“Why,” Peter demanded, stalking away from the wall and over to stand in front of Brent, his form intimidating and strong.
Brent sighed. “Because, I was selfish.” Peter growled, making Brent continue. “I saw the future. So many innocent lives lost to battle. Power fought over like it could be stolen. And then, I saw another possibility, a future with balance, with peace. And I saw the road to get there. But I also saw Giro.”
“Go on,” I demanded, walking over to stand next to Peter.
Brent took in a deep breath before continuing, meeting our hard gazes as he did so. “You already know what he is, or rather who he is to you.” He said the last part while looking directly at Peter.
Peter glared at him, but answered, “Yes. What has that got to do with the future?”
“Everything,” Brent calmly stated.
“Will someone please explain this to me?” Giro demanded, having left the floor and joined us next to Brent. Felix stood by my side, watching on with confusion and interest.
Brent looked at his grandson with remorse. “I saw that the only way to win this war would be to bring the species together to fight our coven.”
“Fight it?!” Giro gasped. I had no idea if his reaction was out of loyalty or fear.
“Meeting your fated ensured more allies in the fight,” Brent continued, ignoring his question about the fight. “Peter is your fated, Giro.” Giro choked on air as he eyed my brother with interest, but Brent kept going. “And I knew the only way of bringing you together was for Astrea to get cursed and taken.”
I looked at Peter, finally understanding his reaction to this young witch. He had found his fated, too.
“How can you be sure they are fated?” I asked Brent. “As far as I know, Peter has yet to taste his blood.” Peter winced at that, which made Brent smile knowingly.
It was Peter who answered my question. “Giro had a cut on his wrist when I found him. I was unable to stop myself from…”
Felix gasped alongside Giro, but it was the latter who spoke with indignation, “Youlickedme?!”
A wounded sound escaped Peter’s throat before he nodded with shame. “I could not control myself.”
“Damn,” Felix murmured. He sounded more in awe than disgusted by it, so I gave him a curious look. He just shrugged unapologetically.
“You find that hot?!” Giro accused Felix, clearly figuring out what I could not about my fated’s reaction.
Felix shrugged again. “I’m not ashamed to admit that I find blood licking erotic. I am, after all, fated to a vampire myself.”
I blushed at that, while simultaneously grinning with pride. I had the most perfect fated. But it was words like that, that made this whole waiting to bond thing harder to endure. His scent this morning had been even better than before, stronger, yet sweeter. Funny how one potion could alter his blood and scent like that.
Giro spoke then to Brent directly, “Say I believe everything you’ve just said, that still doesn’t excuse why you had me cursed, too. Why not just tell me the truth? Why pull me under and force me asleep?”
Brent sighed. “Because you would not leave willingly, even with how awful they treated you. Their brand would ensure you stayed.”
Peter was glaring at Brent. “Explain.”
“Giro wouldn’t marry a woman. He wanted a man. Our coven needs more witches to be born, so he was denied this. I knew Astrea would be tied to you, Peter, so I told the coven a lie.”
Clearly ignoring the whole branding thing, Felix demanded, “What lie?”
“I told them she would be powerful, that we simply needed her in our coven. So, they reacted like I knew they would, drooling over the possibility of taking another powerful witch and forcing her to submit.”
“That still doesn’t explain the coma curse!” Giro snapped at Brent.
“I cursed her to buy us time,” Brent admitted. “They would force her to join and you know once you join you cannot leave the coven.”
“You did what?!” Felix growled, and it was the first time I had ever seen him this livid. Here was this old man sitting on our couch and admitting that he was the reason Astrea got cursed in the first place.
“One curse on her saved thousands,” was all Brent replied before closing his eyes and…
“Did he justdie?!” Giro gasped, rushing over to the now slumped man on the couch. Brent had fallen to his left side, lying perfectly still, not one sign of life left in him.
