“I know. After we talk to Legend and see if he’s in, we’ll figure out what wolves to bring in on this. They’ll have to be trustworthy. Shade, Rune, Liberty, and Kylan for sure. And my guards.”
“Are all your guards trustworthy?” I regret the question, but I don’t know his guards like I know Shade, Rune, Liberty, and even Kylan.
He nods. “I trust them with my life, and I know they’d pick me over my father.”
Tears well in my eyes at the mention of his father. “Jules, do you think …? Do you think my parents’ death and my disappearance had to do with this?” What I don’t dare say aloud is: do you think your father killed my parents?
“Maybe,” he whispers, his eyes wide and glossy. “I’m so sorry. I don’t even know what else to say.” Remorse shines clearly through his violet gaze; an internal sorrow he always carries even more evident.
“It’s not your fault it happened.” I slowly reach for him, testing my feelings, seeing if what I feel for him has changed. When my fingers sweep across his cheek, my chest glows with warmth. So does my soul. “I don’t want you to feel guilty about it.” I know he will. Just like he felt guilty about what happened to me all those years ago.
Unsure how else to reassure him, I allow my wolf to take over. What she does next is irreversible, but I might love her for it, for still wanting him like I do.
Without warning, I slant forward, lower my lips to his neck and sink my teeth into his skin. He gasps a protest, but then he melts into me, fisting a handful of my hair and pulling me closer. As my teeth delve in even deeper, he lets out a roaring moan loud enough to shake the house.
When I pull away, breathless and wired, he draws my mouth to his lips and kisses me until my lips are swollen, until I’m so dizzy on his scent I can scarcely breathe.
“I’m going to fix this,” he murmurs against my lips. “One day, you’ll be able to live a normal life without worry or fear.”
“My life might not be normal right now, but I’m not as afraid as I used to be.” I kiss him again, because his lips are right there. So are the bite marks on his neck. Bite marks I put there.
He’s only bitten me in my dreams, and when I wake up, the marks are always gone. Seeing the indents in his neck makes me crave to have markings of my own.
As if sensing my desires, he urges me to angle my head to the side then gently bites the speck of flesh right below my ear. I whimper, my fingernails clawing into his shoulders as my eyes roll into the back of my head.
I want nothing more than to tear his clothes off, but after sucking and grazing his teeth along the sensitive skin one more time, he pulls back.
“You know, the more we do that, the more linked we become,” he warns. “I know I want it, but I want—need—to make sure you do, too. I don’t ever want you to feel forced into being with me.”
Instead of using words to answer him, I lean forward and bite him once again.
Chapter 33
I wake up the next morning to find Jules sitting on the edge of the bed, fully dressed in a black T-shirt and matching cargo pants, lacing up a pair of fighting boots.
“Where are you going?” I ask as I sit up and stretch my arms above my head.
He keeps his back to me, his head facing forward. “I need to go back to the kingdom today.” He rises to his feet, grabs a leather holster from the nightstand, and faces me. “I have to try to get my mom out of that fucking castle. After what I just learned … I can’t leave her there to rot away with that monster.” Huffing out a shuddering breath, he slips his arms through the holster and latches up the straps.
“But, isn’t it dangerous?” I kneel on the edge of the bed so I’m almost eye level with him. “I mean, if your father catches you, won’t he … punish you or something?”
“I’m not going to let him catch me. I’m not even going to let him know I’m there.” He moves over to a trunk at the foot of the bed and digs out a silver bladed knife. “I’m taking Rune with me, and Shade’s already there.” He returns to where I’m kneeling and sheaths the sword into the holster. “I need you to do me a favor.”
I nod without any hesitation. “What is it?”
