18. Leia

Chapter 18

"What the hell?" I gripped the edges of my seat.

Nic was lucky he was driving for once and we weren't hidden behind a privacy screen in the back of his limo. My hands might have found their way around his neck if that had been the case.

He glanced my way. "What?"

"What? What the fuck do you mean, what? You've just announced that I'm going to go live in some sort of log cabin surrounded by wolves. What about that idea seems reasonable to you?"

He shrugged, the gesture infuriatingly casual. "Everything. No one will know you're there. Everyone will expect you to be at Vitam Immortalem. And Conri has volunteered his men as additional security. They're somewhere nearby even now, keeping watch. There's nowhere better for you to be." But his fingers tightened around the steering wheel, his knuckles whitening.

"Besides, I quite like the idea of a romantic weekend away." Sebastian popped his head between the seats and swung his attention between the two of us.

Nic grimaced. "I don't recall asking for your opinion, brother."

Like when he'd come to rescue me from Francois's house, Nic had changed into black cargo pants and a black T-shirt. Where his usual button-down hinted at his muscular chest and narrow waist, his T-shirt flirted properly with both, clinging across his broad shoulders and wide chest and tapering into his pants.

It was tough to stay mad enough not to touch him. I wanted to run my hand up his thigh and over his abs, maybe tease his—

As I watched, his nostrils flared and he slid me a glance.

"Really, Leia?" he murmured.

Sebastian flung himself back in his seat. "I'm just going to open a window, if no one minds?" Suddenly, the car was filled the scent of green vegetation and Sebastian took a deep, dramatic breath.

"So, what's the plan?" I wriggled in my seat, putting more distance between myself and Nic before I accidentally reached out and acted out my fantasy of running my hands over him.

"The current plan?" He sounded distracted.

"Yes." I saw his distracted and raised him impatience. My next wager would be frustration. And his casual shrug was starting to annoy me.

Particularly when he did it again. "Putting you somewhere safe."

I nodded. Wait. What? "Putting me?"

Sebastian laughed from the back. "Real smooth, Nic."

Nic glared into the rearview mirror. Then he glanced at me. "Aimée will be there to keep you company."

"Oh, good." I couldn't contain my sarcasm as the last of the sunlight faded to an orange strip on the horizon. "I get my babysitter back." I shot him an assload of side-eye, way more irritated now than turned on by his presence. "And where are you going to be?"

He sighed. "I need to head back home to talk to Kyle and Jason, to get things moving on the rest of the plans."

"What?" I twisted to face him. "So you are actually just shoving me away and keeping me out of things? What happened to letting me help?"

He opened his mouth to reply, but I didn't even want to hear his whiny little voice if he was just going to make more excuses.

"And who the fuck is Conri? Another vampire prince from a different Louisiana city and we can all pretend to have a fucking royal good time? How do I know this one isn't crazy as well?"

Sebastian smothered a chuckle in the back.

I whirled as far as the seatbelt would let me and jabbed my finger in his direction. "And you can shut up. From my count, I'm two for two on crazy princes so far—one kidnapped me, and one likes to smell me whenever he gets too close." I faced the front again, folding my arms and breathing hard, shame already taking the place of my sudden anger.

"Leia." Nic didn't say anything else. Just my name.

But it was enough.

I pressed my hand over my mouth to stifle a sob. It was all too much. At least with red bills, I'd known where I stood. Now my world was vampires and more vampires, and everyone wanted to fuck me or kill me, and they'd taken Dad… And… And… I closed my eyes as tears spilled from them, and Nic pulled the car over before unfastening our seatbelts so he could pull me over the center console and hold me to his chest.

"Conri isn't a vampire," he said gently as he smoothed my hair from my damp cheek. He pressed a kiss to my temple. "He's a wolf shifter."

I laughed then, high and hysterical, clutching my stomach as a mixture of sobs and actual shouts of laughter poured from me.

"Of course he is," I gasped. "Because why the fuck wouldn't men who can shift into wolves exist?" I laughed again.

"I need some air. Be right back." Sebastian opened his door and it closed quietly behind him, but he didn't move far, leaning against the car while he gave Nic and me our moment of token privacy.

"I swear to you this is the best option, Leia." Nic ran his fingers through my hair again, teasing tangles apart with his gentle fingers. "I wouldn't ask you to do this if there was any other way to keep you safe." His voice tightened and he hesitated in his movements before he spoke again. "Humans are fragile. I need to keep you safe."

He pressed his forefinger softly under my chin and tilted my face up, meeting my gaze before his mouth claimed mine. I responded to him immediately, my body seemingly always ready for him, and I moaned as I slid my tongue to touch his. I pushed my hands through his hair and arched toward him, offering him my body.

"Why do I always want you?" I half-whispered, half-moaned the question, and he chuckled softly as he drew away.

"You don't suffer alone, Leia. I hope you know that." Then he didn't even raise his voice as he spoke again. "Sebastian, you can come back in now."

The back door opened, and Sebastian sat heavily on the seat. "I think I should inform you we all goddamn suffer."

And I laughed as he pretty much hung his head out of the window like a dog as Nic started the car again.

