19. Adam

Chapter nineteen

Adam

Kieran's leg bounces the entire drive over to the clan house, but I don't really pay attention to it, too lost in my thoughts of Sam and Drew.

I didn't mean to tell Drew what I want. I don't want to scare him away. But I didn't want him upset, either, beating himself up over whatever assumptions he's made about Sam's and my relationship.

Not that we really have much beyond friendship. I stare out the window at the dark streets. Not yet , anyway.

Lucien reaches over and puts a hand on Kieran's thigh. It's not a sexual move—Kieran's leg stills, and he lets out a sigh, leaning into Lucien's side.

I want that . Not that it necessarily has to be a mating bond, mind. But I want someone who'll be there for me, who I can be there for.

The fact that it's shaping up to be more than one person? I can handle that.

We pull up outside the clan house and I thank the driver before I climb out into the chilly night air. It's turning crisper with each night that passes as we truly head into winter, but I hardly feel the cold anymore.

Lucien joins me on the pavement. Kieran trails behind him, his shoulders tense.

"You do not have to accompany us, my love," Lucien says. He's not wrong. Vasile wants to see me, and the car's still there. Kieran could head home and have a restful night.

"Am I not supposed to?" Kieran asks.

"It is not that," Lucien replies. "If you want to—"

Kieran nods, and Lucien smiles, and I suppose that's that. I start walking up the steps and hear the telltale sound of a brief kiss before they both follow.

The guards hardly glance at us as we walk inside, and Elle is already there and waiting. She ignores Lucien, heading straight for me, and at first, I'm annoyed—he was hurt too—before I realise they definitely saw each other last night.

When I was unconscious. Ah.

She drags me into a hug, and I wrap my arms around her slight torso. When she pulls back, she slaps me on the arm, not hard enough to hurt.

"You have to be more careful!"

"I was," I protest. It wasn't my fault the magic user followed us outside—I didn't think he'd be quick enough.

Elle gives me an arch look, as though she doesn't quite believe me, but it vanishes quickly. "I'm just glad you're okay."

"I'm fine."

I really am. I don't know what spell that magic user threw at me, but Sam completely got rid of it. I don't know what that's done to him, either, but I have to trust he knows what he's doing.

"Is Vasile waiting for us?" Lucien asks, and Elle nods.

"Hunter Moreau is with him," she says.

I catch the slight tensing of Kieran's shoulders. The last time he saw Moreau was at his flat after Tristan's attack, when Kieran told him to leave Sam alone and get out.

"My love…" Lucien says.

"I'll behave," Kieran replies. "As long as he does."

Lucien sighs, but Elle's lips twitch, and I turn to hide my own smile. Yeah, this is going to go well.

We head for Vasile's office, and Lucien knocks once we're there. Kieran eyes Vasile's guards. Does he know more about them than we do? There's a faint scent of magic to them, always, but different to what I've picked up from magic users. When they first arrived—over twenty years ago, now—I told Lucien what I sensed. He told me it was fine.

Vasile calls for us to enter, and his thick eyebrows lift as we all pile into the room. Moreau looks less surprised. He's standing by the window, hands behind his back.

"Kieran," Vasile says, inclining his head. "A pleasure to see you again."

Kieran nods. "Likewise." I don't think he means it.

Vasile's attention turns to me as Elle closes the door. "Are you well?"

"I'm fine," I say. I've never been as easily comfortable with Vasile as with Lucien or Elle, for obvious reasons, but I still know he's safe to be around. I know he cares for the clan. "Really. I was only out for a few hours."

"I am certain it should not have happened at all," Vasile says. He waves a hand, indicating the two chairs opposite his desk, and Lucien motions for me to sit first. He takes the other chair and Kieran stands by his shoulder, eyeing Moreau warily for a moment before he ignores him.

Elle stands by me. Vasile nods. "Tell me what happened."

