20. Lucien

I eye another person as they walk into the shop. Kieran has a night off tomorrow, and it is then that we plan to investigate the tube station near his flat. I am still not sold on the entire idea. There have been no signs of the old vampire aside from what Adam and Sam sensed outside the building. I trust they sensed what they said they did, but with distance between now and then, I wonder if we may have overblown its significance.

Adam is out hunting with Njáll tonight. He worries for me. We have not spoken about Kieran, but I can see it in Adam's eyes. He worries I am making the same mistakes I did with Nathan.

I do not know how to explain to him that it is not the same at all. That, although I felt as though Kieran's kiss would devour me, I have also never felt safer than I did in that moment. He was between me and the world, and there is no universe where he would have let the world get to me.

I shake my head at the whimsical direction of my thoughts, carefully folding the paper in my hands. I know better, and besides, I need to focus. Just because we have a plan to try to find Tristan, it does not mean he is not nearby, preparing to strike.

Kieran passes in front of the windows, turning his head to look upon the spot I am occupying. My chest warms when our eyes meet—even if I am not sure that he can see me through the darkness. I have never felt so connected to another person so quickly. There is something—

My phone buzzes in my pocket and I frown, moving deeper into the alley as I pull it out. Njáll. I swallow down my fear as I answer.

"Chieftain."

"Lucien, you need to get here now."

"What has happened?"

"Tristan found us. He attacked—" He pauses. "He attacked Adam."

My heart drops into my stomach. I throw a hand out to catch myself against the wall as my entire world spins on its axis.

"He—"

"He's alive. For now. We're in Hyde Park. Get here, Lucien."

He hangs up and I swallow down the fear, the impotent fury that swirls through me. I need to—

I need to tell Kieran. There is still an hour before he finishes his shift, but I must arrange for someone else to walk him home. I call for a car—Hyde Park is a distance away, and I do not trust myself to run, not right now—and then make my way into the shop.

Carey is standing behind the till, and she frowns at whatever she sees on my face, pointing down one of the aisles. Kieran is talking to an older man, his supervisor, I think, but his expression shifts to one of alarm when he sees me.

"Lucien?"

"I-I have to go. Something has happened to Adam."

Kieran's arms come around me, his whole body stiffening as he processes my words. "Yeah, okay. We'll go."

I lift my head. "We—What?"

He turns to his supervisor, who stutters out a feeble protest in the face of Kieran's glare.

"We've got it," Carey calls from the front of the shop and Kieran squeezes my hand before he darts away, returning a few moments later with his backpack and jacket.

"Is there a car on the way?" he asks.

"Yes. Kieran, you do not have to—"

The look he gives me is fierce and worried. "I'm coming," he says.

He calls Sam as we wait at the kerb. "Adam's injured. Can you meet us there?"

I do not hear Sam's words, but Kieran looks up at me again. He has not let go of my hand, and I think it is the only thing grounding me right now. "Where are they?"

"Hyde Park." My brain finally catches up and I fumble out my own phone as the car pulls up. Elle answers immediately and Kieran ushers me into the car, taking care of my seatbelt as I ask her to meet us, too.

All I can do is replay the panic in Njáll's voice. I have never heard him like that before. And if Adam is alive… I do not understand. If he is alive, then he should be able to heal.

"It'll be okay," Kieran murmurs when I put my phone away. The driver understands the need for haste, weaving through late-night traffic in a way that makes me grip Kieran's hand tighter.

"I do not understand," I finally say aloud. "Njáll said he is alive. Alive but injured, but…"

What is there that can harm a vampire? Not kill us for good, but make us teeter on that edge and then tip over?

Kieran pushes the car door open before we have completely stopped, and I am fast on his heels. Njáll waits for us by the gates to the park, his face pinched and pale.

"Lucien…"

"Where is he?" Now that we are closer, I can feel the bond that still exists between us. It is faint, as a sire-turn bond of its age should be, but it flares at my presence, at the knowledge that I am close by when Adam is so terribly injured.