He cups my cheek and tilts my head up toward him. “I need you to go with Liberty and Kylan to Legend’s and tell him about what we found. And I need you to do it carefully. I want you to wear a cloak to keep yourself concealed. And take this.” He reaches into his pocket and retrieves what looks like an engraved silver lighter. “This is what I use to put a glamour on my guards when I go out. All you need to do is open the top, and you’ll be good to go.” He presses the lighter into my hands. “And I need you not to tell Liberty and Kylan the real reason you’re going to Legend’s. We’ll tell my sister, but not until I get my mom out of the castle. Otherwise, she might do something stupid, like rush into the kingdom with her sword drawn.” He closes my fingers around the lighter. “And I need you to be careful, no matter what. Promise me you will.”
“Only if you promise first.” My voice trembles with the fear I feel inside.
“I promise,” he swears, carrying my gaze, his eyes two violet flames.
“Then I promise, too.”
He lets out a trapped breath then kisses me quickly but passionately before backing toward the door. “Kylan knows where Legend lives. He’ll take you there.” He opens the door, still facing me. “Be careful, Lake. It would shatter me if I lost you a second time.”
He leaves, not waiting for my response, but I utter the words, anyway.
“It would shatter me if I lost you, too.”
Legend’s lair is located on the far outskirts of town where the glittery and dazzling lights morph into gloomy shadows of dusky alleyways and underground homes. The journey takes about half an hour on foot, which gives Liberty plenty of time to blast me with relentless questions.
“I still don’t get why you’re wearing a cloak?” She raises a brow at the ankle-length lavender cloak I borrowed from her. The hood is drawn over my head, leaving my face hidden in the shadows. “And I know it’s not just some weird fashion statement.” She peers up at the sun. “Today is scorching. You have to be sweating under there.”
Truthfully, I am, but I promised Jules I’d wear the cloak, so sweat or not, I’ll wear the cloak.
“It’s not that hot,” I lie. I hate lying to her, but again, I promised Jules I wouldn’t tell her the truth until he was ready.
“Sure, it isn’t.” Shaking her head, she focuses on the sloped street ahead of us. “I know you and Jules are keeping something from me.” She pauses, giving me time to crack.
I don’t.
She heaves a frustrated sigh, then she stomps away with a growl. “Fine, keep your secrets. Some best friend you are.”
The farther she moves away from me, the more my heart twinges with guilt.
“She’ll get over it eventually,” Kylan whispers from beside me. “She’ll understand once you’re ready to tell her whatever it is you’re hiding.”
“How can you be so sure I’m hiding something?” I wonder, adjusting my hood.
“Aren’t we all?” he mumbles, looking away to the grimy windows of the stores.
He says nothing further for the rest of the trip, and Liberty makes no move to return to my side, leaving my thoughts to accompany me. And let me tell you, my thoughts are anything but comforting, focused solely on Jules and if he’s okay.
“Here we are,” Liberty announces, coming to a stop in front of what appears to be a columned mausoleum.
“This is where Legend lives?” I eyeball the crypt-like place warily.
Liberty shrugs, trotting up the stone front porch. “All vampires live in these types of places. It’s not that strange.”
I follow her to the front door and peer down at the welcome mat in front of my feet. “Maybe not, but that sure is.”
She tracks my gaze then giggles. “How very homey of Legend to have one of those.”
“Makes me almost forget that I’m about to walk
into a place that looks like it holds a dead body.”
“Technically, Legend is dead, so …”
“Huh.” I crinkle my nose. “I guess you’re right.”
“Still, he’s pretty hot for a dead dude.” She raps her knuckles on the door while Kylan lets out a mumble of incoherent words from behind us. She turns toward him with her hand poised on her hip. “Is there a problem, my muttering guard?”
He leans against a column with his arms crossed. “Not at all. I was just reminding myself that I need to take some vacation time.”
“You should visit someplace sunny when you do,” Liberty quips. “Perhaps it might brighten your sullenness a bit.”
He gives her a dirty look, which she throws right back at him.
I survey the two of them, questioning if perhaps something is going on between them. Like maybe their relationship is deeper than just a warrior and her guard.