I explain what I can of the night before. There are some things that are difficult to remember because the magic users really did take us by surprise, but I do remember Sam bursting out of the shop, looking worse for wear before the magic user hit me with another spell and I lost consciousness.

I finish my retelling there. I don't want to talk about waking up in Sam's flat with Drew so close. Moreau and Vasile don't know about Drew at all.

"Are we any closer to tracking these magic users down?" Vasile asks, and to my surprise, I realise he's speaking to Kieran.

"We've got some people on it," Kieran replies. "The mage can teleport, so pinning him down is tricky."

"No closer, then," Vasile says.

Kieran doesn't flinch under the cutting edge of his tone, and I notice Moreau is watching him as closely as I am. Maybe the only one in here who isn't is Elle, who has her eyes on Vasile, but that doesn't mean she's not coming to her own conclusions.

"No," Kieran concedes. "I'll let you know when they find anything."

"I appreciate it," Vasile replies. He pushes dark curls back from his face and looks at me and Lucien. "In the meantime, I would prefer for the two of you to remain in the clan house wherever possible. If these magic users are targeting you, we will not make things easy for them."

Kieran pulls a face and Lucien reaches out, fingers brushing his hand. Does he not like the idea? I mean, I want to be able to see Sam and Drew, sure, but I don't want Lucien hurt.

Hell, I don't want to be hurt again. It's getting a little exhausting, being knocked unconscious all the time.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Kieran says, and Vasile's dark eyes narrow.

"Why not?" His voice is cold as ice, and I swallow as his power rolls over me.

"I still have a district to run, crai," Lucien says smoothly. He exchanges a glance with Elle. "I know Elle is more than up to the task, but if there are magic users targeting Adam and myself, then there is no reason to believe they may not also choose to come after her."

Vasile rubs a hand over his chin, and Moreau shifts on his feet for the first time since we entered the room.

"They're right," he says, inclining his head in our direction. "You hide a chieftain away, you'll have vampires running scared. They'll lose faith in you, and that's the last thing you need right now."

"Moreau…" Vasile's tone is a warning.

"I have no better idea than you who's behind all this," Moreau continues, apparently choosing to ignore him, "but you need to be sensible. Until we've found these mages, no one is safe."

"This building is warded."

Moreau nods. "It is. But I suspect only a lack of interest in bringing them down is what has them still standing. A dedicated enough mage—or a coven of them—might not have as much trouble as you think."

Dread sinks like a stone in my stomach. The wards have always been a hum at the edge of my awareness, a safety net since the first night Lucien turned me. The fact that they might be so easily brought down is…

Terrifying.

Our fledglings are here. Our humans are here. We need to keep them safe.

Vasile mutters something under his breath and rubs his temples. "Fine," he snaps and levels Kieran, then Lucien, with a look. "You will tell us if there is any way in which we can assist you in finding these mages. You will take measures to protect yourselves. You will, to the best of your ability, get to the bottom of who is behind all this. Is that clear?"

Lucien inclines his head, eyes respectfully lowered. "Yes, crai."

Kieran nods, and Vasile focuses on him again. "You will protect my chieftains"—he points at Lucien, then Elle—"with your life."

"Of course," Kieran says, and there's only the smallest amount of affront in his voice. "Adam, too."

Vasile opens his mouth again—is he going to make me stay here?—but Moreau interrupts.

"We'd like to be kept in the loop too, of course," he says. "There aren't particularly powerful mages among our ranks, but we'll assist where we can."

Kieran studies him for a moment, taking a second longer to answer. "Yeah. Okay."

Vasile sighs. "Don't you have any other guards, Moreau? I would feel better—"

"No," Moreau says. His eyes flick to the door, where Vasile's guards wait still and silent on the other side. "And I think you need them now more than ever."

A look passes between them that I can't interpret. Vasile heaves an irritated sigh but nods, and Moreau leans back against the wall again.

"Is there anything you need from us tonight?" Vasile asks. He looks between Lucien, Kieran, and Elle this time.

