“Whatever we want. I never expected to have a companion in this life, so I don’t know how to build a life together.” Movement behind us caught his attention just as Josiah moved.
“I’m not willing to let her get away quite so easily,” Josiah said before bolting in her direction. Marlon started to lunge after him, but my hand on his arm stopped him.
“She can’t be trusted,” I murmured.
“I spared her because I thought that’s what you would want. It’s the only reason I didn’t tear her head off,” Marlon admitted.
“Thank you for thinking before killing, but she is pure evil. She doesn’t care about the humans or the vampires she’s been using, and who knows how many she’s killed in her lifetime. Do you really want to worry about getting caught in another of her traps?” I asked.
I glanced in the direction Josiah had run while his mate stood there frozen, waiting for him to return. “He’s returning now,” I said, still able to feel his presence when I focused.
Mark turned to look at me, and I knew he didn’t want to trust me, but hope filled his eyes. “Thank you,” he finally said.
Josiah stopped just in front of us after returning at a full run. “She won’t be recovering anytime soon,” he said and took Mark’s hand. The three of us ignored the blood that was now spattered on the front of his shirt.
“Where will we go now?” Mark asked.
Josiah stared out into the distance, and I wondered what he thought of as his eyes focused on something far away from us. “Want to meet your closest descendant?” Marlon asked him and grinned at me.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” I whispered because I still didn’t trust him.
“Josiah, are you going to murder anyone in Occident?” Marlon asked him, but the way Josiah looked at Mark said a lot about his feelings. Feelings I wasn’t sure he’d ever shared with Marlon. Something told me his days of being a murderous monster were over.
“No, and I’d love to meet him. Blake, I deeply regret my murdering ways, and I swear I won’t hurt anyone while we’re there.”
“You’re related to someone in his hometown?” Mark asked.
“Actually, I’m related to Blake too,” Josiah said, and for the first time met my eyes. “I’m also the asshole that changed him.”
“You mean murdered him,” Marlon said as his lip twitched and all calm drained from him.
“And gave me a lifetime with my mate,” I conceded. I was done wasting time trying to work out why Josiah did what he did. All that mattered was Marlon and me.
“Yes, murdered him. I’m not proud of the choices I’ve made,” Josiah started what sounded like was going to be a long speech.
“Maybe it’s time to find a new way to live,” Mark said, interrupting him.
“Elias, are you up for a ride?” I asked.
“So, you don’t mind taking four vampires back home with you?” Marlon asked.
“Five, and I need to ask again, are any of you going to eat one of the townsfolk?” I asked, and looked at each of them as they all murmured no.
“Who are we going to meet?” Elias asked as though he hadn’t heard the last five minutes of the conversation.
“A relative,” I said, as we all started walking back to the trail that would eventually lead to the cabin where we’d left the truck.
Thirty-Four
Marlon
We took longer to return to the cabin than we had getting to where we’d met the witch. We were all so focused on confronting her when she was weak, we’d run there as fast as possible. After seeing what little remained of her where Josiah caught up with her, I doubted there was any chance of her coming back again. He’d torn her apart and destroyed her body to a point it was unrecognizable and unsavable to any witch that would try to use her body or her power or whatever witches did.
“You’re thinking so hard I can practically hear you,” Blake said from where he sat in the driver’s seat.
“I’m just relieved we don’t have to worry about her ever again,” I said.
“You’re welcome,” Josiah said from the back seat. I really wanted to keep hating him, but the more I was around him, I realized how different he was without the influence of the witch, and how much he cared about his mate. Glancing back at him, I noticed he was staring into the distance in a way I recognized from when we’d met at night to talk about his day of travel across the country. I stillwantedto hate him, but now I was finding it harder to maintain that hate.
