Page 70 of Queen of Vampire Hearts

“Where are you?” I murmured, pulling her from her musings.

She smiled up at me. “I want to go somewhere before the coronation tomorrow.”

That had my alarm ratcheting. I hadn’t forgotten how easily she could leave me. A wave of her hand and she could vanish, leaving no trail to follow. I struggled to keep my voice calm and asked, “Where?”

Her eyes were bright but sad. “I want to go to my parents’ graves, to finally say goodbye.”

I gulped. She’d told me of the horror of discovering her parents in her childhood home and that she had trouble imagining the future without them. For her to move on, to take them into her heart, was huge. She was looking to a future with me, away from the past. Could I let her go alone for such an event and trust her to come back to me?

“I want you to come with me,” she added before I could say anything. My breath left me in a silent exhale.

“Are you sure?” I asked, hoping she would insist.

She did. “I want you there. Will you come?”

I nodded. “We can go now.”

Her smile touched me, making my chest warm. “Would that be okay?”

“Anything for my queen,” I murmured before kissing her. She leaped out of bed before the kiss could become more heated and rushed to the dressing room. She knew me too well. I got carried away with her way too easily.

I pulled on the jeans I’d shucked earlier before joining her in our dressing room to grab a clean shirt and shoes. The cuffs felt like weights in my pocket, making every step a struggle.

Already dressed, Phoebe glowed with excitement as she watched me finish getting ready. She fit her body against mine and, between kisses, deemed me fit to travel. She swirled her hand to open a rift, and a vacant cemetery baking in the Texas heat appeared on the other side. I marveled anew at her magic. She had slammed together two points in space and held them there with nothing more than a fission of air between them.Gods, her power was humbling.

I stepped through first, sniffing the air before holding my hand through the rift for her to follow. She took it without hesitation, trusting me completely. It made me sick to think that her trust may be misplaced. I smothered the thought. There was still time for Erik to come through. The wolf had never failed me before.

Hand in hand, Phoebe led me deeper into the empty cemetery. She stopped at two isolated headstones, and I wrapped my arm around her, pulling her into my side. While she was gazing down at her parents’ graves, I was scanning our surroundings. The oppressive humidity settled on my shoulders, making my jeans cling to my legs. Yet the hair on the back of my neck was raised, and a shiver felt close to shooting down my spine.

She squeezed me tighter, glaring sadly at the markers. “They would have hated you, you know.”

I sputtered. I must have heard her wrong. “Hated me?”

She smiled down at the gravestones. “My father definitely would have hated you for stealing away his little girl. In his eyes, that would have been an unforgivable slight. My mother was more progressive. She would have secretly liked you but would have been openly hostile toward you to support my dad.”

“Wow,” I muttered. “You could have lied and said they would have loved me.”

She smiled up at me, her beautiful eyes flashing with mischief. “But then I wouldn’t be me, would I?”

“I suppose not.” My mate was unusually forthright.

A circle of people suddenly surrounded us. They closed in like a veil had been dropped from our eyes. The witches must have concealed themselves and their scent to get this close. I grabbed Phoebe, flashing my fangs at them. “You’ll be wanting to leave now.”

As they circled closer, Phoebe’s back met mine. Her palms came up bright with magic, her voice filled with menace. “What the vampire said.”

I counted eight of them, all but one covered head to toe in cloaks. My skin crawled when I made eye contact with the one witch whose hood was down. His black hair was gelled back from his face, his eyes a fathomless black. The witches powered up their battle magic. All except the one who assessed me with an evil gleam in his eyes, a shiver of unease shooting through me. The compulsion was back, stronger than ever before.

“Phoebe, run.” Even that warning was a struggle for me.

“Not without you,” she answered, prepared to fight to remain by my side.

“Run…” I warned, falling to my knees as the compulsion became overpowering. The witch smiled at me. He knew, oh gods, he knew about the bounty. I could feel him in my mind, breaking the last links of my formidable control.

Phoebe whipped around when I collapsed, her hands coming down on my shoulders. “Leave him alone!” she yelled, not knowing that the fight was within.

The compulsion was forcing me, my actions out of my control, and it was too late. She was too close when I lost the battle against it. I was suddenly on my feet and facing her, the cuffs already growing on her wrists. For a second, her eyes held total confusion, as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She stared at me, still trusting me to keep her safe, trying to figure out what my plan was.

“Well done, vampire. Consider the bounty fulfilled. You can collect the reward at your earliest convenience. We will take the prisoner from here.”

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