Flashing Kylan a haughty grin, Liberty turns around and knocks on the door again. “Come on; wake your ass up and open the door.” She pounds on the door several times, then shakes her head in frustration. “Lazy vampires always sleeping through the day.” She hops off the porch and slinks down the alleyway to the side of the house.
Kylan and I trade a look, and then hurry after her, Kylan drawing his sword.
“Is that necessary?” I wonder as we blend into the shadows. “We’re under glamour right now; no one can see us.”
His eyes rove the area. “It’s too quiet here. I don’t like it.”
Now that he mentions it, the air is awfully still when only a mile ago we were surrounded by the chatter and the buzzing of magical creatures.
“The window’s open back here,” Liberty calls out from the back of the alleyway.
We quicken our pace to a jog, but by the time we reach the open window, she’s already hoisted herself into Legend’s house.
Kylan mutters a string of curses, then hoists himself into the window. Then he ducks back out, offers me his hand, and helps me climb inside. With only a single window and the lights off, the place is unnervingly dark.
“Liberty,” Kylan calls out, holding my hand as he steers us farther into the darkness.
“In here,” Liberty replies, and then a trail of light reaches us.
Kylan follows the path of light that leads straight to Liberty. She’s lit a candle and is roaming around a living room decorated with dusky furniture, candlesticks, and a collection of books.
“I checked in the bedroom, but he wasn’t in there, either,” Liberty tells us as she stops in front of an old music player. “I’m pretty sure he isn’t here.”
“But it’s daylight. Legend rarely goes out during the daylight.” I look around, searching for a sign of where he may have gone.
“He could’ve stayed at someone else’s place,” she suggests, flipping through a stack of discs.
“Yeah, maybe.” I sniff the air as the faintest scent of faded moonlight and dirt touches my nostrils. The same scent I smelled the night Jules’ father arrived at the Violet Mountain kingdom. Shit. Shit. Shit. “Does anyone else smell that?”
Liberty breathes in. “Werewolves were close by.”
I tense, my breath hitching. “Are they here now?”
She shakes her head, the candlelight flickering. “The scent’s too faded. Either they were here a while ago, or the scent drifted in from outside.”
Kylan’s tension mixes with mine, making the air grow tight.
“We should get out of here if other wolves are around,” he says. “It unsettles me.”
“Why?” Liberty wonders, setting the candle down. “We’re in the area; who cares if other wolves are?”
“Because …” He glances at me, his eyes shadows against the candlelight. Then his gaze lands back on Liberty. “That edge of dirt in the stench means that scent belongs to your father’s guards.”
“They can’t see us,” I point out. “We’re hidden by the glamour.”
“But they can smell us,” he states. Then he urges us out of the house as if death itself is chasing us.
Chapter 34
We leave in a rush. Well, Kylan and I are in a rush, but Liberty seems to intentionally drag her steps the entire way home. When we finally reach the house, I discover why.
“I know for a fact that you’re both keeping something from me.” She storms toward the stairway, but then whirls around before starting up, her long hair whipping around her. “I mean, I know my father is a sketchy werewolf, but you guys freaked the hell out when you realized his guards had been nearby.”
“Because we’re supposed to be keeping our distance from your father,” I lie, self-hatred burning in my chest.
She shakes her head, not buying my bullshit. “Fine, if you’re going to lie to me, then I’m out.” She stomps up the stairway, shaking the floor and the framed photos on the wall.
With a sigh, Kylan trudges after.
“Kylan,” I call out.
He pauses, mid-stairway, and glances back at me. “Yeah?”
I step toward him, slipping off the hood of my cloak. “I was just wondering—or well, curious—as to why you were so worried that the king’s guards were near Legend’s place.”
“Because the king isn’t a good wolf. And neither are his guards. And it’s my job as Liberty’s guard and your temporary one to keep you away from evil.”
“So, you think the king is evil?”
“I know he is.”
“Do you think …? Why do you think he was near Legend’s place?”
