Page 32 of Bewitched By a Vampire

Night growled and knocked his brother’s hands off him. “Like you protected me by sending me away from Hell? I didn’t need you to do that, Grave. I’m strong and I can handle—”

Grave seized him by his nape and dragged him closer, cutting him off as shock swept through him.

His brother pressed their foreheads together and husked, “I know you are strong, Night. I never doubted your strength… but what happened to you… It was a moment of weakness on my part and if you hate your position that much—”

Night cut him off this time.

“Try to take it away from me and we shall really fall out, brother.” He sighed and leaned into Grave’s touch. “I hated it at first… but then you probably knew that.”

“I did. I thought you would never talk to me again. You sent those formal reports through Asher and that was all the contact I had with you for… It felt like forever.” Regret laced his brother’s baritone and filled Night too.

He had lashed out at Grave in the only way he could, wanting to hurt him for questioning his strength and sending him away, shielding him and making him look weak to the other vampires in the Preux Chevaliers. It had taken a lot of work to make his subordinates respect him and view him as a strong leader.

Grave grunted and released him, shifting his hand back to his chest to clutch at it.

“I can take you to a portal,” Night said and wanted to tell his brother he was coming with him, but ended up saying, “Where will you go?”

Grave didn’t look sure. He drifted to the couch and sank onto it to stare at the unlit fireplace.

“I do not know.” His brother shook his head and glanced at Snow.

When Snow didn’t give him a direction, Grave returned to staring ahead of him.

“I need to find her, but I do not know where to look,” Grave murmured and Night could sense how much that pained him, could see the strain his brother felt as tight lines bracketed his lips and he glared at the fireplace.

Night went to him and placed his hand on his brother’s shoulder, gaining his attention. “Is there a place your mate might have gone, one the demon would know about? Her home, perhaps?”

Grave shrugged. “I do not know.”

For a male with a mate, Grave didn’t seem to know much about her.

“When I left Hell,” Night said, carefully choosing his words. He had wanted to say ‘when you sent me away’ but Grave wouldn’t take it well. Pain glittered in his brother’s pale blue eyes as he stared straight through him, miles away from him. Night sighed again. “When I left Hell, you did not have a mate.”

“I do not think she was ever really my mate.” Grave smiled tightly and there was a world of hurt in it. “We had only a few months together… and then a century ago, she turned on me and left me. Since then, I have been trying to rid myself of her.”

A century ago.

Now Night knew why Grave had changed around then, growing darker all of a sudden, his temper shortening and mood blackening—he had found his mate, had clearly fallen for her, and had lost her. The way Grave had acted since then told Night all he needed to know. This mate of Grave’s had betrayed him in some way.

He wanted to demand to know what had happened, but knew in his heart that Grave wouldn’t take it well, so instead Night murmured, “You could have told me. You didn’t have to deal with it alone, Grave.”

His brother’s blue eyes held an apology, one that smoothed the sharp edges of Night’s anger over being left in the dark. “It was wrong of me, Night… but I didn’t want others to know.”

Night could understand that, even when he didn’t like it. Grave had a reputation to protect and a position to hold on to. If other vampires had learned of what had happened, they might have viewed it as a weakness, something they could exploit to overthrow him—the King of Death could be tricked and defeated.

“When my hands faded during a battle, I knew something was wrong… and then she came to me. Gods…” Grave closed his eyes.

His brother didn’t need to say anything for Night to know that visit had shaken him, and awoken feelings Grave had thought were dead and buried.

Grave might not have been a true mate to her, but from where Night was standing, it looked as if she had been Grave’s. Which did have one positive. It meant his brother was in no position to lecture him about Lilian. Not when he was in love with a phantom who was clearly his enemy.

Night knew all about that wretched breed. Phantoms turned men they had relations with into phantoms too, ones that eventually faded to nothing.

This woman had committed an act of revenge against his brother.

Her breed and the way his brother looked was proof enough for Night and he wanted to demand Grave let him deal with her, even when he knew his brother would shoot him down. No matter how angry Grave was, how desperate he was to hate her for what she had done, there was no doubt in Night’s mind that his brother loved her.

There was also no doubt in Night’s mind that Grave was in denial about his feelings.

---