It won’t.
Claire—bless her reckless little heart—knows this already. She doesn’t have the language for it yet, but she feels it in her blood. She wants like I do. It’s what makes her such a powerful Witch of the Darkness. And it’s what’s going to save her life. Because a want like hers and mine doesn’t disappear just because you banish it. No. It goes underground. It waits. And when it comes back, it’s hungrier than before.
“I’m not here for revenge,” I admit. “If I were, you’d already be screaming.” One side of my mouth lifts in an impish grin. I let that sit before continuing. “I’m here because of an age-old understanding.”
“Which is?” he demands.
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
Bastien laughs. Claire doesn’t. After all our chats, I think she’s coming around to me.
“You are not my friend.”
“I’m more of a friend than you realize.” I run a tongue along my teeth. “You want Shayla dead. So do I.”
Bastien shakes his head. “I never said I wanted her dead. I said I wanted to negotiate peace with her.”
I ignore his little show, because he knows there’s no making peace with someone who created an army of weres. “I made a bargain with Chastity to get rid of Shayla. And now I want to make a deal with both of you.”
“I would never?—”
“We should hear him out,” Claire cuts in, finally finding that rebellious voice of hers. I do love it when she puts him in his place, so I don’t have to.
“See, she gets it. She knows, just like you do, that this war doesn’t end without me,” I continue. “And if you’re clever—if you’reveryclever—you’ll stop pretending I’m the worst thing that can happen and start asking what I want in return.”
I step closer, just enough for Bastien to feel the echo of the past crawl up his spine, just enough for Claire to feel the pull in her blood.
“You will not lay a hand on my wife.”
“Relax,” I reassure him. “I’m not here to take what’s yours. I’m here to save it.”
Chapter 30
Les Loups
TYSON
Tyson shut the door and bolted it, then promptly turned around and stared at his two companions.
How had he ended up in this situation?
A woman who refused to give him her name stood in front of him. It hadn’t escaped his notice that she was still holding a dagger. His other guest was Alec, who looked like a man who had just realized he’d allowed himself to be locked in a room with a vampire.
Tyson studied them both in silence.
Beat. Beat. Beat.
The longer he was in their company, the more he longed to know them. He didn’t just want to know how they liked to be fucked or whether they preferred white or red. He wanted to know how they had ended up here. The whole story. But getting to know someone required both parties to share. And no one truly knew who he was. Hell, he didn’t even know who he was.
A discomfort he always tried to avoid threatened to crack his mask again, and he almost asked if either of them wanted adrink, but caught himself before the words slipped out. He was not hosting a party.
He was in the Lawless Lands, concealing two near-strangers, while his Uncle lay unconscious, and negotiations with Chastity fell apart. And most inconvenient of all was that his bloodstone had decided that one of these two people belonged with him.
Just when Uncle Bastien had started to trust him.
The woman grunted. “Don’t get any ideas, vampire. You are outnumbered.”
“Are you going to stab me?” Tyson asked the woman. “Or can we put that away for the duration of this conversation? I promise not to bite unless asked nicely.”
