Athan

I told myself that the fury coursing through me was because of my duty as blood guard. It had nothing to do with my feelings about Ten. This overwhelming drive of possession raging was solely about the job; it wasn’t personal.

At least, that was what I’d told myself as I spotted Manson’s hand twisted in her hair. Until I drew closer, until I saw the pain in the grimace of her mouth and the fear in her eyes.

And then it all went to hell when I noticed her jeans were unbuttoned.

Oh, yeah, it all went to hell in a handbasket.

My hand squeezed where I held Manson’s throat, and the sound of his labored breathing didn’t prevent me from applying more pressure. More. More. More. Until everyone in this fucking city knew that Ten was under my protection, that she couldn’t be touched, that she was mine…

Gurgling reached ears, and then Ten’s voice, weak, but growing stronger. “Athan. Athan. Athan!”

I released Manson, who stumbled away from us, clutching his reddened throat. Ten stood in front of me, her back to the wall, her eyes wild, her chest heaving as she gulped in air. Her heart beat double-time, a pounding staccato in my brain.

Her shoulders slumped, and her face looked seconds away from crumpling. “Athan,” she said again, softly this time. Tender. And a little broken.

I reached out and gathered her to me. She wrapped her arms around my neck, her legs around my waist, and dug her fingernails in my skin like hooks. I buried my face in her neck, breathing in the scent of her blood. I cursed myself for leaving her alone, I cursed her for wandering out of her room, and most of all, I cursed this entire situation because I wanted to comfort her. In a way that wasn’t allowed. In a way that was saved only for my brother.

Fuck it all.

I began to walk, wanting to get her alone, knowing she’d want to break down in private.

Manson’s voice penetrated the fogginess of my mind. “Athan, I’m sorr—”

I whirled around to face Manson. “If she’s hurt, I swear to God, I will hunt you the fuck down and break every single bone in your body.”

Manson’s eyes went wide. “I didn’t know. She was in here unsupervised.” His face hardened. “Maybe you should be doing a better job taking care of our Sanguivita, then.”

I curled my lips back, and Ten whimpered into my neck. “I’m sorry. I had to tell him. I didn’t know how else to get him not to bite me.”

This was fucked more than I thought. By the look on several faces around us, I knew Manson wasn’t the only one who’d learned who she was.

Fuck.

“What happened here does not leave this room,” I growled, loud enough that only those immediately around us could hear. “Do not tell anyone you met our Sanguivita. The future of our clan rides on it. Do you hear me?”

Silent head bobs.

I didn’t know what else to do. Make a larger announcement and risk more people learning about her? No.

“And you.” I pointed at Manson. “If I didn’t have to take care of her right now, I’d show you just how well I’d take care of you.”

He scoffed, but shrank back at the same time. I was done with him. He wasn’t worth it, and Ten was worth everything.

I left the Gathering and strode down the hallway. After crossing the lobby, I opened up the door to her room—the one she should have stayed in—and closed it behind us.

When I tugged on Ten to get her to unwrap from me, she only clung tighter. With a heavy sigh, I crawled onto the bed and held her in my arms. Brex jumped up on the bed as if sensing her discomfort and curled up at her back.

Her body was shaking, and it wasn’t until I felt a wetness running across my neck that I realized she was crying.

It didn’t last long, and after a while, her body loosened. The shaking stopped. And then she pulled her face away from my neck, wiping at her eyes and smearing her black eyeliner.

She peered up at me, tugging on her bottom lip with her small, blunt teeth. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m so sorry.”

I brushed her hair off her face and spread it out on the pillow beneath her head. “That was not smart.”

“I know, I…I know.” She sighed heavily. “I have no excuse. I was restless and curious. I never thought I’d stumble into something like that.”

“What happened?”

She told the brief story. When she got to the part where Manson caged her against the wall and opened her jeans, the fury came back swiftly.

She must have seen it, because she placed a hand on my face. “Hey, I’m not there anymore. I’m here. Safe with you.”

I blinked, working to control myself. “You did the right thing, calling on the Sanguivita title.” Even if it made my job a lot more difficult here on out.

She shook her head. “Sure, but everything before that was the wrong thing to do. I’m sorry that happened, that I put you in that position. I hope that won’t cause problems between you and that vampire.”

“No, it’s fine. Manson likes to backtalk, but he knows his place.”

She shuddered. “I’m not sure I’ve ever been so terrified.”

I placed my fingers on her scalp and rubbed. “Are you hurt?”

She winced slightly. “He pulled my hair, so it’s a little sore. It’ll be fine tomorrow.”