Lucien and Kieran exchange their own glance. "No," Kieran says. "I'll let you know if anything changes."

"Thank you," Vasile says, and when Elle shifts away from me, I understand we're being dismissed.

We leave Moreau behind and it's not until we're down the corridor, surely well out of the earshot of Vasile's guards, that Lucien speaks. "We all could—"

Elle interrupts. "Go spend some time with your mate, Lucien. I've got him." She links her arm in mine and Kieran huffs a laugh. He's on edge, though. I've been around him just enough over the last few days to see that.

"Fine," Lucien says. "But if you require anything, you know where we are."

Elle waves him off. "We'll be fine." She drags me away before Lucien can say anything else, though he gives me a fond look before I leave.

It doesn't really hurt that things between us have changed. I've always expected them to, and Kieran is a damn sight better for Lucien than Nathan ever was.

Doesn't mean it's not strange, though. Still, Elle is here for me, and she drags me back to her rooms—newly given to her, seeing as she's a chieftain along with Lucien—with an iron grip.

"So," she says when the door is firmly closed behind us both. They're not entirely soundproof, but there's still little chance of anyone overhearing us unless they're deliberately trying to eavesdrop. "What's going on with you and the witch?"

I rub a hand over my face and groan. Elle laughs, heading for the fridge. Neither of us had the restrictions placed on us that Lucien has, and I know she's drunk from donors over the last few months, but when she pours a blood bag out for me, she pours one for herself, too.

"Sam?" I ask.

She nods. "You had him over to your flat, no?"

I flush when she hands me the glass, her gaze knowing. "Yeah, but nothing happened. He was just—He'd been drinking, and he didn't want to go home like that with Drew there."

"Uh-huh." Elle walks over to the sofa and sits. I follow her, taking one of the chairs.

"What's that mean? Uh-huh ?"

"Seems like he and Drew are already close."

I take a sip of my blood. Nothing like drinking from the source, of course. Nothing like drinking from Sam. Still, it quenches the quiet hunger inside me. Maybe I did get hit harder than I thought.

"What are you trying to ask me?"

Elle stares at me for a moment, then takes a drink from her own glass before she sets it on the side table. "What's going on, Adam? You didn't shut up about Sam for days after you met him. But I saw him with that wolf. You did too, right?"

I blink when I realise she's… trying to let me down gently? The laugh that bubbles up from my chest is real, and Elle shakes her head when she hears it.

"They're not—" I put my own glass down. "I want them both."

To her credit, she doesn't pause. Just nods, like that makes it make sense. Maybe it does.

"Do they know that?"

"Yeah."

"And…?"

I sigh and take another drink to avoid answering for a moment. I want to sit them both down, talk to them both about it, but now is obviously not the best time. Not that I'm sure when it would be. There's barely been a quiet moment since I met Sam, and poor Drew is hiding something.

"Sam said it's a bad idea. Me and him, I mean, though I guess he means Drew, too. He thinks we'll break up and it'll cause a mess."

Elle shrugs. "It would. If you did."

"I don't think we will."

"You don't?"

I bite my lip. It's a wild, silly notion, one I hardly want to say aloud. Drew would know , right? It makes sense that Kieran couldn't tell; he doesn't have a wolf.

But Drew…? Earlier today, it was like I could see the wild animal lurking just under his skin.

How could he not know?

"I think we're mates."

Elle's eyes flare wide in surprise. "All of you?"

"All of us."

"And Drew, has he…?"

"No." I sigh, looking down into my glass. "But they feel right. They feel… They feel like when I saw Lucien for the first time."

Elle nods, and I know she's taking me seriously. Not that she doesn't, not when it matters. But even though she wasn't there the moment Lucien turned me, she was the first vampire he took me to after. I owe my survival as much to her as I do to him.

"All right," she says after a moment. She shifts on the sofa, settling back against the cushions, and her smile turns sly. "Tell me how you're going to win your mates over, then."