I FOUND HOLDEN’S CAR HIDDEN in the side of the hill with a shitload of brush all over it. I yanked each branch off with frustration. Ever since I left the cabin, I had the urge to go running back.
To beg. Beg her to forgive me.
Jesus, it was pathetic. I was pathetic.
The paint chipped off the roof as I dragged a heavy branch across it and whipped it aside. I watched it fly through the air, land hard and roll down the mountain out of control.
Like me. I felt like that branch, unable to stop the caring. Bombarded with emotions I hadn’t let myself feel in a century. Maybe it was partially because of where we were. Here in the mountains where I swore I’d never come again.
My heart sat in the pit of my stomach, no longer steady and rhythmic but all fucked up and stealing my calmness. I didn’t like leaving her. But I had no choice. The risk was too great that Adrian would find someone else to do what I had been hired for. Drake had to be taken out before that happened. And Holden and Guise were the best to keep her safe.
I was betting I had two days. Two fuckin’ days to hunt down the bastard who hurt her. I wanted nothing more than to cause destruction, but there was way more to this than I cared to admit.
I loved her. I fuckin’ cared and I loved her and I had to fix this. I couldn’t lose her.
I wanted to hold her in my arms while I slept. I wanted to watch her walk across a room toward me knowing she was mine. I wanted to be the one to make her laugh. See the flash of brilliance in her eyes as she tilted her head back and released the sound trapped inside her.
I loved her fight; the way she tried to hide it behind her soft words in the beginning and then . . . and then her smartass remarks back at me. I thought of when she purchased two rooms that first night, her tiny smirk and lift of her chin as she strode away from me. Defiant and cute.
She hadn’t been scared of my reaction. She wasn’t scared of me, but she sure as hell was terrified of Drake.
“Jesus.” I smashed both fists onto the roof of the car. I knew what I had to do. I had more connections in the underworld than anyone and it would be easy to get word to Drake that I wanted to meet him to make a deal. My reputation would make it possible. Anyone who’d heard of me knew I’d do anything for money. And I was betting on Drake knowing that. What might give me away was Drake being a Scar Reflector and able to read and feel emotions. If he discovered my feelings for Max, he’d see right through my plan.
My plan. Fuck. It was a risk . . . no, it was a high-risk that had been tapping at my mind since the moment I found out he was a vampire. I didn’t know I’d go after him until now, but I was alive because I never stopped thinking every scenario in my head. And fuck, I wanted to kill the bastard who took Max . . . no, Breanna . . . the little ten-year-old girl who saw her mother die, her entire Talde and then broke her for six years. Six fuckin’ years.
He crushed her soul until she buried every part of who she was, and that girl . . . that girl with the defiance, the fight, the strength and the gentleness that soothed all of it with her beauty. Fuck, she’d trusted me. Gave herself to me and there were no words to repair the damage I’d seen in her eyes.
Words wouldn’t repair it and I didn’t deserve another chance with her, but I’d take away the fear she tried to hide from everyone by killing Drake. I knew he was stronger than me. Fuck, he was a hybrid, an ancient who could Trace. He was alive because he was intelligent as hell and despite the Goddess killing his Ink to make him weak, he’d become strong again. Drake would never stop until he got what he wanted.
But I knew how his mind worked because I’d encountered the cruelest unsavory fuckers in this world, and there was one way he’d trust me. I’d have to become like him—a hybrid. A vampire.
I folded into the car and drove down the treacherous dirt path, and the further I went the more anxious I became. It was as if my cells were running frantically through my body searching for her . . . for Max.
I took out Holden’s cell and scrolled the contacts until I found Xamien. It did a half ring before he answered. “Holden?”
“Jasper.”
“Max okay?”
“She’s safe. For now.”
Xamien was quiet, but I could hear the tension in his breathing.
“Waleron with you?”
“Yeah and Balen. We’ve picked up the trail not far from you. The vampires who came to the airport are headed in your direction. You sure she’s safe there? We should catch up to them before they get close but—”
“Can you get away from him?” I didn’t need Waleron overhearing the conversation and Xamien was going to erupt the moment I told him.
Xamien paused, obviously already suspicious that something was going down. “Who?”
“Waleron. And you need to keep your shit together.”
“What the fuck, Jasper?” I heard the denim of his jeans as he walked. He must have put his hand over the phone as his voice became muffled as he said, “Waleron, give me five . . .” then it was clear again, “tell me.”
“I was hired to protect Max, but if things went bad and there was a chance he’d take her . . . I was hired to kill her. I didn’t know it was Drake at the time—”
“You’re dead.” Xamien’s low tone was menacing and I could tell he was barely holding on. Any second he’d hang up on me and then . . . then he’d hunt me.
“She can heal Ink, Xamien. Waleron knows. That’s why he had Adrian hire me.” I heard his sharp intake of breath and then the phone crackle, and I knew he was walking again and suspected he was going for Waleron. Shit, I would, but I wasn’t Xamien who was generally controlled and not impulsive. “Don’t do it, Xamien. Waleron did it to protect the Scars. That’s what he does. That’s who he is. If Max healed Drake’s Ink, the repercussions are too great and now . . .” Now that he was a vampire it was even worse. “Drake will try and destroy the Scars. I think we all know he wants control of the underworld. The Goddess can’t kill him because she’s his creator so we have to before he has the chance to get near Max and bring his Ink back.”
Xamien was quiet but I didn’t hear him walking anymore, and I knew he was contemplating whether to try and kill Waleron or come after me. But Xamien was also sensible and one of the most intelligent men I knew. He never acted impulsively and that was what made him an honorable Taldeburu.
“You touch her . . . your death won’t be swift.” Xamien’s voice was steady and in control, but laced with ominous truth in each word.
