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The desire to drain her of all her blood roars through me.

So she knows I’m moving my attention to her, I turn my head toward the other woman.

She takes the phone out of her crying friend’s hands. “We were just reading the new ar-article about him.” The phone shakes as she holds it out to me. “We don’t know him or anything.”

I snatch the phone from her grip, and she jerks her empty hand back.

The café stays deathly silent as I read.

Rage, excitement, and grief build inside me.

Volik went to a reporter.

He willingly gave an update on himself to the world.

He should’ve kept this hidden. Should’ve thought this through.

But he didn’t.

And now, after more than a hundred years of waiting, the news has finally come.

My enemy has a mate.

Chapter 90

Volik

Ipass a cup of tea to Nix, and she cradles it in her palms.

There is still so much to tell her. About everything. But she needs a break.

“Thank you.” She lifts the mug, and I stare at her mouth as she carefully takes a sip without clinking her fangs against the ceramic. “Would you like some?”

Wanting to comfort her as much as possible, I take the mug and swallow some of the bland drink.

I hold it back out to her. “You just want to watch me pee.”

Nix huffs out a laugh, and I exhale.

I watch her as she takes another sip, wondering what’s going through her mind. But when she lowers the tea to the counter and puts her hands on her hips, I get the feeling that maybe I don’t want to know.

“Volik.” She holds my gaze. “I want you to teach me how to fight.”

My brain… takes a second.

Then I shake my head. “Nyet.”

She continues to stare into my eyes. And I know she’s calculating. Thinking of the best way to convince me.

So I shake my head again. “My mate does not need to fight. I will fight for both of us.”

“Nyet.” I have to resist a smile at her mimicking tone. “You were literally just telling me that I needed this information in case we were separated. But what good is information if I’m dead?”

A growl builds in my chest. And I see her start to tip her head in an automatic response, but she catches herself.

“You will not die.”

She rolls her beautiful black eyes at me. “Memento mori. I know some Latin too.”