Bile rises in the back of my throat. The bond should be faint, but if it were not, I would have known sooner.

"This way." We follow Njáll into the park and I am aware of Kieran asking questions and Njáll responding with gruff, terse replies. I cannot focus on them. I must set my eyes on Adam.

They have moved him onto a bench, and I come to a complete stop when I see him. Already pale in life, his skin is almost alabaster as a vampire, except now it holds no colour at all. His freckles stand out in stark contrast, and with his eyes closed, I fear for a moment that he is truly gone.

My gaze moves to his throat. The bite mark catches my attention, but something about it makes me frown.

It is still bleeding.

A hunter kneels next to him, pressing gauze to the wound, and her eyes widen in surprise when she sees me.

"It should've closed by now," she says.

She is not wrong. Our bite is designed to heal once we remove our fangs, with properties in our saliva helping to speed the process along. So long as the wound is neat and we do not take too much blood, every feeding is survivable.

Adam's eyelids flutter as though he is trying to claw his way back to consciousness, and I let out a choked sob.

"We'll fix it," Kieran murmurs. His hand is tight around mine.

A shout from behind makes me turn, and I see Sam striding up the path towards us, Elle and her team on his heels. Elle is not the one who shouted—I think it might have been Naomi—but her eyes drop to Kieran's and my clasped hands before she looks past me and at Adam.

"He—"

"They used magic," Sam says, and everybody goes still.

Njáll is the first to recover, crossing his big arms over his chest. "I don't know who you are, but this—"

"He's with me," Kieran says and turns to Sam fully. "Can you help him?"

"Yeah." Sam eyes the hunters warily and squares his shoulders before he moves past us and towards Adam. The hunter kneeling next to him only moves when Naomi jerks her head. Thistle, Arty, and Nora are with her, and all three look as concerned as I feel.

"Don't know what you're all standing around for," Sam says almost under his breath as he examines the wound. "Tristan didn't teleport out of here today."

"What?" Njáll takes a step forward. "What are you talking about?"

Sam sighs. He's squatting next to Adam and puts his hands on his bare knees to keep his balance as he looks up at Njáll. "There's not enough magic left in the air for him to have teleported out of here. Not unless he legged it a couple of miles first. You should go look for him."

Njáll's face goes red. Kieran squeezes my hand before he lets go, moving to stand by Adam and Sam. I look at Njáll.

"Can the hunters look, while we…" I trail off. Can Sam really heal him? I want to believe him, and Kieran too, but what if he cannot?

Njáll nods once. Naomi is already moving, and she calls all the hunters to her before she sends them out in different directions. Nora goes with Arty, and Thistle pairs with a hunter I do not know. Naomi remains behind, her eyes narrowed as she watches Sam work.

My eyes flit between Sam and Adam and Kieran, and I see the moment Kieran shivers. I bitterly hate, for the first time, that I cannot sense magic the way he can. Sam holds a hand over Adam's wound, eyes moving over something none of the rest of us can see.

"Must've put it on his teeth," he mutters.

Kieran tilts his head to one side. He is still, but that stillness is all coiled muscle, as though he is certain Tristan will burst out of the shadows at any moment.

I do not know how long we wait there. Elle holds my arm when Adam groans, the sound soaked in pain. Sam puts his free hand on the centre of Adam's chest.

"Yeah, I've got you."

All at once, the tension leeches out of him, and Sam tumbles back to sit on the path. Sweat beads along his hairline, and he is breathing hard. The wound is not closed, not fully, but it is healed around the edges and is no longer bleeding. Sam scrubs his hands over his face.

"It's done?" Kieran asks. He examines Adam's pale face and then extends a hand to help Sam up.

Sam nods. He stands, and the hoodie he is wearing falls mid-thigh. When he shivers, I do not know if it is from the cold or from exhaustion.

