He didn’t want to ever cause her anymore pain.
Too late for that. You’ve stolen her life, and she doesn’t even realize it.
His jaw locked.
“When his men came and attacked, I fought back. They died. My husband was the first to fall before me.” Said flatly, as if she were yanking back on her emotions. “Then I walked away from that land, with their blood covering me.”
And the legend of the Blood Queen had been born.
“I learned an important lesson that day,” she whispered.
That her father had been better off dead? That her husband had deserved a long, brutal death?
“Even those closest to you will betray you and kill you, if they have the chance.” Her head turned, and she glanced up at him. They were close enough to kiss. “Just so you know, I won’t give you that chance.”
Jamie blinked. “I have no plans to kill you.” Keeping her alive was imperative to him. Without her, he would be dead.
Her smile was sad, and it called him a liar. “You’ve been so careful about what you revealed to me. But I know more than you think, and when I sleep, I’ll know all.”
Because powerful vampires could literally steal people’s memories with the act of blood-drinking. Their prey’s blood memories appeared to the vampires when they dreamed. Jamie knew that and he also knew that he had to stop Iona from dreaming, at least until their war with Latham was over. But, lucky for him and—I’m so sorry, Iona—unfortunately for her, he knew the lovely vampire’s weakness. So he had to use that weakness as he asked, “And you’re so eager to sleep again, are you? To close your eyes and wake to see that years have passed?”
She flinched. Jamie had hit his target, and shame burned inside of him.
“Eventually,” she said, still staring back at him with the eyes that Jamie swore could see into his soul, “I’ll have to sleep. There won’t be a choice.”
He bent forward and pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Eventually, there won’t be a need for secrets.” They both knew he had them. “My war with Latham will be over.” But the end for him and Iona wouldn’t come any time soon.
As he pulled in her scent and felt her slender body against his, he had to ask, “Why did you kill the others?” Not the warriors on that long ago night. He would have gladly killed them himself. No, he meant the vampires that she’d brought in to her coven. “Did they turn on you, too?”
A faint furrow appeared between her brows. “What are you talking about?”
“The coven you had in LA. Why did you kill them?”
Stark pain—no, anguish—flashed in her eyes. “They’re dead?”
Oh, shit.
But then she twisted in his arms, shoved him back, and Jamie suddenly found himself on the ground with one very, very enraged pureblood vampire above him. “They’re dead?”
“Yes.” Okay, so she hadn’t killed them. Big miscalculation his part. If she hadn’t done it—
Latham.
“I wondered why they never came for me.” The words were spoken with sadness, but fury crackled in her gaze. “I waited for them. Thought they’d betrayed me, too.”
Maybe some of them had, he didn’t know. All Jamie knew for sure was that, “The compound burned to the ground on the same day that you…disappeared.” The flames had lit up the sky. He’d been in LA at the time, young, barely twenty, still too reckless, and he raced toward those flames.
But there had been nothing he could do. The vampire compound had been too far from the main city streets. The fire had been too strong.
Too out of control. For him. And certainly for the human fire fighters who’d tried to battle the blaze.
A tear slid down Iona’s cheek.
It felt like someone had just clawed his chest open. He hated the sight of that tear. “I’m sorry. I-I didn’t—”
She lunged away from him. Raced away in a flash and disappeared into the woods as she used that super vamp speed of hers.
No. “Iona!”
But she wasn’t stopping for him.
Swearing, he transformed into the wolf, letting the savage shift sweep over him. Then he was running, following her sweet scent. Rushing through the woods as fast as could.
Can’t let her get away. Can’t.
But even as he rushed through the woods, her scent was growing fainter. He kept going, knowing she couldn’t maintain her enhanced speed forever. She’d still be weak from her imprisonment. She’d still—
He burst from the woods. Heard the growl of a motorcycle. Saw Iona, holding tight to the back of some leather-clad bastard. As the breath heaved from him, the motorcycle shot forward, taking Iona away.
Jamie howled.
The driver glanced back, and Jamie could smell his fear. The man was smart to be afraid. Jamie charged after the bike. After them.
“What the hell is that?” The human demanded. “Too big for a dog…”
“It’s a nightmare.” Iona’s soft voice drifted back to Jamie. Stabbed right in his heart like any knife. “Go faster.”
The engine gunned and the bike picked up even more speed as it flew down the narrow road and into the fading night.
For a time, Jamie kept pretty good pace with the fleeing motorcycle. But then the human and Iona vanished.
Vanished…before he could make her realize that the human wasn’t harmless. That he hadn’t been outside of those woods by chance.
He howled again.
Jamie knew that human’s face. He’d seen him before. At Latham’s side.
And now that human…one of Latham’s army…had Iona.
Chapter Five
The wolf wasn’t following them any longer. Iona’s hands tightened around the male. They should be clear, for now.
“Stop,” she told him, raising her voice so it would be heard over the roar of the motorcycle.
He didn’t stop.
Her hands squeezed him, harder. “Stop.”
Did he give a negative shake of his head?
He did. Her gaze searched the road around them. She needed to get to LA, but she didn’t need the human, not any longer.
“If you don’t stop, I’ll kill you.” He wasn’t wearing a helmet so it would be ridiculously easy to dispatch him. One quick toss and he’d be on the ground. One flick of her wrist and his neck would break.
She might not be able to drink from him, but she could certainly kill him easily enough.
“Someone wants to see you,” the human said as his fingers tightened around the motorcycle’s handlebars.