It took a lot of willpower not to march out of the room, go to the Feeding Room, and rip Manson’s heart out. “We’ll stay here tonight. Get some rest. Start new tomorrow.”

She swallowed and gave me a shaky smile. “I’d like that a lot.”

I rose onto my elbows, and her face quickly morphed into fear. She gripped my shoulder. “What are you doing?”

I froze. “I was going to head back to my room.”

Something crossed her face, but it was gone in a flash. “Why? Is your…human still there?”

I frowned. “What? No.”

“So you were”—she swallowed—“done?”

“I fed and then sent her to another room before coming to yours. It wasn’t long.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh, I thought you’d…” Her voice trailed off.

Ah, she thought I’d fuck the human. Honestly, it hadn’t even crossed my mind. I’d smelled the human’s arousal while I fed but it’d done nothing for me. I’d wanted to gain my strength and get back to Ten, that was it. “I only fed, Tendra. The only reason I suggested I leave now was because I thought I’d give you privacy—”

“No,” she said firmly. “Please. If it’s okay, I want you to stay here with me. I feel safe this way.” Her voice trembled. “I just want to feel safe.”

I lay back down immediately. “Of course.”

She snuggled against me, her hands curling under her chin, her face tucked into my chest. Her back rose with a deep breath, before her exhale coasted over my skin. Within minutes she was asleep.

Half an hour ago I’d had a moaning, wet and ready human under my fangs, and I’d wanted nothing to do with her. Now I had Tendra snuggled against me, fully clothed and sleeping, and my dick was rock-hard.

I stared at the ceiling, willing my body to behave. Telling myself over and over again that protecting her was my job, and that was why this felt so right. That was why she fit me so well. I was born to protect her.

That was it. Protect. Protect. Protect.

Not touch. Not love. Certainly not that.

Never that.

I closed my eyes and focused on all my training, all I was taught.

But nothing had prepared me for Tendra Parrish. There was no manual for someone like her. And as she pressed closer to me, I knew without a doubt that I was completely out of my depth.

During the night I’d managed to extricate myself from her clutches. She must have been comfortable, because she spread out like a starfish and began to snore softly. I tried to ignore how fucking cute she was and spent time performing quiet exercises—push-ups and sit-ups. After my feeding I’d been energized, which was all the more reason it’d been good that I hadn’t let my anger get to me. In that state, so shortly after drinking fresh human blood, I could have easily killed Manson.

The human I’d fed from had asked me to stay. To fuck her. Instead, I’d sent her to the Feeding Room, which was how I found Tendra against the wall with a vampire about to feed from her.

Fuck, I was getting angry again.

By the time Ten woke, I was showered and sitting on a chair by the bed. She blinked at me a couple of times, and glanced around the room, adorably confused. She rubbed her eyes. “Where are we?”

“The private feeding rooms at Bite.”

She nodded, then muttered something about how weird it was to have a normal conversation about feeding rooms. She stretched, and I had to pry my eyes away from the strip of pale skin that showed beneath her shirt.

“Do you feel better?” I asked.

“Yeah.” She swung her legs over the side of the bed. “I slept great.” Squinting at me, she added, “Thanks for staying with me.”

“You snore.”

She scrunched her nose. “Do not.”

“Do, too.”

She stood up and smacked my shoulder with the back of her hand. “Okay, well, at least I sleep.”

I smiled at that and rose to tower over her. “We should get going.”

She waved at me. “Right, right. On the run, assassins hunting me, vampire husband waiting to drink my blood. Just a regular ol’ day for Tendra Parrish. No biggie.” Her laugh was slightly hysterical.

I touched her shoulder gently. “Look—”

“I know, I know. It’s our duty. Neither of us asked for this. I get it, okay? But I’m still adjusting to the fact that this is my life now. So excuse me if I deal with it with sarcasm.”

I didn’t care how she dealt with it. I only wanted her to know I was there for her. But all I could manage to say was, “Okay.”

She peered up at me. “Thanks.”

“Of course.”

“No, thanks. Because you could be a cold bastard. You could be a total asshole and not give a fuck about my feelings. But you do, and don’t think I don’t notice or appreciate it, okay?”

“I’ll always be here for you.”

She studied my face. “You really will, won’t you?”

I nodded. More than she could imagine. I’d die for her.

She pressed her lips into a thin line, and her fingers brushed the back of my hand. “Yeah, I guess you will.” She tilted her head. “I know we need to get going, but can you please tell me one more thing about Idris? Anything.”

