Whatever my life would look like going forward, I felt like I didn’t want it to include stubborn werewolves who couldn’t get over their hatred.
28
Riggs
I got dressed and left the room. It was getting darker, and I knew that meant the vamps would be roaming the campus again soon.
There was an empty pulsing regret in the center of my chest. Maybe I should’ve explained everything to Sylvie. Everything. Not just the story about my sister, but all the reasons I’d sworn I would never trust vampires again.
It felt like everything I thought I knew about myself had been shattered in the span of a few minutes alone with her. I thought I was done letting myself care about people. I thought I was smart enough to keep my shields up and avoid giving my enemies a chink in the armor to target. But Sylvie destroyed all of that with her kind eyes and innocent smile.
She shook me to my fucking foundations, and I might’ve already pushed her away for good because I hadn’t realized it soon enough.
I could see how it all probably seemed to her clearly now that I was alone. Her sister was a vampire, for starters. She was never going to abandon her sister, and as long as I was a hateful prick towards all things fanged, that alone was a deal breaker. Worse, I suspected Sylvie was still considering how her life might improve if she managed to get herself turned, too.
I had to stop in the hallway and put my fist to the wall, clenching my eyes shut. The truth of my hatred went deep. I’d intentionally buried all the worst of the memories. Living with them at the front of my thoughts had made me miserable. At least this way I could function. By now, I’d buried so many memories in the darkest corner of my brain, I wasn’t even sure what dredging up that place would uncover anymore.
It was a locked closet full of horrors. Even thinking of it brought the sound of screams to my mind. Blood. The smell of burnt hair and the molten agony of bloody wounds across my back.
Fuck. I pushed off the wall and headed toward where I thought Felix’s room was. He was one of the only people who knew the real depth of what I’d been through, and as much as I tried to avoid this sort of shit, I needed help.
Because Sylvie was right to hate me for now. Everything she’d seen told her I was just a prejudiced asshole. A dumb brute who’d sworn some sort of blood feud against an enemy she didn’t think deserved my anger.
Either I needed to find a way to make her see what I saw, or I needed to learn to change. But I feared the latter was impossible.
I knocked on Felix’s door. The bastard didn’t answer. I tried Fang’s door next. No answer, either.
A quiet meow startled me. I looked down to see the hairless form of Gravy Boat circling my legs. I looked both ways down the hall, confirmed nobody was around, then bent to scratch behind his ears. He lifted his chin toward me, squinting his yellow eyes closed and purring.
“Ugly bastard,” I said.
Gravy Boat purred harder. “Any idea where they all went?”
He opened his eyes, then lifted his ass and tail, looking over his shoulder like he was trying to get me to follow him.
I stared. With a long, suffering sigh, I shook my head. “Can’t believe I’m about to follow a goddamn cat.”
Gravy Boat led me to a room, then started pawing at the door.
I stared at the handle, mind turning over the possibilities. The others could’ve been wandering the mansion like Sylvie and I had been. But for some reason, my instincts didn’t want to let me believe that. I had a sinking feeling I wouldn’t be able to find them, and when I did, I’d learn the depths of the trap we’d willingly walked ourselves into.
“Are they in here?” I asked the damn cat.
He circled again, meowing.
With a deep breath, I yanked the door open, ready to fight.
All I found was a checkered floor and a toilet, which Gravy Boat happily walked up to. He jumped on the seat, squatted, and I heard the tinkling sound of him pissing into the bowl.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I said.
I sensed a presence behind me and spun. Lazarus was standing there, smug as ever.
I glared for several seconds before speaking. “Which one of them let you in?” I asked once I thought I’d put the puzzle together. As soon as I realized what was happening, I wanted nothing more than to sprint toward the room and make sure Sylvie was okay. But I was hoping they’d come for me first. Neutralize the biggest danger, then secure the target.
Dammit. I’d been careless to think we were safe enough here to leave her alone like I did. It was exactly why getting emotionally involved with clients was idiotic. It clouded my judgment, and now she might pay the price for my mistake.
Lazarus ran a hand through his silver hair, cold blue eyes regarding me. “I already have what I need. I just wanted to see the look on your face when you realized how thoroughly you botched this.”
“Where is Sylvie?” The words came out like a growl.
“Safe in her room, I imagine. We’ll collect her once you’ve been dealt with.”
“Then you were too frightened to come face me alone?” I looked around the hall, straining my senses to pick up who else might be with us.
“I’m a practical, Riggs. I have no need to stroke my ego by proving I could best you in single combat. But I confess I enjoy the satisfaction of watching my enemies learn they’ve lost.” He twisted his pale lips into a crooked smile. “I sense you still don’t see it. You still think there’s a way out from here. Let me dispel that illusion for you. What will the rebels think when Riggs Silverback, the great vampire hating Alpha, comes out of retirement to take an odd job. And how confusing that he would choose to shelter with the vampires he despises so completely. Stranger still that the Coven would be let in by none other than Riggs to escalate the war on the rebels.”
I took a sharp breath. Fuck. I could see what he was trying to set up, and none of it was good.
