The vampire kept his mouth shut and didn’t say a word.
“Answer me.”
“Do you honestly think Nicolono would tell me anything? He hired me to bring Lucas back to him and to kill you. I’ve done neitherof those things and I’ve had plenty of opportunity to do both. The three were sent here as a distraction. I wasn’t even supposed to be seen,” the vampire said.
“Let him go, Owen.” When Owen hesitated, Ramsey barked, “Now.”
Owen complied. Owen released his hold on the vampire’s arm and began untying his hands.
“Tell the witch to get out of my head,” the vampire said.
Garridan met Bennett gaze and nodded. He could tell the exact second Bennett started communication with Lucas through their bond. Garridan completely understood just how annoyingly nosy Lucas could be, but that particular trait was a handy weapon.
“I’m going to ask you again. Why did you make it so easy to catch you?” Ramsey asked.
The vampire rubbed at his wrists where the rope had chafed his skin. “Because of my mate. I couldn’t take the witch, not knowing my mate would be killed if I did.”
“How can Stavros use Lucas to kill Ladon?”
“Ladon,” the vampire whispered. “I’ll tell you more, if you tell me about my mate.”
Owen was the one who growled.
“Answer my question.” Ramsey held up a hand to his brother when he took a menacing step toward the vampire.
“Owen.” Garridan pointed to the spot next to him.
Owen huffed out a frustrated breath and walked over to Garridan, taking the pants Garridan held out for him. “That fucker better not hurt my little brother, man.” Owen pulled them on and then looked up at the window. Garridan followed his gaze. Sage, Lucas, Ladon, and Jules watched the show.
“Bennett,” Ramsey said. That was all it took to get Lucas to poke around again.
“Get him out of my head,” the vampire said.
“He’ll leave as soon as you tell us more about Stavros’ plan,” Ramsey said calmly
“It wouldn’t be just Ladon who Stavros could kill. He’d kill all shifters.”
“How?” Ramsey held up his hand toward the window, silently telling Lucas to stop.
“I don’t know. All I know is it has something to do with a Fey.”
A Fey? Do faeries even exist anymore?Garridan knew they once had. Had heard stories about how pretty they were and how they were tied to the earth in ways that no other beings were. Garridan remembered playing in the forests as a kid around his village with a few of the other dragon children, trying to catch a faery, thinking they were these little winged creatures like in the picture books he’d read as a kid.
“Can I go to my mate?” The vampire searched for Ladon through the window.
Ramsey gave the guy a sardonic laugh. “You will not get near him. It should be enough for you that I’m not going to kill you.”
“Look, I didn’t go through with the task I was given. And you know I won’t. I just want my mate,” the vampire said.
Ramsey growled low in his throat and Garridan could tell he was getting ready to shift. Garridan understood completely. Ladon’s eyes never changed at the sight of his mate, not once the entire time he was out there. For humans, eighteen years-old might be considered an appropriate age to mate—or marry as the humans called it—but that was not the acceptable age for shifters. Shifters didn’t mate until they had their first shift, which Ladon hadn’t.
“Your people might find this mating acceptable, but my people do not,” Ramsey said.
The vampire hissed at Ramsey. “I can’t change what I am.” The vampire ran past Ramsey before any of them had a chance to correct his assumptions.
Garridan looked at where Ladon had been and noticed none of them was there anymore.
“Shit. Ladon’s going after him.” Bennett started running around the house to the back door. Garridan followed him.
