Chapter Eighteen
Standing behind Ricard, Jessie curled her hands around his biceps, feeling the muscles taught beneath her palms. She knew in that moment with two vampires about to fight she should be terrified and probably run from the room, screaming for help.
But she could not leave Ricard. Something told her she needed to stay, that he needed her now more than she understood.
“I am sorry for what happened, Ricard, but you must move beyond,” Rafe said.
“You are blood of his blood. Twice created by him. I can no more forgive and move beyond than I can live on the sun.” Anger vibrated off Ricard with an intensity that nearly made it impossible to touch him.
“I am not my father. Nor is Gabe.”
“Apples and trees.”
Jessie peered around Ricard’s arm to see Serge leaning against the wall, arms folded over his chest. Rafe stood on the opposite side of the table. Like Ricard, he too, had clenched fists and fangs.
“You blame us, but we were not there that night.” Rafe tilted his head from one side to the other, cracking his neck and drawing attention to the pulsing tattoo on his skin. The sound made Jessie queasy. “We were not even vampires at that time.”
“History always repeats itself. But not this time. Not again. I will not allow you to take what matters most to me.” Hatred and anger flared around Ricard.
Rafe responded with a grunt and a flash of his fangs.
Then, as if traveling through some hidden tunnel between them, fear wove its way into Jessie’s heart. As clear as she was standing in this room she knew it was not her own. Logically, she should have been afraid, and she did feel a level of fear, but this was not her own. This new sensation was separate of her. It was apart from any personal feeling she had.
Pushing down deeper as though to get away, it grew stronger rather than subsiding. Jessie recognized it at once. Ricard’s deepest worry was laid bare between them, and no matter how he tried, he could not hide it from her.
The cold and lonely chill burrowed further, yet went nowhere.
“Ricard?” Jessie whispered, wanting to keep her voice soft and low so as not to fuel either man any further. “What happened?”
When Ricard turned to look at her, his eyes, redder than before, glistened. He opened his mouth but said nothing. Then shook his head.
“My father killed his mate,” Rafe said.
“He stole her, tortured, then killed her.” Ricard’s words were laced with hatred. “My world and all that I cherished died that night.”
Jessie’s heart broke for the man she loved. She knew it was not simply sympathy for his heartache that caused her tears to flow, but that they had been thrust into this situation.
“You have been given a gift,” Rafe said.
“A gift you dare to steal,” Ricard shouted.
“I have a mate, one I value above all else. Gabriele has a mate. Neither of us has any intention of hurting Jessie. We would protect her for you just as you would defend ours.”
“Words. Hollow words.” Ricard’s voice echoed in the lab.
“Hollow?” Rafe roared. “Do you not recall that I, too, am a victim of my father? He turned me. My father killed me and made me a vampire. He killed my mother. He caused me to kill my own fiancée. I am not my father.”
“So easy for the great Rafe to throw around words.” Ricard growled.
“You truly believe I would hurt Jessie?” Rafe said.
“His hideous bloodline lives on through you and Gabe, Aurelia, and whoever else.”
Rafe tossed the table aside. “There are no others.”
“We all know Tyrone has built serum from Gabe’s blood. Who knows how many revenants are from your bloodline? How many people have you to thank for their disastrous lives?” Ricard stepped toward Rafe. From his pocket he drew a dagger with such speed Jessie nearly missed the action. “If you think I’m taking any chance with Jessica’s life around you, you’re crazy. You’ll die first.”
From the corner of Jessie’s eye she saw two dogs scurry around a corner.
“I’ll have my vengeance on the Barones. I will not rest until you pay.”
“Ricard, you do not mean what you say.” Serge finally spoke, and his words served only to intensify Ricard’s anger.
“Don’t tell me what I mean. You’ve never—”
“Think before you speak further,” Serge said.
Jessie reached for her mate, resting her hand on his shoulder. She wished they were alone so she could hold him and try to make him forget his pain. “Ricard, look at me.”
She turned his chin toward her, forcing him to focus on her. “Trust in me. Nothing will happen.”
“You do not understand,” he said as his eyes filled with tears. “You should never understand.”
Jessie held Ricard’s face in her palms. “You’re right. I don’t know all that’s happened, but I know with every part of me that nothing is going to happen. Nothing will take me from you.” Gently smoothing away the few tears to escape down Ricard’s cheeks, she continued. “Rafe has been nothing but kind, and his love for Maddie is so clear and true. He doesn’t have it in him to hurt another man’s love.”
Lines appeared in Ricard’s forehead and his breathing slowed. Jessie felt him work to calm the agitation coursing through his body. At that moment she knew she’d have done anything in her power to comfort this man.
If Raymond Tyrone had never turned to such devious behavior none of this would have happened. Joshua would still be alive. Her parents would probably both still be here. The entire city would never have suffered. There would be no reason for any vampire to try to use his influence to unlock secrets hidden in her mind.
Ricard dropped the dagger and cupped his hand against her head, slipping his fingers into the soft curls. “I cannot lose you.”