“I know.” And I deserved it, but I didn’t care about me. I cared about Max and I had to make certain Xamien stayed close to Waleron. “Drake and I have a few things in common. Both our Inks are dead and we are both assholes. I can convince him I want to join him in his quest for power.”
Xamien scoffed. “You want to die now? Because that’s what is going to happen. Drake will never trust you.”
I put the phone on speaker and set it down on the passenger seat when the road became tricky to navigate. “Maybe not, but I’m not waiting until Drake or someone else comes after her and . . .” Everything in me went silent. It was as if my heartbeat, my blood, my cells stopped for that one moment before she spoke. The calm before the raging storm.
“Jasper.”
The silence broke and my heart thumped and the blood rushed through my veins. “Max. What is it?”
“I don’t know. The air . . . it’s colder and . . . my hands are burning.”
I slammed on the brakes, put the gear into reverse and pressed my foot on the gas heading up the mountain. There wasn’t a road all the way, but I could make it part way back before I’d have to run. I ignored Xamien’s shouting in the phone as I spoke to Max. “Baby, get Holden and Guise.” I waited a second, nearly tangling the car around a tree. I swerved to the right, my neck cranked back to try and see where the fuck I was going. “Are they with you?”
“Yes.”
“You need to tell them. Get your blades, baby. I’m coming back.”
“He’s close,” she whispered. “My hands, they get warm when he’s near.”
Jesus. It was like a sledgehammer slammed into my chest and my breath was gone. Drake was near. How the fuck? How close was he? Could he get to her before me? “Get out of the house. Tell Guise and Holden and get out.”
I tried to spin the car around but the hood smashed into a tree and crinkled like an accordion, steam and hiss started escaping from the engine. “Fuck.” I reached over, grabbed my phone and put it to my ear. “Drake is near Holden’s. He can’t Trace, but I don’t know how many vampires he’ll have with him.” I was already out of the car and running toward the cabin as I said the last words and shoved my phone in my pocket. “Max, he can’t Trace where he hasn’t been.” But if her hands were reacting to his closeness, Jesus, he could be closer than I was.
I ran harder as I reached out to my brother. My lungs screamed for air and I pushed harder, muscles quivering, heart pumping and fear crawling through me like a slow web, suffocating me. “Get her out. Jesus, get her out of there.”
“Wasp, calm down. I’m trying to Track him and I can’t find him anywhere close.”
“Her ability won’t lie. It’s trained to heal him. Fuck, he might not be able to Trace there, but he sure as hell can use his fuckin’ legs. And if he puts one hand on her, she’s gone.”
“We’ll meet you at the river.”
I stumbled then fell to my knees and split my palm open on a jagged rock. No. This wasn’t meant to go down like this. I screamed in my head. Fuck. I got up and ran harder up the hill. I had a mile to go to reach the river.
I slid into Max’s mind and tried to control my breathing as I spoke to her. “Sunshine, you need to cover your hands. He’s a Reflector and feels your emotions. He’ll sense the healing and be able to track you easier.”
“Jasper?”
Just her saying my name with that slight quiver to her voice raised the haunting fear I’d tried to run away from since Beth. “I need you to do it right now.”
“I’m not . . . I’m not scared to die, Jasper. It’s the right thing, but . . . not you. Don’t let it be you who does it.”
Jesus Christ. Those words ripped a hole through my heart and it was as if I was bleeding out. “Fuck, baby, you’re not dying. You’re not fuckin’ dying and he isn’t getting you.”
I swallowed the bile in my throat as I thought of running through the bush toward Beth, her screaming and knowing I was already too late.
Don’t be too late.
Fuck, don’t let me be too late again.
“Okay,”
She was out of breath and I knew they were running. Holden and Guise would keep her safe. They had to.
I ran until my lungs bled, until finally, I sucked in a gasp of air and it was sprinkled with her.
“We’re at the river.”
“That’s my girl. I’m nearly there.” Because no matter what she was thinking right now, I knew she was mine. And no one would take her from me. All these years I’d easily killed, became the best at what I did . . . it was all for this. It had a purpose. I had a purpose.
To save her—Max.
I heard the swoosh of wind from a few hundred feet away to the left of me and then the distinct smell of black licorice. Shit. Vampires. They’d be on me in ten seconds.
I skidded to a stop, my breathing harsh as I looked in the direction of the river. That was when I caught a glimpse of her, blades in her hands, Holden and Guise flanking. She took a step toward me and my brother grabbed her arm, pulling her back. He knew. Of course he knew. He’d know why I’d stopped running and he’d do what needed to be done.
“Do it, Holden,” I said calmly.
“Jesus, bro.”
I was fifty yards away when the air shifted and then swooshing like a fire crackling in a tornado. “Holden. Now. I’ll hold them off as long as I can.”
Within seconds, I was surrounded.
“Jasper. No, Jasper. We can—” Max’s panicked scream echoed in my head, but I ignored it, cutting her off from my mind.
I didn’t glance back at her because I knew by now Holden and Guise would already be running with Max, whether it was willingly or not.
I counted nine vampires. I would’ve fought. And there was always a chance I’d make it out alive, but not this time. This time I had to talk my way out of it and give Max enough time to get away. Drake was on foot, so his advantage of Tracing was gone, and Holden knew this mountain like his own backyard. We both did.
“Ahhh, the famous Scar Assassin, Jasper,” a deep, raspy voice emerged out of the trees and following it could only be Drake. “And I can smell her all over you. Interesting and . . . not too good for you. She won’t like it much when I cut you into little pieces. Or maybe I’ll let her watch your body burn like I did her mother.”
The opportunity to get Drake to trust me slipped through my fingers. I sensed the possession in him, the heated rage of need swirling in the depths of his red, gleaming eyes. He didn’t like it one bit that I’d been with Max and that was what was going to kill me.