Gethin shrugged. “Not sure what my species has to do with anything, but yeah, I am.”
“You do realise you will not win? Saul is mine. He was labouring under a delusion and refused to listen to our bond. But he understands now.” His gaze flickered to Sorley then back to Gethin. “Mostly. He is stubborn, and I think perhaps mentally a bit slow, but I can reprogramme him with time.”
“Mentally slow? Fuck you, Cormack!” Sorley’s rage was palpable as he sputtered his anger through clenched teeth.
Cormack’s eyes burned as he took a step towards Sorley. “Don’t mistake my love for weakness. You will be punished for your rudeness. Youwilllearn to respect me.”
Gethin’s phone vibrated. He tapped the speaker in his ear and coughed, hoping it might clue the caller into the situation. The rain was coming down heavier now, but the winds were light, so hopefully there wouldn’t be too much interference.
It was Edwin. “Where are you? We got hold of Marlowe. Idiots were playing a video game and had the volume turned right up. He and James are fine.”
Cormack’s attention was back on Gethin now. Gethin cleared his throat and said coolly to him, “It’s the twenty-first century, Cormack. You don’t get to tell people who they belong to.”
Edwin swore in his ear. “We’re on our way. Stall the fucker if you can. I’ll stay on the line.”
Gethin had no choice but to ignore him. By some miracle Cormack either hadn’t noticed the call alert or was too distracted to pay it his full attention. He himself felt poised on the edge of his nerves; his vampire fangs had slid down, and his wolf claws were itching to be set free from his fingertips. He knew he was standing inhumanly still, far too still, as was Sorley, but Cormack was an unknown quantity. For all he was unhinged, he was evidently not without considerable power, which meant even Sorley might struggle to take him down alone. The slightest move on Gethin’s part, or Sorley’s, could be disastrous.
Cormack’s gaze narrowed. His primary emotion was now disbelief, loud and clear as he faced Gethin, shaking his head slowly.
“Are you some kind of half wit? You do not get to question me. You are nothing, to me or to Saul—”
“His name’s Sorley, for fuck’s sake, you jumped-up, egotistical shit! If you can’t even get that right, how do you expect me to take you seriously as a threat to what we have?” Gethin’s temper finally boiled over as he hurled the words at the incredulous vampire in front of him. Ignoring Sorley’s gasp of shock, he gestured between them. “Weare the couple, not you and your bloody delusions born of God knows what. You’re a murderer and a rapist. I don’t give a fuck how old and powerful you think you are, you’re going down for this.” Mirroring Cormack’s narrowed eyes and aggressive stance, he spat out, “Arrogant prick.”
Everything blurred. Cormack and Sorley both moved, Cormack towards Gethin and Sorley to block his path. Gethin’s sluggish heart tripped over itself as his vision and reactions seemed to work in slow motion. Somehow Cormack got behind Sorley, and in a move worthy of a superhero film baddie captured his lover’s hands behind his back. In the same instance he locked his other arm around Sorley’s throat, baring his fangs at Gethin in a ferocious snarl.
Gethin froze.You stupid, dumb animal,he berated himself.You justhadto mouth off at the unhinged killer with unknown powers.He caught Sorley’s blue-grey eyes and with every fibre of his being sent him anI’m sorry.
Sorley’s scent was amazingly devoid of fear. Or at least, fear for himself. Gethin could feel concern for him — yes, the idiot valley boy who’d put his lover in this situation — but none for himself. Why? By the looks of it, Cormack could snap Sorley like a twig. It appeared they might have seriously underestimated his age and strength.
Sorley’s eyes were focused and steady.Be careful, my love,he seemed to be saying.No false moves.Gethin wasn’t going to do anything to risk inflaming Cormack’s ire any further. The vampire might decide he didn’t want Sorley after all, and there was nothing Gethin would be able to do to prevent him from tearing Sorley’s head clean off. His wolf growled, tense and deeply upset.Kill, maim, protect our mate.
