Page 7 of Eternally Theirs

Deo shrugged. “I lost them several years ago. There was a riot in Athens.” He’d told Mercy about the loss of his family. She knew he still carried that pain with him, despite his casual attitude. She could feel his sadness, even if he never spoke of it. “Mercy is the first real family I’ve had in a long time.”

“I’d been alone for several days by the time I found him,” she told them. “I couldn’t stand it. At first we just talked. Then he kissed me and… he realized something was different about me. But there was the blood lust, as Ramsey has explained to me. I didn’t mean to do it. I didn’t mean to,” she said fiercely, tears scalding her eyes. “It just happened, I swear it. I didn’t have the strength to stop.”

“You’d been taught nothing by Gaius,” Aleron said, and she could detect the restrained rage beneath his calm tone—rage that was clearly aimed at Gaius, not her. “This is why we require that a new vampire wait ten years before Turning another, so that you can act as teacher as well as lover and companion. But you’re here now. We’ll teach you both. And when we find this Gaius, he will be dealt with appropriately.”

She was suffused with gratitude. And beneath that was some strange sense of dread that Gaius should be hurt if they found him. It didn’t make sense. He should be punished for what he’d done to her, she knew that, but she couldn’t shake some vague attachment to him.

Ever stood, taking her hand in his. His fingers were cool, yet she could feel his pulse beating just beneath his skin, his blood warm. “You must be overwhelmed, both of you. We have rooms set aside for you. My assistant Calam will take you there. Go. Rest.

Be together. I will come to you after a time.”

Deo stood and helped her to her feet. She felt as if she were completely out of her head. Could all of this really be happening? She’d existed in this state of disbelief for the last several months, but she and Deo had been too busy simply surviving to think it all through.

Now her life was about to change again, and while Ramsey, Aleron and Ever had tried to assure them that all would be well, she found it difficult to trust. And regardless of what they said, nothing could relieve her of her guilt.

She looked at the vampires, who had also risen to their feet, a sort of old-world gesture, but she loved it. Then Ever stepped forward and took her face in one hand, cupping her cheek. The other he laid on Deo’s shoulder. He looked into her eyes, his that bottomless black that would be frightening if there wasn’t so much sadness in them. Her heart surged—for Ever. For herself and Deo and everything that had happened.

“We will not let anyone hurt you, either of you,” Ever told her. “I promise you that. We will see that your family is protected, Mercy, in case this Gaius still lurks there.

Ramsey has already sent someone to watch over them.”

“Oh!” It came out on a small sob. “I didn’t dare to hope… I know I’ll never see them again. I’m learning to accept that, but I’ve worried. I don’t know what they must think about my disappearance, but I couldn’t go back to them—not this way. They would be horrified.”

“That is something you can decide later. But I don’t want you to worry any longer, do you understand? We will help you, take care of you. And you have a strong protector in Deo. I can see that.”

“I would do anything for her,” Deo said, his tone low, but there was power in it.

Ever turned to him. “Yes, I think you would.”

He lifted Mercy’s hand, kissed the back of it, and need coursed through her, strong and hot. And as he lifted Deo’s hand and brushed his lips over his wrist, an even stronger surge of desire passed through her.

She had an image in her mind of them together, Deo and Ever, the old vampire’s plush lips coming down on Deo’s. Their beautiful, naked bodies pressed together. When she shook the image away and glanced up at Ever, she knew he’d read her thoughts, knew from his small, wicked smile that he’d seen it all, and felt the reverberating desire in her body.

“I will come to you both a little later,” he said, his black eyes glittering, his smile widening just enough to reveal his sharp eyeteeth. “Ah, Calam is here.” He turned. “Please see our new guests to their rooms.”

“Aye,” the muscled redhead said. He was beautiful, as was everyone here. She could smell his humanity as though it were an exotic perfume, smelled the human blood in his veins. “Come this way, please.”

Deo slipped an arm around her waist as they followed Calam from the room. Her body, her mind, were buzzing. Everything was changing so quickly she couldn’t seem to focus on any of it.

Ever. Aleron and Ramsey. The council of vampires who were to arrive at the club soon. A new life she could barely begin to imagine. And all of it with Deo.

“Always,” he said quietly, his fingers squeezing hers as they moved toward the elegant elevator.

They stepped in. The doors slid shut and she held on to Deo as the elevator began to move down and down. She gripped his hand tighter and he pulled her in closer. She needed him, to feel the safety in his arms. To feel him. It was the only thing that made the fear go away.

Deo tucked a hand under her chin, looking into her eyes.

“Make it go away, Deo,” she begged him in a whisper.

“I promise,” he told her.

It was the one thing she knew she could count on.

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