Of course she’d be curious about him. I thought about what to tell her that would put her at ease. “He’s very smart. And he believes very strongly in protecting humans.” In fact, his sole focus was on defeating the Valarians. He saw them as a constant threat to us. I didn’t disagree, but I preferred to maintain things the way they’d been for hundreds of years—leaving each other alone. Idris wanted war. Sometimes I worried what he’d do once he possessed the power of Tendra’s blood.

“I feel like you’re reciting lines from his biography.” She tugged my hand until I kneeled in front of her. “Tell me something personal about him.” Her fingers slipped into mine.

I stared at our entwined hands resting in her lap, racking my brain. Idris wasn’t warm, but he was Idris. I’d said he was a good man, and I meant it.

“He’s not scared of anything,” I said slowly. “He doesn’t always think of consequences, only about fighting for what’s right. When we were younger, we got caught out in Mission at night by a group of Valarians. They had a human with them who was”—he swallowed—“mostly gone. Drained. We couldn’t save him, and it was only Zeb, Idris, and me against about a dozen Valarians. But Idris wouldn’t hear it. They must be punished, he said. He launched himself at them, and Zeb and I didn’t have a choice but to help him. It was a bloodbath, and I’m still surprised I got out of there with my head.” Tendra’s grip had tightened on my hand to the point of pain. Her face had gone a little pale, and I regretted being so honest. “Look—”

She shook her head, blond hair swaying. “Thank you. For being that honest. Is that why Wyatt seemed concerned about Idris?”

“Ten—”

“Please just tell me.”

“Yes,” I said quickly, like a Band-Aid. Fuck, even admitting it felt like treason, like I was betraying my blood. “Fear is good. It makes us question our decisions. It makes us think. My father is so proud of Idris, for his courage. But it worries me. And I’m not the only one.”

Her gaze searched my face, concern laced in every line of her face, every brief tremble of her lips. Finally, she dropped her gaze into her lap. “I see.”

“But Idris listens to me. I’m the fear he doesn’t have. Get it?”

Her smile was weak, but she nodded. “Yeah, I get it.”

I reached up and glided my hand over her cheek. Her eyes closed as I rubbed my thumb across the corner of her lips. “I won’t leave you.”

She nodded, pulling her lips between her teeth before releasing them. “Thank you.” Her eyes were a little glassy when she shook herself and pulled her hair into a ponytail. She picked up Brex and with a murmured apology, zipped him into the duffel. Plastering a smile on her face, she said, “Okay, well, I’m ready. Let’s do this.” I led her out of the room, holding her hand, and didn’t let go until we were once again alone in another underground tunnel.

We had to get out of this city.

Tendra

The conversation we had that morning about Idris nagged me all day as we made our way underground toward the outskirts of Mission. Athan’s face was hard, his hand gripping my tote tightly, which bowed under Brex’s weight.

We’d eaten the last of our provisions a couple of hours ago, and I wasn’t sure how to bring it up to Athan that I needed food. For myself and Brex.

After another hour of walking in silence, my stomach started to roll, so I was out of time. “Um…” I began.

Athan’s eyes cut to me.

Right, he wasn’t in the best of moods. Well, me, either. I placed my hand on my stomach. “I need to eat soon. And so does Brex.”

He cursed, his deep voice echoing down the abandoned subway tunnel. “I had this entire mission planned out, until the Valarians acted first and I had to rush. I’d planned to have enough food for you. I wanted to keep you a secret…” He blew out a breath. “Fuck.”

I suddenly wished I was a vampire and didn’t need to eat food.

“We aren’t near any apartments, and it’ll be several more hours before we reach some.” He jerked his head to the side, and we changed direction, making our way toward a metal door. “We’ll head up to the streets here. We have some more time before sunup. I’ll get you food. You stay put with Brex, understood?”

His tone brooked no arguments and after what I pulled at the club, I was all about obeying. “Understood.”

When we reached street level, the sky was still pitch-black, the moonlight streaky from behind clouds. We stood on a small platform at the top of a set of stairs, a dim bulb above us. Athan opened the port, and through it, I glimpsed a dark warehouse.

I picked Brex out of the bag and held him in my lap. He purred under my hands. “Can I wait for you out in the warehouse?”

Athan’s head was bent as he relaxed his shoulders and slicked back his hair. “No. I want you to wait right here for me.”

“Why?”

He turned his head to face me, dark eyes glittering. “Because Quellen, like vampires, are allergic to the sun. So when do you think they are out?”

I swallowed. “Now.”

“Yeah, and you aren’t the only job they’re working, I’m sure. So they’ll be around. Plus, they have human spies they work with.”

I looked down the dark stairs. “Okay but…I feel trapped here. What if something happens to you?”