He shrugs. “A lot of reasons, but usually when werewolves wander into vampire territory, they’re looking for something they probably shouldn’t.”
Worry floods through my veins. What if the guards were in Legend’s house because they took Legend? But why would the king’s guards steal a vampire? A vampire who knows me?
More guilt crushes my chest. Any more, and my lungs might give out altogether.
I stay up for hours waiting for Jules, wanting to discuss what happened at Legend’s and wanting to know he’s okay. In the latest hour of the night, though, he still hasn’t returned and panic sets in.
Another hour ticks by, and the house remains silent.
Then the moonlight begins to fade from the sky, but still no Jules or Rune.
I decide to go to sleep, to see if I can find him in my dreams, but I end up sinking into nightmares, and not of the day Slate tortured me, but of Jules, locked in that castle, getting ripped apart bit by bit by his father.
And there’s nothing I can do to help him.
“Lake, sweetheart, open your eyes.” Fingers stroke lazy circles up and down my back.
I whimper as the bloody images of my nightmare continue to invade my mind.
“It’s okay.” Lips brush my cheek. “Whatever you’re dreaming about, let it go. It’s not real.” Soft kisses caress my lips, once, twice, three times.
My heart sparks to life, and my eyelids flutter open, the nightmare images evaporating into nothing more than mist.
I blink rapidly until my vision comes into focus, Jules’ violet eyes are the first thing I see.
He’s lying in the bed beside me, dressed in the same clothes as when he left. His hair is ruffled, his forehead cut, along with his cheek, but other than that, he appears unscathed.
“You’re back.” I toss the blankets off me and wrap my arms around him, rolling on top of his solid body. I knew I was worried when he didn’t return at nightfall, but I hadn’t realized how much fear possessed my mind until now. I could barely breathe while he was gone.
He folds his arms around me, burying his face in my neck. “Sorry it took me a longer than I said. We ran into a bit of an unexpected problem.”
I push back and trail my fingers along his wounds. “What happened?”
He cups his hand over mine, trapping my palm against his cheek. “We ran into a couple of my father’s guards while we were getting my mom out of that dungeon of a room.” Bitterness clips his t
one.
“Did you …? Were you able to get your mom out?”
“We were.” A lightness radiates from him. “But we had to get rid of the guards. Otherwise, my father would’ve found out sooner that my mom is gone. And the longer he’s oblivious, the better.” He swallows hard, shame eclipsing the lightness. “I feel awful that I had to kill one of them, even if my father’s guards are almost as cruel as him.”
“Was it the first time you’ve killed a wolf?”
He closes his eyes, his breaths quivering. “No, but I wish it was my last. I know it won’t be, though. Not if I want to stop my father.”
I kiss his lips, trying to soothe his guilt, and he kisses me back in desperation, flipping me onto my back. His lip rings scald my lips, his tongue branding every inch of my mouth, emotions pouring out of him. I hope it helps. I hope kissing me with such heated intensity helps him momentarily forget his grief.
The kisses feel almost endless, and part of me wouldn’t mind if they were, but eventually, he pulls away. Only slightly, though, as if not wanting to go too far.
“Did you talk to Legend?” he asks, dazed and breathless from the kiss.
I shake my head, equally as breathless. “He wasn’t home.” Then I hurry and give him a quick recap of what happened at Legend’s lair. By the time I’m finished, he’s pushing off me.
“I’m going to have some of my guards carefully search the kingdom and make sure my father hasn’t done something stupid, like kidnap Legend to find you.” He climbs off the bed and strides for the door.
I hop off the bed and hurry after him. “Wait. How would your father know I have a connection to Legend? He’s never met him.”
He pauses at the door. “If someone in the kingdom saw you with him while you were there, they might’ve told my father.”
“But I hardly spent any time with Legend while I was in the kingdom and rarely out in the open.”
“I know,” he states tightly.
“So, what does that mean?”