by Lexi C. Foss
“So we’ll be living here alone, then.” He sounded amused. “Can I keep the penthouse full of willing females?”
I grinned and glanced at my screen again to search for Willow. “I’m quite happy with my pet right now.”
Except she still hadn’t appeared, which took away some of my humor. She’d already showered, something I knew because the last time I checked on her, she’d been in the kitchen. I pulled up that screen now, noting her mostly untouched plate on the counter.
Odd. The food had to be cold by now.
I half-heartedly listened while Damien brought me up to speed on his research of those on the list. He’d confirmed over half of them to be known for their proclivities in imbibing young blood, but some of the others weren’t as well documented.
I gave him permission to question them a little more liberally to determine whether or not Yavi’s information proved true. I wouldn’t put it past the former sovereign to provide a few false names in an effort to hide others on his client list.
Ten minutes later, no Willow. I pushed away from my desk, my instincts firing red. “I need to check on my pet.”
“You just went up there a few hours ago,” Damien reminded me.
“I’m aware, but something’s wrong.” I could feel it in a weird sort of nagging sense. “I’ll be back.”
“I’ll come with you,” he said instead, following me out the door.
I didn’t argue. We’d been through enough over his lifetime to know when to trust the other, and my gut was rarely—if ever—wrong.
Damien grabbed his tablet on our way. “No one has accessed or left the suite,” he said as we entered the elevator. “However, Benita left early today, which I find interesting.”
“Do you think she’s our leak?” I asked him, dialing the code for the guest suite.
“It’s hard to say. I’ll keep tabs on her, as well as the other four.” He tucked his tablet beneath his arm. “She’s always been power hungry. The behavior fits the mold, particularly if she anticipates your downfall.”
“Makes me wonder what she thinks she knows,” I replied. “I’m the oldest in this region by several thousand years. Who could she expect to surpass me?”
“Perhaps someone not from this region,” Damien suggested.
Yes, that was another route I’d considered, too. “Darius would be next in line for royalty.”
“And he recently took a sovereign position under Jace,” Damien added. “I’ll reach out to our mutual contact. I know they’re friends.”
“He was one of Cam’s progeny, so that makes sense.” I stepped off the elevator onto the guest suite floor. “Let me know what she says.”
“Always,” he agreed, walking beside me down the hallway. I paused only to type in the external code, then stepped inside to scent the air. The kitchen was to my left, the food on the counter cold to the touch.
I called for Willow as I made my way through the large living area to the back hall, which led to the bedroom. “Check the other bathroom,” I told Damien over my shoulder. I doubted she was there, but it would expedite the search to have him check the half bath off the living area.
The bedroom was empty, the bedsheets still rumpled from earlier.
“Willow?” I tried again, entering the bathroom.
The dual-headed shower was empty and mostly dry, and she wasn’t by the double sinks. Which left the walk-in closet and—
“Fuck.” The tips of her small heels were peeking out from the water-closet entry.
I walked in to find her cheek pressed to the marble floor, her eyes half-mast. Kneeling beside her, I pressed my palm to her clammy forehead. “Willow?”
Her pupils dilated, but her mouth didn’t move. So she was semi-aware, but not quite.
“She’s burning up,” I said as Damien entered.
I scooped her up into my arms, her towel remaining on the floor and leaving her naked. She shivered in response as if she were cold, but her skin temperature told a different story.
“Can you get me a cool washcloth?” I asked as I carried her to the bed and laid her down to check her vitals.
I frowned at what I found; her pulse had slowed to a dangerous pace. No wonder she was hardly awake.
“What the fuck?” I demanded, searching her for signs of injury and finding none.
She muttered something unintelligible that sounded like an apology.
“Did you do this to yourself?” I asked her, unable to find evidence of self-harm. Then I shook my head, because, no, Willow was a warrior. She wouldn’t hurt herself in this manner.
So what was causing it?
I bit into my wrist and put it to her mouth. Her lips parted automatically, her body craving the immortal essence running through my veins. Yet somehow it didn’t seem to be enough, the scent of deterioration thick in the air. I recognized it because I’d smelled it so many times throughout the millennia, that sickly sweet aroma of a human on the precipice of death.
It didn’t make any sense.
Damien returned with the towels, laying one over her forehead and the other across her neck. His expression remained stoic, but I caught a flicker of concern in his gaze. He smelled her imminent death just as I did.
“I’ve given her blood every damn day,” I told him. “She should be closer to immortal than mortal.”
“Perhaps you gave her too much,” he suggested.
“Too much?” I repeated. There was no such thing as “too much.” “That’s impossible.”
“Mortals are fragile,” he added. “Their reactions vary. The only foolproof method is to turn one immortal entirely.”
His words rolled around in my head, the truth unraveling behind my eyes.
The only foolproof method is to turn one immortal entirely.
In any other situation, I wouldn’t even consider that alternative. But Willow didn’t fit the definition of ordinary circumstances. She was spectacular. Unique. Mine.
“You’re right,” I realized out loud. “There’s only one method to ensure she survives.”