He sighed, studying my face for a moment before pulling my mother’s necklace from a pocket in his coat. He slipped it over my head, carefully pulled my hair out of the chain, and then turned it so the medallion was facing out on my chest. He bent his head. “I’m going to close the port when I leave. If you need to open it, just rub that medallion, okay?”

“That’s it?”

“That’s it. But Tendra, this is only for an emergency, do you understand? You’re safe in here.” He pointed to the ground. “Out there? I’m not so sure.”

I swallowed. “Okay.”

“If something happens during this trip and we get separated, stay hidden until daylight. Then meet me at the next dusk behind the Mission Clock.”

The Mission Clock was one of the few attractive landmarks this city had. A fifty-foot-tall iron clock that sent the ring of clanging bells across the city every hour. “Please tell me we won’t be separated.”

He sighed heavily. “Not in the habit of making many promises.”

I pressed my lips together. “Right.”

Athan stepped through the port and then turned around to face me squarely. He was barely visible through the closing port. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. Be smart, Ten. Follow your instincts.”

His don’t wander like last time warning was implied. “I will. Good luck.”

I caught the flash of a smile, then he was gone, and in front of me was nothing but a solid door.

I sat down against the wall in the short foyer at the top of the stairs, Brex in my arms. I had found a few random treats rattling around in the bottom of my bag, and I held them in my hand as he ate.

I leaned my head back, closing my eyes, while Brex took a bath in my lap. I was dozing off when he froze. I glanced at him, blinking the sleep away, as he stared down the stairs. Voices echoed in the corridor below us, but they sounded far away. Athan had said there weren’t apartments around, but that didn’t mean vampires wouldn’t be using them to travel.

“It’s okay, Brex,” I said, patting his head. But he remained tense and his little heart pounded against my leg. “Brex?”

He leaped off my lap and scratched at the door, his little paws a blur as he tried to tunnel through concrete. I tugged him away. “What the hell is wrong with you, buddy?” He was a little tornado wriggling out of my hands, arching his back and hissing, and generally acting like a lunatic.

Follow your instincts, Athan had said. Was Brex an instinct? Something was telling him that staying put was dangerous. The voices drew closer, and I determined maybe three distinct voices. Two female and a male.

Brex was once again at the door, frantic to get out. I stood up, glancing down the stairs, then back at Brex, paralyzed about what to do. Stay put? Or follow Brex?

Then a laugh echoed up the stairs, drawing closer. And something about it chilled me. A word was hissed.

Sanguivita.

I got the fuck out of there. I wasn’t going to stay and wait for that laugh to get closer, to see the lips that spoke that word with contempt. Picking up Brex with one arm, I rubbed my necklace frantically, hoping like hell this wasn’t some placebo Athan had given me just to make me feel better. But nope, the wall went rippling and translucent. With a leap, Brex and I burst through the port and sprinted into the warehouse. I dropped him at my feet as I ran, and he took off ahead of me. I veered to the left to follow him, barely able to keep up, but having nothing else to trust but this feline and his instincts. He took me into a corner of the warehouse and dashed behind a Dumpster.

I didn’t want to know how long this Dumpster had been there without anyone tending to it, because it reeked. “Seriously, Brex?” I whispered, but huddled beside him anyway. I peered through a crack between the side of the rusted metal and the wall.

Thirty seconds later the solid concrete of the door began to ripple and out stepped two female vampires in knee-high boots—one wearing a red corset with skin-tight pants and the other with long white hair—and a large male vampire wearing a floor-length coat.

Brex was motionless, and I placed a hand on his back.

“Where is she?” said the white-haired female vampire. “Gin said she was here a minute ago.”

The male vampire lifted his nose in the air. Oh, fuck, he was scenting for me. I hoped the Dumpster masked my scent. “I smell her, but it’s faint. How long until Athan gets back?”

Corset vampire held up her phone, the display illuminating her face. “Gin said he’s on his way back.”

“Fuck,” the male said. “Quellen are meeting us here in minutes. If we don’t have her, we lose the money.”

The male vampire looked familiar, and the longer I squinted at him, the more I was pretty sure he was one of the vampires from the Feeding Room. He must have heard me say who I was. And now he was willing to sell me out? Fuck that guy. Athan was going to be pissed when he found out his own clan was selling out their Sanguivita.

“We’ll never get her once Athan is back,” he said.

Corset rolled her eyes. “Yeah, we all know you wouldn’t lift a finger to fight, even for five million.”

Five million?

How the hell were we going to get out of this city with five million dollars on my head?