Lazarus saw my face, then his smile widened. “I wonder if they’ll think you orchestrated this, Riggs? Wouldn’t that be a shame? It would look like the werewolves officially turned on the rebels. They’ll think you only came here to help us infiltrate their ranks.”
“I just want the girls. I don’t want anything to do with your schemes. So either make your move or fuck off. I’m going to get them.” I took a step toward Lazarus, fully ready to come to blows if it was what he wanted. But he raised a finger, stopping me.
“I said before I was practical, Riggs. I prefer not to waste weapons when they are available to me. That’s why I’ve explained all this to you. It’s also why I’m willing to offer you the girls in exchange for the rebels.”
“I’m getting tired of listening to you,” I growled.
“What if you could save the girls? What if all it cost you was a little blood on those stained hands of yours?” Lazarus stepped closer until I could see the small flecks of red in his eyes. “Kill Victor and I won’t just let you have the girls. I’ll make sure no harm ever comes to them from the Coven.”
“You want me to start a war between the rebels and the werewolves.”
Lazarus dipped his chin. “See? You’re not as thick-headed as they say. You’re getting it, now.”
“Why would I trust you to follow through on your word?”
“Because I’ll start by letting you go collect Sylvie if you like. You’ll find none of my people have laid a finger on her. But if you want to take her from this place, you’ll need to bring me Victor’s head.” He gave a small shrug. “Trust goes both ways, I’m afraid.”
“Where are the others?”
“Unharmed, but unavailable to you. Okay,” Lazarus added with a small wince. “Mostly unharmed. I’m afraid they didn’t come easily.”
“Tell me you’ll let them go free if I do this.”
“Of course,” Lazarus said smoothly.
I pushed past him, halfway expecting him to attack me as soon as my back was turned. But no strike came. I went straight for our
room and pulled the door open.
Sylvie spun to face me. She’d been sitting in one of the chairs with a book on her knees. Her eyes looked red like she’d been crying.
“I’m not ready to talk to you yet,” she said, voice thick. “I’m still mad at you.”
“Be mad all you want, but I need you to come with me. It’s about to get ugly.”
“What do you mean? What’s happening?”
I shook my head. “It’ll be easier if you don’t know.”
She got up, balling her hands into two small fists. “Don’t you get it? This is exactly the problem with you. You keep thinking you need to protect me from everything. Yeah, I get sick easy, but I’m not an idiot. I can handle some of the burden. I can handle the truth—about you, about whatever’s going on.” She was breathing hard, and I wondered if she’d prepared some version of that little speech.
“There’s no time for this. I need to do something and then you can hate me if you want when it’s done, but you’ll be safe. That’s all I care about.”
“Riggs,” she said, grabbing my arm with both hands. “Tell me what you’re planning.”
I stared down at her. “No. I need you to live, and you’ll only try to talk me out of doing what’s smart.”
“There’s more to life than living,” she shouted. Then she grinned, throwing her hands up in frustration. “Okay, I know that sounds kind of stupid. But hear me out. Whatever you’re planning must be bad if you won’t tell me. What if it’s a price I’m not willing to pay to save myself? I deserve a say. Maisey deserves a say. It’s not your decision to make.”
I touched her cheek. It felt so soft and delicate against my calloused skin. “I’m not willing to risk your life. Lazarus gave me an option that will mean you’re safe, and I have to take it. Even if it makes you hate me.”
“Riggs,” she said, punching both fists against my chest. “Stop that. Just talk to me. Talk to me like a person, not some prize you’re worried about people taking. If this is all about my life, then let me decide if I’m willing to let you pay the price.”
Annoyingly, she had a point. Worse, I wasn’t sure I even believed what I’d said. Was I really willing to do something she’d hate me for? Not if there was another option to save her life…
“Lazarus wants me to kill Victor,” I said finally. “He’ll let all of us go and promise to leave us alone.”
“Wait, is everyone else okay?”
“Yeah, but Lazarus’ people have them right now.”
“Maisey, too?”
I nodded. “At least that’s what he says.”
Sylvie looked like she was about to faint. I put my hands on her shoulders and eased her to sit on the edge of the bed. Her smooth forehead scrunched in thought for several long moments. “The guy creeped me out, but I can’t let you kill him to save us. No way.” She looked down to the floor, then her eyes snapped back to mine. “And you realize how that would look, right? They let us in here and then suddenly the Prince winds up assassinated? And then we disappear right after? You’d start a war, Riggs. No. No way. I’m not going to let you do it. I know Maisey wouldn’t want it that way, either.”
“This is exactly why I didn’t want to tell you.”
She put her fists on her hips. “Well, you did. And I’m putting my foot down.”
Despite the pain in my ass she was causing, I couldn’t help grinning at the sight of her. She was ridiculously small next to me and about as imposing as an angry grasshopper. I could’ve flicked her out of my way, but somehow she had me by the balls, didn’t she? I could feel it in my chest.
This little fucking woman had woven her way into my mind and heart so firmly that I hardly recognized myself anymore. She was making me a better person, but I had a sinking feeling it was going to get us all killed.
“What do you suggest, then?”
“Tell Victor everything.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Okay. You’re fired from the planning committee.”
