10. Nic

Chapter 10

I'd never known rage like this. It consumed me completely, and rational thought became impossible. I acted on instinct, turning my fury into brutal revenge as I methodically destroyed the men in a back alley, turning them into a pile of unrecognizable body parts before I finally stopped, exhausted but still on edge.

Then I only had one thought.

Leia.

Fear flung me into motion, and fear wasn't something I was familiar with. People were afraid of me, but I was never afraid. Only now I was. What had these fuckers done to Leia? Was she still alive? Had I been too late—had one of them drawn blood and claimed her?

My throat dried at that thought. I stood to lose everything because of my own stupidity. I never should have brought Leia here. An unclaimed virgin? My mate? I hadn't even fucking claimed her, and I'd trusted other vampires to abide by rules of honor and respectability? I was the dumb fucker. Total fucking screw up. And I'd fucking believed fucking Francois.

Fuck.

I exhaled a hissed breath as I raced back to where I'd left her. The image of Leia almost getting fed on—maybe even about to get her throat ripped out by little New Orleans vampires—was still front and center in my head. And I hadn't been there. I'd misplaced my faith when I put it in Francois, and I wouldn't make that mistake again.

More than anger, something territorial clutched me, something… I hesitated, almost unwilling to identify it. Something protective. But then I shook my head. Of course, I was protective—my whole fucking future depended on not letting Leia get killed or claimed by anyone else.

I arrived back where I'd left Leia to find Jason kneeling protectively at her side. No one was really paying much attention to one more passed out person on the streets of New Orleans, especially with Jason right there. He definitely gave off the air that he had the situation all under control.

"How is she?" I all but skidded to a stop next to them.

He patted her hand. "Mumbling a bit. In and out."

As if she'd heard my voice, her eyes snapped open, and she started to scream. The sound began quietly but grew louder and higher pitched until I leaned over her, looking into her eyes.

"You need to sleep," I murmured. "Sleep and forget this."

As I spoke, repeating the soothing words, her scream died away, her eyes closed once more, and her tense muscles relaxed.

Shit. I was an asshole. Using compulsion on my mate? But I didn't know how else to calm her. She didn't trust me yet, and I needed her mind whole. She'd just seen literal monsters, ones she shouldn't even know existed. They'd almost killed her, and I couldn't let them live in her thoughts. She needed to sleep. Both sleep and to forget as I'd commanded.

"I need to get her back to the helicopter." I reached for her, but Jason lifted his hand.

"Uh, you've got something on your face, Nic." He made as if to point out where on his own face then just made a circular motion over the whole thing. "Kind of…there."

I lifted my finger and swiped it down my cheek. It came away slick and red. "Well, shit." I couldn't exactly go marching back through The Neutral Zone carrying my mate and wearing the blood of my enemies.

I wiped the sleeve of my jacket over my skin, but Jason shook his head.

"I think you're just making it worse." He stood and shrugged his own jacket off. "Here, swap with me. I'm on clean up duty anyway, right?"

I nodded. "Although it wasn't meant to go down like this. You get rid of the bodies. I'll take Leia home." I looked at her face and an exhale gusted out of me, regret both uncomfortable and unfamiliar. "I shouldn't have brought her. But what were my options? I only trust you with her, and I needed you with me. Give me a call when you're done here?"

He grimaced, sucking in air between his teeth. "How many pieces did you leave them in?"

Leia groaned.

"Oh, putting them back together would require an instruction manual and tools." My words were for Jason, but my attention was entirely on Leia.

Jason stood from his crouch and shrugged his jacket off before handing it to me and taking my blood dampened one in return.

"We're very lucky you favor black clothing," he grumbled.

I ground my teeth a little as I looked at Leia. "She's wearing gray, though."

"Be careful how you pick her up. Keep her held against you in case there's blood transfer." He shrugged. "Vampirism should come with a how-to guide."

Usually, Jason's ridiculous comments amused me, but not right now. I reached for Leia and drew her into my arms, settling her against me. I'd have to walk through The Neutral Zone, and Francois definitely had cameras, but he also knew I was protective of Leia, so this shouldn't look too odd. Or I could just say Bourbon Street had been too much for her. I slipped her shoes off and let them dangle from one of my fingers, like any man trying to make his mate comfortable.

