“No,” Vlad says.
“You want to get this job done, don’t you?”
Margot perks up at that. “Job?”
“Not like this.”
“Vlad.” He finally looks back at me. “They might help us.”
He opens his mouth to reply, except before he can say anything, he must sense the same thing I do. Another vampire leaving the club. It might be the one who was dancing, or even the bartender, but we can’t risk being caught out in the open like this. Never mind Rachel and Margot; if Vlad and I are seen together…
“Our hotel,” I blurt and rattle off the address before Vlad can stop me. I’m looking at Rachel the whole time and her expression is pinched with hurt. “Meet us there?”
For a long second, she doesn’t reply. Vlad reaches back and takes hold of my arm. We need to move quickly.
“Yeah,” she says, nodding. “Okay.”
In the next instant, we’re gone.
Chapter Ten
Vladimir
Inevershouldhaveagreedto allow Grant on this job. It has been a terrible night, my self-control frayed, and I cannot even take a moment to rest once we are safely in our hotel room because we are waiting on two humans, one of whom clearly has the power to devastate my turn.
I want her far away from him. All of this—Jakob, this mysterious fae… I pace the narrow space between the foot of thebed and the wall and Grant watches me silently. He is sitting cross-legged on the centre of the bed. I do not dare to look at him for too long, lest I find myself tracing all the paths Jakob’s fingers touched as though he had theright—
“You’re mad at me,” Grant says.
“No.” I almost spit the word.
He tilts his head and blinks. “You are. I feel it.”
Horrified, I freeze, drawing back on our bond as much as I can. Grant’s expression does not improve. Instead, his shoulders slump and he drops his chin onto his hand. “Apologies. I am not… This situation is spiralling out of control.”
“Out ofyourcontrol,” Grant says—no, snaps—and I look at him in surprise.
“What do you mean?”
“I handled Jakob well. He wants to impress me, but he wants to punish me, too. He’ll hand me over to his fae when the time comes.”
Fear seizes my insides, its grip icy cold. I like that even less than everything else I have witnessed tonight. This is a high fae we are discussing. Of course, only one, but Grant is no werewolf like Quinn, no former witch like Maurice. His power is strong but uncontrollable. Mine is likely not strong enough.
“You did well,” I say finally, no enthusiasm at all. Truth be told, that is less my concern than these women, who will know where we are staying, who will know when we are at our most vulnerable. Grant’s connection to one of them does not matter. He no longer knows her.
Grant huffs, picking at the duvet cover. He looks younger in the stark lighting here than he ever has at the club. I want him safe. That is all I want, but instead I have placed him at the very heart of all the danger that hunts us.
“I know you said no touching, but I told you—”
I shake my head sharply, and Grant cuts himself off. I cannot think of that at all. The white-hot rage that curled through me when Jakob moved in for a kiss. As though he has the right! A growl bubbles up in my chest, even now. If we did not need him to find his fae, I would have already torn him apart.
I know Grant has left the base more often than I am truly aware of. I do not think of what he does when he is out there. It is not my business and I will never begrudge him his freedom, his own choices. But watching that vampire paw at him—
I turn on my heel again and Grant isthere, directly in front of me, not budging even when I square my shoulders. A restless itch builds under my skin. He studies my face silently, still in a way I have never seen from him before. Nothing tugs on the bond. Nonetheless, he is looking for something, and I am not certain if he finds it.
“I’m glad you were there,” he says eventually, slowly. “You make me feel safe, Vlad.”
I swallow around a sudden lump in my throat. Of course I do. Of course I should. It means something to him—I am not callous enough to dismiss the significance of what he is saying to me—but it cannot mean to him what it means to me.