“No, think about it. What would you do if you were in Victor’s position? You’d see it as an olive branch. It’ll help cement you as allies, and we’d be able to continue staying here. If Lazarus and the Coven could move openly against this place, they’d do it, right? They wouldn’t sneak in to try to bribe you into doing their dirty work for them.”
We spent a few minutes bouncing ideas around, but I couldn’t think of anything better than Sylvie’s plan. Lazarus would have friends, and I couldn’t rely on brute force to find him, find the others, and save them all without risking too much. Getting Victor and the rebels help, as much as I hated to admit it, was our best bet.
“Fine,” I said. “I’ll go to Victor. But we still need to know where he’s keeping the others, and I have an idea for that.”
I stepped toward the door, hand held above the handle. “Sylvie?” I said. “There’s something I need to tell you before we do this.”
29
Sylvie
Riggs hesitated at the door. His big frame loomed over it in the darkening room like a deadly shadow. He always seemed so in control and confident, but now there was doubt in his eyes.
“What is it?” I asked.
“The reason I hate them so much. It’s not only about my sister. The part I never told you is that my father was a werewolf and my mother was a vampire. Kyla and I both were born with wolves, and my parents agreed they’d take us to live with a pack where we’d be accepted. The pack let my mother in because of us.
“Neither of us were ever really accepted,” he said. “To the werewolves, we were half breeds. Our mother was seen as a monster—like some dirty secret we kept in the cellar. My father was strong enough to compete for a place as the Alpha, but he was viewed like dirt.”
“Riggs,” I said slowly. I still didn’t agree with his hatred, but I already felt my heart going out to him. I could only imagine how it must’ve twisted his mind to deal with so much growing up.
He shook his head. “None of this is an excuse. But I want you to know what I know. Maybe then you can understand.” He walked to the nightstand and put his hands there, gripping it as he seemed to ready himself to continue. “The vamps eventually found out about us. I was sixteen at the time, and I’d grown strong enough that the other werewolves had stopped fucking with me. I’d sworn I’d get stronger until nobody would give my family shit one day.” He chuckled to himself sourly. “Stupid teenage stuff. Like I could’ve punched the world in the face to change its mind. But I’d snuck out beyond the town limits one morning to be with this girl I was seeing. My parents sent Kyla to come find me because it was a full moon that night and they wanted me back. That’s when the vamps came. The Coven has strict rules about hybrids. Extermination.”
I put my hand over my mouth, stomach clenching as I imagined where this was going.
“And guess what my dumbass accomplished by getting stronger and starting to clear our name? Loyalty. Nobody would say who the kids were or where they were. My parents didn’t talk. Not a single person in the town talked, so they killed everyone just to be careful. Every single werewolf in the town. Fifty-five bodies. That’s what the Coven does, Sylvie. That’s what their fucking curse brings.”
He was shaking while he talked. At some point—I couldn’t say when—I’d gotten up and put my arms around him. Riggs hugged me back, and I could feel all his vulnerability as he leaned into me.
God. I wouldn’t have imagined someone so strong could carry such a wound. But through his words and the way he was holding me, I could feel it. I could feel how damaged he was and how much he carried. It was no wonder he was the way he was.
“Kyla turned her back on them when she let herself get turned,” he said. “She turned her back on everything, including me.”
I nodded. “I’m sorry, Riggs. Nothing we do is going to make any of that right, but you see it, right? If we killed Victor, we’d be creating another line of people with just as much reason to hate as you had. It has to stop somewhere. Somebody
has to eventually let go. To be strong enough to shoulder the burden.”
He pulled back from the hug, then kissed me. It surprised me, but I kissed him back. I wanted to stay in that tender moment where his lips were scorching hot against mine and his arms swallowed me up. I felt safe there, like I didn’t need to ever step outside that cocoon. But I knew what waited for us beyond this room, and I knew the others needed us.
We pulled back from the kiss and Riggs thumbed my chin with a small smile. “I could get used to that.”
“No kidding.”
30
Riggs
Our plan was as simple as I could manage. Sylvie would stay in the room just long enough for me to meet with Lazarus and find out where he was keeping the others. After that, I’d go back, get Sylvie, find a place to hide her, and then confront Victor. If things went well, I’d go get her, if not, she’d try to escape, as unlikely as that was.
I had to admit I didn’t feel great about the plan. There were too many things that could go wrong, but we didn’t exactly have the luxury of sitting around and trying to fine-tune it. The others were being held, and we had no idea how long Lazarus would wait before deciding to change his demands.
I stepped out into the darkened hallway. A group of young vampire girls in uniform passed, giving me a lingering look as they hurried off to a class somewhere in the building. It still was strange to me that they were running a boarding school out here, but I supposed it wasn’t that different from the way werewolves tended to create towns from scratch in the middle of nowhere for our kind.
I put it from my mind, heading to where I’d last seen Lazarus. I let my wolf stir, which enhanced my sense of smell and what I thought of as the eye in the back of my head. It wasn’t easy to explain the feeling, but the more control I gave to my wolf, the more I seemed to be able to sense what was about to come. It became nearly impossible to sneak up on me or surprise me.
I Bite She Sucks Page 14
