Forsaking All Others (Vampire Bachelor Games #4)

Prologue

“Jag!”

She breathes my name like a benediction, taking quick strides across the kitchen flagstones and throwing her arms around me.

I don’t speak as we stand in each other’s embrace. Her heart, pressed against my own, is racing, and I wait for it to slow down as I breath in her familiar scent.

I thought our time apart would have dulled her attraction, that I’d just imagined how it felt to hold her in my arms — I’d been lying to myself.

And of all the places for us to meet…

It’s been a long time since I’ve been here; in this warm sanctuary we once haunted together, at a time when I believed she loved me as I love her.

The Dragonspur kitchen has always felt like home.

She feels like home.

“It’s been so long,” she eventually whispers.

“Twenty-eight years.” I clear my throat, my emotions choking me momentarily.

“Too long,” she sighs.

“Yes.”

“Jag, I’m so happy to see you. But why now?” She pulls back slightly and stares into my eyes, her own, moist with unshed tears. “After all these years with no contact?”

“You know why,” I murmur.

She shakes her head, but I see understanding dawn in her eyes, and her expression hardens as she pulls away. I get the feeling she already knew the reason I’d asked to meet her; I’d simply confirmed her suspicion.

“Jag.”

She turns from me, but I reach out and grip her forearm, spinning her back to face me. I want to shake some sense into her, but unlike her husband, I would never commit violence against this woman. Instead, I grip her arms gently and stare into her beautiful eyes.

“I’m the one who should be asking, ‘why now?’ Angie. You swore you’d never let him do this!”

She sighs heavily.

“Jag. I know this goes against everything you think I believe in, and I did, once… but I know him now. I know him better than my own heart…”

“You don’t know anything about him,” I shake my head, closing my eyes momentarily as I order my thoughts.

“I’ve known him for centuries. I love him like a brother, but his temper has always, always, been his downfall.

If you give him this advantage over you, he’ll use it.

Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow. But he will use it. ”

“You’re wrong,” she whispers, “And once he’s bitten me I’ll have plenty of time to prove that. I’ll be immortal, like you.”

“Is that what this is about?” I groan. “Immortality? “Hupotasso is control, Angie. Nothing more. You’ll grant him hupotasso so you can live forever? The Angie I knew would be satisfied with one free lifetime over an eternity as a slave. Didn’t the last Lady Dragonspur’s trials teach you anything?”

“I’m not Eleanor!” she snaps. “And Falcon is not his father!”

She moderates her tone and looks deep into my eyes, her own full of sincerity.

“It won’t be like that. Why can’t you understand that I don’t want to grow old?”

“Angie,” I rub my hands over my face, trying to control the anger building inside at her insanity. “This can’t be about aging. You don’t look a day older than you did when I met you, and you’ve never been overly concerned about your looks as some women are. Tell me the truth.”

She bites her lip and looks away as she answers.

“Yes, I’m aging at half the rate of a normal human due to Viper’s years of control.

To any eyes other than my own, I don’t look much older.

And you’re right, I couldn’t care less if I did.

But it’s not about me,” she shakes her head as she pulls away and turns to walk to the large timber table in the centre of the kitchen, jumping to sit upon it as she’d so often perched during our time together when I’d cooked desserts and sweets for her.

“It’s about the children; Tiger, Talon and Suzume. ”

“They’re no longer children, Angie,” I snort as I sit next to her and take her hand in mine, “they’re past thirty.”

“But they’re vampires. Their thirties mean nothing.

They’re completely irresponsible, and they need a mother’s guidance and love just as much as when they were three,” she groans.

“The boys fight like cats and dogs and take no responsibility for anything at all.

Suzume is rarely home, and I have no idea where she goes or what she does…

“Angie, surely you can’t expect me to believe…”

She closes her eyes for a long, long minute before opening them and turning to look at me.

“It was Mom,” she says quietly. “She had a heart attack last year. She lived. But almost losing her made me realise that no one is ever old enough to lose their Mom, Jag. Not ever.”

“Your mother is in her eighties, Angie. Death is inevitable to all, sooner or later.”

“But in this world, your world, it can be delayed for a long, long time. And now that this world is also mine, I don’t want to die of old age. I want to spare my children that pain. I don’t want them to lose me, and I don’t want to leave them.”

“And so you’ve made up your mind. You’ll submit. You’ll submit yourself to Falcon’s bite.”

It’s a statement, not a question.

“Yes.”

“Then I know what I need to do.”

Jumping from the table, I head for the door.

“Jag wait,” she follows, gripping my arm to stall me, “wait, please. What do you mean? Please stay. I’ve only just found you again, please don’t go.”

“You know I must.”

I don’t turn back to meet her eyes, I can’t.

“Jag,” there’s anguish in her voice, and I know the tears are flowing, “please, I can’t lose your friendship again.”

Pulling from her grasp, ignoring her quiet sobs, I step out into the chill night air, my decision made. There’s only one thing I can do now to ensure I’m granted access back into Falcon’s inner circle.

Only one thing that will ensure Angelina, the woman I loved, still love, is safe.

I need to marry.