“Fight Athan Gregorie? Are you crazy?” he scoffed. “I can’t use five million if I’m dead, Para.”

Para. I remembered that name. Wyatt’s ex-girlfriend, the one Athan said he’d watch. She wrinkled her nose and waved her arms. “All right, well, let’s fan out and see if she’s in here somewhere. I can’t imagine she’s gone far. Athan would have told her to stay put.”

Shit, shit. This hiding place wouldn’t last, not for long. The white-haired female vampire ascended a flight of stairs to the loft, her hand on the railing as she craned her neck to see the platform above her.

The male vampire took off in the opposite direction.

And Para? Para was heading right toward me. She walked with careful steps, avoiding trash and broken glass, her boot heels clicking on the concrete. “Look, human,” she said, squinting into shadows. “There’s really no incentive for you to come out. There’s no mercy here. Either way, you die. Although…we can ask the Quellen to make it slow, or quick. There is a way to drain your blood, which is all agony rather than pleasure. And I can always eat.” She opened her mouth on a cackle. That laugh. That’d been the one that chilled me. Para was not a friend to humans. And she was a traitor to the Gregorie clan.

I had to get out of here, which wasn’t ideal, but there was no way I could stay in this warehouse undetected.

Glancing out the windows, I began to see a small sliver of yellow and pink warming the horizon. The sun would be up soon. My salvation. All I had to do was make it to sunrise.

My heart beat like a drum in my chest, and I couldn’t understand how these vampires didn’t hear it, how it wasn’t deafening in their ears like it was in mine. My hand gripping Brex’s fur was damp, and a bead of nervous sweat perched at the end of my nose. I wiped my face and carefully tucked a pliant Brex into my duffel, apologizing silently. He’d saved me. Hands down, I’d be in the clutches of that Para right now if it wasn’t for him.

Fuck, I missed Athan. If he was here, he’d know what to do. All I had now was the plan, make it to sunlight, then meet him at dusk. No problem. Totally easy when I had three vampires on my tail and Quellen on the way.

I didn’t want to think about how crazy Athan would be when he got back and realized I was missing. All over food. Fuck food. I’d throw it all up right now anyway.

I looped the strap of the duffel over my arm and rose to a crouch. Para was close now, but she’d taken a small detour down a hallway to my left.

It was now or never. I squeezed my eyes shut, and mouthed the words, “Watch over me, Mom.”

And then I took off at a dead sprint.

Vampires were faster than me, and this was risky as hell, but the sun was beginning to peek over the city buildings in Mission. As soon as my sneakers squeaked on the concrete, I heard a screech and a roar, and then the thunder of footsteps.

I ran like I had the devil on my heels because I fucking did. Three devils actually. I didn’t look over my shoulder. I didn’t let myself feel their icy breaths breathing down my neck.

I ran.

Over crates, which I pushed over behind me to slow down my pursuers. Between barrels of foul-smelling liquid. I focused on a wooden door at the end of the warehouse, the one I could see sunlight seeping through. The one that was already mostly broken. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the pale face of a Quellen as he descended from a rafter, landing on the ground with a thud, his mouth open in a black grimace. He raced toward me, aiming to cut me off, to block me from that door, which was my freedom.

Sunlight.

It was the only goddamn superpower I had.

I dug in, pumping my arms, running harder. As I neared the door, the Quellen leaped, and with a scream, so did I. I braced for the midair impact with his body, for his grasping hands, for him to block my only hope, my only way out of this mess. I closed my eyes and crossed my arms in front of my face to protect it.

Something wrapped in my hair, tugging, and pain shot through my scalp. The splintering of wood reached my ears as my body collided with a solid panel that gave way beneath my weight. I hit the hard ground, cradling the duffel to my chest, and when my body finally stopped rolling, I opened my eyes and blinked into the first rays of the morning sun.

I glanced back at the door I’d just crashed through to hear a hiss and see a smoking hand retreat back into darkness.

I was in a back alley, with a faded newspaper for a pillow and another lovely Dumpster as my ambience. I fell on my back, my chest heaving as I sucked in as much oxygen as I could. With a weak hand, I unzipped the duffel I’d tried to protect. Brex ventured out looking a little worse for wear. I closed my eyes as his sandpaper tongue scraped across my face. It wasn’t until he concentrated his attention around my eyes that I realized I was crying.

I knew I didn’t have time to lie here. Right now they were surely rounding up their human spies to come get me. So I gave myself five minutes to rest, until a commuter walked by and stared down at me in confusion. Then I got up, took a deep breath with my head held high, and began to walk.

I had things to do before dusk.