Chapter 12

Twelve

The Alpha of the Midnight Pack shows himself out of Duval House so I go in search of Bran as I promised I would. When I don’t find him, I head back to the Anneliese a little annoyed with how big Duval House is and the fact that I still don’t feel like I belong here.

Bran finds me just before I reach the courtyard.

“Did the Alpha tell you his favor?” he asks.

“Yes, but it’s a secret,” I say, pushing the boundaries because now I know what it’ll get me.

“Mouse.” His gaze turns dark.

“Oh, fine.” I go through the French doors to the open courtyard where crickets are chirping in the garden. Low lights send a soft glow over the walkway. “It was about his fated mate.”

Bran is in front of me in a second and the expression that comes over his face is filled with horror. “I swear to fucking god, if you say you’re his fated mate, I will tear off his cock and balls and serve them to him on a fucking dish.”

“Bran!”

“I’m fucking serious, Mouse.”

I trail off in laughter as I push past him and follow the paved stone path to the Anneliese. “You are one sneeze away from murder every second of the day, I swear to god.”

“Only where you are concerned.”

“I’m not his fated mate.”

I hear his soft exhale of relief.

“But you know who is,” he says.

“I do.”

“Tell me.”

“Later.”

“Mouse—”

As soon as we’re inside the safe house, I catch the soft whimpering of my sister from Damien’s room down the hall.

Immediately, I’m on high alert.

I race down the hall and push in the bedroom door and come to a halt.

Kelly is swallowed up in Damien’s embrace, sobbing into his chest.

He’s holding her like he doesn’t want to let her go.

Like he wants to take all of her pain away.

When I stumble over the threshold, he turns to me, looking at me over the top of Kelly’s head, a deep scowl on his face.

“I’m sorry,” I say. “I didn’t know you were here.”

“It’s my bedroom, is it not?” he says. “In fact, this entire house is mine, last I checked.”

“Not just yours,” Bran reminds him from behind me. “Speak to my mouse like that again and I’ll cut off your cock and balls too.”

“I’d like to see you try.”

Kelly pulls away from Damien and wipes at her face. “It’s okay. I’m okay. Everything is okay.”

“You told her, I take it?” I ask the older Duval.

“I did.”

I take another tentative step. “How do you feel about it, sissy?”

I haven’t called her by that nickname since I was ten years old and I didn’t exactly mean to use it, but once it’s out, it causes fresh tears to well in her eyes.

“How do I feel about being turned into a vampire? I don’t know. Confused. Afraid. Really, really unsure. Just…lots to think about.”

Damien’s jaw tenses.

“Well…maybe we can find some other solution. What about Rita?” I suggest. “She might be able to create a protection charm or?—”

“I respect Rita,” Bran says, “but she’s not powerful enough to stand against the Renshaw witches.”

“Okay. So who is?”

Damien crosses his arms over his chest. “Maybe the Mulligans.”

“We’re setting up a meeting with Bianca,” Bran adds.

“Really?”

Damien nods. “It was your boyfriend’s idea.”

I have to stop a smile from spreading over my face, hearing Damien refer to his brother as my boyfriend. I get the sense in his tone of voice that he might not be happy about the turn of events. Maybe he wanted to use me for whatever magical secrets I might possess, but he probably didn’t want his brother to fall in love with me.

Complicates things, I’m sure.

But too bad for him.

“I just talked to Jimmy,” Bran says. “We have a meeting with the witch in an hour. So put your piss poor attitude away, brother, so we can make something happen.”

“I don’t have a piss poor attitude,” Damien argues.

Bran cocks his head at an angle, regarding his brother with an amused expression on his face.

Damien growls, exasperated, then looks at my sister. “I’ll return to you later. Do not leave the house.”

She nods and then he’s gone.

“Is he always this churlish?” I ask my sister.

She sighs. “When he doesn’t get his way.”

“I can attest to that,” Bran says.

I look back at him. “What exactly are you hoping will happen with Bianca, anyway?”

Bianca seems like an odd choice for an ally. She’s my age. There are plenty of more experienced witches in Midnight Harbor. But she is extremely powerful. And I suppose it’d be harder to get the older witches to agree to work with vampires. They all have formed opinions on the Duval brothers.

“I’m hoping that whatever agreement we come to will help keep your sister alive.”

“Bianca will help if she can.”

“I’m counting on it.” He reaches over, grips the back of my neck and hauls me to him, planting a kiss on my forehead. “Stay in the Anneliese. Both of you.” His gaze cuts from me to Kelly, then back at me. “Say you understand, little mouse.”

“Yes. Fine. I understand.”

Kelly nods. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“We’ll be back in a few hours. Be good girls while we’re out.” He gives me a devilish grin and then disappears after his brother with his vampire speed.