Time felt sticky, stretched like gloop as Gethin thought frantically. “Take me,” he offered croakily, then louder and with conviction. “Take me, not him. You love him. You don’t want to hurt him.”
Cormack raised disdainful eyebrows. “What on Earth would I want withyou?”he queried with another sneer. Gethin was beginning to think he didn’t have any other facial expressions.
Speeding footsteps heading in their direction interrupted his train of thought — not that he’d had any witty comeback to Cormack’s question. Cormack’s gaze tracked over Gethin’s shoulder and his mouth puckered. “Hellfire.”
Gethin wanted to look, but didn’t dare take his attention from Sorley, or the vamp with his lover in a choke hold. Sorley though looked hopeful. That had to mean it was Edwin or Alec. He gave Sorley a meaningful stare.Who?
“Eddie,” Sorley mouthed. Gethin gave him the tiniest of nods. That figured, seeing as Alec had been sent on a wild goose chase. He considered his mate again. For Sorley not to be openly trying to break free from Cormack’s grasp meant he knew something Gethin didn’t. Presumably he was afraid any move on his part might be his last — a thought so terrifying it threatened to stop Gethin’s heart altogether.
Cormack jerked his arm tighter around Sorley’s neck. “Don’t speak!” He glanced up again and sighed. “Damnèd interfering do-gooders,” he muttered. “This won’t do.” He hustled Sorley towards Gethin a couple of paces, shifting them so he was now nearest Gethin. Gethin took a step backwards, his eyes darting up the street. It was Edwin, just coming into view, moving at a speed that would give Baxter and her crew yet more footage to clean up.
As Edwin got closer, Sorley’s scent changed to include a note of hope. Gethin drew on that feeling and willed their luck to change. It had to, right? There would be three of them versus Cormack. Not odds that even a deranged vampire would consider good, surely.
Except, in a blur of speed, Cormack spun Sorley around and shoved him behind and away from him, so hard that Sorley stumbled, only his natural vampire grace preventing him from toppling into the path of an oncoming taxi. As Gethin reacted with a yell of rage, Cormack was suddenly on him. All he saw were the wild green eyes of a man who had parted ways with his sanity some considerable time previously, his mouth bared wide, fangs glistening in the mist-soaked illumination of the overhead street lights. Before he was able to retaliate, even to put his arms up to defend himself or fight, there was a pain so terrible that Gethin knew it had to be the end of him. He heard screaming, then, mercifully, the world blinked out.
49
SORLEY
The painin Sorley’s chest was so acute, he feared he was having an impossible heart attack. Pushed too far away, almost sent sprawling and therefore unable to cover the short distance between him and Gethin before Cormack attacked, he had a front row view as the monster snapped Gethin’s neck with a sickeningcrack,then lifted him as if he weighed no more than a cat and tossed him over the side and into the river Aire. There was a brief splash, then another nauseating thump as Gethin’s body hit the river bed. Sorley knew the river wasn’t particularly deep, or if he was wrong and it was, it didn’t matter, because he could swim just fine. He had to jump in and rescue Gethin. He had to finish Cormack. He had to…he had to…he had…
A stinging slap to his shoulder made him start. Edwin, dear Eddie, whose face was a grimace of fury and horror, stood there, his palm the guilty party.
“Stop screaming, love. It’s not helping.” Sorley felt more than heard the words. He clamped his jaw shut, and the noise around them abated.Oh God, that was me?He was suddenly aware he was shaking.Shock,his brain supplied.You can go into shock as a vampire?Apparently he could.
He stuttered out just one broken word: “Gethin.” Cormack was forgotten. He’d ceased to mean anything in the overwhelming agony of what he’d just witnessed. Gethin, the man who had brought meaning into Sorley’s endless immortality, was no more. He didn’t think he could bear it. He didn’twantto bear it.
