“Something that means more than gold to me.” In a rare moment of complete honesty, I waited for his reaction to see if he would really try to take from me the only thing I had left of my home. He slowly unwrapped it, careful not to damage anything.
“What is it?” he asked again, unsure of what he was seeing.
“A flint knife my father made for me and seeds from our farm. I planned to plant them here and start a life for us away from the madness of men who were more concerned with power and riches. But then I found out my mate was just as greedy when it came to riches. A stranger came to town with big talk about the goldfields in the north and how rich he’d become overnight. My mate was a man of simple means. He wanted wealth, and the more the other man spoke to him, the more that greed grew. The other man convinced him I knew where there was a great treasure, but I was hiding it from him.” The memory of how much pain it caused me to know my mate would believe someone other than me still hurt. I was glad he no longer walked this earth, but I couldn’t deny that my heart longed for him.
“Why don’t you call him by his name?” he asked and tipped his head while waiting for me to answer.
“Vampires rarely take a mate, and when they do, it’s until one or the other ceases to exist. I was his mate, but our bond couldn’t withstand his temptation for riches. He was my one great love, and it pains me to speak his name. Calling him my mate is less painful.”
Blake looked at the simple items he held in his hand that meant more to me than any amount of gold before meeting my eyes. “I’m sorry,” he said and handed it back to me with care.
“He lied about there being a treasure in the hope someone would eventually dig me up and I’d be dead. But he knew that wasn’t what would happen. He helped trap me and buried me, knowing I’d survive until someone finally freed me.”
“And that someone was me,” Blake whispered.
“I owe you a great debt. You could have destroyed me, but instead you fed and helped me.” I still didn’t trust Blake or his friend, but I truly felt lucky that they’d found me and helped rather than staking me through the heart or exposing me to the sun.
“We wanted the treasure we’ve always heard about, same as Josiah.” His eyes slid shut, and he looked down at the ground. I knew he wasn’t a vindictive man, and I also knew he was curious. That curiosity was what had driven him to dig up the grave. The treasure was a bonus. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to use his name. I’ve listened to my grandfather tell that story a million times.”
“You can call him what you choose. But I will never use his given name ever again.”
“Is it okay if I call you Marlon?”
“Only if it’s okay if I call you Blake.” He smiled then and some of the tension between us eased. “What will you tell your friend about the treasure?”
“The truth. It’s not the first time we’ve gone on a wild-goose chase.”
“There’s something else,” I said and after carefully returning the bundle to where I’d taken it from, I shoved my hands in my pockets. A habit I’d had even as a child.
“What is it?”
“Like I said, the man that led my mate away from me had a small amount of gold.”
“I thought you said they were headed north to find gold.”
“Do you really think a creature such as me would let a human steal what was mine?” I asked. His eyes widened and his breath sped up, sensing the surrounding danger.
His throat bobbed as he swallowed before working up the nerve to ask, “What happened?”
“First, I took the man and made him tell me the truth about everything he’d been saying. It turned out he did have some gold. Not nearly what he’d bragged about, but it was enough. I forced him to tell me where it was, which turned out to be hidden nearby.”
“So, you found it,” he said with a grin.
“I did.”
“Where is it?” he asked.
I grinned, unable to hold it back. “It’s nearby. Now, tell me why you’re so interested in the treasure?” My eyes narrowed as I waited for him to answer.
He shrugged his shoulder before his hand slipped to the back of his neck. “I thought it was a lie.”
“You are far different from your ancestor. He was driven by greed, where you’re driven by curiosity,” I mumbled, more to myself than to him.
“Curiosity has always been my downfall.”
Curiosity, not greed. This human was far different from my mate. Where I thought I saw his ancestor in his features, now I only saw Blake and my long dead heart softened a little.
Seven