Kelly lies down on the bed and I hover in the middle of the room unsure of what to do with myself. This is the first time I’ve been inside Damien’s bedroom in the Anneliese and now that I have a chance to look around, I’m surprised by the décor. Bran’s room is a reflection of him—dark, masculine, full of hard lines and solid furniture.

Damien’s room is very…feminine, and it reminds me of Kelly’s condo on the river.

The wall behind the bed is painted dark red, but the giant rug on the floor is thick, white, and furry, almost like sheepskin. The duvet is soft creamy linen, the pillows thick and matching.

The bedside tables are blonde wood with gold handles and matching gold lamps.

Behind me is a sectional couch the same color as the duvet with mismatched throw pillows, all with various patterns done in the same shade of red as the accent wall.

Now that I’ve been in Damien’s office, I know that this isn’t his style—this is Kelly’s.

Damien designed this room in the safest place in all of Midnight precisely to my sister’s taste.

God, how far back do they go?

“Can I join you?” I ask my sister.

“Of course.”

I kick off my shoes and climb onto the bed. She opens her arms for me and I snuggle into her side like I used to when I was a kid.

Her hand absently trails along my hair.

“So…a vampire.”

She sighs and the breath tickles at the hair along my crown causing me to shiver.

“Once upon a time, I wanted a family,” she admits.

“Really?”

I feel her nod against my forehead.

“But…” I coax.

“But then…Mom died and I had you to take care of and Julian…” She sniffs. “I stopped wanting a family a long time ago so it doesn’t matter now.”

My heart aches for my sister, for all of the things she wanted and never got. All of the paths she wanted to take but couldn’t.

And now…

“Do you want to be with Damien? He’s rather broody.”

She laughs. “He is. More than he was when we first got together, but part of that is my fault.”

“Why?”

She sighs. “Because I broke his heart.”

I frown, trying to realign everything I thought I knew about my sister and the older Duval.

I guess it’s easy to think vampires don’t have hearts, and especially not vampires like the Duval brothers. But I know Bran does. Somehow, I managed to wiggle my way through his cold, unaffected exterior. It stands to reason my sister found a way in through Damien’s aloofness.

“Has he forgiven you?”

“I think we’re getting there.”

I immediately go back to the sight of them in a tight embrace and think they might be closer than Kelly realizes.

“So are you going to do it?” I ask. “Are you going to let him give you his blood?”

“I don’t think I have a choice.”

“You always have a choice.”

“I’m not leaving you. And I’m not going to break Damien’s heart a second time.”

“He doesn’t want you to do it though.”

“Only because he asked me once before and I told him no.”

I lurch upright, propping myself up on my elbow. “He did? When?”

“It was a long time ago.”

“When, Kels?”

“Before my Pledge.”

“That was…nearly ten years ago.”

“I know.”

“You guys have been secretly seeing each other for ten years?”

She scrubs at her face and then looks at the ceiling. “Not all of ten years. Off and on.”

“Holy shit. How did I not know this?”

“You had your own life.”

“Yes, but this is…why did you turn him down?”

She looks over at me, fine lines deepening around her eyes. “I turned him down for you. To protect you.”

The guilt is immediate and overwhelming.

“If it wasn’t for me, would you have taken him up on his offer?”

She nods. “Back then, absolutely.”

“And now?”

“Now…we come with a lot more baggage now.” She laughs, but there’s nothing funny about it. “I would rather have more time, you know? Time to think about it and consider my options. But—” she pulls me back into her side “—you’re fae, Damien is a vampire—I’d be the only one getting old and gray. This is the best option. This way I can be around for you for as long as you need me.”

“I can take care of myself. You don’t have to do it anymore.”

She gives me an affectionate pat on my head like I’m a little kid again. “Let’s pretend that’s true.” When she laughs this time, it’s genuine.

“Hey.” I sit up again. “I have an idea.”

“Okay. What?”

“Remember when we used to curl up together on the couch and eat popcorn and watch cheesy 80s movies?”

The smile that comes to her face is genuine and lights up her eyes. “I do.”

“Let’s do that while our vampire boyfriends are out playing. What do you say?”

She considers it for just a second and then says, “That sounds amazing, actually. Which movie?”

“Easy.” I slide off the bed. “ Footloose .”

Kelly lets out a quick burst of laughter. “I thought you were going to say The Goonies . Remember when you used to hide treasure around the house and then would draw me a map and make me go search for it? Classic Jessie.”

“I love treasure hunts.”

She follows me to the door and ruffles my hair. “I know you do, you nerd.”

We fall in step together as we make our way to the kitchen, joking about what used to be, how we were.

Come tomorrow, the MacMahon sisters will have been irrevocably changed.

For better or for worse.