“You just need everyone to think it’s yours.”
“Yes.”
He stood there so calm, so composed, so unfreaking perturbed by my objections.He wasn’t as old as Arcuro, but he’d spent the past century as his enforcer.He’d killed and tortured and cut off all human emotions.Until he met Nora.She had made him feel again, but she hadn’t erased his shroud of power and arrogance.
“I need this, Kennedy,” he said.“I will never ask it of you again.”
“You mean you won’t ask until the next emergency.”I was trying so damn hard to help the vampires and werewolves—to help all paranorms—but it was like climbing a mountain sculpted from broken glass.Every time I made progress, a piece broke off.I slipped and fell and ended up back where I started, only now with deeper cuts and darker bruises.
“I won’t sign it,” I said.
Another twitch of that muscle beneath his eye.“Vampires have not been granted access to the Null in almost three months.They want a renewal of the previous arrangement.The person who ensures that happens will be recognized as the compound’s new master.They will control Arcuro’s territory.I am asking for your signature.Others will take it by force.”
“She’s not going to sign it,” Nora said, watching us with folded arms, one shoulder leaning against the wall.If I’d tried that casual pose, I would have looked like a droopy basset hound.She, of course, looked like a sleek and beautiful—
Wait a second.What had she said?Was she actually agreeing with me?A few months ago, we couldn’t even agree on the color of a bridesmaid’s dress—it had been orange, not sunset—and our middle and high school collisions had been legendary.We’d been insta-enemies, the alpha’s daughter versus the untouchable Rain girl.Nora had expected deference.I hadn’t given it.
Our relationship had shifted recently.We’d developed a mutual respect for one another.
“She’s too stubborn and selfish to do the right thing,” Nora said.
Semimutual respect.
“I’m thinking about the bigger picture,” I said.“The future.You’re both thinking about what will strengthen himnow.In this moment.”
“You allowed werewolves to stay,” Jared said.
“Only the ones who signed my guest list.”
“A technicality that few have heard and fewer still believe.”He clasped his hands behind his back.“In the future, when my position is secured, we can discuss a new arrangement.”
A vampire’s definition of the future was vastly different from a human’s.Our “discussion” might take place in one or two weeks.Or it could be twenty to thirty more years from now.
“Look,” I said.“If you need me to recognize you, I will.If you want me to make a statement against Malachi or anyone else who claims the compound, I’d love to.I’ll do what I can to help you, but I won’t give you control over who does and does not have access to The Rain.”
“I am attempting to avoid bloodshed,” Jared said, his tone still smooth and civilized.“Is that not what you prefer?If I am not the compound’s master, if you do not sign”—he took one step toward me, and without any trace of magic, the air around us grew colder, the sharp planes of his face turning dark and lethal—“I will have to become something you will not like.”
He’d become Arcuro’s monster again, the merciless killer vampires feared.
“You don’t have to become anything.”Nora’s words were quick and sharp.Alarmed.“You have a century of brutality behind you already.”
“With Arcuro gone, I will be tested.”
“Then kill those who actively oppose you.It doesn’t have to go beyond that.”
“That is not how vampires secure power.”
“The last time youembracedbeing a vampire, Deagan couldn’t bring you back—he’s in no condition to even try it now—and I swore I’d never tolerate that part of you again.”
Nora’s words, her promise, splattered Jared’s violent history across the present in vivid and horrific strokes.I didn’t know the full story of how they fell for each other, but for decades, Jared had embraced his job as Arcuro’s enforcer.He’d thrived on the terror and pain he’d caused until one day he didn’t.Deagan said he’d become detached, just as dispassionate about cruelty as he was about compassion.The emotional void consumed his work, his life, everything—until he met Nora.
“I must be recognized as Arcuro’s replacement,” Jared said.“If I am not, you will never be safe.”
“I don’t need your protection.”Nora’s glare turned icy enough to cause frostbite.“I take care of myself.”
He moved toward her.“One-on-one, yes.With a pack to back you up, yes.But, Nora.You are my weakness.My enemies will target you.”
Thishad to be how she fell for him, these rare, intimate moments when his mask of indifference crumbled, revealing a man capable of epic devotion and love.
