Page 24 of Burn for Her

“You can only cheat death so many times before he wins.” The irony, right? Considering Dorian was the motherfucking Reaper.

“Pack your shit and let’s hurry. The faster you find her, the better… for all our sakes.”

Dorian couldn’t argue with that, but even with how eager he was to reach his mate the dread of this entire thing slowed his movements. “I keep thinking I shouldn’t do this.”

“Stop thinking then.” Lucian began to pace. “And hurry up. Airport traffic’s a bitch to get in and out of.”

For the vampire who always had control of everything in his life, Dorian was completely out of his element now. He hated his curse more today than he ever dreamed possible. As he stuffed a bunch of clothes into a duffel and grabbed three stacks of cash from his safe, he didn’t even realize how messy he was getting. No folding. No carefulness. No regard for cleanliness. He packed in three minutes.

I’m doing this. I’m off to do the one thing I swore I’d never do. And the craziest part? It was compulsive. If he couldn’t control his desires and actions now, how much worse was he going to get?

He couldn’t bring himself to answer that.

“Ready?” Lucian asked at the door.

Dorian locked his jaw, bit down on the inside of his lip, and let the blood flow into his mouth while he slipped past Lucian and headed for the car. Walking out into the sunlight, the bright light of day made his eyes water. Damnit, he needed sunglasses and his were in his car.

“Here,” Lucian smacked a pair of shades against Dorian’s chest. “Wear mine.”

It must have been obvious that light sensitivity was becoming an issue already. Normally vampires were fine in sunlight. Great. Just great. Dorian was one big weakness after another since seeing his mate’s reflection. If their enemy found out, about any of this, he’d have a harder time in a fight with a Savag-Ri and they might actually have a chance at taking him out before he found his girl.

The thought of that happening made him tense. At some point, his speed would slow down and his strength would deteriorate too. Could he still kill an enemy in his current condition? Yes. But every day he would get worse. If fate didn’t kill him first, a Savag-Ri had a damned good shot.

Shit.

Sliding into the driver’s side of Lucian’s car, he said, “I need control of something.” Driving would have to be it, even if his eyesight wasn’t the best right now.

“It’s fine. That’ll give me more time to look your girl up.”

My girl. Dorian had only ever called Emily that until now. Shit, Em… “Hey, I need you to do me another favor.”

“Well now I’m starting to feel used,” Lucian teased. “What is it?”

“If…” He couldn’t stand this. “If I don’t make it back, please take care of Emily for me. Whatever she needs, make sure she gets it, okay? And leave my assets to my mate. Just be discreet and anonymous, okay?”

Lucian looked up from his phone, face grave. “Absolutely.”

Relief settled in Dorian’s chest with a sigh. Lucian would never back out of his promises. He was one of the few vampires welcome on pack land because of Dorian. Lucian would have no trouble carrying out Dorian’s final wishes.

He blew past the red light and hung a left. It was like driving with plastic goggles—everything looked slightly warped and dull. He glanced over to see Lucian intently staring at his phone, his fingers flying along the touchpad. “Also, Emily might be attending the full moon ceremony for her pack. If that’s the case, and I’m not able to, please be there for her on my behalf. If she decides to not go, take her out to keep her mind off things for the night, okay?”

“Consider it done.”

That was the thing about a vampire like Lucian, his word was golden. No other was more trustworthy than him, which was one more reason why King Malachi chose Lucian to lead and protect their House as high guard.

“I feel like I’m leaving you to clean up my mess,” Dorian confessed. “This isn’t right.”

“This is all that’s right. Damnit, man, if ever there was a time to do something for yourself, it’s now.”

Dorian didn’t see it that way. With the House of Death in jeopardy, Stryx missing, the war against the Savag-Ri becoming more devastating, now seemed like the worst possible time for Dorian to buy a flight and head out of his territory to find his mate. This was beyond selfish, it was….

All his mind, body, and soul were hellbent on doing.

Holy Hell. How had he become so desperately fixated so fast?

“You need to take care of yourself so you can take care of the House, Dorian. The King is dependent on you.”

“He’s dependent on you, too.”

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