"Call me." I flung the words over my shoulder as Jason melted into the shadows and I strode toward the restaurant, the most vital thing in my life in my arms.

I didn't take the main door into The Neutral Zone. Every diner in the place didn't need to see Leia asleep as I carried her. I took a side entrance closer to the stairs that would eventually lead to the roof instead.

And I took those steps two at a time, ignoring cameras that turned lazily in my direction as I moved. I would have given one a casual wave, but I didn't want to change my hold on Leia.

We reached the helicopter without incident, and the pilot opened the door.

"Too much fun on Bourbon Street," I murmured, guilt festering inside me at the casual lie.

I settled Leia into a chair, buckled her in, and set headphones over her ears. Then I sat beside her and took her hand without even thinking about it, stroking my other hand over her fingers so they wrapped around mine. My arms felt empty without her in them, and my heart seemed to have an irregular beat as I studied her face, so devoid of movement.

My gaze wandered to her pale neck, to the two red scrapes there, where the vampire had teased her with his fangs instead of biting down. Only luck separated my current relief from what could have been grief, and that was like a punch to my gut.

It was a situation I hadn't controlled.

A thin silver necklace gleamed against Leia's skin, and when I plucked at it, I withdrew a caged amethyst pendent from beneath the fabric of her dress. Was this the reason she'd left the restaurant? Sightseeing? Shopping? So much risk, for nothing.

Concern, equally as unfamiliar as regret, gnawed at me, and by the time the rotor blades stopped spinning after we landed on La Petite Mort, I'd already made contact with Jenkins and Baldwin, so they'd be ready.

Jenkins met me at the private entrance to the casino, and I settled Leia into the limo then ran quickly inside to change into some spare clothes in my office.

When I reached the limo again, Jenkins open the door so I could slide in alongside Leia. I studied her face, looking for any discomfort or changes.

"Has she moved at all, or spoken?"

Jenkins shook his head. "No, sir."

She didn't move on the journey back to the house, either. I carried her through the hallway and up the stairs, Baldwin alternately flapping behind me and springing forward to open doors. When I laid her on the bed, and a smear of the blood that had transferred earlier from my shirt onto her dress became visible, Baldwin gasped.

"Master, does Miss Boucher require a doctor?"

I shook my head. "It's not her blood."

"Shall I send Emma to assist you?" He gestured vaguely between Leia and the bed.

Protective instincts claimed me again—no one should see my mate like this but me—but I pushed them down and nodded. "That might be for the best. When Emma arrives, I'll take care of some business before coming back to check on Le…Miss Boucher."

Baldwin nodded. "Very good, master." And he left the room, his rapid strides audible even on the plush carpet.

In my quarters, I grabbed a quick drink, threw myself under the shower, and dressed in a clean shirt and pants. Black to suit my mood. I grinned weakly at my own pathetic joke. Black suited my mood every day. It was all I owned.

My cellphone rang just as I stepped through the double doors and bent to lock them behind me.

I glanced at the caller display. Jason. "Yeah?"

"Dealt with." He used as few words as I did on the phone, and I didn't ask what he'd done. The bayou was nearby. And alligators were always a convenient excuse for a shredded body or three.

"I need you to see Francois." I'd thought about it on the way home.

"Smelling like three of his dead minions?" Jason rarely challenged me, but I continued telling him the plan anyway.

"The helicopter will meet you at the airport. Too risky to use The Neutral Zone helipad again, I think."

He made a murmur of acknowledgement.

"But Francois needs to know our deal is off."

"Fuck, Nic," Jason ground out. "Then it would definitely be too risky for me to try to hop on the chopper on his roof. And you want me to deliver this message? You sure it's not just a suicide mission? Might not need a chopper at the airport after all."

I nodded as I looked over the balustrade to the hallway below, my fingers reflexively tightening and loosening around my phone. "You're there, I trust you, and more importantly, Francois knows I trust you. He'll know if it's coming from your mouth, it's ultimately coming from mine. And he wouldn't dare try to hurt you." I ground out the last words, believing them and hoping they were true at the same time.

