Chapter 3

Three

brAN

When the Alpha’s name flashes across the screen of my cell phone just five minutes after I’ve called him, I’m not sure if I should be annoyed or impressed.

I tap to answer. “Yeah?”

“Is that how you answer all of your phone calls?” he says.

“Did you find her or not?”

The Alpha laughs. It’s a rumble through the phone, more animal than man. “Yeah, I found her.”

“Where?”

I’m already moving toward the nearest exit in Duval House. Several lower ranking vampires duck out of my way as I stalk down the hall.

When I put eyes on her, she’s going to regret running away.

Did I not tell her to stay put? Five minutes was all I needed to find her a wet cloth, something to clean the vomit from her mouth.

And she took those five minutes to run off like a naughty little mouse.

“She’s at The Greasy Spoon with Sam,” the Alpha says.

I turn the next corner and one of the newer vampires practically keels over at the sight of me.

“Sorry, sorry!” He dodges right, bumps into a marble pedestal and the priceless vase on top teeters. He spins, grabs it, holds it still. Looks like he’s about to piss his pants.

The vase means nothing. Jessie means everything.

Is she indestructible? A villain with a voice that can command a room, but if a knife were to pierce her flesh…

I can’t fucking think about it without losing my fucking mind.

“She safe?” I ask.

“Safe enough.” The Alpha’s voice levels out again. He’s as annoyed as I am.

“What is it?”

I hit the night air. It smells like rain again and the wind is crisp.

“Sam must have heard by now that there was trouble at Jessie’s Pledge,” he says, “and yet she’s here at the diner with a complete disregard for her safety.”

“Why the fuck do you care about one of the witches’ mortals?”

The Alpha is silent.

“Ahhh,” I say and follow the stone path to the garage I share with my brother. “Sam’s your fated mate.” It’s not much of a leap of logic.

The Alpha sighs. I hear the defeat and the frustration in the sound.

I can relate.

“Sam safe too?” I ask.

“Safe enough,” he repeats.

“Try not to strangle her before I get there.”

His grumble turns into a warning. “I don’t need you to protect my woman.”

“Does she know she’s your woman?”

“Not yet.”

I hit the remote on my key ring and the nearest bay door in the garage lurches upright. I duck beneath it before it’s opened all the way. My Audi is backed inside. I reach for the door handle, but Jimmy is suddenly there, that look on her face. It’s equal parts annoyed and worried.

I like annoying her. I hate when she worries.

She is much like my little sister in that regard. Too big of a heart, too intuitive for her own fucking good.

“Gotta go,” I tell the Alpha.

“I’ll be here until you arrive.”

I disconnect, sliding the phone into the pocket of my jacket. “What?” I say to Jimmy.

“Since when do you voluntarily involve the Alpha in our business?”

“His nose is better than mine. Might as well use it to our advantage.”

“Mmhmm.” She folds her arms over her middle and leans a hip into the side of my car. “You’re starting to like him.”

“I like him the same way I like a can opener. He performs a function that I happen to need.”

“As if you’ve ever opened a can in your life.”

“That is entirely beside the point. Now move so I can leave.”

She doesn’t budge.

“Jimmy, I swear to fucking god?—”

“She’s safe. Take a breath and give her a minute to catch hers.”

I scowl at her. “Absolutely not. Running off puts us all at risk and she needs to obey me if?—”

“Obey you?” She laughs out loud and the hoop earrings hanging from her ears swing beneath her curls. “Are you that oblivious?”

I let my eyes close as I summon a deep, disgruntled breath. “I don’t have time for this, Jimmy.”

“You can take two seconds to talk to me and reorient yourself now that literally everything has changed. Because I know inside you’re losing your fucking mind and it terrifies you. I know that, because I know you better than anyone and I would not be a very good friend if I didn’t help you when you needed it the most.”

Before I can argue, she takes my hand. Hers is warm. She’s always run a little hotter than I do, despite us all being undead vampires.

I’ve always taken that to mean her heart isn’t as cold as mine.

Despite the undeniable tug to get to Jessie, I let Jimmy pull me away from the car and out into the night.

“Sit.”

I look between my best friend and the fallen log that rests on the shore of the large pond on the back of the Duval property. Even when Damien and I were living in 18 th century France, I would never lower myself to sitting on logs.

Jimmy is the kind of girl who can find comfort and light in anything, even me.

I sit. She sits next to me and threads her arm through mine.

The pond ripples as the wind shifts direction. There is barely a sliver of moon left. Once it’s gone, Rita will unbind Jessie and then there will be no turning back.

It’s what I want for her. More than anything, I want her to be who she is and to hold the power that she was born with.

But I would be lying if I said it didn’t change things.

Jimmy is right—everything is different and I don’t like it.

“Let’s talk about Anna,” Jimmy says and I immediately tense up beside her. “Do you remember when she asked for your and Damien’s permission to marry the shipbuilder and you both denied her?”

A duck swims out of the cattails along the eastern shore of the pond. I watch it coast along the surface.

I do not love women often. All of the women I’ve ever loved are dead.

Except for Jimmy. I think the only reason I allowed her in is because she is a vampire.

Now I have to add Jessie to that list.

There is a thread of anxiety at seeing the list grow.

“Bran,” she says.

I look away from the duck and to her. “I can’t do this right now.”

“You and Damien both held on to Anna with too firm of a grip and she ran away because of it. Don’t make the same mistake with Jessie.”

I hang my head and turn my ears to the lapping of the water against the shore, the sound of the wind in Jimmy’s hair. If I focus on something else, maybe I can forget how hard it is to let go when all I want to do is hold on tightly.

I know I have control issues. For fuck’s sake, I know I do and for good fucking reason.

I can still see the blood dried on Anna’s neck. I can still see the stillness in her body and the dead stare in her eyes.

Rage is a close cousin of heartbreak. I have disowned heartbreak. I will only let the rage remain.

“Like it or not,” Jimmy goes on, “Jessie is not so little anymore. And the more overbearing you are, the further away she’ll pull. I know you admire a woman in power. You always have.”

I snort and look over at her. She gives me one of her smug ass smiles.

“Shut up,” I say.

She leans into me, rests her head on the rise of my shoulder. She still smells like lavender, like home.

I do not like to give away any part of myself. I am fortified, just as Damien is. We gave everything we had to our sister and somedays I think we both thought there was nothing left to give after her death.

I don’t want to think about it.

I hate thinking about Anna.

And now Damien…

Fuck .

Fucking hell.

I can’t think about Damien either. Not right now.

If I must relent to Jessie in order to keep her, then I will relent.

“Stand beside Jessie,” Jimmy says. “Not in front. And you both will be unstoppable.”

The duck quacks loudly.

“Do you know what I hate above all else?”

“Oh, I can only imagine,” Jimmy says.

“When you bring up irrefutable truths.”

She laughs out loud again, head hung back, and the duck flaps its wings and flies away.

“That’s why you keep me around, I suspect. Because I am the only one who will tell you the truth.”

“I keep you around because you’re the only person I can stand for more than ten minutes.” I get up from the log and start back toward the house.

“Be gentle with her.”

“Fine. Yes. I will be gentle and kind. Not at all an asshole.”

“Promise me.” She jogs to catch up.

“Fine. I promise.”

“Thank you.” She gives my arm a squeeze. “Wanna race back?”

“As if you’ll ever beat me.”

We both take off at a run.

And I win.