“Oh, no,” Damien said. “That’s not what I meant. I mean, fuck, Ryder. You’re the one who taught me that mortals are meant to die. It’s why we don’t get attached, remember?”
I did. And I still agreed with that sentiment. However… “This one is different for me.”
“I said the same thing about Izzy.”
“And she’s still alive,” I pointed out. Most thought she was dead, but that was another conversation entirely. “Willow can’t be an Erosita, Damien.” Her body had been defiled by the lycans, and even before that at the university. Only virgins could be a vampire’s life-mate.
“I know. I get that. However, turning her goes against the Blood Alliance. Lilith might be able to look the other way in how you rule the territory, but this will cross the line.”
“I couldn’t give two fucks about Lilith’s edicts.” She could kick rocks, for all I cared. “This isn’t about her. This is about Willow.”
“A human you’ve known for a handful of weeks,” he snapped. “Do you even hear yourself? This is insane, even for you.” He began to pace, his shoulders tight with disapproval.
I considered Willow once more, found her glassy blue eyes staring up at me as if I existed in a dream, not reality. Her lips only half-heartedly worked over my wrist, her body shutting down with each passing second. Soon she would resemble a corpse, the warrior inside her gone forever. I tried to visualize it, to make myself see what needed to happen.
Damien was right.
This was the reason we didn’t get attached.
Yet somewhere along the way, this female had seduced a foreign part of me. It might only be temporary, but even a few passing moments of the sensations she awoke within me were worth breaking a couple more rules.
I’d lived too long to deny myself something so precious.
“I need more time with her,” I whispered, holding her dying gaze. “I don’t accept that this is her fate.”
> “What is it with this girl?” Damien demanded, drawing my attention to him. “She’s beautiful, yes. But why her? There are almost a dozen willing females upstairs waiting for a chance to warm your bed. Why this one?”
“She makes me feel alive,” I told him, my voice hardening. “And I’m not done with her yet.” I probably sounded like a petulant child whose toy had just been yanked away, but I didn’t give a fuck. What was the point of having the ability to save someone if I refused to use it?
“Okay, and what happens when you are?” he pressed.
I couldn’t answer that. It also wasn’t important right now.
“I want to save her,” I said instead, my decision made. It really wasn’t up to him whether I did so or not. Willow was my pet, not his. And I had the ability to cure her, so I would. What happened after that would be discussed at a later point when our current situation was fixed.
“She’s really gotten under your skin,” Damien marveled, studying me intently. “I’ve never seen you so enamored with a human before.”
“I need a place to take her to perform the change,” I informed him, ignoring his side commentary. Maybe I had lost my head over the female on the bed. I’d evaluate it later, after I fixed Willow.
Damien remained silent for another beat, his expression giving nothing away. Then he conceded with a sigh. Because he knew better than anyone that once I made up my mind, I wouldn’t change it.
“All right,” he said. “We need to work quickly.” He turned without another word, his loyalty resolute.
I didn’t waste time thanking him or commenting further. I picked Willow up and adjusted her carefully in my arms. Her body temperature was rapidly decreasing, so I wrapped her in a blanket from the bed, then followed Damien into the living area, toward the foyer.
The sight of her breakfast on the counter gave me temporary pause. Her fork was lying at an angle that suggested she’d taken a few bites. “I want her plate checked for poison,” I said.
“Your blood would be able to cure poison,” he pointed out as he held open the door to the hallway. “But I’ll have it checked.”
I nodded, then passed through the threshold and led the way.
Damien called the elevator to take us to the ground floor. “We can’t afford for anyone to know what you’re about to do,” he said as we stepped inside. “If it gets back to Lilith, she’ll bring the council down on you, and while you may survive that, Willow will not.”
I dipped my chin again in agreement. “Call for a car.”
“Already done,” he replied, lifting his tablet. “I know a place in the city where no one will go looking.”
Of course he did. Damien had a lot more experience with this new world than I did. He’d been my only connection to society for the last one hundred years since my other lived in hiding as well.
Willow groaned in my arms, her eyelids fluttering closed. “Don’t you dare die on me, pet,” I told her.
“You’ll need to initiate the transfer in the car,” Damien said just before the doors opened.
I didn’t so much verbally agree as I did mentally. He was right. We didn’t have time to do this properly.
Several servants went to the floor in an immediate bow upon seeing us exit the elevator into the main lobby of the building. I ignored the receptionist who asked how she could help us, and immediately stepped out into the balmy humidity of San José.
No one asked any questions about the dying female in my arms. They probably assumed she was my late-evening snack.
Damien took the keys from the valet as soon as he exited the sedan. It was one of the many cars in Silvano’s garage, all of which were now mine. I didn’t bother to look at the make or model, just slid into the backseat with Willow on my lap and shut the door before the valet could reach it.
“Go” was all I said, not wasting time with the seat belt.
Damien practically floored it out of the lot, his penchant for driving quickly coming in handy right now.
Willow shivered, a soundless plea leaving her lips. “You’ll be okay,” I promised her.