Jason sighed.

"The deal is off. The truce no longer exists. The bayou land remains mine. I can't trust him. My mate couldn't even walk down the street safely in Francois's territory." My stomach clenched over the fact she shouldn't even have been out there. If she'd have just stayed in the restaurant as I told her to, I'd have taken her anywhere she wanted to go.

My sudden vehement thought surprised me. But it was true. I would have taken her anywhere, bought her any trinket that caught her eye.

Jason sighed again. "I think you should—"

"Not interested in what you think." I snapped the words out as my concern narrowed into irritation. Worry for Leia had become claws buried deeply in my chest, and each breath I drew in dragged them deeper.

A clock ticked on the wall behind me as I listened to Jason's regular inhales. Finally, he spoke again. "Maybe wait a few days. Make a decision then." He left off the fact that this was the thought I'd just told him I didn't want to hear, but my phone screen still cracked worryingly under my tightening grip.

"That's your suggestion for my next move, is it?" My voice was soft, almost a purr, but Jason's reply was strong.

"Yes, it is. Don't burn a bridge you might need to come back across. And how could Francois let everyone know so quickly? How would they know about the truce?"

I barked out a harsh laugh. "Francois burned down the bridge and the whole fucking town the moment my mate was attacked in his territory by vampires under his control. He's lucky New Orleans is still standing. He needs better behaved subjects." I boomed the last words out and they echoed inside the cavernous two-story space in my home. Then I glanced behind me at the open doors to the east wing and lowered my voice. "Just make sure the message gets through to him, Jason. I was serious about protecting Leia when I spoke to Francois earlier, and I'm fucking serious now. No truce."

"Okay." Jason's tone said he still didn't agree, but he knew better than to continue to argue.

"I'll send the helicopter to the airport. Call me when you get there." Even though he could be stubborn and a little resistant sometimes, his safety was still one of my top priorities.

"Okay. Talk to you soon." He hung up, and I swung around, my thoughts already back with Leia as I covered the distance from the top of the stairs to the guest wing.

I hesitated outside her door, unsure whether I should enter her private space, given privacy had been one of her negotiations before agreeing to spend a month with me.

But how could I protect her if I wasn't there at her side? It was where I needed to be.

I'd never felt a pull like this before, and I rested my forehead against the door for a moment as I sucked a deep inhale, but it didn't help. Her scent pervaded my senses. She was everywhere, all around me.

I opened the door, and it whispered across the carpet before I crept in and moved the armchair from the sitting area to beside the bed. I sat down with a heavy sigh that seemed to well up from somewhere around floor level and focused my gaze on Leia's face.

Unable to stop myself, I leaned forward and brushed some loose hair back from her cheek. Emma had taken out the pins holding her hair in place, and it rested loose around her shoulders. Hopefully the gray dress had gone to be cleaned, although that was the least of my worries. I could buy her a new gray dress for every day of the year if she'd liked it. And I would, if that was what she wanted when she woke up.

"Hey." I spoke softly. "I am so sorry about today."

The words were out of my mouth before I even thought them.

I didn't apologize. I didn't get things wrong.

But today I had.

Today, I'd fucked up so badly, I'd nearly lost my mate.

Maybe I needed to tell her the truth about me, about vampires, about those fucking New Orleans freaks, so she knew exactly how seriously she needed to take her safety. But then what?

Then I'd be scary. I'd be something out of a horror movie.

And no one went willingly to the villain in a horror movie. I would put everything with Leia at risk if I told her now. I hadn't spent enough time with her yet to convince her I was worthy of making my claim. Unless she accepted me, I'd just be a monster.

I didn't want to be a monster to her. Fate was drawing us together, but she needed to fully accept me, to give herself to me, or… Fuck. I needed willing blood, willing surrender of her body, and I couldn't risk what little trust I might have built between us.

She shifted a little in her sleep, and a small crease appeared between her brows. I ached to smooth it away or to know what had caused it. A murmur drew my attention to her lips, and I longed to feel them against mine again.

I took her hand between my palms, and I was the willing one. Willing her to wake because I needed my mate.

My queen.