Page 116 of Sinner's Secret

His mother turned that too happy face toward him. “You could help me do that.”

Baz blinked. What?

“What?” Nika asked, her voice incredulous.

“Come to Slovenia with me, both of you. It would solve many...problems.”

Nika narrowed her eyes as if trying to figure out what his mother really wanted.

He knew what she wanted. Him, under her thumb, and with Nika handy, so his loving mother could order him to do anything she wanted.

“No,” he said. “It would create a whole new set of problems.” He shifted on his feet, then sat down next to Nika. “She’d use you as leverage to get me to do whatever she wants,” he said to her.

Nika considered that for a moment. “Leaving now would also look suspicious to the police.”

“Leaving now would allow you to avoid all the investigations and possible charges,” his mother said.

“No,” Baz said again. “I’m not a tool for you to use.”

“No?” his mother asked him with a lift of one eyebrow. “I’ve kept our family and others, hidden for more than eight centuries. But our numbers are dwindling. Too many of us have given in to the paranoia and compulsive behavior that is the result of living too long.” She turned her head to look at Nika. “We need to change and we need to add new...members to our family.”

“No,” Baz snarled at his mother.

“It’s why the Ruiz brothers were after her, and they won’t be the last. Kidnappings and attempts to change those with the right genes have been happening all over the world for the past year.”

What?

“Why didn’t you share this information earlier?”

“The other family heads aren’t very good at sharing this information, since some of them are involved in the kidnappings. I didn’t understand the entirety of the problem until a few weeks ago.”

“How many have died?” Baz asked, surprised at his own angry tone. Ever since the Ruiz brothers tried to take Nika from him, the anger in the bottom of his gut hadn’t gone away. It swam through his blood like a deep, dark, dangerous tide, waiting for the right trigger to rise again. To overwhelm him and send him on another murderous spree.

“We’ve lost thirty-two family members in the past twelve months,” she replied. “but gained eight new people.”

“How many humans died before you got to your eight?”

Her lips twisted in irritation before she said, “One hundred and twelve.”

“No,” he said, and he made sure she understood he meant it. “No, I will not return to Slovenia with you. No, Nika isn’t going to go anywhere with you. No, I will not play your stupid political games.”

“Bazyli—” his mother began.

“No,” the word thundered out of his mouth. “The last time you asked me for something my gut told me was a bad idea my wife and son died.”

Nika put her hand on his arm and rubbed her palm up and down. Soothing him. Comforting him. Supporting him.

Good God, he didn’t deserve her.

He took her hand, turned it over and kissed the palm. He took in a breath, then tried to smile. He could tell she knew he wasn’t anywhere near as calm as he was trying to be.

He turned back to his mother. “I was forced to live through enough betrayal and grief to kill any man. Instead, I became a monster people still fear five hundred years later. If I’m turned into that monster again...” He didn’t finish the sentence. If he told her the truth, that he’d go after every other vampire in the world before finding a way to die, she’d kill him herself.

“It would destroy him,” Nika finished for him.

“You think you two can have a honeymoon and live your lives like everyone else?” his mother asked. “In ten years, people will start to wonder why he doesn’t age. In twenty, some of them will think he’s your son. The world won’t mind its own business just because you want it to.” His mother stood. “The only political game I play, Bazyli, is survival. I do what’s required to keep us all alive. Sometimes, I have to make horrible decisions for the protection of all.”

Hundreds of years since his wife and son were murdered and she was still trying to justify her part in it.

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