She didn’t reply, but her eyes flickered a strange yellowish tint in the dark, similar to a lycan’s. I frowned at the startling change, then glanced out the window to take in the scene.
“It’s a full moon,” I said slowly.
“Yes,” Damien confirmed, not that it was necessary. Now that I’d realized our current phase, I could feel the energy humming in the air despite the nearest lycan clan being hundreds of miles away.
I took in Willow’s shivering form, the hairs dancing along her exposed neck, and that glimmer of yellow sheening in her irises.
Was this related to her captivity? She’d been in my care for roughly four weeks now, her initial escape taking place only a few nights after the last full moon.
Had the wolves done something to her? Something that had caused her current state of living in limbo? Because that was what this reminded me of—the limbo between life and death.
“Can you access her records from the breeding camp?” I wondered out loud. “Find out if they did anything specific to her?”
“Do you think it’s related to her current state?”
“I think it’s possible.”
He navigated onto one of the city’s highways—or I assumed it was one, with how fast we were going. “I’ll find out everything I can.”
“It would make sense,” I continued thoughtfully, not acknowledging his vow because I had every expectation that he would see it through. “She’s been unique from the moment I saw her. And her fighting skills are almost too good for a human.” I’d sparred with her several times over the last few weeks. While I bested her each time, she more than held her own, which was why I enjoyed training with her.
“She’s skilled,” he agreed. “But the university excels in training.”
I couldn’t argue that point, even if I wanted to scoff at it.
Willow’s shiver turned into a violent tremor, her teeth chattering as though she were standing in the Arctic. Damien turned up the heat without my having to ask.
“I’m going to start the process,” I told him.
“We’ll reach a reasonable burial site in about ten minutes,” he replied, providing the necessary timetable.
I moved her into a better position for what I had to do, essentially laying her out along the backseat with only her upper body in my lap. Her head rested on my arm, which I lifted to bring her neck closer to my mouth. “She’ll be ready in fifteen.”
“There are shovels in the trunk,” he added.
This must have been the car he planned to use to deliver messages to those on my list from earlier. He’d probably intended to kill a few of them to make his statement clear—leave or die. It was exactly how I’d handle it.
Willow sputtered, her lungs beginning to fail.
“I’m going to need you to stay with me just a few more minutes,” I informed her softly.
Her expression didn’t change, that yellow tint blinking in and out of her dying gaze. I ignored it and went for her neck, my incisors piercing the tender skin of her vein to begin the task of absorbing the entirety of her life essence.
She tasted as she always did, with no signs of any altered chemistry in her body. I evaluated each pull into my mouth, cataloging the flavors and searching for any sign of foul play.
Nothing.
No hints.
No drugs.
No poisons.
Just my sweet, alluring Willow.
I closed my eyes and consumed her, wishing for an entirely different experience. One where she writhed in pleasure, not death. She should be moaning, my bite engaging all her erotic receptors, but her trembles weren’t born of ecstasy. They were savage tremors indicating her end of days.
Not on my watch, I vowed, quickening my pace and forcing her to yield her life to me. It’d been a long time since I’d done this—Damien being my one and only progeny—but the art of turning another into a vampi
re was ingrained in my being. I sensed the moment where I needed to pull back and open a vein for her, the magic of my existence pulsing to life inside me.
I ripped apart my wrist in my hurry for her to drink, then pressed it to her mouth, watching as precious fluid streamed passed her lips and also down the sides of her cheeks. I didn’t care. I’d feed later to replenish myself. Now was about reviving my Willow, providing her with the energy she required to survive the change.
She didn’t move, apart from her throat swallowing.
I sensed no emotions from her. No confusion. No sadness. No joy. It was as though I were feeding a corpse.
It felt wrong, yet I simultaneously sensed the process beginning to work. My head fell back against the seat, my vision spinning just a little from the onslaught of mixed signals.
She’s not responding.
The bond is snapping into place.
This isn’t right.
My progeny is being reborn.
I didn’t even notice that the car had stopped or that Damien wasn’t with me anymore until he knocked on the window beside my head. I felt groggy, depleted, hazy. He frowned at me and opened the door, his words slurring through my ears. Then he looked at my lap, and his eyebrows shot up. I looked down to find the problem and realized Willow had lost consciousness at some point, but my wound remained open.
How much blood did she imbibe? Was it enough? Why was I so weak?
“She bit you,” I heard Damien say, an emotional note underlining his tone. Awe? Fear? Anger? I couldn’t decipher it over the roaring in my thoughts.
But I knew one thing that needed to be said. “Bury her. Us. Bury us.” I didn’t want to leave her alone in an unknown area throughout the day. She needed her Sire by her side to prosper.
“Hell no,” Damien snapped, lifting his phone to his ear. I couldn’t hear what he was saying. I kept repeating my command, but it lacked punch.
I shook my head to clear it, but that only made me dizzier.
“I don’t fucking care. Track him down.” Damien’s words were clear until they weren’t. Something about the triad. Ascension.