Exhaustion, I think, when he turns to face us. He eyes Naomi for a long moment before he looks up at Kieran. It is like they are having a conversation none of the rest of us can hear, but Kieran nods and Sam sighs.

"Whatever mage Tristan's working with put a curse on his teeth. The next person he bit would be left with a wound that wouldn't heal."

Naomi takes a step forward and Kieran does too, putting himself between her and Sam. "You broke a curse?"

Sam shrugs. "It usually just takes time. It was meant to be slow-acting." His eyes flick to me for a second, then back to her. "Meant to make him suffer."

I swallow down the sound that threatens to rise in my throat.

"Tristan was pissed off when he saw Adam outside the club," Kieran says with a sigh. "Fuck."

"So your little stunt caused this," Elle says.

Kieran nods once, the tips of his ears going pink. "Yeah, I think so. The mage wasn't with him tonight, though?"

"I don't think so," Sam replies. "She could've set the curse hours ago. Days, even. So long as Tristan didn't bite anyone in the meantime, it'd remain."

"It can only be used once?"

Sam bites his lip. "I'm speculating. But I think so. I couldn't see anything in the curse that suggested it would last longer than that."

Kieran frowns. He looks as confused as I feel.

Adam groans again. This time, it sounds less pained. I move closer, Kieran stepping aside wordlessly to let me, and Adam's eyes flutter open. They are bright, with his face so pale, and he reaches up to touch the still-healing wound on his throat.

I catch his hand. "You were injured."

"Tristan," he growls. He gasps in pain, and his eyes glow. "Hungry."

"Shit," Sam mutters. "I didn't think of that."

Naomi is already moving. She is the only human left with us, the other hunters scattered through the park. "I can—"

"No!" We all look at Sam, who shakes his head. "I'll do it."

All of Adam's attention narrows in on Sam, on the prospect of food. Kieran catches Sam's arm.

"You're sure?" he says. His voice is quiet, but he has to know we can all hear him. My chest twists unpleasantly. Adam will not take more than Sam can give. Even if he is at the edge of his control because of his injuries, there are enough of us here that Sam will not be hurt.

Sam gives Kieran a soft smile. "Yeah, I've got it."

Kieran scowls, but he nods and steps back. Sam crouches next to Adam again. "Listen," he says, making sure he has Adam's attention. "This is gonna be weird, okay?"

"What—" Adam snaps out of his hunger for a moment, the glow receding to show the usual vivid green of his eyes. "You don't have to—"

"I know. I'm offering. But there's magic in my blood." Sam darts the quickest of looks out of his periphery, towards the hunters, and Kieran's shoulders go tight again. "Enough that it's gonna make you feel a little strange."

"Strange how?" I ask because I can see Adam falling back into his hunger again.

Sam acknowledges me with a glance but speaks to Adam again when he replies. "Hard to say. It'll probably make you feel similar to being drunk, if you remember that."

Adam huffs out a laugh. Sam shifts and Adam's eyes move to his throat, that glow returning.

"I remember," he says faintly.

"Good." Sam moves closer again, rolling up one arm of the hoodie. "When I tell you to stop, you stop. If you don't, I'll make you, and it's going to hurt."

Adam flashes a grin. "Got it."

Sam rolls his eyes. He mutters something to himself before he extends his arm, his slim wrist before Adam's face. "Go on, then."

Kieran clenches his hands into fists as Adam leans forward. He hesitates for a second, eyes flicking between Sam's wrist and his face, but Sam only looks back at him, waiting patiently.

He doesn't make a sound as Adam bites down. Kieran goes pale. When I look at them, Njáll and Elle are watching Adam as closely as I have been, but Naomi's gaze is fixed firmly on Sam.

Colour begins to return to Adam's cheeks and some of the tension, the fear that has plagued me since I first received Njáll's call, finally leaves my body.

