, The Enforcer,” Renata cooed. “We meet again. I wondered which little mouse it was that I heard scurrying over the roof. And you brought The Playboy this time.” Her gaze slid over to Derrick. “Come to join the party?”
Derrick scoffed and cracked his knuckles. “Bitch, we are the party. And you’re ruining the vibe.”
She sighed. “You’re not going to make this easy, are you? You won’t just let me remove this one tiny, insignificant human and be on my way?”
“Never,” Saiden snarled.
“In that case…” She tossed Ethan to the ground and blurred forward. In a single fluid motion, her right hand slammed into Derrick’s balls with enough force to lift his feet several inches off the ground, while at the same time her left leg flew out and swept Saiden’s feet out from underneath him.
Derrick gave a strangled groan and crashed to his knees, clutching his sack, but Saiden popped back up in an instant and drew two gleaming daggers from his belt. “Going for the balls? Low blow.”
Renata shrugged. “I use whatever is available. That’s your problem. All of you. So sentimental. You let emotion guide you. You let it stop you from making the tough choices. I have no such qualms.” She flew forward and raked her claws at Saiden’s face, but he blurred to the side at the last second.
Back and forth they fought, her attacking and Saiden dodging just fast enough to avoid her lethal strikes, taking little more than glancing blows and minor scratches.
Renata flipped away from Saiden and landed on the roof of the McLaren. “Ah yes, I forgot about your pesky ability.”
“So give it up,” Saiden shot back, wiping a thin smear of red off his cheek. “You know you can’t beat me.”
“I could, actually, if I was using the full extent of my power,” she replied casually, absently cleaning a bit of Saiden’s blood from beneath one manicured fingernail.
“But as I said, I have no strong desire to eliminate Loloma’s family.
Besides, I don’t need to beat you. I just need to exploit your weakness.
” Renata leapt off the car, her body shimmering in midair, and Cora landed in front of Saiden.
“Hi, baby,” she said, blowing him a kiss.
Saiden took a step back, clearly shocked by his mate’s sudden appearance.
Renata seized his moment of hesitation and latched her claws around his neck, digging her talons into his flesh deep enough to send rivulets of blood down the front of his white shirt.
“See, emotions are your weakness.”
“They’re not my weakness, you thunder cunt,” Derrick growled as he sent a dagger flying straight for faux Cora’s exposed back.
Renata dropped Saiden and dove to the side, allowing the blade to sink into Saiden’s gut.
“Derrick!” Saiden grunted, yanking the weapon out.
Derrick grimaced and mouthed, “Oops,” as he drew another dagger.
They both whipped around to resume their attack on Renata only to find her…
Gone.
They all scanned the surrounding area, and Tressa opened her senses, searching for any sound as to where Renata disappeared to, but there was nothing.
“We need to get out of here before she returns,” Saiden said, pressing his hand to the bleeding stomach wound. “I need to feed and let this heal.”
“I’m good on food,” Derrick said, “but my balls could use a break before we take her on again. That was not a love tap.” He rubbed his crotch gingerly, and Tressa rolled her eyes. Her cousin would be fine in a minute, he just liked to whine.
“My Aston Martin is down the road since someone ‘borrowed’ my McLaren,” Saiden told Tressa with a glare that didn’t hold much sincere anger. “We’ll head back over there, and I won’t leave until I see you drive past. Don’t take too long, though. We have no idea if she left or is just waiting.”
“Got it,” she told him, then took a step closer to examine the gashes on his neck. They were ugly, but not so bad that time and a couple blood bags wouldn’t fix him up.
Derrick clapped her on the shoulder and gestured to Ethan. “You know how you’re going to handle that?”
Tressa sighed. Every scenario she’d planned for telling Ethan went out the window when Renata had shown up. “Not really,” she admitted.
He grinned. “Well, if you need to know what he’s thinking, I could always—”
Tressa slammed a hand on Derrick’s mouth. “I’m in enough trouble as is, so don’t even think about using your Gift on him.”
Derrick shrugged and peeled her hand away from his face. “Suit yourself. I offered.”