We drove in silence for a while longer before Nic turned off the road and took increasingly narrow dirt paths, each more rutted than the last.

I swayed in my seat. "Where are we going?"

"The house isn't accessible by road. We travel by skiff from here." He shut the engine off and got out of the car before leaning down to look back in at me. "Come on."

I climbed out and joined him on a small wooden jetty. Cypress trees hung low and the Spanish moss over the branches formed a curtained tunnel leading to a gaping blackness. Even the water was black, shielded by the trees and colored by the night.

"What's in there?" I stepped back from the edge, ignoring the boat—the very tiny boat—rocking gently on the water.

"Nothing with teeth bigger than mine." Sebastian pushed forward and grinned, flashing full fang.

Nic pushed him away again. "That's right. Nothing in the water will have teeth bigger than yours because I'll be in the fucking boat."

"Maybe Nic can even make you a new purse that matches your shoes if we spot any gators?" Sebastian climbed into the boat and it barely wobbled, despite his size and frame.

"I don't think I can get in there. One, how can we possibly all fit, and two, how can it keep us all afloat?"

"Well, we're not swimming to the safe house. Having the biggest teeth doesn't mean I want any of my other body parts removed." Nic grabbed me and swung me into his arms before hesitating as he looked at Sebastian. "I need to pass her to you," he ground out, his teeth clenched.

Sebastian paled, his skin bleaching in the moonlight. He held his arms out. "Quickly then, and I'll pass her right back."

He took a deep breath and didn't release it, puffing his cheeks out like a bullfrog.

Once we were all in the boat and Nic was happy with the seating arrangement, he pushed off with the oar. There was only one, and he seemed to be using it to push against the bottom of the swamp as we moved forward, rather than actually rowing.

I sat small, and still, and quiet, and I ignored the gleam of eyes from the trees and land, and especially the gleam of eyes from the swamp. Occasionally, Sebastian hissed, the sound both a warning to anything in the water and a reminder that there was something about both of these men that wasn't as polished as their exterior suggested. Something a little bit feral and primal.

I folded in on myself a little, the ripple of water the only sound in the thick blanket of quiet. It was the perfect breeding ground for my hurt feelings and doubts over everything that had taken place. Even now, while people were actively risking their lives for me, I was being kept away from the action in a place Nic deemed safe.

It was somewhere I wouldn't know what was happening, somewhere I wasn't able to help.

It was somewhere I didn't want to be.

And maybe if I could help get Dad back, I could go home. I glanced at Nic. He was a good man. I didn't doubt that any longer. And… I hesitated, unwilling to even think the words that might cement how I felt in case they trapped me by his side, burdening him further. What if I explored my feelings, and I found myself unable to leave him?

And maybe I needed to leave him.

To save him.

That thought hurt. But ever since I'd entered his life, it seemed to have been consumed by violence or by saving me. I couldn't live like that. Nic couldn't live like that. How could I expect him to?

Innocent people had died when my dad's exchange for me was demanded. Innocent fucking people. I couldn't risk anyone else.

I touched Nic's hand briefly and he glanced down at me, his smile quick to take control of his lips as he met my gaze.

I couldn't risk him.

The boat jolted gently as we nudged up against a new jetty, this one looking even more dilapidated than the one where we'd found the skiff, the wooden post where Nic slung our mooring rope old and rotting.

He climbed out and as the boat rocked, Sebastian reached and steadied me. Nic offered him a small rumble of discontent, but it seemed to be generated on principle rather than being any sort of threat.

"It' not far from here." Nic held his hand out for me, and I joined him on the dock. "Let's get you safe."

A thin thread of guilt wound through my chest at his words. I didn't deserve safety when I was the reason so many were in danger.

He twined his fingers with mine and tightened his hand, the gesture reassuring. Then he pressed a quick kiss to my knuckles. "I know this is all very strange," he murmured.

"Things have been bordering on strange since I signed your contract," I murmured back. "This is only an extension of that."

He chuckled and kissed my knuckles again. "That's one way to look at it." He hesitated and glanced at me, the low light giving him an unusually vulnerable look. "Only strange?"

I hummed softly as I considered his question. "Strange and beautiful? Strange and dangerous? Strange and wonderful? Lots of things, but always strange."

"I hope I can make things less strange for you in the future."

Sebastian coughed a laugh behind us as we wound around trees, following… I had no idea what we were following. The path wasn't marked.

"When the vampire king hopes to make things less strange," Sebastian said, "maybe we're all in trouble."

Nic clutched my hand a little tighter, but he didn't respond to his brother.

"How do you know which way we're going?" I tried to look ahead but couldn't make out anything but shadowy foliage.

Sebastian spoke again. "I don't know about anyone else, but I'm following the scent of wet dog like it's a goddamn stairway to heaven."

"Yeah. Doing the same." Nic faced straight ahead, and we kept moving forward until lights began to glint in the distance, winking through the trees and bushes as the leaves moved in the light breeze. "I think that's the place."

"Well, hopefully you brought us to the right safe house, brother." Sebastian clapped Nic on the shoulder as he strode by him. "I'm ready to see how these wolves live out in the wild."