Sam shifts slightly. "That's enough," he says. His voice is soft, as though it is only meant for the two of them.

There is a second where nothing changes and the bond that exists between Adam and me thrums. I can pull him back, should I need to. This close, with Adam hurt… We are not supposed to use our bonds this way, but I will protect Sam.

Adam lifts his head, fangs sliding free of the small, neat wounds he has made, and licks over the mark he has left behind.

Sam shivers. Adam's eyes move to his face, suddenly gone dark, but Sam tugs his arm free from Adam's grip and stands before he speaks again.

"How're you feeling?"

Adam stares up at him. The wound in his throat is almost entirely gone. "Good."

Sam nods. "It should wear off in a few hours."

"What should?" Elle asks, taking a step forward. She manages a tight smile when Adam looks at her, and I see the shadows still haunting her eyes.

We almost lost him tonight.

Adam sways where he sits and giggles. "I feel funny."

Sam snorts. He tugs the arm of the hoodie down and moves over to Kieran, keeping a distance between himself and Naomi, who is still watching him. "That."

Adam goes to stand, so I help him to his feet, faintly amused when he lolls against me. He looks up into my face and then Elle's, expression delighted for a moment before it shifts into a pout. "He got away."

His eyes flare gold as he glances around, and I look at Sam, but he does not seem concerned. Perhaps it is just the magic in his blood working its way through Adam's system.

"Yeah, he did," Kieran replies. "But you're alive."

"‘M not," Adam says. He swings his head to look at Kieran and I put an arm around his waist to keep him upright when he stumbles. Elle hides a smile behind her hand. "I've been dead for ages."

Sam stifles a laugh. Even Kieran looks amused, but I am certain he is still on edge.

Naomi takes a step closer and the air shifts. Before she can speak, a hunter runs back towards us, frowning when she takes in Adam, who blinks quickly as he stares at her.

"We tracked him to Hyde Park Corner," she says. "The station. But it's shut for the night."

"When did it close?"

The hunter shrugs. "Not long ago. It's only just eleven."

Naomi swears under her breath, and I exchange a look with Kieran. He shakes his head faintly. He does not wish to share his theory. I know we should, but after tonight—

Adam tucks his head against my shoulder, letting out a little whine. "Why are there two of her?"

I rub a hand over the back of his neck. The hunter stops talking, but Naomi smoothly picks up the chain of thought, calling the other hunters back.

"You need to get him back to the clan house, Lucien," Elle says quietly. "He needs to rest."

I nod. "Kieran…"

"I'll take him and Sam back home." She does not hesitate, though she reaches out and squeezes Adam's forearm. "I'll meet you at the clan house when I'm done, okay?"

"I should—"

"We'll be fine, Lucien," Kieran says. I do not know when he and Sam approached, but he is standing between Sam and the hunters, who are beginning to return. "Forget about tomorrow."

I shake my head. Adam clutches the front of my shirt as if the movement shook him, too. "No. You know—"

Kieran nods, lips pressed firmly together. He does not trust the hunters, and I do not know if it is justified.

"What's going on?" Elle asks, looking between us.

He can trust her. I need him to know that. If this will work—

"I'll tell you on the way," Kieran says with a sigh. He smirks a little when he looks at Adam. "I hope he's feeling better in the evening."

Sam shoves his shoulder. "He'll be fine. I get drunker than that when I go out."

Kieran snorts. He waves goodbye and throws his arm around Sam's shoulders as they move away. "Yeah, but you can handle it. Imagine not drinking alcohol for that long. Such a lightweight…"

Their voices trail off as they walk down the path. Njáll meets my eyes as I adjust the way Adam is leaning against me, ready to pull out my phone and call my own car.

My face flushes. I look away. I know what Kieran and I are doing is unwise, but even if we were not exploring this connection between us, I believe he would have helped Adam tonight. I believe Sam would have, too.

But I am glad that belief did not have to be tested.