Page 79 of Protecting His Vampire Mate

Michael blinked, then glanced over at me, as though remembering what he was doing and where he was.

“I stopped hating them years ago,” Michael told me, his voice going flat. “Once I realized they were basically just blood-thirsty corpses that killed people for the hell of it, it wasn’t worth it to hate them anymore. Any more than I could hate a bear that had eaten a bunch of hikers or something.” He paused, “I get it now. They’re dangerous. They’re monsters. And they need to be put down. But I don’t hate them. It’s not worth the effort.”

Somehow, I doubted that.

“We’re giving Bryan the benefit of the doubt,” Danny reminded him. “He saved our lives when he didn’t have to. He could have let us die. Or killed us. He should have killed us both, actually, knowing what we were. And he didn’t.”

“Which is why we haven’t put him in the ground,” Michael agreed. He shot Danny a dark look. “Yet.”

“Listen, just let me go. I swear that Bryan doesn’t hurt people. He’s not like the vampires you guys hunt. He’s still a person.”

“Oh, he’s not like other guys, right?” Michael jeered. “That’s great. Forgive me for being a little fucking skeptical.”

I hated showing any kind of belly at all to these guys, but after what he had just told me, I felt like I didn’t have much choice. “I love him. I’m in love with him. I know you understand that.”

Michael stared at me, something going darker in his expression. A wall slammed down behind his eyes. “We’ll wait for him to attack. We’re giving him the benefit of the doubt. That’s the deal. I won’t try to kill him until he comes after me first. Or Danny.”

With a sick feeling, I realized that my words were going to be useless. I understood that Bryan felt conflicted about having a future together, but I knew he loved me. He wouldn’t just let me go, knowing I might be in danger. He would come for me. He would believe the worst of the hunters. And there was no way to warn him.

He would kill Michael. And possibly Danny, too. Or they would kill him first.

Either way, I would lose the man I loved. Because even if they didn’t kill him, he would never forgive himself. It would just reinforce everything he feared about himself. And that—knowing he had hurt people, even to save me, with his own hands and under his own control—that might be enough to break him.

And I was helpless to prevent it.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE || BRYAN

The walls around me pressed in, abruptly too close together. The motel room Tobias and I had occupied for the last several days had seemed almost cozy and safe before. But now, it was barren and unfamiliar. Every piece of furniture looked like it might reach out and strike me at any moment. Or else tear another hole in my chest.

I stared at the half-packed duffle on the bed for a long moment, without really comprehending it. Clothing was scattered all around it. It was mostly my things, but they looked like they belonged to a stranger. And there, on the floor, next to the foot of the bed, there were drops of fresh blood.

Tobias’s blood.

When my gaze landed there, fury ignited somewhere deep within me.

I had been many things since I woke up from the spells Giles had placed on me. I had been horrified. I had been wracked with grief and guilt. I had been afraid of what I might do, if I let my guard slip for so long as an instant.

But I hadn’t really been angry. Part of me had just accepted that this was the sort of thing that happened to me. But this wasn’t what was supposed to happen to Tobias.

And that caused rage to ignite in the pit of my stomach. It set my teeth on edge. In the back of my throat, I let out a low snarl of fury that sounded far more animal than human.

For the first time in months—or maybe even ever—I wanted to hurt someone else. I would tear through the hunters if it meant keeping Tobias safe. I would rip them both apart with my bare hands if I had to.

I wrenched my phone from my pocket and dialed Tobias’s number. It took me three tries, because my hands were shaking so badly.

On the other side of the room, a phone began to ring. My eyes snapped to the sound. Tobias’s jacket was slung over the back of the chair next to the window. His phone must have been in his coat pocket.

I let out a hiss of frustration and ended the call.

Gritting my teeth, I dialed Ethan next. He had insisted on plugging his number into my phone in the days following his defeat of Giles. He had told me that he thought I might want to talk sometime.

I hadn’t called him, because the last thing in the world I wanted to do was talk about my feelings with the warlock I had almost murdered, who was best friends with my mate.

The phone rang long enough that I almost gave up hope that he would answer. But then the line connected.

“Bryan?” Ethan asked, sounding baffled. “What’s going on? Is everything okay?”

“The hunters took Tobias,” I said, without any sort of preamble. “I need you to help me find him.”

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