He and Saiden started to walk away, and Tressa called out, “Hey guys?”
They glanced over their shoulders at her.
“Thanks,” she told them. She spared a quick look at Ethan, then turned back to them. “I… We appreciate it.”
Saiden studied Ethan who was resting against the car and rubbing his scalp where Renata had grabbed his hair.
“That’s what family is for. Now get him out of here before I regret saving your ass.
Don’t think I didn’t notice the dents in my car.
” His voice was teasing when he mentioned the McLaren, but the order to get moving was still firm, so she nodded.
Her cousins blurred away, and she cautiously approached Ethan. The whole fight couldn’t have taken more than a few minutes, but every one of those minutes was visible in the hard lines of his face.
She would have preferred fear or shock or anything else.
The urge to reach for her ability tugged at her, reminding her that she could smooth the worst of it over with a little calming from her Gift, but she couldn’t bring herself to use it.
Not on her mate. Whatever happened, she wouldn’t lie to him again.
“Ethan?” she said, taking another cautious step toward him and holding out her hand.
He stared at it blankly, then pushed away from the car. His eyes fixed on hers, analyzing. Contemplating.
Judging.
“Please say something,” she whispered.
There was no love in his voice, no softness at all, when he said, “What do you want me to say, Tressa?”
She dropped her hand, accepting she might have lost the right to touch him ever again. “Anything. Please just talk to me. I’ll answer all the questions you have. I’ll explain everything. Just give me that chance. I swear I’m not a monster. I would never hurt you.”
He cocked his head to the side, and for a brief moment, she thought he might be willing to hear her out. But that flash of possibility disappeared with a blink, his slate gray eyes filling with cold, calculating anger.
“She mentioned my research,” he said after a long, bitter silence.
“That’s why you saved me in the hospital, isn’t it?
You weren’t there to make sure I was safe or help me get revenge.
Fuck, I should have known with all that good vampire bullshit you spewed.
You say you’re not a monster, but you’re just like her.
Manipulating me for whatever endgame you have.
Lying to me. Hell, my research got Jake killed, and you let me believe it was a random vampire attack.
You never cared about me at all, did you? ”
“No,” Tressa cried. She tried to take his hand, and her heart cracked when he yanked it away. “Ethan, that’s not it. I do care about you. You have no idea how much I care about you.”
He scoffed, then glanced toward the forest where Renata had disappeared. “I can’t beat her, can I?”
Tressa heard the sorrow in his voice, felt the aura of a broken soul radiating off her mate. “No,” she replied gently. “You can’t. Definitely not as a human.”
“A human,” he said, his tense shoulder muscles the only view he was offering her. “You’re implying there’s another option.”
“There is, Ethan,” she pressed, sensing a possible opening.
A chance to turn it all around. He just needed time to see the truth, and she could give him that time.
“I can change you,” she told him. “Make you like me. The good vampire rhetoric wasn’t bullshit.
I swear, most of us aren’t killers. In fact, we specifically work to keep mortals safe. ”
He let out a sad laugh. “You were actually telling the truth about something? You really are a hunter?”
Tressa bit her lip. “Um, sort of? I mostly handle the aftermath rather than the actual fighting. But yes, our cadre’s sole function is to protect humanity.”
He nodded slowly and turned around, still refusing to look at her, his attention fixed just over her shoulder. There was no emotion in his face. No indicator of how he felt about her. Nothing but cold hard resolve.
“I want you to turn me,” he said quietly, and her heart leapt into her throat despite his icy tone. “I want you to make me like you. I’ll even tell Baylin everything about my research so he can figure out why that vampire wants me dead.”
The sun emerged from behind a cloud, raining beams of bright light onto her mate’s face, and it fueled the hope growing in Tressa’s chest. If he was willing to work with them, then maybe…
Maybe there was still the chance that they could be together.
He would see how much she cared, and things might just work out.
But another cloud moved to block the sun again as Ethan’s eyes snapped over to lock on hers. “Then I never want to see you again.”
And all her hope shriveled up and died.