As soon as the darkness swallowed Sebastian, Nic spun me, pressing my back against the bark of a nearby tree trunk. He kissed me with a desperate intensity I was used to now, and he wasn't slow to demand entry to my mouth with his tongue. He pushed forward with his hips, rocking against me, the hard swell of his desire evident.

"You teased me in the car today," he whispered against my ear before he trailed hot kisses down the side of my neck. "Tell me you always want me."

I sucked in a breath. "I always want you," I agreed, unable to tease him further by denying it. "I want you now." I worked my hand between us, smoothing my palm over his cock, wrapping my fingers as far around it as his pants would allow. "I want you hard and fast. Inside me. Make me forget everything but you."

His tongue dipped into the hollow by my collarbone before he drew it slowly up my neck, pausing where he usually bit me as he grabbed my ass and hauled me flat against him. "You make me want…so much. All of you. Forever." He punctuated his words with frenzied kisses.

"I'm wet for you," I whispered, and he groaned as he slipped his hand between my thighs.

"Right here?" I caught a flash of teeth as he grinned at me.

Sebastian coughed from too far away to see. "I came back to see if you two had gotten lost or found your way inside an alligator in search of his evening meal."

Nic froze against me. "Go away, brother. We're very lost indeed."

Sebastian chuckled. "Then I'm afraid our hosts might arrange a search party."

When Nic groaned again, it was pure frustration rather than sexual need, and he breathed deeply for a moment before pushing himself away from the tree, away from me. "Okay. Fine. Show us the way to the safe house."

"Sebastian? Did you find them? Did they go the wrong way?" Aimée's voice cut through the darkness now.

"Oh, they headed in another direction for sure, but I think I found them just in time." Amusement rang in Sebastian's tone. "They're right here."

"Oh, thank God. I was worried." Aimée ran out of the night and caught me in her arms. "I was worried they'd gotten you, too."

"What?" My voice was muffled against her clothes. "From here? Is it dangerous here?"

She shrugged. "Hasn't been so far." She took my hand. "Come on, you're coming up to the house with me. Nicky and Sebastian have to head back."

I glanced over my shoulder, barely able to make Nic out in the gloom. "You're going back now?"

His clothes rustled like he'd shrugged. "I have to. We need to chase down some leads, see what we can find out about Jean."

I sighed softly, but when he spoke again, I knew he'd heard it.

"I'll be back tomorrow. I won't go a day without seeing you."

"Yes, yes." Sebastian heaved his own dramatic sigh. "We all suffer."

Before I had further opportunity to say goodbye, Aimée tugged my hand. "The sooner he's gone, the sooner he'll be back, so we need to let them leave."

When I glanced behind me, I couldn't see anything but black, and there was no way to tell if Nic was still watching me or not.

I stopped when I first saw the house. It was a quaint little log cabin, and light spilled from the windows. It belonged in some sort of painting in a room filled with patchwork throws, doilies, and couches with those arm and headrest covers. The rustic logs it was made from looked like someone had toppled whole trees and just constructed the place building-block style.

Inside, the quota of too-cute continued, with big couches, overstuffed cushions, and area rugs with lamps casting a soft pools of light throughout the space.

"You like?" Aimée turned around, a mischievous smile playing on her lips. "Different than Nicky's place, right? But I have a surprise for you…" She walked to a small table then lifted a plate toward me.

"Cookies?" My stomach rumbled at the sight.

"Better." Aimée's smile widened. "Chef's cookies."

I reached for one but paused, my hand hovering over all the gooey, chocolatey deliciousness when an unfamiliar voice cut through the room.

"You been holding out on us?" An unfamiliar woman leaned against a doorway, her arms folded. She walked forward. "You brought actual cookies and you weren't gonna share?" She nabbed one from the plate and bit into it, melted chocolate spilling down her chin. "Shit, these babies are still warm. What did you do? Kidnap a baker?"

Aimée shrugged, and the plate bobbed up and down. "No, no kidnap involved. Chef likes to be where Leia is because she eats his food."

As if to prove her point, I grabbed a cookie and almost smashed it into my mouth as my stomach growled again. "That's heaven," I moaned as I took a second one.

"Huh. Bet you'll miss them after," the strange woman said, and Aimée glared at her.

Well, shit. Did everyone know my deal with Nic was only for a month? I glanced at the plate. "Maybe I'll ask Nic for a timeshare arrangement with Chef, or something."

The woman laughed. "No, I meant after—"

"Have I introduced Ulva?" Aimée's question cut right across whatever Ulva had been about to say, but I shook my head, eyeing the dark-haired stranger.

"No."

Ulva waved. "Hi."

I glanced at Aimée. "Are we all about to be happy little roommates?"

"Something like that," Ulva said, replying for my friend. "Think of me more as your summer camp counselor. I'll be arranging your daily activities. I didn't realize you'd look so…" She skimmed a gaze over me, a slight sneer wrinkling her nose. "…fragile. It's been a long time since I've been around a human. So first up tomorrow, self-defense training."

She grabbed another cookie and retreated from the room.