CARLYLE

I startled awake in my bedroom, my eyes bleary with confusion. The room was dark around me, and I glimpsed the night sky through a gap in the curtains. I was naked beneath my blanket, my hair a snarl of tangles. It took me several minutes to surround myself with enough memories to feel real again.

I’d siphoned to get Killian’s car and made a mess of myself and the team. I’d made up with Sol - holy hell, had we ever made up - and I thought I’d made up with Killian.

That left Jai and Dair. My stomach flipped thinking of how I’d hung up on the mage, and how our vampire leader had sped away like he couldn’t even take being around me.

I slid out of bed and shimmied into some leggings and a loose shirt. I had more work to do. Hopefully, Jai would be awake like he usually was at night, and I could talk to him without the drama of the others.

Padding down the stairs, I crept through the dark, quiet house.

My instincts were right - I found the soft blue glow of a computer screen on the living room coffee table, with my broody vampire sitting on the floor next to it again. His fingers tapped quietly over the keys.

I was so intent on Jai that Kana’s sudden movement from a chair by the window startled a cry from me.

“Hey, sleeping beauty,” she said, her voice light. “Heard you made up with Sol. Whole house heard, actually.”

Ah, fuck. I could feel my skin heat at her admission that everyone knew about our sexy times. She stood and brushed past me, pinching my cheek gently as she went.

“Qilin get what Qilin want,” she whispered in my ear before heading out the door. I glanced after her, then back to Jai, who was still staring down at his computer. He’d stopped typing, though.

I stepped closer, lowering myself to the floor a few feet away. I felt uncertain - I didn’t know if I was welcome here or not. I didn’t like that feeling at all.

Jai gave me nothing to go on, though. He didn’t move or look at me. Just waited until I got uncomfortable enough to start babbling.

“I, ah, I didn’t mean to mess up like that. And I’m sorry for what I said. I’m not going to find another team. I want you.”

His eyes flashed to mine so fast I startled. “I want all of you - this team is like family to me,” I rambled on. His eyes narrowed. Shit. I was saying the wrong things. I wracked my brain. “All my life I’ve wished for family and gotten foes instead. Now I have the potential for a family, but I don’t know how to trust you guys. I’m afraid I’m messing everything up,” I finished, my voice trailing away into the silence.

Jai let out the softest edge of a sigh and leaned back into the side of the couch behind him. “There’s a reason I’m in charge of this team, Carlyle. It’s not what you think, either.”

I waited. I didn’t know what I thought. I’d assumed he was the best at enough things, and alpha enough, or maybe even just experienced enough.

“I want to tell you, but you aren’t ready,” he continued. It felt like a test.

I tried not to fail it, but my hackles were up. “I’m ready for whatever you give me,” I insisted.

He smiled, and a chill ran down my spine. It was a cold, nearly cruel smile, but it set me on fire. I felt my pussy clench with desire at the memory of his single, brief kiss earlier. “No, you are not ready. I hope that one day, you will be.”

When Jai met my eyes, I wasn’t prepared for what I saw there. I stared into the black pools of his irises way too long, watching them dilate until the darkness filled every bit of his eye, from lid to lid.

“What the fuck,” I whispered. This was next-level demon shit, not vampires.

He blinked, and the extra darkness drained away.

“What was that?” I demanded, but only shook his head.

“I’ll tell you my secrets,” he murmured, turning back to his screen. “In due time. You’re not the only one with trust issues,” he added, and the tiniest edge of a smirk tugged at his lips. I grinned, knowing even that much was a victory.

“So, I’m off the hook for today?” I asked, challenging Jai.

He nodded. “You’re on your own with Dair, though,” he warned.

I ignored the twist of anxiety in my chest. Hopefully, by the time Dair got back, he’d have cooled off a bit. Maybe we’d all be too distracted with Toro, too. “Am I free to come and go when I want, then?” I decided I might as well get it all out there.

“I would never try to keep a Qilin prisoner against her will,” Jai answered, his voice casual, his attention still intent on the screen before him.

“Why?” I asked.

“Your need for freedom is a Qilin trait,” he said.

“It’s an everyone trait,” I countered, though I wondered if perhaps LuAnn had known more than she ever let on. She’d always been careful to tell me I was free to go at any time, though we’d both known we were safer together.

“Still. I will not stop you if you intend to leave. If your actions endanger our team, though, I will be forced to treat you as any other rogue Haretian.” This time he met my eyes, and the chill that sliced through my body had nothing to do with desire. Jai would end anyone who was a threat - even me. That much was crystal clear.

“Yes, boss,” I said, the submissive words slipping out before I could think better of them. I bit my lip, hoping he didn’t see it as a taunt to his leadership.

Ah. Fuck me. No, he definitely didn’t see it as a taunt. His gaze grew predatory, and a glint of fang flashed in the darkness of the room.

“I like it when you call me boss,” he said, his voice rough. “But you’re still not ready.”

The breath I drew in was shaky and ragged, and I had to agree.

“Go to bed, Qilin,” he said, his voice soft as velvet. His words seemed to force me to my feet without my brain needing any input. As I glided up the stairs and slipped beneath the covers again, I wondered if there was any truth to the Hollywood idea of compulsion.

Something about tonight made me think they’d gotten that part right.

––––––––

KILLIAN

As soon as Carlyle was safely out of the room, I stepped in. Jai glanced up, barely acknowledging me. He’d have known I was coming, naturally. He heard everything, between his vampire senses and freaky mind magic.

“You knew,” I began, the accusation rougher than I’d intended. Kana had denied any knowledge of Carlyle’s plans when I’d questioned her a few hours before, but she was still young in her magic, and too trusting. She wasn’t as powerful as her brother.

“Of course,” Jai agreed, as though it were no big deal.

A grim satisfaction at being right settled in my chest. Of all the fuckin’ things to be right about, though.

“An’ you dinna warn us? Dinna stop her?” My accent had grown thick with anger, and I tried to rein it in as he scowled up at me.

“She must develop her magic as well as her nature. I’m testing her as much as she is testing herself. She helped you, did she not? Just as she wanted to help Jack after he’d wronged her.”

“What if she had na made it?” I ground out. Test her, sure. But be fuckin’ sure she didn’t fail and bring us crashing into hell with her.

“I may have miscalculated,” Jai admitted, and I blinked at him. It was rare for our leader to admit to a mistake.

It was fuckin’ rarer for him to actually make one.

I debated pushing him a little closer to the edge - I wanted to know why he’d refused to heal her. I had my suspicions, of course, but something broken in me pulsed for the camaraderie of another broken thing.

Jai met my eyes as he rose, staring me down in a demand for submission. Despite my height and muscle advantage, he had the power. His slight form seemed to expand and spread before my eyes, until his darkness filled the room like liquid. I felt my body buckle and kneel before him.

“Do not question my intentions, fae,” he said, his voice more inside my head than out of it. His grip on my mind wasn’t painful like what the Ringmaster had done, but its icy hold was no less effective.

He bent to retrieve his computer and strode from the room. Just as he slipped out the door, he added, “Think carefully about how much longer you choose to deny her your Second Sight, as well. She needs your magic more than you need your pride.”

My body slumped against the floor as he released his hold on me, and I dragged myself onto the couch, my muscles shaking with the needle-like pain of recovering from his frostbite.

I knew he was right - it was time for me to give in. Fuck if I had any idea how to even begin with that girl, though.